Notion Gallery View Not Showing Cover Image? How to Fix It

When a Notion gallery view isn’t showing cover images, the usual reason is that the view’s Card preview setting isn’t set to Page cover. Open the view’s settings menu (the ••• at the top right of the database), go to Layout, and set Card preview to Page cover. If that’s already set, check that each page actually has a cover.

Most “missing cover” problems come down to one of a few settings. The sections below go through them in the order most likely to fix things. Everything here comes from Notion’s own help pages unless I say otherwise. Menu labels are accurate as of October 2026, but Notion renames and moves things now and then.

Why gallery cards show no image

A gallery card doesn’t automatically use the page cover. Each gallery view has a Card preview setting that decides where the card image comes from. According to Notion’s gallery help page and third-party guides such as Super’s gallery view guide, the options are:

So if you added covers to your pages but the view is set to Page content or None, those covers won’t appear. If the view is set to Page cover but some pages have no cover, those cards will be blank.

Fix 1: Set Card preview to Page cover

1. Open the database and click the gallery view’s tab.
2. Click the ••• settings menu at the top right of the database.
3. Choose Layout.
4. Click Card preview and select Page cover.

The change applies straight away. Card preview belongs to the view, so if you have several gallery views of the same database, or a linked view of it on another page, each one can have its own setting. If one gallery shows covers and another doesn’t, open Layout in the blank one and check it there.

Fix 2: Make sure each page has a cover

Page cover only shows a cover that’s actually set on the page. A cover image inside the page body doesn’t count.

To add or change a cover, following Notion’s page icons & covers guide:

1. Open the page from the gallery card.
2. Hover near the top of the page and click Add cover.
3. Hover over the cover that appears and choose Change cover.
4. Pick an image from Notion’s gallery, upload your own, paste an image link, or search Unsplash.

Notion says covers resize with the window, so no one size is guaranteed to look right. It recommends images at least 1,500 pixels wide.

Fix 3: Using an image in the page body? Use Page content

Some people put an image at the top of the page body instead of setting a cover. In that case, set Card preview to Page content.

Notion’s help says Page content previews the page’s first block, and if that block is an image or video, it shows in the card. Sources don’t fully agree on what happens when the image isn’t first. Some versions of Notion’s help text say only a first-block image counts, while other wording suggests the first image on the page is used. The reliable fix is to make the image the very first block, above any heading or text.

Also note that Page content shows the start of the page, not the cover. If you switched to this option at some point, your covers will seem to vanish even though they’re still there.

Fix 4: Using a Files & media property? Select it as the preview

If your database has a Files & media property, its name shows up as an option under Card preview. Notion says the card will then show the image files uploaded to that property. Check these points:

• The right property is selected. If you have more than one Files & media property, make sure Card preview points to the one that holds your images.
• The property isn’t empty. Entries with nothing uploaded will show blank cards.
• The file is an image. A PDF or other document in that property won’t give you a picture.

One tip from Super’s guide and other Notion builders: you can keep the card image in a Files & media property and hide that property in your other views, so it doesn’t clutter tables while it still drives the gallery.

The image shows, but it’s cropped or tiny

If the cover appears but looks wrong, two Layout settings matter:

• Fit image. This toggle sits under Card preview. Notion’s board view help says that when Fit image is off, the image is cropped to fill the card frame. When it’s on, the whole image fits inside the frame. You can also hover over a card image and choose Reposition to drag it into place. Fit image is only available when Card preview isn’t set to None.
• Card size. Under Layout → Card size, the gallery view guide lists small, medium and large. Small cards can make detailed covers look like they’re missing, especially with Fit image on.

Still blank? Less common causes

If the settings are right and the page clearly has a cover, the problem is probably the image itself or your app. These checks come from third-party troubleshooting guides, such as ONES’s article on gallery images, not from Notion’s documentation, so treat them as general advice:

1. Broken image links. If the cover was added by pasting a link, and the original image was moved, deleted or put behind a login, Notion can’t load it. Uploading the file directly avoids this.
2. File format. ONES lists JPG, PNG, GIF and SVG as formats to use. If you’re using something unusual, convert it and upload it again.
3. Cache or outdated app. Reload the page, update the desktop or mobile app, or open the same database in a browser to see if it’s only one device.
4. Permissions. On a shared or published page, check that the viewer has access to the content. ONES mentions permissions as a possible cause but gives no detail, so this is worth checking rather than a known fix.

If the covers show in one app and not another after all of this, it’s worth reporting to Notion support, since that points to a display bug rather than your setup.

Quick checklist

• Layout → Card preview is set to the source you actually use (Page cover, Page content or your Files & media property)
• Every page has a cover set (or an image as its first block, or a file in the property)
• You’re editing the right view, since linked and duplicate views each have their own settings
• Fit image and Card size are set so the image is visible and not cropped away
• Image links work and the file is a common image format