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Notion is where many teams keep their living knowledge — runbooks, product specs, onboarding guides, meeting notes, and employee handbooks. The Notion source imports that content into a Scout Database so your agents can search it by meaning and surface the right answer mid-conversation. Set it up once and Scout keeps the table current as pages change. Common use cases:
  • An HR bot that answers employee questions straight from the handbook
  • A support agent that surfaces internal docs while helping a customer
  • A knowledge base that stays current automatically as the team edits Notion

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Before You Start

Set up the destination before connecting Notion:
  1. Create a Database and a destination Table. See Creating Databases.
  2. Add these columns to the table:
    ColumnType
    titleSingle Line Text
    urlURL
    contentMulti Line Text
  3. Identify the Notion pages or databases you want to sync.
Store the main body text in a column named content. Scout automatically chunks and embeds this field for semantic search — if body text lands anywhere else, retrieval won’t work as expected.

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Connect the Notion Integration

1

Open Integrations

Go to Integrations in the Scout dashboard and find Notion in the list.
2

Click Connect

Click Connect next to Notion to start the OAuth flow.
3

Grant access in Notion

In the Notion authorization screen, select the workspace and grant access to the specific pages and databases you want Scout to read.
Keep permissions scoped narrowly at first — grant only the pages you intend to sync, then expand access later as your needs grow.

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Create a Notion Source

1

Open your Database table

Navigate to Databases, open your Database, and select the destination table.
2

Add a Source

Click the Sources tab, then Add Source, and select Notion.
3

Choose the integration

Select the Notion integration you connected above.
4

Map fields to columns

Match the Notion fields to your table columns. See Recommended Field Mapping below.
5

Set sync frequency

Optionally choose a schedule, or leave the source as manual-only.
6

Create the source

Click Create to save the source. You can run the first sync immediately.
Notion FieldTable ColumnType
Page titletitleSingle Line Text
Page URLurlURL
Body / contentcontentMulti Line Text
Last edited timeupdated_atDatetime
Keep these mappings consistent across every table that uses a Notion source. Consistent schemas make queries and metadata filters predictable across your Databases.

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What Gets Synced

Syncs well:
  • Rich text blocks — paragraphs, headings, bullet lists, toggles, and callouts
  • Inline tables
  • Database rows and their properties
Doesn’t sync:
  • Embedded files and attachments (PDFs, images, videos)
  • Inline databases (extracted as text, not as structured data)
  • Linked page previews (not followed)
Nested pages. Scout syncs only the pages you’ve granted access to and does not auto-crawl into nested child pages unless those are also explicitly granted. For deeply nested structures, grant access at a high enough level to cover everything you want synced.

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Run and Validate

1

Run the first sync manually

Trigger the initial sync from the Sources panel and watch it complete.
2

Check the content column

Open a few synced rows and confirm the content column holds actual body text — not just the page title.
3

Run a sample query

Run a semantic query against the table to confirm retrieval quality. See Querying Data.
An empty content field almost always means a mapping issue. Confirm the Notion body text is mapped to the content column and re-run the sync.

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Common Issues

SymptomWhat to Check
Missing pagesRecheck the granted pages in Notion. Permission changes can take a few minutes to propagate — wait and re-run the sync.
Empty or thin contentConfirm the page has real text rather than only embeds or attachments, and that body content maps to content.
Data looks outdatedEnable a sync schedule for automatic re-syncs, or re-run manually after major edits.
Visible in Notion but missing from ScoutNested child pages need explicit access grants. Databases need their own integration grant, separate from the parent page.

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Best Practices

  • Start small. Sync one Notion section, validate content quality and retrieval, then expand.
  • Keep mappings consistent. Use the same column mappings across every table backed by a Notion source.
  • Schedule only what changes. Use a scheduled sync for frequently edited docs; skip it for static archives.
  • Scope with metadata. Pair Notion content with metadata filters in your queries to narrow results to a specific section or topic.

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Next Steps

Sources

Compare all source types and sync options.

Querying Data

Search synced content with semantic, keyword, and hybrid search.

Creating Databases

Design your table schema before configuring a source.