You can use Notion on your Mac or PC as a downloadable desktop application. Here's what you need to know 🖥️
Jump to FAQsWhy use the desktop app?
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.
New Tab Search
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:
Go to
Settings
→My settings
.Toggle off
New Tab Search
. If this setting is toggled off, new tabs will display the default page specified in theOpen on start
setting.
Command Search
On desktop, you can use search and 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
Settings
→My settings
→ toggle offEnable Command Search
. You can also turn offShow Notion in Menu Bar
or customize yourCommand 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
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.
Download the app
Mac desktop app
To get the Mac desktop app, go to notion.so/desktop and click
Download for macOS
.Open the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install Notion.
Open the Notion app and log in using your email.
Windows desktop app
To get the Windows desktop app, go to notion.so/desktop and click
Download for Windows
.Open the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install Notion.
Open the Notion app and log in using your email.
Update the desktop app
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 clickCheck for Updates
.On Windows: Click
File
in the menu bar and clickCheck for Updates
. If you can’t see your menu bar, try pressingalt
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 withcmd/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.
System requirements
See our system requirements for desktop here →
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 shortcutcmd/ctrl
+r
.
How do I automatically open Notion links in the desktop app?
Click on
Settings & members
in your sidebar.Select
My settings
.Toggle on
Open links in desktop app
.