Notion

Guide for connecting Notion to Synci. Synci writes your transactions and balances into databases in your own Notion workspace, as a plain database or as the ready-made Synci Finance template.

Written By Matias

Last updated About 1 hour ago

With Notion, Synci writes your transactions, and optionally your balances, into databases in your own Notion workspace. You can start from a plain database, attach one you already have, or use the ready-made Synci Finance template. Notion works through linked accounts, just like Google Sheets.

Connecting your Notion workspace

In Synci, open Integrations in the sidebar, click All integrations, and click Connect on the Notion card. If you have pinned Notion, it is right there in the sidebar.
Click New connection, then Connect. You are taken to Notion.
On Notion's consent screen, choose what Synci may use: pick the pages Synci can write to, or duplicate the Synci template to start with a ready-made finance dashboard.
After approving, you are returned to Synci and see Your Notion workspace is connected.

Synci can only see the pages and databases you share with it. Everything else in your workspace stays invisible to Synci.

If you duplicated the template, Synci finds its databases automatically and adds them to your connection. You'll see Synci Finance template detected. when that happens.

Adding a database

Open your Notion connection and click Add database. You have two options:

Create under a page: Synci creates a new database under a page you shared with it. The title defaults to Synci Transactions, and you can change it under Title in Notion (optional). If the page already holds Synci databases, for example the Synci template or a set Synci created earlier, Synci adopts them instead of creating a second set. If you connected with the template, you can leave Parent page (optional) empty to create the database inside your template page.
Attach existing: pick a database you already have. Synci adds the properties it needs and never removes yours.

You can also give the database a Name in Synci (optional). You can add as many databases as you like to one connection, and link the same account to several of them.

Two layouts

Every Notion database in Synci uses one of two layouts. You can see which one on the database's About tab, under Layout.

Flat database

One transactions database with the properties you choose. When you link an account with balances, Synci creates two more databases next to it, on the same page:

Accounts: one page per linked account with its current balances.
Balance History: a dated record of balances over time.

Synci Finance template

The template you can duplicate on Notion's consent screen. Its transactions database is connected to Accounts, Categories and Months databases, which Synci fills as transactions sync, plus Balance History for balances. Each transaction gets:

Date, Amount, Currency, Description and Booked.
Type: Income or Expense by the sign of the amount, or Transfer when it is a move between your own accounts.
Account and Month: links to the matching pages in Accounts and Months.
Merchant and Category: filled from transaction enrichment, when it is switched on for the account. Without enrichment, these stay empty and you can fill them in yourself.

Each page in the template's Accounts database shows the institution, account type, cleared and available balance, currency and when it last synced. The Include in net worth checkbox is yours: Synci sets it once when it creates the page and never changes it afterwards.

Choosing your properties

For a flat database, you decide which transaction fields become properties.

The defaults cover the basics: account ID and name, date, payee, description, amount, currency, and whether the transaction is booked. The page title is always the payee, or the description when there is no payee.
You can add almost anything Synci knows about a transaction: counterparty details, remittance info, bank codes, FX rates, enriched merchant and category, and more (the same fields you use in rules and Google Sheets).
Pick your properties under Customize properties when you add the database, or later on the database's Settings tab.
New properties apply to future transactions. Pages that already exist keep their current values and are not backfilled.
Synci ID is always written. Synci uses it to avoid duplicates.

Amounts are written as numbers, dates as dates and the booked status as a checkbox, so you can sum, filter, sort and chart your data in Notion right away.

A Synci Finance template keeps its own fixed set of properties. On its Settings tab you can add Extra properties on top.

Linking a financial account

Nothing syncs until you link an account to a database.

Open the database in Synci and click Link Account. You can also start from the account's side; see Linking accounts to destinations.
Choose what to send: Transactions only, Transactions & balance, or Balance only.
Transactions start flowing in, respecting your transfer start date and any rules, exactly like other destinations. To change what gets written for one link, add rules to it: Creating rules.

How syncing works

Each transaction becomes one page in the transactions database.
Notion limits how fast pages can be created, so a big first import completes over several sync runs. If your history is long, give it a little time.
When a pending transaction books, Synci updates its page in place. What gets updated follows the linked account's On booked change settings: Update status, Update payee, Update description and Update amount. Updating the payee also updates the page title.
Before creating a page, Synci checks the database for the transaction's Synci ID. If the transaction is already there, Synci doesn't create it again and the transfer is logged as skipped, with the message Skipped: this transaction is already present in Notion database followed by the database name. See Transfer logs.
With balances switched on, Synci keeps each account's page in the Accounts database up to date (cleared balance, available balance and last synced date) and adds new rows to Balance History over time.

Editing your database safely

The databases are yours. Add your own properties, views, formulas and pages freely. A few things keep syncing smooth:

Rename properties whenever you like. Synci keeps track of the properties it writes even after you rename them.
Keep the Synci ID property and its values. Synci uses it to recognise transactions it has already written.
If you delete a property Synci writes, or change its type, Synci adds it back on the next sync. If its name is already taken by a property of another type, the new one is called the same name followed by (Synci).
Synci never removes or changes your own properties.

Your privacy

Synci only ever accesses the pages and databases you share with it. Removing a database or a connection in Synci just stops syncing: the databases stay in your Notion workspace.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What it means and how to fix it
Your page or database doesn't appear when adding a database, or the picker says no pages or databases are shared with Synci yet	Synci can only list what you have shared with it. In Notion, open the page's ... menu, choose Connections and add Synci. To attach a database, share the database itself or the page it lives in. You can also reconnect and pick the pages on Notion's consent screen. Then search again in Synci.
"Synci does not have access to that page or database."	The page or database is not shared with Synci. Share it as described above, then try again.
"That page or database could not be found."	It may have been deleted, or it is no longer shared with Synci. Restore it in Notion or share it again.
"Balances cannot be written to this database"	The database sits at the top level of your workspace instead of inside a page, so Synci has nowhere to create the Accounts and Balance History databases. Transactions still sync. For balances, use Create under a page, or attach a database that lives inside a page, and link the account there.
"Previously used by Synci" when attaching a database	The database may already be connected elsewhere, for example through another Notion connection. If both stay active, transactions may be duplicated. Disable or delete the other connection first.
"This page holds too much content to scan for existing Synci databases."	Pick a smaller page or a subpage as the parent page.
"Synci lost access to this workspace"	Synci's authorization is no longer valid. Click Reconnect on the connection. Your databases and linked accounts are kept.
"Notion is rate limiting requests for this workspace."	Notion is temporarily slowing requests down. Wait a few minutes and try again.

FAQ

Can I sync to more than one database? Yes. Add as many databases as you like and link different accounts to each.

Can I use a database I already have? Yes. Choose Attach existing when adding a database. Synci adds the properties it needs and leaves yours alone.

Why are new properties empty on older pages? New properties apply to future transactions only. Pages that already exist keep their current values.

Why are Merchant and Category empty in my template? They come from transaction enrichment. Switch enrichment on for the account to fill them for new transactions.

If I disconnect Notion, is my data deleted? No. Removing the connection or a database in Synci just stops syncing. Everything Synci wrote stays in your Notion workspace.

Was this helpful?

Still need help? Ask the team