As a part of my job as a tech author, and as a part of my ongoing efforts to get organized in some unspecified time in the future, I’ve examined an entire pile of note-taking apps by way of the years: the easy, the delicate, the quirky, the AI-powered, and on it goes. It’s a preferred app class, and there’s no scarcity of choices.
Amid all these completely different selections, one of many apps that I discover myself recurrently coming again to is Google Keep. It’s quick and straightforward to get round, it really works on nearly any gadget, and when you dig a little bit deeper into its colourful sticky notice interface, there are many helpful options to reap the benefits of.
Whether or not you’re a present Google Hold person seeking to do extra with the app otherwise you’re questioning whether or not Google Hold 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 notice look of Google Hold 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 choose from moreover the default white, and on prime of that, you’ve bought 9 background photos you should use as a substitute, overlaying themes like celebration, locations, recipes, and music.
These backgrounds could be swapped round at any time by clicking on the paint palette icon on the backside of each notice.
Google Hold borrows a trick from Gmail with labels: particular person notes can have a number of labels, so one thing could be tagged with “household” and “pressing” or “concepts” and “trip.” It’s a helpful approach of bringing order to your notes, whilst their numbers develop into the handfuls or a whole lot.
Labels may also help you with searches as nicely. As you’d count on from a Google product, Google Hold has a search operate that’s quick and correct: click on contained in the search field on the prime of the online interface, and you may restrict your question to notes that match a sure label (or class or shade).
On the internet, your labels are listed to the left for straightforward entry. To use a label on an open notice, click on the three dots on the backside of the notice, then Add label (or Change labels).
Now you can format your textual content in each the Android and net variations of Hold. 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 notice. (Sadly, this isn’t but obtainable within the iOS model.)
In order for you to have the ability to verify off gadgets in a listing, it’s simple: in an open notice, click on the three dots (or the plus icon within the cell app) on the backside of the notice and choose Present checkboxes. (In the event you resolve you don’t need them, you may return and choose Conceal checkboxes.)
Google Hold helps you to collaborate on notes with different individuals, too, with out the function ever getting overly difficult. Click on the collaborator icon on an open notice (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.)
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 modifications to a notice, and you may see on the backside of every notice 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 Hold app at a selected time and even if you attain a selected place (in the event you’ve bought the cell app put in). Reminders could be set to repeat, so you would arrange a family chore listing that offers you a nudge on the similar 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 notice (which seems like a small bell), then set the choices as wanted. On the cell model, the icon is on the prime of the display.
Typically, you create a notice that you really want to have the ability to discover instantly. In that case, you may pin the notice to the highest of your listing by tapping the pin icon on the prime of the notice. Nevertheless, watch out about overusing this; I generally discover that if I pin too many notes, they turn out to be simply as troublesome to seek out as if I didn’t pin them in any respect.
You can’t solely add photographs to notes utilizing the picture icon on the backside of the notice however you may also extract the textual content from them as nicely. 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 picture or in your drawing are legible sufficient, you get a duplicate of them printed beneath — one thing that may be very helpful in case you are, 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 could be rapidly transformed into paperwork in Google Docs by clicking on the three dots on the backside of a notice and selecting Copy to Google Docs. (Within the cell app, click on the three dots and choose Ship > Copy to Google Docs.)
- You possibly can document voice notes by tapping on the plus icon on the backside of the display after which Audio (Android) or tapping the plus icon after which Recording (iOS). The created notice can have each the audio file as an embed and the transcript of the audio because the accompanying textual content. This may be particularly helpful if you could rapidly document a thought for later use; when you’ve got the Hold Fast seize widget in your homescreen, you may faucet it or say “Google, take a notice” to document your new notice.
- It’s also possible to add a photograph to an open notice by tapping the plus icon after which Take picture. If you wish to begin a brand new notice with a photograph, simply faucet the plus icon on the backside of the display, faucet Picture, and choose both Take picture (for a brand new picture) or Select picture (to pick out one out of your picture gallery).
Replace June fifth, 2025: This text was initially revealed on October sixteenth, 2019, and has been up to date to account for modifications within the OS and so as to add further options.