What Font Does Notion Use? Default Font & How to Change It
Notion's Default font is your device's system font: San Francisco on Mac and iPhone, Segoe UI on Windows, with Helvetica and Arial as fallbacks. The Serif style uses Lyon Text, and the Mono style uses iA Writer Mono.
You switch between these three styles page by page from the ••• menu. Notion has no workspace-wide default font and no way to upload your own font.
| Style | Font Notion loads | Fallbacks | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default | System font: San Francisco (Apple), Segoe UI (Windows) | Helvetica, Arial | Everyday notes, docs, wikis |
| Serif | Lyon Text | Georgia | Long reading, essays, journals |
| Mono | iA Writer Mono | Nitti, Menlo, Courier | Drafts, technical notes |
How to change the font in Notion
- Open the page you want to change.
- Click
•••in the top-right corner. - Open Appearance & layout.
- Pick Default, Serif, or Mono.
All the text on the page switches at once, headings included. The setting applies to that page only, so subpages and other pages keep their own style.
The same Appearance & layout menu holds the Small text and Full width toggles, which change text size and page width.
Can you change the default font for all pages?
No. Notion's help center (opens in a new tab) confirms there is no way to set a default style for all pages yet.
Database templates are the closest workaround. Create a template in a database, set its font to Serif or Mono, and make it the default template. Every new page in that database then starts with that font.
For standalone pages, set the font on one page and duplicate it whenever you need a new one.
Notion's three fonts in detail
Default: your system font
Notion does not ship its own sans-serif. It asks the operating system for its interface font, so a page shows San Francisco on a Mac or iPhone and Segoe UI on Windows. Other systems fall back to Helvetica or Arial.
That is why the same page looks slightly different on two computers.
Serif: Lyon Text
Lyon Text is a serif typeface designed by Kai Bernau and released by Commercial Type (opens in a new tab) in 2010. Notion loads it as a web font, with Georgia as the fallback.
It is a commercial font, so using it outside Notion requires a license.
Mono: iA Writer Mono
iA Writer Mono is the monospaced font from the iA Writer app. Every character has the same width, which suits drafts, lists of figures, and technical notes. iA publishes it for free on GitHub (opens in a new tab). Notion falls back to Nitti, Menlo, or Courier if it fails to load.
How to change the font size in Notion
Notion has no font size picker, but you have three options:
- Small text: turn it on in
•••› Appearance & layout to shrink all the text on a page. - Zoom: press
Cmd/Ctrl++orCmd/Ctrl+-to zoom the whole app in or out. - Headings: type
/h1,/h2, or/h3to turn a line into a larger heading.
Text size and page width only exist on desktop and web, not in the mobile apps.
How to use custom fonts in Notion
Notion cannot load a font you upload. These workarounds change how text looks, each with a limit:
- CSS browser extension: Stylebot (opens in a new tab) lets you add your own CSS to notion.so and apply any font installed on your computer or loaded from Google Fonts. Only you see the result, and only in that browser.
- Notion website builders: tools that turn Notion pages into websites, like Super or Bullet, let you set custom fonts on the published site.
- Unicode text generators: these sites convert text into styled characters you can paste into Notion. Notion search and screen readers do not read them as normal letters, so keep them for short titles.
Looking for other ways to customize Notion? Check how to change Notion's keyboard shortcuts to boost your productivity.
Text styling shortcuts
The page font stays the same, but you can style any selection:
- Bold:
Cmd/Ctrl+B - Italic:
Cmd/Ctrl+I - Strikethrough:
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+S - Inline code:
Cmd/Ctrl+E - Last text color used:
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+H
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FAQ
What is the name of Notion's default font?
Notion's Default style has no single font name. It uses your system font, which is San Francisco on Apple devices and Segoe UI on Windows.
What serif font does Notion use?
Lyon Text, a typeface from Commercial Type. Georgia replaces it if the web font does not load.
Can I use Google Fonts in Notion?
Not natively. A CSS extension like Stylebot can apply a Google Font to Notion in your own browser, but other people still see Notion's fonts.
How do I make Serif the default in Notion?
You can't for the whole workspace. Set Serif on a database template and make that template the default, so new pages in the database start in Serif.
Do published Notion pages keep their font?
Yes. A page shared to the web keeps the Default, Serif, or Mono style you picked.
