Folders of files in Notion?

We are all familiar with the concept of "folders" as they effectively group and organize our files. This concept has been around for quite some time, not only on desktop operating systems like Windows (Windows Files Explorer) or Mac (Finder app) but also on mobile devices.

Although we can store files in Notion, the service doesn't provide a dedicated tool to create "folders" by default. On the other hand, it does offer building blocks that can be utilized to organize files. Let's explore one of it, Notion Databases.

Databases have their entries, similar to how folders have their files. We could simply create a database of files, like below:

Visually, it's quite close to Finder ir Files Explorer, but there are a couple of limitations worth raising:

• Adding files to Notion is a manual task that can become tedious quite rapidly, especially when dealing with a large number of files.
• File size limits: As a non-paid user, you can upload files up to 5MB in size. For higher plans (starting from the Plus Plan), the limit is increased to approximately 5GB. However, it is advisable to avoid exceeding approximately 3GB, as unofficial sources suggest doing so may lead to hazardous errors.
• No direct link to files is available. While it's not a big deal for media files as they can be opened in a new tab, there is an issue with custom file types. Let's consider a Photoshop project as an example. You won't be able to access it quickly from Notion. Instead of opening it directly in the Photoshop app, your browser will prompt you to choose a download location.
• Security is a crucial concern when it comes to file uploads. There are instances where you may prefer not to upload your files to Notion's cloud services.

From this perspective, managing folders in Notion may seem counter-intuitive. However, there is a way to address these issues and make the concept of folder management in Notion more sensible.

The Files to Notion integration can effectively address all the aforementioned limitations:

• It reflects your folder of files as a Notion database.
• It doesn't force you to upload your files to the cloud; everything stays on your local machine.
• It allows you to open your local files directly from Notion.
• It efficiently synchronizes a multitude of files for you in just minutes.

A view of the app is presented below. On the left-hand side, you will find a list of your folder files, while on the right-hand side, there are entries from the Notion Database.

Here's an effect of synchronizing a directory with Files to Notion in under a minute:

You can learn more about the Files to Notion features here. It is free to use: