Notion Templates: Make, Import and Repeat Them (Limits by Plan)

A database template stays inside its own database

Notion's help page says each template is specific to the database where you create it. Other databases do not get it. You can create as many templates as you want, so a Meetings database can hold a weekly-sync template and a client-call template side by side.

To make one, open the dropdown arrow next to the New button at the top right of the database and choose + New template. The title you give the template becomes its name. Use it by picking it from the dropdown beside the blue New button, or from the gray menu on a new page, then give each page its own title.

What a template can preset

A template can fill in property values ahead of time. Notion's own example is a Priority property set to P1. You can also add content such as images, embeds and sub-pages, so every new page starts with the same skeleton.

One warning from the same page: avoid filling in relation properties unless every page made from the template should link to the same page or pages. A pre-filled relation is copied to each new page, which is rarely what people want.

• Property values, for example Priority = P1.
• Body content: images, embeds, sub-pages.
• The ... menu beside a template lets you edit, duplicate or delete it.

Repeating templates and the daily nesting rule

A repeating template creates a new page on a schedule: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Open the ... menu next to the template, open the Repeat dropdown, then choose the interval, start date and time.

Nesting has two rules worth knowing. A template cannot be nested inside a daily-repeating template, but it can be nested inside weekly, monthly or yearly ones. Each database template supports up to three levels of nesting. If a stand-up note needs a daily copy, keep it flat.

A worked example: a weekly review for one year

Say you make a template called Weekly review in a database named Reviews. You set Status to Draft and add 3 sub-pages: Wins, Blockers and Next week. Then you set Repeat to weekly, starting on a Monday at 08:00.

That is 1 template, 3 sub-pages and 1 schedule, and it produces about 52 pages in a year. The Free plan keeps page history for 7 days, so older versions of those pages will not be recoverable once a week has passed, while the Plus plan keeps 30 days.

Importing a file: 5 MB on Free, 50 MB on paid

Imports are available on desktop and web, and Notion's help page notes they are not on mobile yet. Go to Settings > Import, or type / on a page and search for the importer. Choose an app or file type, upload the file, and follow progress under Settings > Import in the In progress and Complete tabs.

Direct file types are .txt, Markdown (.md), Word (.docx), CSV, HTML, PDF and ZIP. For a CSV, you map each column to a property during import.

• Word, HTML, text and Markdown, CSV and Google Docs: 5 MB on Free, 50 MB on paid plans.
• PDF: 5 MB on Free, 20 MB on paid plans.
• ZIP: 5 GB per ZIP on all plans.
• Several files at once: PDF, HTML, Markdown, Word and plain text. CSV and ZIP use separate flows.

Bulk imports have their own ceilings

HTML and text or Markdown imports are limited to about 120 file imports per 12 hours. A ZIP holding 10,000 or more files will likely fail or import only in part. Notion says Evernote imports are reliable up to about 5,000 notes, and Trello imports handle about 5,000 cards per board and up to 10 boards at a time.

If you are moving a large folder of notes, split it into several ZIP files under those numbers instead of sending one.

Plan limits that touch templates

Notion's pricing page (shown in euros when read on 2026-11-01) lists Free at 0, Plus at 9.50 and Business at 19.50 per member per month, with Enterprise on custom terms. It says you can save up to 20% with yearly billing, but it does not show the yearly figures.

Single file uploads are capped at 5 MB on Free and 5 GB on Plus, Business and Enterprise. Page history reaches back 7 days on Free, 30 on Plus and 90 on Business. For Free workspaces with 2 or more members, the page says the block count is limited but gives no number, so no figure is quoted here. Students and educators get Plus free, limited to 1 member.

Common mistakes with templates

The first mistake is building a template in one database and looking for it in another. It will not be there. The second is nesting a template under a daily repeat, which Notion does not allow. The third is uploading a 12 MB PDF on the Free plan, where the limit is 5 MB.

Deleting is also less final than it looks. Deleted pages stay in Trash for 30 days, then are kept for 30 more days before they become inaccessible to everyone, including workspace owners. Notion saves a version every 10 minutes while you edit, and once more two minutes after your last edit.

Who this suits and who should look elsewhere

Database templates suit anyone who creates the same kind of page more than once a month: meeting notes, bug reports, weekly reviews. They suit less well a one-off document, where copying the page is quicker.

Notion's help pages on templates do not give steps for duplicating a shared public template into your workspace, and the template gallery page could not be opened when I checked, so this guide does not describe those steps. If you are staring at an import error right now, Crade can read the screen and explain what it says.