or
Learn how to use the Boolean "or" operator in Notion formulas.
1
Boolean or Boolean
2
or(Boolean, Boolean)
Good to know: Notion is picky, so
||
, OR
, and Or
won’t work here. Only the case-sensitive or
will be accepted.You can also use the function version,
or()
.1
true or false // Output: true
2
3
false or true // Output: true
4
5
false or false // Output: false
6
7
10 > 20 or "Cat" == "Cat" // Output: true
The
or
operator can also be chained together multiple times:1
10 > 20 or "Cat" == "Dog" or true // Output: true
This example database records the results of several Rock, Paper, Scissors matches. The Winner formula declares the winner of each match.

1
// Compressed
2
(prop("P1 Throw") == prop("P2 Throw")) ? "Tie" : ((prop("P1 Throw") == "Rock" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Scissors" or prop("P1 Throw") == "Paper" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Rock" or prop("P1 Throw") == "Scissors" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Paper") ? prop("Player 1") : prop("Player 2"))
3
4
// Expanded
5
(prop("P1 Throw") == prop("P2 Throw")) ? "Tie" :
6
( (prop("P1 Throw") == "Rock" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Scissors" or
7
prop("P1 Throw") == "Paper" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Rock" or
8
prop("P1 Throw") == "Scissors" and prop("P2 Throw") == "Paper") ?
9
prop("Player 1") :
10
prop("Player 2"))
The formula consists of a nested if-then statement (written with the conditional operators
?
and :
). It first checks to see if the players threw the same choice, and returns “Tie” if so. If not, it uses the or
and and
operators to determine the winner.Since the win/lose value of a throw is determined by the other throw, we use a series of three statements to compare Player 1’s throw against Player 2’s.
My name is Thomas Frank, and I'm a Notion-certified writer, YouTuber, and template creator. I've been using Notion since 2018 to organize my personal life and to run my business and YouTube channel. In addition to this formula reference, I've created a free Notion course for beginners and several productivity-focused Notion templates. If you'd like to connect, follow me on Twitter.

Last modified 4mo ago