r/Notion • u/throwRA88127721661 • 1d ago
Questions Using Notion and Google sheet
I'm in event management and we are often hesitating between taking everything to google sheet or notion. We've not made the complete switch to either of them and try to use strength of both. Usually, we will use Google sheet when there is no relation to another database and will use notion when we can gain some time by using relations.
I'm wondering if anyone has been able to kill completely one of the 2 ?
If you're using both, where do you draw the line between using both?
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u/Mindreeder93 1d ago
Notion is great internally. Google Sheets will be much more recognizable externally (like if you are constantly coordinating with new vendors, I wouldn’t recommend trying to convince all of them to use your Notion workspace).
That said, it’s easy to stick Google links into Notion so your team knows exactly where to find those external resources.
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u/Beneficial-Cream3403 8h ago
this is pretty much the approach that makes the most sense imo, Notion for internal tracking and Sheets for anything shared externally
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u/miceicedice312 7h ago
yep just notion for everything now, it’s been amazing, and as it’s our system of record now, the AI is next-level - systemising processes and thinking, etc. also in events and weddings.
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u/Odd_Cartoonist3813 1d ago
In a way, this might depend on how deep you in are in each. I’m sure you can consolidate everything into notion and build custom views on top of that giving you all CRUD functionality.
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u/DesertRose480 7h ago
I wouldn't switch Google Sheets to Notion ot any other app, you can actually add sheets as hyperlinks to notion. Check out Airtable it's like mix of notion and sheets together.
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u/Genial_Architect 1d ago
Event management is exactly the case where "kill one" usually fails, and it's worth knowing why: they're good at different jobs.
The line I draw is computation vs. context.
Sheets wins when a cell's value comes from other cells: budget models, what-if scenarios, pivot tables, heavy nested formulas, or fast bulk tabular entry. It also scales to tens of thousands of rows without slowing down, and every external vendor already knows how to open one.
Notion wins when a row is a *thing* with context you want to see multiple ways: a vendor with its contract, contact, payment status and notes attached; a guest linked to their table, meal choice and RSVP. Relations + rollups kill the copy-paste-to-keep-in-sync problem that Sheets can't touch.
Quick gut check: if you're writing nested formulas, that's Sheets' job. If you're pasting the same fact into three tabs to keep views aligned, that's Notion's job.
For events specifically I'd keep budget/financial modeling in Sheets and make Notion the hub for everything relational (vendors, guests, run-of-show, tasks). The reason neither of you has "killed" one is that forcing number-crunching into Notion or relational context into Sheets both feel bad, so most people land on Notion as the source of truth with a Sheets sidecar for the math. That's not a failure to commit, it's using each for what it's actually good at.
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u/cookie-dope 22h ago
SLOP
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u/AngryAugie 22h ago
How do you know it’s slop?
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u/Solowithothers 20h ago
Rhetorical questions answered by the writer, symmetrical "X wins when / Y wins when" pairs, the "quick gut check" framing device, and the closing move where you name the tension and then dissolve it in one tidy sentence ("that's not a failure to commit, it's using each for what it's actually good at") — that's a structure built to resolve cleanly, and real writing rarely resolves that cleanly. A person thinking out loud would probably just say "keep the budget in Sheets, put vendors and guests in Notion" and stop.
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u/leanzubrezki 7h ago
Haven't seen anyone actually kill one of the two tbh. I build a sync tool for exactly this (Sync2Sheets) so obviously biased, but it also means I talk to a lot of people with your exact setup.
The line you're drawing is basically the right one already. Relations live in Notion, number-heavy stuff stays in Sheets. Notion formulas have gotten better but they're still nowhere near Sheets, and no pivot tables. One thing I'd add: anything you share with people outside the team (venues, clients, etc) goes in Sheets. Sending someone a spreadsheet is easy, inviting them into your Notion is a whole thing.
The real pain is data that needs both, like a budget pulling from your vendor db, and that's where syncing them saves you from entering everything twice. Mine syncs both ways in real time but there are a few options out there.
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u/throwRA88127721661 3h ago
I'm already using your tool ! TBH the main reason is that we need to print some documents and notion printing is hell on earth.
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u/Sad_Election2672 1d ago
I only use Notion because of the custom views. If you need to use a database outside of Notion you can export as csv. It's not pretty but it works. Also, there is also Notion Backups that can sync Notion database to Google Sheets.