What is a text property in Notion?

A text property in Notion is a database field type that stores free-form strings of characters—essentially any text, numbers, symbols, or punctuation you type into it. This fundamental building block serves as your go-to solution for capturing unstructured information like descriptions, notes, comments, or any flexible data that doesn't fit into more specialized property types. Understanding how text properties work can significantly enhance your database organization and content management within Notion.

Text properties function as flexible columns in your Notion databases, appearing across all view types including tables, galleries, boards, and calendars. You can edit them directly by clicking into any cell and typing, making data entry incredibly straightforward. What makes them particularly valuable is their versatility—they accept any character input without validation, allowing you to store everything from project descriptions to manual tags or qualitative feedback in a single field type.

The practical applications for text properties are extensive and adaptable to various workflows. You might use them to add context to project entries, store open-ended survey responses, create custom commentary fields, or capture detailed notes that don't require structured formatting. They also integrate well with Notion's formula system, allowing you to reference and concatenate text values to create dynamic summary fields. Additionally, text properties can be automatically populated using Notion's AI features to summarize content or extract key details from other parts of your workspace.

However, text properties do come with important limitations to consider. Since they don't enforce data formats, you might encounter consistency issues when multiple people contribute to your database—think varying date formats or inconsistent category names. They also can't perform calculations, so storing numbers in text properties means you won't be able to sum, average, or chart that data effectively. For those use cases, dedicated number or date property types would serve you better.

To add a text property to your database, simply click the "+" button at the end of your columns, select "Text" from the property menu, and give it a descriptive name. Consider adding a property description using the tooltip feature to help team members understand the field's intended purpose. Text properties represent the perfect balance between flexibility and functionality, making them an essential tool for organizing information that doesn't fit neatly into more structured categories.