You want to move your documents from Google Docs into Notion, but the imported content often looks different from the original. The Notion import tool does not support every feature of Google Docs, which leads to missing formatting, broken tables, and lost images. This article explains exactly which Google Docs elements are lost during import, why Notion strips or converts them, and how to work around each limitation to preserve as much of your original document as possible.
Key Takeaways: What the Notion Google Docs Import Cannot Do
- Import > Google Docs (file picker): Only .docx format is accepted; direct Google Docs file selection is not supported.
- Inline images and drawings: Notion converts them to separate file attachments, breaking the original layout.
- Table of contents and page breaks: These structural elements are removed entirely during import.
- Comments and suggested edits: All annotations are discarded; only the final accepted text survives.
How Notion Handles Google Docs Import and What Gets Lost
Notion does not offer a direct import button for Google Docs files. Instead, you must first export your Google Doc as a .docx file, then upload that file to Notion. This two-step process introduces the first limitation: any feature that Google Docs stores in its proprietary format but that the .docx specification does not support will be lost before Notion even sees the file.
When you import a .docx file, Notion parses the XML-based document and maps each element to its own block types. Headings become Notion headings, paragraphs become text blocks, and lists become bulleted or numbered lists. However, Notion does not support every .docx element. The following features are either stripped or converted in ways that change the original appearance.
Images and Drawings
Google Docs allows inline images, floating images with text wrapping, and embedded drawings (such as shapes and diagrams). Notion only supports inline images as separate file attachments. When you import a .docx file, Notion extracts each image and places it as a standalone image block below the paragraph that previously contained it. Text wrapping is lost. Drawings are not converted at all; they appear as empty placeholder blocks.
Tables and Merged Cells
Notion tables support basic rows and columns but do not support merged cells, cell background colors, or column width adjustments. If your Google Doc contains a table with merged cells, Notion will split the merged cells into separate cells, creating extra empty cells that break the layout. Cell borders are also removed; Notion tables have no visible borders by default.
Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers
Notion does not have a concept of pages, headers, or footers. Any content placed in the header or footer area of a Google Doc is discarded during import. Page numbers are also removed. If you need header content to appear in your Notion page, you must manually copy it into a text block after the import.
Comments and Suggested Edits
Google Docs comments and suggested edits are stored as metadata attached to specific text ranges. The .docx export format does not preserve these annotations in a way that Notion can read. All comments and tracked changes are discarded. Only the final accepted text remains.
Fonts, Colors, and Text Styles
Notion supports a limited set of text formatting: bold, italic, strikethrough, underline, inline code, and a few text colors. Google Docs custom fonts, font sizes, text highlight colors, and paragraph spacing are not preserved. Notion maps imported text to its default font and removes any custom font family. Text colors that match Notion’s palette are kept; all others are reset to black.
Steps to Import a Google Doc Into Notion With Minimal Loss
Follow these steps to reduce data loss. The process requires a Google account and a Notion workspace.
- Export the Google Doc as .docx
Open your document in Google Docs. Go to File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx). Save the file to your computer. - Open the target Notion page
Navigate to the Notion page where you want the imported content. You can create a new page by clicking the + New Page button in the left sidebar. - Upload the .docx file
Press Ctrl + Shift + I to open the Import dialog. Select Microsoft Word, then choose the .docx file you downloaded. Notion will process the file and insert the content into the current page. - Manually restore lost elements
After the import, check the page for missing images, broken tables, and missing headers. Re-insert images using the image block, rebuild tables using Notion’s table block, and copy any header content into a text block at the top of the page.
For documents that rely heavily on tables with merged cells or complex images, consider copying and pasting content manually instead of using the import tool. This gives you full control over how each element appears in Notion.
Common Import Problems and How to Handle Them
Table Layout Is Broken After Import
Merged cells cause the most damage. After import, you will see extra empty cells that shift content to the wrong columns. The fix is to delete the broken table, then create a new Notion table with the correct number of rows and columns. Manually copy each cell’s text from the original Google Doc into the new table. This is time-consuming but preserves the structure.
Images Appear as Unlinked Attachments
Notion imports images as separate file blocks rather than inline images. You can re-insert each image inline by dragging the file block to the desired location in the text. To do this, click the image block, then drag it to the left of a text block until a blue line appears. Release the mouse to attach the image inline. This only works with image blocks, not drawings.
Font and Color Changes Are Lost
Notion cannot preserve custom fonts or most text colors. After import, manually select the text that needs a specific color and apply it using the text color menu. To open the text color menu, highlight the text, click the A icon that appears, then choose a color. Notion supports gray, brown, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and red.
Notion Import vs Google Docs Export: Feature Support Compared
| Feature | Google Docs (Original) | Notion (After Import) |
|---|---|---|
| Inline images | Supported | Converted to separate image blocks |
| Merged table cells | Supported | Split into individual cells |
| Headers and footers | Supported | Removed entirely |
| Comments and suggestions | Supported | Discarded |
| Custom fonts | Supported | Reset to Notion default font |
| Page breaks | Supported | Removed |
| Text highlight colors | Supported | Removed |
| Floating images with text wrap | Supported | Not supported |
The table above shows that Notion’s import tool preserves basic text formatting and list structures but fails to handle complex layout features. For simple documents with minimal formatting, the import works well. For documents with tables, images, or custom styles, manual rebuilding is often faster than fixing the imported result.
You now know which Google Docs elements will not survive the import into Notion and how to work around each limitation. Before importing a large document, test the process with a small section first. For documents that rely heavily on tables with merged cells or on inline images with text wrapping, consider copying the content manually and rebuilding it using Notion’s native blocks. As a next step, explore Notion’s database views to structure imported content into a searchable database rather than a single long page.