For years, one of the most frustrating issues with Notion was its limited functionality without an internet connection due to its cloud-first design. The company has now finally solved that problem by adding support for a full offline mode to its apps.
In a post announcing the update, the company stated that this feature has been one of the most highly requested by its users. This means users can now view, edit, and create new notes without an internet connection across both desktop and mobile apps. The apps also allow users to manually download specific pages for offline access.
Once you reconnect to the internet, the app will automatically sync all the changes you made to your documents. It is important to note that some specialized blocks, such as embeds, forms, or buttons, will not work without an active internet connection.
For subscribers to Notion’s Plus, Business, or Enterprise plans, the app will automatically download recently viewed and favorite pages for offline use. Users have the option to turn off automatic downloads or manage all their downloads through a new “Offline” menu located in the settings panel.
Ivan Zhao, the company’s CEO, explained in a thread that Notion was unable to ship this feature for so long because the app relies on a complex database to store different blocks. The development team had to build a sophisticated conflict resolution mechanism to manage instances where multiple people make changes to the same document while offline.