How to make the most of Google Keep

As a part of my job as a tech author, and as a part of my ongoing efforts to get organized sooner or later, I’ve examined an entire pile of note-taking apps by way of the years: the straightforward, the delicate, the quirky, the AI-powered, and on it goes. It’s a well-liked app class, and there’s no scarcity of choices.

Amid all these completely different selections, one of many apps that I discover myself usually coming again to is Google Keep. It’s quick and straightforward to get round, it really works on nearly any machine, and when you dig a bit deeper into its colourful sticky be aware interface, there are many helpful options to reap the benefits of.

Whether or not you’re a present Google Maintain person seeking to do extra with the app otherwise you’re questioning whether or not Google Maintain has sufficient to tempt you away from no matter note-taking system you’re utilizing for the time being, these are a few of its most interesting options.

Proper from the beginning, the colourful Submit-it be aware look of Google Maintain provides you a neat approach of arranging your notes: yellow for to-dos and blue for procuring lists, for instance, or no matter fits you.

There are 11 completely different pastel colours to select from apart from the default white, and on high of that, you’ve received 9 background photos you should use as a substitute, masking themes like celebration, locations, recipes, and music.

These backgrounds may be swapped round at any time by clicking on the paint palette icon on the backside of each be aware.

Google Maintain borrows a trick from Gmail with labels: particular person notes can have a number of labels, so one thing may be tagged with “household” and “pressing” or “concepts” and “trip.” It’s a helpful approach of bringing order to your notes, at the same time as their numbers develop into the handfuls or a whole lot.

Labels can assist you with searches as effectively. As you’ll count on from a Google product, Google Maintain has a search operate that’s quick and correct: click on contained in the search field on the high of the online interface, and you’ll restrict your question to notes that match a sure label (or class or colour).

On the net, your labels are listed to the left for simple entry. To use a label on an open be aware, click on the three dots on the backside of the be aware, then Add label (or Change labels).

Now you can format your textual content in each the Android and web versions of Maintain. You may make it daring, italicized, underlined, or crossed out; you may also change the dimensions to an H1 or H2 heading. Search for the icon with an underlined A on the backside of the be aware. (Sadly, this isn’t but obtainable within the iOS model.)

In order for you to have the ability to examine off objects in an inventory, it’s simple: in an open be aware, click on the three dots (or the plus icon within the cell app) on the backside of the be aware and choose Present checkboxes. (When you resolve you don’t need them, you’ll be able to return and choose Cover checkboxes.)

Google Maintain enables you to collaborate on notes with different folks, too, with out the function ever getting overly sophisticated. Click on the collaborator icon on an open be aware (the determine with a plus subsequent to it), then enter the e-mail addresses of the contacts you wish to share it with. (On the cell app, you’ll discover the icon by clicking on the three dots on the backside of the display screen.)

You don’t get to see who makes which edits such as you do in Google Docs, however you do get updates when somebody makes adjustments to a be aware, and you’ll see on the backside of every be aware who your collaborators are.

As with collaboration, reminders are a genuinely helpful function carried out in a simple approach. You will get notifications from the Google Maintain app at a particular time and even whenever you attain a particular place (in the event you’ve received the cell app put in). Reminders may be set to repeat, so you might arrange a family chore record that offers you a nudge on the identical time each week.

To set a reminder on the internet model, simply click on on the little Remind me icon on the backside of every be aware (which appears to be like like a small bell), then set the choices as wanted. On the cell model, the icon is on the high of the display screen.

Generally, you create a be aware that you really want to have the ability to discover instantly. In that case, you’ll be able to pin the be aware to the highest of your record by tapping the pin icon on the high of the be aware. Nevertheless, watch out about overusing this; I generally discover that if I pin too many notes, they grow to be simply as tough to seek out as if I didn’t pin them in any respect.

You cannot solely add pictures to notes utilizing the picture icon on the backside of the be aware however you may also extract the textual content from them as effectively. Within the net model, simply click on the three dots, then Seize picture textual content. Within the cell model, faucet the picture, then the three dots within the higher proper and Seize picture textual content. So long as the letters within the photograph or in your drawing are legible sufficient, you get a duplicate of them printed beneath — one thing that may be very helpful if you’re, for instance, taking a photograph of a enterprise card.

You possibly can add hand-drawn scribbles. Within the net model, click on the three dots after which Add drawing; within the cell model, click on the plus icon and Drawing.

Notes may be rapidly transformed into paperwork in Google Docs by clicking on the three dots on the backside of a be aware and selecting Copy to Google Docs. (Within the cell app, click on the three dots and choose Ship > Copy to Google Docs.)

There are a few extra options which might be obtainable in Maintain’s cell apps for Android and iOS.

Replace June fifth, 2025: This text was initially revealed on October sixteenth, 2019, and has been up to date to account for adjustments within the OS and so as to add extra options.