Optimize database load times and performance

We’re always working to improve your experience with Notion, and we appreciate your feedback and patience. If your databases aren’t feeling very fast when you use them, there are a few reasons why this might be happening, and a few ways you can make improvements.

• Number of pages: If your database has a ton of pages, it might be slower to load.

• Number of properties: The more visible properties your database has, the longer it might take to load.

• Complex sorts and filters: If your database has a sort or filter on properties like title, text, formula, or rollup, the logic behind it can make load times longer.

If you have a large workspace, avoid having lots of inline databases, like dashboards, in high-traffic pages. The more simultaneously viewed databases, the more stress on your setup.

Try housing each database in its own page first. Once you’ve done that, if you’d like all of the databases to be displayed in one page, you can:

1. Type /linked in that page and select Linked view of a database to create a linked database.

2. Create database views in this linked database and configure them to point to your desired source databases. Different database views can point to different source databases!

When using a single linked database, only one database view is open at a time, and therefore only that one database is listening for updates. You should see an improvement in performance with this setup.

Formulas and rollups are extremely powerful, but the more complex they are, the slower your database may be. For example, a formula that depends on several other formulas that each depend on rollups may take longer to calculate.

Databases that are filtered and sorted on formula and rollup properties may take a bit longer to load.

Adding filters based on simple properties such as select, multi-select, status, number, and date may improve the speed of your database. Even if you have complex filters, this may help by reducing the number of pages that need to be processed.

If some properties are less important in your database view, hiding them may improve responsiveness and interactivity.

We suggest removing any unnecessary or duplicative pages from your database to keep it as simple and up-to-date as possible. If that’s not an option for you, adding a filter on the Created time property to filter out old pages may significantly improve performance for very large databases.