Project build time: 15–30 min


After months of trying to find a simple, straightforward Zettelkasten for Notion, I decided to build my own. I want to first give credit to Ev Chapman for her Medium piece on building a "simple Zettelkasten," which proved to be a big "ah ha" moment, and was the initial inspiration for this template.

About This Template

This Super Simple Zettelkasten template is meant to provide the user with the intuitiveness and flexibility of a digital Zettelkasten, while at the same time retaining the feel and tactility of a physical one.

However, this template will provide you with more than just a Zettelkasten. This template is an entire Zettelkasten workflow, which will take you from capturing Fleeting Notes to importing robust, atomic Permanent Notes.


<aside> 💰 If after you're done you found this tutorial helpful, please consider donating by CLICKING HERE. It's quick and easy!

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<aside> ❗ For more on using healthy Personal Knowledge Management systems for channeling inspiration, check out my weekly email HERE.

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Let's get into it!

My Notion Zettelkasten is divided up into four sections:

  1. Fleeting Notes (an inbox for capturing)
  2. Needs Finishing (a section for editing)
  3. Permanent Notes (your actual Zettelkasten)
  4. Sandbox (a space for playing with your notes)

Let's take a look at it....

This is what your landing page will look like. (Since you'll be building this on your own, you can disregard the text you see in the tables):

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As you can see by the tiny arrows next to every database, each section is a Linked Database, a mirror of the main Notes Database (in the images labeled as "Demo Notes Template"), which is where all the notes live in the background, regardless of their state of completion.