Links & backlinks

Creating links & backlinks
In this Article

Notion makes it easy to link to all kinds of content in and outside of your workspace 🔗

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Inline in a paragraph

There are a few ways to link another Notion page inside a paragraph:

  • @-mention: Type @, then start entering the name of the page you want to link. Find and select it in the menu that appears.

  • [[ command: Type [[, then start entering the name of the page you want to link. Find and select it in the menu that appears.

  • + command: Type +, then start entering the name of the page you want to link. Find and select it in the menu that appears.

As a block

You can insert a link into a Notion page as a block so you can easily place it wherever you want in the page. To do this:

  1. In a page, enter the slash command /link. Alternatively, you can click the + that appears on hover to the left of any block, and select Link to page from the dropdown.

  2. Start entering the name of the page you want to link. Find and select it in the menu that appears.

  3. To move the block, click ⋮⋮ to the left of it and drag it to your desired location in the page.

Note: When you add a Link to page block, the linked page will show up in your sidebar under the page where you inserted the link, just like any other sub-page.

Every block in Notion has its own anchor link that can be copied and shared. These are great for directing someone's attention to a specific part of a long Notion page! To link to a specific block:

  1. Hover over the block and click the ⋮⋮ that appears to the left.

  2. Select Copy link. This will copy the URL of that specific block to your clipboard.

  3. Paste this URL anywhere — in a Notion page, a Slack message, an email, and more.

When you paste a web page’s URL into Notion, it can create a compact, easy-to-read link mention to help your page look nice and clean. You can even hover over the link to see a quick preview. To use a link mention in your page:

  1. Paste the URL.

  2. In the menu that appears, select Paste as mention.

  3. The web page will be displayed with an icon, the source, and the title of the page.

Note:

  • Link mentions work best with public web pages. Any links that require certain permissions or authentication to view won’t be pasted into Notion with any rich information.

  • If your browser has cookies blocked, link mentions may not render properly.

When you link to something inside of an app that integrates with Notion, Notion can generate a preview for it! Learn which platforms are supported here →

Backlinks show you all the pages that link to the page you’re currently on. You can use these to navigate your workspace.

Backlinks are created automatically every time you @-mention a page. To see a page’s backlinks, select {#} backlinks under its title, or its properties if it’s a database page.

You will only be able to see backlinks for pages you have access to. Other people won’t see backlinks to your private pages. Backlinks to pages that are only visible to you will be labeled as Private.

In any page, you can choose whether you want to show or hide backlinks.

To customize backlinks and comments for a non-database page:

  1. Click the ••• button at the top right of the page and select Customize page.

  2. In the window that opens, toggle on or off Show backlinks.

  3. Toggle on or off Page discussions.

To customize backlinks and comments for a database page:

  1. Click ••• at the top right of the page and select Customize layout.

  2. Click on the Heading module and toggle on or off Show backlinks.

  3. Select Apply to all pages at the top of the page. Note that your backlink and comment customizations will apply to every page in the database you're in. Learn more about database layouts here →


FAQs

How do I automatically open Notion links in the desktop app?

If you want any links to Notion pages to open in your desktop app:

  1. Open Notion in your web browser.

  2. Go to SettingsMy settings.

  3. Toggle on Open links in desktop app.

You'll need to have the desktop app already installed. You’ll also need to go to Notion in your desktop app and ensure that Open links in browser is turned off in your settings.

What's the difference between @-mentioning a page, and adding a Link to page block?

Link to page works kind of like creating a sub-page. When you reference a Notion page this way, it will show up in your sidebar as a subpage of the page where it was linked.

@-mentioning a page creates something more like a hyperlink. Pages you @-mention won’t show up as subpages of the pages they’ve been mentioned in.

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