4 Great Notion Enhancements in Notion 2.39
Key Takeaways
- Notion has released a handful of UI and UX features in version 2.39.
- You can now import PDFs and Google Docs, and reshuffle your sidebar.
- Notion 2.39 also lets you crop images within the app and has fixed an unexpected sign-out bug.
Find out about all the best new features and enhancements in Notion 2.39. We’ll cover what Notion has introduced, how effective these changes are, and how you can use them. You’ll also find out about some essential platform fixes.
What’s New in Notion 2.39?
Notion 2.39 introduced several new features including the ability to import PDFs and Google Docs. You can also customize project notifications and adjust images within the app.
Importing Google Docs and PDFs Into Notion
One of my biggest annoyances with Notion has been that you couldn’t import PDFs or Google Docs into your pages and workspaces. Now, however, that’s no longer a problem—though you will have to connect your Google account with Notion to import documents.
Importing into your Notion app is very simple:
- Go to the Notion page in which you’d like to import your Google Docs or PDFs.
- Type / on the page.
- Write either Google Docs or PDF without adding a space. When the option appears from the dropdown menu, click on this.
- Choose the document you want to import. Notion will then copy the text into your page.
Project Notification Automations in Notion
If you use Notion for hybrid work or with other people in general, you should check out the 2.39 feature that lets you send automated project notifications. To use these, you’ll need to first set up a database. Once you’ve done that, here’s how to add automation for notifications in Notion:
- Tap the three dots icon at the top of your database. Note that you won’t find this feature from the same icon at the top of your page, so it needs to be next to the database.
- Select Automations when the dropdown menu appears.
- Customize your automation by adding an action in + Add trigger and another in + Add automation. If you use the free version of Notion, you can only send Slack notifications.
Crop Images in Notion
Before Notion 2.39, you had to crop your images outside of the app before then importing them. If you needed to make changes after importing your images, this was frustrating. With the release of Notion 2.39, you can now crop visual content within the app. Here’s how to do that:
- Go to the Notion page where you’ve added the images that you’d like to crop.
- Hover over an image to display a toolbar on the top-right.
- Select the Crop image icon and make your preferred changes.
- Hit the Save button once you’ve finished.
You can only crop pictures that you have imported into the app. When trying to crop photos from Unsplash added within Notion, I was unable to use this feature.
Notion would previously let you change the order of your pages in the left-hand toolbar, but it wasn’t possible to move your favorites, private pages, and so on. You can now do that by clicking on the header of a section and dragging it wherever you want.
If you access other areas of your Notion profile more than the Favorites section, this feature is very helpful. And if you want to get more out of your experience with the app, consider checking out these tools in Notion you might not have heard of.
How Good Are These Changes to Notion 2.39?
Having tried out the new features in Notion 2.39, the most useful feature for most users will probably be reordering sections in the left-hand toolbar. I always found it quite limiting that you could only re-shuffle pages, so it’s good that Notion now offers more flexibility in this respect.
Connecting your Google account may be a little time-consuming, but importing PDFs and Google Docs, and converting them into text on your pages, works very well. The PDF import tool is in Beta as of May 6th, 2024, but it still works fine for most people.
The other additions are simple, but they’re still effective. I don’t like that automated notifications only support Slack on the free plan, but being able to customize these automations with a paid plan might make upgrading worthwhile. I would also like for Notion to expand the cropping feature to images you choose from Unsplash.
Other Useful Things to Know About Notion 2.39
Besides these changes, Notion 2.39 features a streamlined toolbar. Now, you can create new pages directly from this part of the app using the pen and paper icon. Notion also says that it has fixed an annoying problem that caused the app to log users out of their accounts without warning. The company now also lets you filter comments.
In Notion 2.39, your smartphone app will have an “Ask AI Anything” tab at the bottom of the page, so you can access the feature with minimal problems. You will need a Notion AI add-on to use the tool, but it’s worth trying if you already have a subscription.
Notion 2.39’s new features are quite simple, but they make a big difference to the app, which feels more modern. The new interface is even easier to navigate than before, and features like importing documents and cropping images will be helpful to many users.