Notion database to dashboard
Your Notion database, minus the view it came from.
Export a Notion database as CSV from the page menu and drop the file here. The first thing this page tells you is what the export left behind, because Notion exports the current view with its filters and sort applied rather than the whole database. After that it parses the dates out of whatever display format the property was set to, splits comma-joined multi-selects and relations, and treats rollups as the computed numbers they are.
Prefer the full explorer? Open the app, or start from the generic dashboard builder.
You exported a view, not a database
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the file. In Notion, a database has many views, and each view can filter and sort independently. Export runs against the view you are looking at. If that view hides archived items, or shows only tasks assigned to you, or filters to this quarter, the CSV contains exactly that subset with no note explaining the omission. People then report on it as if it were the whole database and wonder why the totals feel light.
The second thing to know is that dates come out formatted rather than standardized. Notion writes a date property using whatever display format you picked in the property settings, so the same underlying value can appear as March 14, 2026 in one database and 14/03/2026 in another. Nothing in the CSV declares which. The parser here inspects the whole column before deciding, which resolves nearly every real file, and asks you when a column is genuinely ambiguous.
How to export from Notion
- Open the database as a full page An inline database embedded in a doc has its own menu, but exporting from the full-page version is more predictable. Click the database title to open it if it is currently inline.
- Pick the view you actually want Switch to a view with no filters, or clear the filters on the current one. This is the step that determines what ends up in the file, and it is the one everybody skips.
- Use the page menu, then Export The three dots at the top right have Export. Choose CSV as the format. Markdown and PDF exist too, but they flatten the table into prose and are no use for a chart.
- Decide about subpages The dialog offers to include subpages and content. For a table of tasks you want neither: those options produce a zip of documents rather than a single clean CSV.
- Drop the CSV here Status becomes the flow breakdown, Estimate and Actual hours sit next to each other for a variance panel, and the multi-select columns split into real chips.
A database exported with content included arrives as a zip containing one Markdown file per row alongside the CSV. Unzip it and load only the CSV; the rest is the page bodies, which no dashboard can chart.
Try with sample Notion data (the same columns, 88 rows, no upload needed).
What the dashboard shows
Every panel below is built from a column that is actually in the export, named the way Notion names it.
- Status flow. The Status select becomes the primary breakdown, in the order you defined the options rather than alphabetically, which matters when Not started sorts after In progress.
- Estimate against Actual. Both hour columns summed per owner and per project, with the variance shown, which is the whole reason people build this database in the first place.
- Completion over time. Completed on as the axis, with rows that have no completion date treated as open work rather than dropped.
- Owner workload. Open items per person, split from the people property, with unowned rows kept visible.
- Tag and Type mix. Multi-select columns split on the separator, so each tag is counted individually and the totals can exceed the row count.
- Overdue items. Due compared against today for anything not yet completed, ranked by how far past it is.
Name,Status,Owner,Type,Priority,Estimate (h),Actual (h),Created time,Due,Completed on,Tags,Project,URLNotion export behaviors that change your numbers
- The export is the view, filters and all. Sort order comes along too. Nothing in the file records that a filter was applied, so a partial export is indistinguishable from a complete one once it leaves Notion.
- Dates use the property's display format. Long form, day-first slashes and month-first slashes all appear in real files depending on how someone configured the column. There is no ISO option and no format declaration in the header.
- Multi-selects and relations are comma-joined. Every multi-value property collapses into one cell. A row related to three projects gives you one string containing all three project names.
- A comma inside an option name is invisible. If someone named a select option Research, design then that single option is indistinguishable from two options separated by a comma. Nothing in the file can tell them apart, and this is the one quirk no parser can fully solve.
- Rollups export as computed values. You get the number the rollup was showing, frozen at export time, with no link back to what produced it. Recalculating it from this file alone is not possible.
- Formula columns come out as text sometimes. A formula returning a mix of types, or one that produces a currency string, exports as the rendered result rather than as a number, which quietly makes the column unsummable.
Notion is a flexible document tool that happens to hold tables, and the export reflects that lineage: it preserves what you were looking at rather than what the database contains. Clear the view filter first and most of the difficulty disappears.
Frequently asked questions
Why are rows missing from my Notion export?
Because the export runs against the current view, and views carry filters. If the view hides completed items, or shows only this quarter, or filters to one person, the CSV contains exactly that subset. Nothing in the file records the omission. Switch to an unfiltered view, or clear the filters on the one you are using, and export again to get the full database.
What date format does Notion use in a CSV?
Whatever display format the date property was configured with, which varies from database to database and even between two date properties in the same one. You might get March 14, 2026 or 14/03/2026 with no header hint. This page reads the whole column before deciding, using values above the twelfth of the month to disambiguate day-first from month-first, and asks you when the column is genuinely ambiguous.
How do multi-select properties export?
As a single cell with the selected values joined by commas. A row tagged research and blocked exports as one string containing both. A plain group-by treats that combined string as its own category, which fragments your counts. The parser here splits on the separator so each value is counted individually, and the tag totals will legitimately add up to more than the row count.
Can I get my rollup values back?
You get the computed number, not the calculation. A rollup summing hours across related pages exports as whatever it displayed at the moment you clicked export, with no link to the related database. That value is perfectly usable as a metric here, but it is a snapshot. If the underlying pages change, this file will not, so date your exports.
What if a select option name contains a comma?
Then it is genuinely ambiguous, and no parser can resolve it from the file alone. An option named Research, design and two separate options named Research and design produce identical text in the cell. This is the one Notion quirk with no clean fix. If it affects you, rename the option in Notion to remove the comma and export again, which takes about ten seconds.
Is my Notion content sent anywhere?
No. The CSV is parsed in your browser tab and the dashboard is drawn from memory. Notion databases tend to accumulate genuinely private material, hiring pipelines, contract terms, incident write-ups, because the tool is easy enough that everything ends up in it. There is no upload path here and nothing persists after you close the tab.
Related tools
Load a Notion database export and see the gaps
88 rows with the real Notion column names, dates in a display format, comma-joined tags and relations, and estimate against actual hours on every row.
Open the sample Notion dashboard