# Should a Notion database start from a template or a blank page when the options feel like a lot?

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Been reading on whether a <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/notion/reviews">Notion</a> database is better started from a template or a blank page when the number of options stalls the setup. The advice that comes through on G2 is to plan the structure before building anything, then start from a template rather than an empty page. One set of data can show as a table, a board or a calendar, with linked views and page relations, and AI can draft a starting database from a prompt. The stall happens before any of that, when the options outnumber the decisions made, and permissions need extra planning when a database will be shared with clients as a portal.</p><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Reading across <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/categories/knowledge-base">knowledge base</a> tools, the deciding factor seems to be whether the structure is decided before or during the build. Teams that sketch the fields and views first get a database that fits how they work, which is the point of a tool this open. Teams that build as they go tend to end up revisiting it, since every option is a decision someone has to make.</p><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">What I'd like to learn from people whose databases stuck:</p><ul>
<li>Did you start from a template, and how much of it survived?</li>
<li>How many properties before people stopped filling them in?</li>
<li>Did you give contributors a separate view from readers?</li>
<li>Who owns changes to the structure once it's live?</li>
</ul><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Has anyone turned around a database that was well built but rarely updated?</p>

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: 1 day ago
- Author title: Marketing Executive
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

Template every time for us, even though we ended up changing most of it. Sketching the views before building saved a lot of rework.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: about 5 hours ago





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