How to Set Up Seven Linked Notion Databases Without Watching a Tutorial

Qi Chen — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:16:06 +0000

The tutorial problem is not that videos are bad. It is that you cannot skim them at the moment you are stuck — and the moment you are stuck is always the same one: you imported seven databases and now nothing links to anything.

This is the order that works, written so you can follow it in one pass. It assumes the databases come as CSV files — any Notion client, project and invoice kit ships that way, because CSV is the only import format that gives you ownership rather than a shareable link somebody can revoke.

Why the order matters

Notion's CSV import is literal. It guesses what each column is, and it guesses badly in a predictable direction:

Dates become text. They look like dates, sort like text, and break every formula that expects a date.
Numbers become text. Same problem, with currency symbols making it worse.
Relations cannot be imported at all. A CSV has no way to say "this row points at that row in another database."
Formulas are not imported either. They reference properties that do not exist yet at import time.

So the sequence is forced: import, fix types, create relations, add formulas, build views. Do it in any other order and you will redo work.

Step 1 — Import one database at a time

Not seven at once. One database, checked, then the next. The checking is the part that saves the hour: open the imported table, look at the property types in the header row, and confirm each one is what you expect.

Import order that avoids dead ends: Clients → Projects → Tasks → Proposals → Invoices → Leads → Weekly Reviews. Clients first because almost every relation points at it; Projects second because tasks, proposals and invoices all point at it.

Step 2 — Fix property types before anything else

This is the step people skip, and it is the reason their formulas show errors later. For each database, set the types explicitly:

Column kind	Set the type to	Watch for
A date	Date	Text dates will not sort chronologically
Money or hours	Number → currency or number format	Remove symbols from the cell first
A status or stage	Select	Create the options now, not later
A link to another table	Leave as text for now	Relations are step 3

The money column deserves a warning: $4,800 imports as text. Strip the symbol and the comma, keep the number, then set the format in Notion. Doing it the other way round produces a column that looks right and calculates nothing.

Step 3 — Create relations once all seven exist

Now, and only now, convert the text columns into relations. A relation needs the target database to exist, which is why this cannot happen during import.

The relations that make the system worth having:

Projects → Clients (many projects, one client)
Tasks → Projects
Proposals → Clients and Proposals → Projects
Invoices → Clients and Invoices → Projects
Weekly Reviews → Projects (optional, but it is what makes the review answer questions)

Two rules while you are here. Turn on the back-relation for each one — it is how you open a client and see their projects, proposals and invoices in one place instead of four tabs. And keep the relation single-direction where the reverse adds no information; every unnecessary relation is another property to maintain by hand.

Step 4 — Add the formulas last

Formulas go in after the relations, because most of them read across one. Four do the real work in this kind of kit:

Hours Over — actual hours minus estimated hours. Positive means the project is paying below your rate.
Effective Rate — fee divided by actual hours. The number that decides whether you take the next similar job.
Days Overdue — today minus the due date, blank when the invoice is paid.
Days Silent — days since the last contact, so silence becomes visible instead of felt.

Notion's formula syntax changes occasionally, and a formula copied from an older guide will fail without telling you why. If one returns an error, check the property names it references first — a renamed property is the usual cause, and the fix is a rename, not a rewrite.

Step 5 — Build four views, not eight

Views are cheap to make and expensive to maintain, so start with the four that answer questions:

Pipeline by stage — what is live, what is waiting, what is dead.
Money Leak — projects where actual hours exceed the estimate, sorted by the gap.
Unpaid — invoices not marked paid, sorted by days overdue.
This week — tasks and next actions with a date in the next seven days.

Add the rest once you have used these four for a fortnight and know what is missing. Views you do not open are not a system; they are decoration.

Step 6 — Put real data in, on day one

A kit with demo rows in it teaches you nothing, because demo rows never have the awkward cases. Open your current projects and enter them: the estimated hours you quoted, the actual hours you know you have spent, the invoices that are outstanding.

This takes about twenty minutes and it is the moment the system starts paying for itself. It is also the moment most people discover a project that is already in the red — usually the one they were least worried about.

Step 7 — Pick one review time and keep it

The databases do not review themselves. One slot a week, twenty minutes, same morning: look at the Money Leak view, the Unpaid view, and the pipeline. Three questions: what moved, what is leaking, what am I doing about it this week.

That is the whole system. The rest is maintenance.

The mistakes that cost the most

Importing everything, then fixing types. You will re-import at least once.
Creating relations as the databases arrive. You cannot link to a table that does not exist yet.
Adding formulas before relations. They will error, and you will blame the formula.
Building twenty views. You will use four.
Leaving the demo data in. You will mistake invented numbers for your own.

None of these is a Notion problem. They are sequencing problems, and the sequence above is the whole fix.

This note describes a setup method. It claims no time savings, and the failure modes described are behaviours of Notion's CSV import, not observations of specific projects.

Full version and more notes: consultant-stack.netlify.app

DEV Community: Qi Chen