I live in databases so every item, like this blog post for example, lives in a database. Now, it’s hard to move out of database items — well not hard, it just takes too many clicks and we ain’t got time for all that.
Like look at this breadcrumb for this page for example:
To get back to my content planner, I’d have to click the 3 dots, then content planner to be back out into my content planner page and on to whatever I was doing. Those two clicks are usually annoying enough for me that I actually get distracted and forget where I was going.
My solution?
Create a callout block with a hyperlink to a divider in the page I wanna go back to.
Yea it sounds a bit weird but lemme explain.
This is my content planner database. This database lives on a page with other databases as my content planner page. I have a bunch of views and templates in this database depending on what I’m writing for.
If you live in databases like me, you definitely need to get you some database templates, btw
In each of these templates, I created a synced block with a callout box inside.
The ‘back’ text is hyperlinked to a divider I have within the main content planner page.
This way, I only have to do one click to get out of my database.
I do this in my content planner, my meeting notes, my clients databases — just make sure to add the divider on top of the database you’re exiting so that you end up right where you want to!
The good thing about making it a synced block is you can edit what the block is hyperlinked to across all pages without manually editing each instance.
How to do this yourself (because you totally can)
- Type </callout> to get a callout box
- Type ‘back’ into your callout box (or ‘home’, or whatever you want this button to say)
- Click the hamburger menu on your divider block and click “copy link to block”
- Highlight your text in your callout box and hit CTRL (CMD) + V (yes you can hyperlink by copying and pasting a link onto text in Notion!)
- Click the hamburger menu on your callout box
- Hover over “turn into” and scroll down to and click synced block
- Congrats! You made a synced block back button 🥳
Now I know you can probably do this with a button block but I personally LOVE that the callout block extends across the entire page. It’s almost like a divider or bookend that way. Button blocks don’t take up as much real estate which is good for what they’re supposed to be used for but my aesthetics demand MOAR.
Hyperlinks also allow you to end up on a specific part of a page — a button opens a page and puts you at the top. If your pages have a lot of content in them, a hyperlinked back button can help you skip scrolling!
With this simple tweak, you can navigate your Notion databases like a pro — whether you’re planning content, taking meeting notes, or managing client projects. So give it a try and see how it transforms your Notion experience.
Your future self will be grateful for the extra flow and fewer distractions!
Comments ()