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How to Embed a PDF in Notion: Integrating PDF Documents

Notion is a popular productivity and project management tool that allows you to organize your work in one place. With its flexible databases and markdown support, Notion has become popular for personal knowledge management and note-taking.

One useful feature in Notion is the ability to embed PDF documents directly into Notion pages. This allows you to store relevant PDFs alongside your notes for easy access and reference.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to embed a PDF document in Notion.

Finding the PDF Link

The first step is to get the direct link to the PDF file you want to embed. Here are some common ways to get a PDF link:

  • From your computer files: Right click the PDF file and select “Get Link”. This will copy the direct file path that you can use to embed it.
  • From a website: If the PDF is hosted on a website, right click on the PDF link or PDF viewer and select “Copy Link Address”. This will give you the direct URL to that PDF file.
  • From Google Drive or Dropbox: Open the PDF file in your Drive or Dropbox account, click the “Share” button and select “Get link”. This will generate a shareable link to that file.

Once you have the direct PDF link, you can embed it in Notion.

Embedding PDFs in Notion

Follow these simple steps to embed a PDF link in Notion:

  1. Open the Notion page where you want to embed the PDF. Click on the location where you want the PDF to be inserted.
  2. Type /pdf and press enter. This will open up the PDF embed dialog box.
  3. Paste the PDF link you copied earlier into the URL field.
  4. By default, the PDF will be displayed in Notion at 100% zoom level. But you can set any zoom percentage from 25% to 500% based on your preference.
  5. Click “Apply” and the PDF will be embedded into the Notion page.

That’s it! The PDF document is now integrated into your Notion workspace.

Here are some tips when embedding PDFs in Notion:

  • You can embed multiple PDFs on the same Notion page. Just repeat the steps above wherever you want to place them.
  • Resize the embedded PDFs by dragging the corners or edges.
  • The embedded PDF will update automatically even if the source file gets updated or replaced at the original URL.
  • You can create a Notion table with a PDF embed column to neatly organize your PDFs.

Annotating and Commenting on Embedded PDFs

Once a PDF is embedded in Notion, you can annotate and comment directly on the PDF preview. Here is how to do it:

  1. Hover over the embedded PDF file and click on the “Open sidebar” icon on the top right corner. This will open up the PDF sidebar.
  2. Click on “Annotate”. A toolbar will open up with annotation tools.
  3. Use the highlighter, shapes, sticky notes and text tools to add annotations. You can change the color and size of tools.
  4. To add text comments, click on the “Comment” icon and type your comment. Drag the comment to position it on the PDF.
  5. When done, click “Close sidebar” to save the annotations. They will be visible every time you open that PDF.

The annotations and comments make it easy to mark up important points in a PDF right inside your Notion workspace. You don’t need a separate PDF editing tool.

Converting Notion Content into PDF

While we’ve focused on embedding PDFs in Notion, you can also convert your Notion pages and databases into PDF documents.

Here is how to export Notion as PDF:

  1. Open the Notion content you want to export – it can be a page, collection of pages, or a entire workspace.
  2. Click on the “Export” button on the top right corner.
  3. Select the export format as “PDF”. You can also export as Markdown or CSV formats.
  4. Customize the export settings like page size, margins etc.
  5. Click “Export” and Notion will process the content and prepare a PDF file.
  6. When ready, the PDF will automatically get downloaded to your computer.

The exported PDF will retain all the content formatting, images, tables and styling from your Notion workspace. This makes Notion a great tool for creating well-formatted documents and reports.

So in summary, Notion makes it incredibly easy not just to embed and annotate PDFs, but also export your Notion content as sharable PDF files.

Limitations and Alternatives

While Notion offers excellent PDF integration right inside its editor, there are some limitations:

  • No editing: You cannot edit or modify the imported PDF content within Notion. It is read-only.
  • Basic annotations: The annotation capabilities are quite basic compared to specialized PDF editor tools.
  • No reflow: The embedded PDFs do not reflow and adapt to mobile screens. You have to pinch-zoom to read them.

If you need more powerful PDF capabilities, you may want to explore these Notion alternatives:

  • Microsoft OneNote – Offers better PDF annotation features and optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from scanned documents.
  • Evernote – Allows editing, commenting and syntax highlighting in imported PDFs. Has better mobile optimization.
  • Dropbox Paper – Features seamless PDF embedding, commenting, editing and sharing options.
  • Google Docs– Provides built-in OCR and allows copy-pasting text from imported PDF files.

For most use cases, Notion has more than enough PDF tools integrated right inside its versatile workspace. But if you need specialized PDF features, these alternatives are worth considering.

Conclusion

The ability to bring PDF documents into your Notion workspace unlocks many useful workflows. You can consolidate project files, research papers, ebooks and more inside Notion for unified access. The annotation features also allow collaborating on PDFs with teammates.

With a few simple steps, you can start embedding PDF links in Notion and level up your productivity. So give it a try and integrate those important PDFs into your Notion notes!

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