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How to Add a Link in Notion for Seamless Navigation

Notion is a versatile workspace that allows you to organize your life and work in one place. With Notion’s flexible databases and markdown support, you can create intricate systems for notes, tasks, documents, and more.

One of Notion’s best features is the ability to connect pages through links, enabling smooth navigation across your workspace. Whether you want to link project pages, link to other workspaces, or create an internal site index, mastering links in Notion unlocks seamless workflows.

This comprehensive guide will teach you how to efficiently add links in Notion to improve navigation and connectivity.

Why Add Links in Notion

Here are some of the key reasons to use links in your Notion workspace:

  • Quick Access – Link important or frequently accessed pages in one place for easy access. For example, link key project pages from your dashboard.
  • Context Switching – Link between related pages, like meeting notes to projects, to enable smooth context switching without losing your train of thought.
  • Cross-Referencing – Link to other pages as references to avoid duplication and ensure information is up-to-date across all linked pages.
  • Site Navigation – Structure an internal site or intranet with links for intuitive navigation and information architecture.
  • External References – Link out to external sites or reference material to enrich your notes.

Types of Links in Notion

Notion supports two main types of links:

Internal Links connect to other pages within the same Notion workspace. This keeps navigation within Notion for a seamless experience.

External Links point to URLs outside of Notion, like websites, files, other Notion workspaces, etc. The link will open in a new browser tab.

Now let’s see how to add both link types in Notion.

How to Insert an Internal Link in Notion

Internal links should be your default choice to connect Notion pages within the same workspace. Here are the steps to add an internal link:

  1. Navigate to the page you want to link from. This will be your source page.
  2. Highlight the text you want to link. You can highlight a single word, phrase, or entire heading.
  3. Click the chain link icon in the formatting toolbar. This opens the Create Link dialog box.
  4. Start typing the title of the page you want to link to. This is your target page.
  5. Select the matching page from the search results.
  6. The link text will populate automatically based on your selected target page name. Customize as needed.
  7. Click Apply to insert the link.

The text will now link to the target page. Hover over the link to preview the target.

To remove a link, highlight it and click the unlink button (broken chain icon) in the toolbar.

How to Insert an External Link in Notion

Adding an external link follows nearly the same process:

  1. Highlight the text you want to link from your source Notion page.
  2. Click the chain icon to open the Create Link dialog box.
  3. Toggle from Link to a page to Link to a URL.
  4. Enter the fully-formed URL you want to link to. For example, https://www.website.com/page
  5. Customize the link text if desired.
  6. Click Apply to insert the external link.

This will insert a link that opens the URL in a new browser tab when clicked.

Link Best Practices

Follow these best practices when adding links in Notion:

  • Use descriptive link text, like a page name or title instead of generic text like “Click here”.
  • Place links on keywords and phrases instead of entire paragraphs or sentences.
  • Use internal links instead of external when possible to keep navigation within Notion.
  • Test links after creation to ensure no broken links.
  • Set important or frequently used pages as favorites for quick access.
  • Place a link preview at the bottom of pages to enable instant access to key related pages.
  • Add a table of contents with links to headings on long pages.
  • Link related databases for easy cross-filtering across views.

Notion Link Limitations

While links in Notion are very useful, some key limitations exist:

  • Links only work one way; you cannot link back from the target page.
  • Moving or renaming a linked page breaks the link.
  • Links to specific headers or content within a page are not possible.
  • No way to open links in the current tab instead of new tab.

Linking Tips for Specific Notion Items

Here are some specialized tips for adding links from certain Notion elements:

Link from Callout Block

The callout block features a built-in link field in the dialog box, allowing you to directly link the entire callout.

Link from Toggle Block

Add links within each toggle state. The link will stay associated with that content when toggling.

Link from Table Row

Hover over the row number and use the link icon in the pop-up to link the entire row.

Link from Image

Wrap images in a link by highlighting the image and using the link toolbars to add a link.

Link from Equation

Add a link immediately before or after an equation by highlighting the equation and adjacent text.

Conclusion

Adding links between Notion pages enables intuitive navigation and powerful connections across your workspace. With internal links connecting related pages and external links providing additional context, you can build a truly integrated system.

Use this guide to start adding links like a pro. Consider linking frequently used pages in your sidebar or dashboard, connecting project pages, and cross-linking related databases.

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