Inline & standalone database tables (Notion)

Notion database tables come in two flavors:

• Inline database tables are incorporated into existing pages
• full-page database tables are subpages that only contain the database table and no other objects. I prefer to call these standalone database tables.

One remarkable difference between these to databases, is their difference in header

Create a standalone database table

We start with an empty workspace. I've used this one before and now removed all existing objects. That seems to trigger this Importing... prompt: Maybe Notion wants to import the objects again that you see on a new workspace. Anyhow, I think we're ready to go

I created a new page: Shiny New Page. It didn't matter if I used the link + Add a page on the left, or + New page at the bottom left. Note the No pages inside note at the left under its name + the default document symbol for this page

Create a database - Full-page

No view was specified, hence I got a database with table view

I changed the name of the database table to DatabaseName and the name of the view from Table to TableView. This may help to understand the hierarchy of objects in the sidebar

The start page contains this link DatabaseName. If I remove it, I would actually delete the database

Note:

• There are three objects rolled into one here: Database table, view and page
• There is hardly such a thing as a page. E.g., you cannot add other blocks

Add an inline database

In the same situation as before, let's add an inline database

Note that the inline database is also added to the object hierarchy as a standalone database

Create a subpage with an inline database

In the same situation as before, let's add a subpage. I had to do this four times over, for Notion already added a database if I wasn't very deliberate. Note that again, the inline database is also available as a standalone database

Inline & standalone databases are interchangeable

• When you create an inline database, the corresponding standalone database is also created
• Conversely, a standalone database can be converted into a standalone database with just a mouseclick
• Arguably, standalone database and database are quite the same thing. It's just confusing that within Notion, you can't see a database table without an associated view.