Notion is a blank canvas. This can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you embrace the freedom, some questions soon follow... things like: 'How should I layout my pages?', 'How do I format page sections?' and perhaps, 'How do I create columns?'.
Creating columns in Notion used to be a tricky matter of dragging blocks side by side. I say tricky, because it wasn't always so simple... you used to be restricted in where you could and couldn't have multi-column layouts, and it all got a bit finnicky.
The good news? Now, Notion has its own native 'columns' formatting option (which you can find in the '/' command menu) and this lets you create as many columns as you like, anywhere in your Notion pages.
How to create columns in Notion
- Navigate to the page area you'd like to insert new columns into;
- Make sure you start a fresh empty block, then type '/';
- Scroll down to select 'Columns' or start typing 'columns' and it will show in your pop-up menu;
- Select the number of columns you'd like to spawn; then
- Drag blocks into your columns layout; and
- Resize those columns using the vertical divider bar that appears on hover.
Take a look at this Scribe for a click-by-click walk-through of the above.
Creating columns by dragging in Notion
While Notion does have this handy formatting columns option, it isn't always the quickest way to create columns in Notion.
One shortcut is to simply drag blocks next to one another.
Say, for example, you want to create a two-column layout;
Simply drag a block from one area of your Notion project and hover it next to another block. When the blue vertical line outline appears, let go and you'll see that both blocks will be placed side by side in a single row - this is essentially creating columns.
You can also resize columns this way by clicking and dragging the vertical divider bar.
Notion Column Width
You can drag and resize columns within Notion by dragging the vertical outline bar from side to side. Unfortunately, there is some pre-configured default padding which you can't change within columns.
So, if you wanted to get two columns' content truly side-by-side, you won't have full control over the distance between them--as this is a preset feature within Notion.
Notion vertical divider bar
When you create columns, there's no persistent vertical divider to show the gap. You'll only see the option to drag and resize columns when you hover over the space between them.
This is typically a good thing as it removes visual noise from your setups--but if you did want a visual dividing line, as of right now there's no neat way of doing so (not in the same way you can create horizontal dividers, at least).
So, to recap, you can create columns in Notion in two ways:
- By using Notion's native formatting option from the / menu; and
- By dragging blocks next to one another on the page canvas.
Get creative with how you layout your Notion pages, and if you're looking for some more Notion page layout ideas, be sure to check out this article (with templates) here.
