Notion for desktop

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.

This setting will be turned on by default, but if you’d like to turn this off:

1. Go to Settings in your sidebar → Preferences.

2. Toggle off Open Search when creating a new tab. If this setting is toggled off, new tabs will display the default page specified in the On Start up setting.

On desktop, you can use search and Notion AI 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 Notion AI 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 Settings in your sidebar → Preferences. Toggle off Use Command Search. You can also turn off Show Notion in Menu Bar or customize your Keyboard shortcut for Command Search.

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

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

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

1. To get the Mac desktop app, go to notion.com/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.

1. To get the Windows desktop app, go to notion.com/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.

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.

See our system requirements for desktop here →

If links to Notion pages aren't automatically opening in the desktop app, try following these steps:

1. Open the link in your browser.

2. Click ••• at the top right of the page. Scroll to the bottom of the menu that appears and click Open in Mac app.

If you’re on a Windows device and your Notion desktop app auto-launches from your browser, or Notion links keep opening in the desktop, make sure your Notion settings are adjusted so that your links are always opened in your browser.

To do this:

1. In the Notion desktop app, go to Settings → Preferences.

2. Toggle on Open Notion links in browser.

3. Go to Settings in Notion for web and toggle off Open links in desktop app.

If your Notion settings are already set up to open links in your web browser and the desktop app continues to open automatically, your device-level settings may be overriding your Notion settings. You can adjust these settings by following the instructions here →

When trying to open the Notion desktop app on a Mac device, you might see the error “You can’t open the application “Notion” because this application is not supported on this Mac”. This could happen if you’ve downloaded a version of the app that isn’t compatible with your device’s processor.

To fix this:

1. Uninstall the app.

2. Read this article to see what processor is compatible with which version of the app. You can check which processor you have by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left of your screen, then clicking About This Mac.

3. Download and install the correct version of the app.