Hey — it's Rames
It's Thursday. Writing in advance cuz I'll be enjoying Lisbon for a few days until you receive this. I could have skipped a week, but I'm committed. I'm committed to you, to the Notion ecosystem, and moreover, committed to my 37-week streak of sending a newsletter every Tuesday 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
3 Tips
1/ Concatenate two dates into a timeframe
In last week's newsletter, I showed you how to use a Timeline view with two separate dates (start date and end date). While useful in specific cases, you may also be interested in combining two dates into one timeframe, i.e., a date with a start and an end. This can be achieved using a formula called dateRange().
The formula:
dateRange(prop("Start"),prop("End"))
2/ Extract everything before a specific character
One of my clients maintained a simple table to track metrics weekly. The objective was to transform this table into an easy-to-read database.
However, we faced a challenge: the date format, "March 12 - 19", could not be converted into a date property since Notion doesn't support this format. Notion prefers the format "March 12, 2023".
So, my goal was to find a way to retain only the first part of the date, that is, to extract the data before the "-" character. Fortunately, there's a formula for that:
replaceAll(prop("Date"), "-.*", "")
After formatting all the start dates, I simply copied and pasted these into a Date property, making sure to include the year. Then, using the dateRange() function we discussed earlier, I extended these dates by 7 days to create a full week date range.
I loove when Notion formulas saves me a ton of manual labor 🤓
3/ Retrieve the quarter from a date
Now, I needed to group the previous database by quarter and year. Instead of doing this manually, I found a formula to achieve this.
To be clear, I didn't create this formula. I found it on Red Gregory’s excellent blog and made a few tweaks.
if(month(dateStart(prop("Start Date"))) < 4, "Q1 - " + year(prop("Start Date")), if(month(dateStart(prop("Start Date"))) < 7, "Q2 - " + year(prop("Start Date")), if(month(dateStart(prop("Start Date"))) < 10, "Q3 - " + year(prop("Start Date")), if(month(dateStart(prop("Start Date"))) < 13, "Q4 - " + year(prop("Start Date")), ""))))
It might seem intimidating, but it's simply the same process repeated four times, once for each quarter. The formula essentially determines the month from the date, and identifies the range it falls within. For instance, if it falls within the 4 to 7 range, it's Q2. I've also included the year by using the simple year() formula.
2 Resources
1/ Notion x Rows
Notion is now integrated with Rows! For those who have never heard about them, Rows is "the spreadsheet where data comes to life", i.e., a modern alternative to Google Sheets. You get the same formulas and shortcuts, but with better charts, buttons, and ease of use.
With this new integration, you can:
- analyze and transform your data
- build reports
- embed your charts right back into your Notion workspace
Access now
2/ Notion Security & Compliance
Quick nerdy update: Notion also now integrates with security and compliance platforms such as Panther, Splunk, Datadog, Sumo Logic, Polymer, and Nightfall AI.
Find more information in Notion’s integration gallery.
