Notion is fantastic for organising information or running your business, but quickly capturing thoughts on the go can be frustrating. Opening the app, creating a new page, and waiting for everything to load isn’t exactly “quick capture”. But as always with Notion, we don’t have to stick with the status quo and can instead look to build our own solution. So in this blog post, we’ll go over the easiest way to set up quick capture for Notion (in under two minutes) plus a few of the best Notion Apps that allow you to quickly save anything to Notion.
How To Set Up Notion Quick Capture Using Shortcuts
If you have an iPhone, then you can use a recent Notion Update to create a simple shortcut that sends any text input directly to a Notion Database of your choice.
Here’s how to create your quick capture shortcut:
- Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone
- Tap the + icon in the top right corner
- Search for “Ask for Input” in the actions search bar
- Configure the prompt (e.g., “What’s the note?”)
- Search for “Notion” and select “Create Document Without Opening”
- Map the input to the title field
- Select your target database
- Tap Done to save your shortcut
Here’s a video tutorial for this setup:
Once done, you can add this shortcut to your home screen and trigger it like an app or ask Siri with “Hey Siri, [NAME OF YOUR SHORTCUT] to launch it.
And you can further customise the shortcut by experimenting with different input options.
For example, you could use the built-in OCR capabilities to extract information from invoices and send them to your Notion Budget Tracker or use the clipboard option to send whatever you copy to Notion.
The Best Quick Capture Apps for Notion
If you’re looking for a pre-built solution rather than setting up your own quick capture, then check out these Notion Apps.
Official Notion Web Clipper
The official Notion Web Clipper is a browser extension available for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It offers basic functionality – you can save web pages to Notion with their URL and title. While limited in features, it’s a reliable option directly from Notion.
Save To Notion
The Save To Notion browser extension offers more advanced features than the official clipper. You can set up specific workflows, customize properties, and even take screenshots directly from the saving interface. While it’s not officially from Notion, it has been a go-to solution in the Notion community for a long time.
Flylighter
Built by Thomas Frank and team, Flylighter is the newest and most sophisticated option. It offers features like highlighting web pages and remembering your highlights when you revisit pages. You can also set it up to automatically grab certain parts of similarly structured pages and map them to your Notion Database properties.
How To Capture Notion Notes Offline
Notion has announced that they’re working on Offline Mode for 2025, but until that releases, you still need workarounds and other tools if you want to capture notes for Notion offline.
One great solution is Instant Notion, a dedicated quick capture app for Notion.
- Offline Support: Create notes even without an internet connection – they’ll sync automatically when you’re back online
- Rich Text Editor: Format your notes with bold, italics, and bullet points directly in the capture interface
- Smart Tagging: Add tags to your notes for better organization before they reach Notion
- Custom Properties: Map your notes to specific Notion database properties during capture
- Multiple Databases: Send notes to different Notion databases based on your needs
