Notion for desktop

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You can use Notion on your Mac or PC as a downloadable desktop application. Here's what you need to know 🖥️

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Notion's desktop app is a clean, distraction-free interface without all the temptation of tabs. Switching between tabs in the desktop app is smooth and quick so that you can work more efficiently. You can even hover over a tab to preview the page inside it.

You'll receive push notifications in the desktop app when something important happens inside Notion, like when someone mentions you, someone assigns you a task, or you set a reminder for yourself.

Navigating to a new page is quick and easy in the desktop app. With Notion for desktop, you can set every new tab you create to open up a search window. From the search window that opens when you open a new tab, you can:

  • Look for and quickly navigate to the page you want.

  • Open a new page or start a chat with Notion AI in a new tab in just one click.

  • Jump to an existing tab.

New Tab Search will be turned on by default, but if you’d like to turn this off:

  1. Go to SettingsMy settings.

  2. Toggle off New Tab Search. If this setting is toggled off, new tabs will display the default page specified in the Open on start setting.

On desktop, you can use search and Q&A even when you’re outside of the Notion app. Trigger Command Search with a customizable keyboard shortcut, your menu bar on Mac, or your task bar on Windows so you can search or ask Q&A without switching between windows or bringing the Notion desktop app to the foreground. To make it easier to access Notion this way, a few things will happen by default:

  • Command Search will be turned on. To turn this off, go to SettingsMy settings → toggle off Enable Command Search. You can also turn off Show Notion in Menu Bar or customize your Command Search shortcut.

  • Notion will be set to open at login. To turn this off:

    • On Mac: Right-click on the Notion icon in the dock → select OptionsOpen at Login to remove the check mark beside it.

    • On Windows: Right-click on the Notion icon in the task bar → select Launch PreferencesOpen Notion at Login to remove the check mark beside it.

Mac desktop app

  1. To get the Mac desktop app, go to notion.so/desktop and click Download for macOS.

  2. Open the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install Notion.

  3. Open the Notion app and log in using your email.

Windows desktop app

  1. To get the Windows desktop app, go to notion.so/desktop and click Download for Windows.

  2. Open the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install Notion.

  3. Open the Notion app and log in using your email.

Notion updates automatically! We push updates on a regular basis with bug fixes and performance improvements.

To check for updates:

  • On Mac: Click Notion in the menu bar and click Check for Updates.

  • On Windows: Click File in the menu bar and click Check for Updates. If you can’t see your menu bar, try pressing alt first.

Note: Only enterprises can turn off automatic updates for the Notion desktop app on macOS devices. Otherwise, you can’t turn off automatic updates for the Notion desktop app at this time.

If there are new features that you can't see yet, try refreshing with cmd/ctrl + R.

Very rarely, you may need to re-install Notion to see an update. We'll let you know when that's the case.


FAQs

Does Notion have a Linux app?

We don’t have a Linux app at the moment and don't have any immediate plans for it, unfortunately 🐧 

For the time being, hopefully you can access Notion with your Chrome, Firefox, or Safari browser!

How do I update to the latest version?

Notion updates automatically! If you click the Notion AI face •••More help at the bottom right of Notion, you'll see the last time your app was updated.

If Notion hasn't updated for a few days, you can usually force an update by refreshing with the keyboard shortcut cmd/ctrl + r.

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.

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