By default a collection contains sub collections, and those groups contain your articles. But that middle layer is optional. If a category only holds a handful of articles, you can place the article pages directly under the collection page — visitors then see the articles immediately, with no group headers in between.
Why Use This Layout?
- Fewer clicks. Visitors land on the category and see every article right away.
- Less structure to maintain. No artificial groups like "Other" or "General" invented just to hold two articles.
- A calmer sidebar. In the Documentation layout the sidebar lists the articles themselves instead of collapsible groups.
Single-level categories shine for FAQs, changelogs, and young help centers that haven't grown into a bigger structure yet.
How to Set It Up
- Open the collection page in Notion.
- Create your article pages directly on it with
/page, or drag existing articles out of their sub collections onto the collection page. - Delete any sub collection pages that are now empty.
- Hit Resync in Settings → Help Centers.
Each collection is read independently, so when Emovart finds article pages sitting directly under a collection it simply renders them as a flat list.
Quick Video Walkthrough
The clip in 🆕 Adding a new article shows the exact same drag-and-drop motion — the only difference here is that you drop the article page straight onto the collection instead of into a sub collection.
A Single-Level Category in Action
Say you run a collection called FAQ with six questions. Forced into sub collections, readers would click through an extra layer for no benefit. As a single-level category, opening the FAQ tab lists all six questions instantly, in the exact order they appear on your Notion page.
Notes
- You can mix approaches across your site: one collection can be single-level while the others keep sub collections.
- Inside a single collection, stay consistent — either group everything or list everything. Mixing direct articles with groups makes the page harder to scan.
- Changing your mind later is painless: create sub collection pages, drag the articles in, and resync.