A Masterclass in Notion Relations: How to Connect Your Entire Freelance Workspace

I'll be honest with you: for the first six months of using Notion, I was doing it all wrong.

I had a beautiful Projects database. A perfectly organized Tasks list. A sleek Client tracker. Each one color-coded, filtered, and formatted to perfection. I felt productive just looking at them.

But here's what my typical workday looked like: I'd open a task called "Design homepage mockup," then manually navigate to my Projects database to remember which client it was for. Then I'd jump to my Client database to find their brand colors. Then back to Tasks to actually start working.

I was playing database hopscotch. Every. Single. Day.

I knew my tasks existed. I knew my projects existed. But they lived on separate islands, and I was the exhausted ferry operator shuttling information between them.

The breakthrough came when I finally understood one concept: Notion Relations. This single feature transformed my scattered databases into a living, breathing system where everything talks to each other.

When I linked my first task to a project, something clicked. Suddenly, I could see all project tasks directly from the project page. No searching. No guessing. No ferry rides.

That's what this guide is about. I'm going to show you exactly how to build those bridges between your databases, starting with the simplest possible connection and building up to a fully integrated workspace. By the end, you'll have a system where your clients, projects, tasks, invoices, and everything else flow together seamlessly.

Ready to stop playing database hopscotch? Let's dive in.

What Even Are Notion Relations? (The Simple Explanation)

Before we start clicking buttons, let's demystify what Relations actually do.

Think of your phone's Contacts app. You have a contact named "Sarah Chen." Sarah works at "Acme Design Studio." Your phone doesn't make you retype "Acme Design Studio" every time you add a new contact who works there. Instead, it creates a link: Sarah → Acme Design Studio.

When you tap on Sarah's contact, you see where she works. When you look at Acme Design Studio, you see all the people who work there. One connection, two-way visibility.

That's exactly what Notion Relations do.

A Relation is a property that creates a living link between entries in two databases. It eliminates the need to manually type the same information twice and creates the foundation for powerful automation using Rollups and Formulas.

The magic? Notion handles the two-way connection automatically. You create it once, and both sides stay in sync forever.

This is the feature that transforms Notion from "a nice note-taking app" into "the single source of truth for my entire business."

Your First Connection: Linking Projects to Tasks (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Let's build your first Relation together. We'll connect a Tasks database to a Projects database—the most practical starting point for any freelancer.

Step 1: Set Up Your Two Databases

First, you need two databases to connect. If not, let's create simple versions using Notion's modern properties:

Projects Database:

• Create a new database titled "Projects."
• Add a Status property. This dedicated property type is more robust than a simple Select, offering pre-defined "To Do / In Progress / Done" groups and even allowing you to create custom sub-statuses for your specific workflow.
• Add 2-3 sample projects like "Website Redesign," "Brand Identity Package," "Newsletter Q4."

Tasks Database:

• Create another new database titled "Tasks."
• Add a Status property here as well.
• Add 4-5 sample tasks like "Design homepage mockup," "Write project proposal," "Create logo concepts."

Step 2: Creating the Relation Property

This is where the magic happens. We're going to add a new property to the Tasks database that creates the bridge to Projects.

1. Open your Tasks database.
2. Click the "+" button to add a new property and select Relation from the menu.
3. In the dialog box, click "Select a database" and choose your Projects database.
4. Now you'll see additional options. This is important:
   • "Show on Projects": Leave this checked. This toggle creates the automatic two-way link.
   • "Limit": Choose "1 page" if each task can only belong to one project (recommended). Choose "No limit" if a task might relate to multiple projects (e.g., a general research task).
5. Before you finish, let's use a smart naming convention. It's important to understand that when "Show on..." is enabled, Notion creates properties on *both* databases, and you can name each one. Rename the "Show on Projects" property to "Tasks" (plural). Then, click back and name your main relation property "Project" (singular).
6. Click the blue button to create your Relation.

Congratulations. You just built your first, clearly-named bridge.

Step 3: Linking Your First Task to a Project

Now let's use this connection. In your Tasks database, click on the empty cell under your new "Project" column. A search window will pop up showing all your projects. Click on the relevant project to link it.

Do this for a few tasks. You're building context. Each task now knows where it lives.

Step 4: The Magic of Backlinks (The "Aha!" Moment)

Here's where it all clicks. Open one of your project pages, for example, "Website Redesign."

Scroll down. You'll see a new section on your project page labeled "Tasks," and inside, every single task you linked to this project is sitting there. Automatically.

This appears inside the page content, not in the table view itself. This is the two-way connection in action. From the task, you see its project. From the project, you see all its tasks. One connection, complete visibility in both directions.

This was the moment I realized Notion wasn't just fancy lists—it was an interconnected system.

Managing Your View: A Quick Tip on Clutter

As you add more relations, your database tables can get crowded. To keep things clean, you can hide properties from your main view.

Click the "Properties" menu at the top-right of your database and use the eye icon to hide any relation column you don't need to see at all times. The data is still there and accessible inside each page, but your table view remains focused and readable.

The Power Trio: How Relations Fuel Your Automated Dashboard

Relations are the foundation of everything powerful in Notion. They work as part of a three-part system:

1. Relations (The Foundation): They gather the right data together.
2. Rollups (The Collector): They pull specific data through that Relation connection.
3. Formulas (The Calculator): They perform calculations on that collected data.

I enter an expense once and link it to a project. A Rollup collects the cost, and a Formula updates the total project budget. This is the compounding power of Relations. (If you want to master this, I covered it in my Ultimate Guide to Notion Formulas.)

Beyond Tasks and Projects: Building a Multi-Layer System

Once you've mastered your first Relation, you can create a fully integrated system. The most transformative setup is a three-way connection: **Clients → Projects → Invoices**.

With this, you can open a client's page and see all their projects, then click a project to see all its invoices. Everything is connected. No more searching.

Other powerful connections to explore include:

• Tasks → Subtasks (Self-Relation): Link a task to itself to create parent-child relationships.

  Pro Tip: When creating a self-relation, Notion explicitly recommends disabling the "Show on..." two-way toggle to avoid creating a duplicate, confusing property on the same database.

• Projects → Meetings: See all meeting notes related to a specific project.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a Relation and a Linked Database?
A Relation is a property that connects individual database entries. A Linked Database is a view of an entire database that you place on another page.

What happens if I delete a linked item?
If you delete a task that was linked to a project, the link disappears from the project's page. The connection is broken because the item no longer exists. Be careful with your delete button to avoid accidentally orphaning data.

What's a Rollup?
A Relation creates the connection. A Rollup uses that connection to pull data through (e.g., to sum up all invoice amounts for a project).

Troubleshooting: When Relations Don't Behave

Problem: "I don't see the linked items on the other database."
Solution: You must open the page itself, not just look at the table view. The related items appear inside the page content. Click on your project to open it as a full page, then scroll down.

Problem: "My Relation property is missing from the other database."
Solution: You likely unchecked "Show on [Other Database]" when creating the Relation. You'll need to delete the Relation property and recreate it with that option enabled.

For more technical details, Notion's official Relations & Rollups help page covers edge cases.

Your Workspace, Now Connected

Remember that feeling of database hopscotch? That's over now.

What you've learned isn't just a feature—it's a new way of organizing your work. Your tasks know which projects they belong to. Your projects know which clients they serve. All of this happens automatically.

This is how I replaced five separate apps with Notion. Not because it has more features, but because everything connects.

My challenge to you: Identify your first connection. What are two pieces of information you constantly reference together? Build that bridge. Create that first Relation. Then come back and build the next.

What are the first two databases you're excited to connect? Share your plan in the comments below—I'd love to hear what will unlock the most value for you.

And if you're ready to see how all these pieces come together, grab The Ultimate Freelancer OS—it's the complete template with every connection already built and ready to customize.