Man has taken notes since time immemorial. On a wall, on stone, on animal skins, on paper and, today, on electronic devices. You can today take notes with a keyboard, with your voice or drawing on a screen. Come on, what if you don’t take notes and do shopping lists it’s because you don’t want to. They even notify you on a specific day and time. And among the best known tools for taking notes stands out Google Keep.
There are those who prefer paper and always carry a Moleskine-type diary or notebook with them. Others prefer the smartphone, always synchronized with the internet, to take notes on anything. From a link to an article, the list of things you are going to take on a trip or take a picture of where you have parked your vehicle. So you can turn your notes app into an extension of your brain and not have to go around remembering according to what things.
As I said, Google Keep is one of the most versatile note-taking apps. Free and available both for the Web in your browser and as an app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, in this app you can take text and voice notes, add images and much more. Let’s see ten ways to make the most of it In your day to day.
Write notes with your voice
Initially, Google Keep allows you take written notes with the keyboard. By default it allows you to create a list or add an image. But if you use this app on your smartphone or tablet, there is an additional option: write notes with your voice.
When creating a note, in addition to the usual icons, there is one in the shape of a microphone. If you click on it, you can record an audio. Come on, a voice note. Then you can listen to it whenever you want and even transcribe it.
The transcription, pass the audio to text, you can do it manually. But keep in mind that by default, Google Keep will translate your voice into written words. The result, a note that includes audio and text. And if the result is not perfect, you can always correct it by hand.
We said that you can write text in your notes, record voice notes and add an image. If you opt for the latter, Google Keep has the benefits of text recognition. That is, if an image contains text, you can extract it to make it editable.
This option can be useful if you want to digitize your office or get rid of tons of paper by going digital. In addition to an image of these paper documents, you will have a transcript that you can edit.
From Google Keep for iOS and Android, when you add an image to a note, from the drop-down menu (three vertical dots) you will see the option Save text from image. This way you will have the original image and the editable text. Very useful for screenshots.
Freehand text
With your finger or with a stylus, Google Keep is also a notepad for drawing or for taking freehand notes, writing manually. In this way, if you type faster than with the keyboard, you will have your handwritten notes in order.
But the really useful thing about this option is that once annotated by hand, you can convert that text to editable or typed text. Google Keep can do it in the same way that we have seen before, thanks to the recognition of text through OCR technology.
How much the clearer your handwriting or calligraphy, better, of course. If your handwriting is somewhat complex or illegible, the more difficult it will be for Google to convert the image to text or it will not convert correctly.
Save everything in Google Keep
The grace of having a virtual notepad is that it has no limit of leaves. You can add the notes you want. And in the notes you can include anything you think is important or necessary. From an idea that comes to mind, to the notes you take during a meeting or copy the excerpt from an article read on the internet.
Precisely, if you usually save content online in Google Keep, instead of copying and pasting, a more comfortable way is to integrate this app in your browser. For this, Google has its official extension for Google Chrome. It also works in compatible browsers like Opera, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and a long etcetera.
Thus, by right-clicking on a text, image or content of your interest, you will see an option in the context menu to convert that selected content on a new Google Keep note.
Copy your most used notes
As with other applications such as Google Documents or Google Sheets, you may repeat notes or documents. To avoid having to repeat them, you can create templates with part of the content already written. A) Yes you will save time and effort.
With Google Keep you can easily copy notes. From the drop-down menu (three vertical dots) you can copy a note and thus obtain a copy to edit. Hence, it is useful to create templates as forms, copy them and write on the copy leaving the original note blank.
Sharing notes with friends and family
There are personal notes and others that you should share. If you live with someone, the shopping list is best done together. That way you won’t forget anything and you won’t have to come back again and again.
Google Keep allows you to share specific notes with other people. The same thing happens with Documents or Spreadsheets, for example. In the list of icons for a note, tap the bust or person shaped icon. By indicating the email address of that person, you will be able to view and / or edit the note.
Don’t forget anything with reminders
You may write down everything that comes to mind, but if you don’t go over your notes later, it will be of little or no use. This is especially so with meetings and appointments that depend on a specific time and day. Google Keep can take care of this too and let you know.
Specifically, you can add an expiration date to the notes you create. Thus, in addition to having text, voice, lists or images, you will receive a notice to remember that note.
To add a reminder to a note you must click on the bell-shaped icon with a cross inside. You can indicate when to receive the reminder: later today, tomorrow, next week … You can customize the date to a specific time and day.
And if you use Google Keep on your smartphone and always carry it with you, you can opt for a site or location so that the reminder is activated when you arrive at your children’s office, home or school.
Lists within lists
The list is a tool very practical to organize. Knowing what to buy or what to take with you when you leave home will save you time and trouble. But this simple solution can be spiced up in various ways to make it even more practical.
One way to make a list more useful is by creating lists within lists. Or put another way, create a hierarchy between the elements of the list. So instead of create multiple separate lists, you can integrate several into one.
When creating a list with Google Keep, you can drag the items to the right and thus create a options hierarchy within options. A quick way to organize many items in a single list.
Add your notes to Google Docs
The versatility of Google Keep means that it is the ideal place to store everything. And that everything will be useful for your day to day. Like all good digital note storeIn addition to entering information, you can export it.
A practical way is to use the Share button in Google Keep for iOS and Android. Another way is taking advantage of the fact that Google Keep integrates into other products from Google such as Gmail or Documents (Google Docs). Thus, you can add text fragments or images that you saved in Google Keep to a document.
Colors to find everything
Emulating the well-known adhesive notes, Google Keep lets you play with colors to classify and organize your notes. its color palette includes a dozen in order to differentiate your notes according to personal, work, shopping, reminders, recurring tasks, cooking recipes and a long etcetera.
You can use colors both in Google Keep for Web and in apps. Just click on the icon in the form of palette and choose the color that you like the most. This way you will color your notes by subject.