How do I use Notion offline?

Working offline with Notion requires careful preparation, but it's entirely achievable once you understand the setup process. While the platform doesn't support offline functionality in web browsers, the desktop and mobile apps offer robust offline capabilities that can keep your productivity flowing even when internet connectivity isn't available. The key lies in proactively enabling offline access for the pages you'll need and understanding both the strengths and limitations of this feature.

Setting up offline access follows a straightforward process across both desktop and mobile platforms. On your desktop app, navigate to any page you want available offline, click the three dots in the top-right corner, and toggle "Available offline." Wait for the download to complete before moving to the next page. The mobile process mirrors this approach—open your desired page, tap the menu, enable offline availability, and confirm the sync completion notification. You'll need to repeat this for each important page and sub-page, as Notion only makes explicitly selected content available offline.

The offline experience provides about 65-75% of Notion's core functionality, including text editing, basic formatting, and simple database operations. You can create new pages, modify existing content, and work with the first 50 rows of database views. However, advanced features like Notion AI, file uploads, complex database relationships, and sharing capabilities remain unavailable until you reconnect. This limitation means you'll want to plan your offline work around core content creation and editing tasks rather than collaborative or media-heavy projects.

Storage considerations become important for extensive offline use, with typical pages requiring 500KB to 2MB of local storage each. Database-heavy workspaces might need 100MB to 500MB for comprehensive offline access. Once you reconnect, Notion automatically syncs your changes, though conflicts can arise if multiple users edit the same content offline simultaneously.

The most significant challenge involves the advance planning required—you can't simply decide to work offline without prior setup. Additionally, the 50-row limit for databases and the inability to access linked pages not explicitly downloaded can create workflow interruptions. Despite these constraints, Notion's offline mode delivers reliable performance for prepared users, offering near-instant loading and responsive editing that can actually feel faster than working online.