How to Use Notion AI: Summarize, Draft, and Automate With Your Agent

What Notion AI Offers

Notion AI is built into the Notion workspace. You can summarize blocks or whole pages, fix spelling and grammar, translate, brainstorm ideas, and draft text (emails, posts, outlines). In 2025, Notion Agent extends this: it can create and edit databases from descriptions, ingest and analyze PDFs, create and edit multiple pages, and search or analyze content across connected tools and the web. You open Notion AI from the circular face icon in the bottom-right of the workspace or from the Notion AI tab in the sidebar. A free trial is available; then a paid add-on or plan is required.

Summarizing and Extracting Key Points

Select the text you want to summarize (a paragraph, a section, or a full page) and click the AI icon or use the AI menu. Choose "Summarize" to get a shorter version. Use this for long meeting notes, research, or specs so you can skim quickly. You can also ask in natural language: "What are the main action items?" or "List the key decisions." The answer is based on the selected content. For databases, you can use AI properties to auto-generate summaries of each row.

Writing and Fixing Text

Select existing text and use Notion AI to "Fix spelling and grammar" or "Improve writing." You can also ask for a different tone (e.g., more formal or shorter). To draft new content, place the cursor where you want text, open the AI menu, and choose "Write" or describe what you need (e.g., "Draft a short email declining the meeting and suggesting a call next week"). Notion AI inserts a draft you can edit. Use it for blog posts, captions, and outlines; always review and adjust the output.

Brainstorming and Lists

Use the AI to generate ideas: "Give me 10 name ideas for a coffee shop" or "List possible topics for a team retrospective." You can ask for pros and cons, comparison points, or step-by-step plans. The result appears in the page; you can turn it into a list, table, or checklist. This works well for planning, naming, and quick ideation without leaving Notion.

Notion Agent (2025)

The Notion Agent is an AI teammate that can do multi-step tasks. Describe what you want in plain language (e.g., "Create a database of project leads with columns for name, company, status, and next step") and the Agent can build and edit the database. You can give it PDFs to ingest and extract key information, or ask it to create and edit several pages at once. It can also search and analyze content across your workspace and connected integrations. Start from the Agent section in Notion; the more specific your instructions, the better the result. You can rate responses (e.g., thumbs up or down) to improve future behavior.

Where Notion AI Appears

You can trigger AI from the AI button in the block menu, from the sidebar, or by selecting text. It works in any page or database. On mobile, use the same entry points where the AI option is available in your plan. Notion AI only uses the content you select or the pages the Agent is allowed to access; it does not train on your data for other users' models, per Notion's policy.

Tips for Better Results

Be specific: "Summarize in three bullet points" works better than "Summarize." For the Agent, describe the structure you want (e.g., "A table with columns X, Y, Z") and any rules (e.g., "Status can only be Draft, In Review, or Done"). Break large requests into smaller steps so you can correct direction early. Use summaries and drafts as starting points, not final copy, especially for important or external communication.

What to Do Next

In a test page, summarize a long note and draft one email with Notion AI. Then try the Agent: create a small database from a short description or upload one PDF and ask the Agent to extract key points. See how it fits into your daily notes and project pages.