--- title: "How to build a swipe file in Notion" description: "Set up a swipe file in Notion with a database, a gallery view and the web clipper. Then the honest part: where it stops working, around the few-hundred-row mark." source: https://savepad.app/blog/swipe-file-in-notion --- [Blog](https://savepad.app/blog) · 10 July 2024 # How to build a swipe file in Notion (and where it falls apart) Set up a swipe file in Notion with a database, a gallery view and the web clipper. Then the honest part: where it stops working, around the few-hundred-row mark. *A Notion-style database of swipe file rows next to the same saves as a visual grid in Savepad* **TLDR** - A Notion swipe file is a database with a gallery view, a few properties and the web clipper. You can set it up in 15 minutes. - It works well for small, text-heavy swipe files, especially if your team already lives in Notion. - It gets painful when it’s mostly screenshots, gets past a few hundred rows, or you need the page as it was when you saved it. ## Step 1: make the database 1. New page, call it **Swipe file**. 2. Type `/database` and pick **Database – Full page**. 3. Add these properties: (**Type** (select): Ad, Landing page, Email, Social post, Onboarding, Other., **Brand** (text)., **Tags** (multi-select): whatever you’ll filter by. `#pricing`, `#dark-mode`, `#good-copy`., **URL** (URL)., **Why I saved it** (text). This one matters more than the others.) ## Step 2: add a gallery view 1. Click **+** next to the default table view and add a **Gallery**. 2. Under **Card preview**, pick **Page content** or **Files & media**, so the screenshot shows on the card. 3. Set **Card size** to Medium. Small is too small to read an ad. Now it looks like a swipe file instead of a spreadsheet. ## Step 3: getting things in - **The Notion Web Clipper** (a browser extension) saves the current page into your database. It keeps the URL and a copy of the text, not a screenshot. - **Screenshots**: paste them straight into a new row. ⌘ + Shift + 4 on a Mac, Windows + Shift + S on Windows. - **Emails**: forward-to-Notion isn’t built in, so it’s copy and paste, or a screenshot. ## Step 4: views that make it useful - **By type**: a gallery filtered to Type = Ad, another for Landing page. - **Recent**: sorted by Created time, newest first. - **Unsorted**: filtered to Tags is empty, so you know what still needs a label. That’s a perfectly decent swipe file. If yours stays small, and it’s shared with a team who already use Notion, you might never need anything else. ## Where it falls apart *A screenshot of an order confirmation screen* 0273 · screenshot · words stuck in the image *A mock pricing page for a fictional SaaS, Lumen* 0370 · lumen.io · pricing · since redesigned *A mock onboarding step for a fictional SaaS, Northwind* 0467 · onboarding · 4 screens The three kinds of save that give a Notion swipe file a hard time: a screenshot, a page that later got redesigned, and a multi-step onboarding flow. - **Search doesn’t read your screenshots.** A swipe file is mostly images. Search “SSO add-on” and Notion finds titles and text you typed, not the words inside the pricing table you screenshotted. - **It keeps the link, not the page.** The clipper saves text. When the pricing page gets redesigned, your row points at the new one. - **Galleries get slow.** A few hundred image-heavy rows and the gallery view starts to crawl. - **No order.** An onboarding flow is five screens in a sequence. In Notion that’s five rows you hope stay sorted. - **Nobody tags consistently.** `#pricing`, `#Pricing`, `#price-page`. Multi-select lets everyone make their own. ## When to move it If your Notion swipe file is mostly screenshots nobody can search, or it’s past the point where the gallery is pleasant to scroll, that’s when a tool built for it earns its place. The [Notion comparison](https://savepad.app/compare/notion) goes through it row by row, including what Notion does better. Savepad takes the Notion export as a CSV: export the database, import the file, and it fetches every link again with a fresh preview and a full-page snapshot. Then every screenshot gets read with OCR, so the words inside them are searchable. Starting from scratch? The [swipe file template](https://savepad.app/blog/swipe-file-template) has a folder structure that works in any tool, Notion included. And if you’re still deciding whether you need one at all, [what is a swipe file](https://savepad.app/blog/what-is-a-swipe-file) covers the basics. [Join the waitlist](https://savepad.app/#waitlist) ## Read these next - [How designers keep a swipe file without it becoming a Pinterest board: A design swipe file that stays useful: save whole pages, keep the fonts and colours, sort by what you'll need, and find things by colour and text.](https://savepad.app/blog/design-swipe-file) - [How to use the Meta Ad Library to see every ad your competitors run: Search any brand's live Facebook and Instagram ads, spot the ones that are working, and save them before they get switched off.](https://savepad.app/blog/meta-ad-library) - [The best swipe file tools, honestly compared: Foreplay, Swipewell, Notion, Savee, mymind, Raindrop and Savepad, compared honestly: who each one is for, what it does better than the rest, and what it costs.](https://savepad.app/blog/best-swipe-file-tools)