Heading 4 is here (and it took forever)

Hey,

Notion has been on a quiet but relentless shipping streak. This week it's less about one big feature and more about a handful of sharp upgrades that, taken together, make the product feel noticeably more mature.

Heading 4 finally exists (yes, really). And AI Meeting Notes just got a serious customization overhaul.

Let's get into it.

- Nick

In Today's Email 👀

• Smarter AI Meeting Notes

• Notion Academy Goes Global

• Heading 4 is Finally Here

3 Tips / Updates + Bonus

1/ AI MEETING NOTES GOT A LOT SMARTER

One size no longer fits all.

The old Meeting Notes AI had one mode: its own. Whatever structure Notion decided to use, that's what you got, regardless of whether you were logging a 10-minute standup or a 90-minute client onboarding.

That's changed. You can now define exactly how the AI processes your meetings using Custom Instructions.

Here's how it works:

• Type /ai meeting notes to insert the block. You'll see a new Instructions field that defaults to "auto"

• Click the dropdown to choose from Notion's built-in templates (like "Candidate Interview") or write your own rules from scratch

• Custom instructions let you define three things: the context of the meeting, the format you want, and the tone

• You can set any instruction set as your new workspace default from the same menu

One creator shared that after a design meeting, Notion automatically drafted three follow-up emails:

• client update

• action items

• owner assignments with deadlines

No prompt needed, they were already there when the meeting ended.

2/ NOTION ACADEMY JUST WENT GLOBAL

For a lot of you reading this (especially across Europe), this removes a big onboarding blocker.

Notion Academy is now available in 6 new languages.

Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, French, and German all now include localised videos, templates, quizzes, and certification paths.

If you have international teammates still getting started with Notion, this is an easy win.

3/ HEADING 4 IS FINALLY HERE

The 'bold it and pretend' era is over. We present to you the most anticipated update notion has pushed out.

This one needs no explanation. The years of bolding text and pretending it was a subheading are over. Notion shipped H4 (####) this week and the community response was exactly what you'd expect: equal parts celebration and "what took so long."

Notion's own response on X when called out for it: "we've been pretending ourselves."

If you run deeply nested documents like SOPs, wikis, or client deliverables, this is a small change with a surprisingly large quality-of-life impact. Your document hierarchy just got one level cleaner.

Bonus/ NOTION PAGES JUST GOT A QUIET REDESIGN

Notion quietly updated how pages are structured (full breakdown here)

Spacing, padding, and block consistency have been reworked so content flows more naturally across different layouts.

It’s subtle, but you’ll notice it.

Pages feel cleaner, easier to scan, and more structured especially in longer docs or SOPs.

Quick Links & Tools

How Notion actually uses AI internally (100–50–0 framework): A simple framework from a Notion PM for deciding where AI should (and shouldn’t) be used in your workflow.

• 100% → fully automated, repeatable tasks

• 50% → AI drafts, human refines

• 0% → judgment-heavy work stays human

Helpful for avoiding over-automating the wrong things when building with AI.

The definitive guide to Notion AI skill engineering: There's a full breakdown on how to go from writing one-off prompts to building a reusable skill system inside Notion, including the AC/DC framework (Assess, Collaborate, Draft, Certify) for surfacing hidden assumptions before you write a single line of instructions. If you're building agents seriously, this is worth blocking out an hour for.

Run a new Notion AI chat in the background without switching context: Notion engineer Ken Chen shipped a small but handy update this week. Alt + click "new chat" (or Cmd + Alt + O) opens a fresh AI chat running in the background so you don't lose your place. The community reaction was immediate, turns out a lot of people have been waiting for this one.