17 Best Ways to Use Google Keep Effectively

by Sunelle | Last Updated: 08/08/2021

Google Keep is an easy-to-use notes app. In this post, we first consider what Google Keep is and look at the best way to use Google Keep effectively. 

What is Google Keep?

Google Keep is a free note app provided by Google. Google Keep can connect to your other Google products, including Google Slides, Google Drive and Google Docs if you log in with your Google email address. It is also an excellent organisational tool as you can organise your notes by labels. There is a free app for both Apple and Android devices, but there are rumours that Google will stop supporting the app in 2022 and that Google Keep will become a web-based product only. 

How to use Google Keep

If you were wondering: “how do I use Google Keep”, you will find answers here. Let’s look at the best way to use Google Keep. 

Using Google Keep for virtual sticky notes.

You can use Google Keep for virtual sticky notes to capture ideas and create reminders with text, checkboxes and pictures. Colour code your sticky notes by topic or label to help you use Google Keep as an organisational tool to organise your notes effectively. Your sticky notes can have reminders, and you can share notes with others for collaboration.

Using Google keep as a task manager

Using Google Keep for project management is easy when you use it as a task manager with to-do lists. You can set reminders based on locations or timelines and share notes with friends, family members or colleagues. There are so many options for using Google Keep as a planner:

• Create a separate note for each area of your life, including home, work, studies, etc. and list your tasks with checkboxes on a note.
• Set up a note for each day of the week and add tasks based on the expected completion date.
• Use Google Keep as Kanban boards. You can create notes for “planned”, “doing/in progress”, or “done”. Move your tasks across these notes as you make progress with them.

Create notes by bookmarking with the Google Chrome extension

Install the Google Keep Chrome extension to bookmark a website by creating a note. The extension will also save the URL of the website in your note. Bookmarking these sources works well when researching a specific topic and finding resources while searching the web. 

Create voice notes on the go

Using the Google Keep app for Android or iOS devices, you can create a quick voice note on the go to remind you of something or make an observation. Recording a voice note is often faster than typing. You can make the recording by clicking on the microphone icon at the bottom of the Google Keep app’s screen. Once you complete your recording, the audio file will be a separate note. 

Journaling

Google Keep works well for journaling. You can keep a daily journal or record your reflections in Google Keep. 

Keep track of resources used

Google Keep allows you to track the resources you use when writing an essay, doing a research project or writing a blog post. You can record your notes, page numbers, citations using Google Keep. 

Using Google Keep for logging

You can use Google Keep to record your reading or running progress. Additional items you can record include information about how long you have read, the date you read, notes from a book, or even creating a list of the books you have completed. You can also share notes on books with your friends and family. 

You can also use Google Keep for logging other items, such as a running log, workout log or series watched. You can log anything in Google Keep!

Transcribe notes from graphics with text

If you have a graphic with a quote or other text, you can use Google Keep’s Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to transcribe the text from the picture to a note. Select a photo, choose “Grab image text” to use this function, and Google Keep will transcribe your note. 

Create sketches

You can create handwritten notes and sketch images in Google Keep by selecting the pen icon at the bottom of the app’s screen. Google Keep lets you use multiple colours and pens in your sketch. You can share your drawings and handwritten notes with your friends, family or colleagues. 

Search handwritten notes

Google Keep’s search function works well; you can even search images or handwritten notes. 

Drag and drop Google Keep notes into Google Docs

You can take your Google Keep notes and drop them into a Google Doc directly. When you are in Google Docs, you can click on Tools in the menu bar to activate the Keep Notepad. A sidebar will appear with your note options. Choose the note you need and drag it into your Google Docs document. Alternatively, when you are in Google Keep, choose a note to send and click on the menu to copy the note to Google Docs.

Access Google Keep from your Gmail account

When logged into the web version of Gmail, you can add Google Keep as an add-on. To do this, look at the right-hand side of your Gmail screen to find the add-on area. Click on the Add-On area to add Google Keep – its icon will then remain on the right-hand side of your Gmail screen, where you can access it quickly to create notes.

Using Google Keep to track student’s progress

Teachers can use Google Keep to track their students’ notes on prescribed book readings or other homework tasks. Students can share a note with the teacher to allow them to follow the student’s progress. Alternatively, students can share an image of their notes with their teacher. Teachers can annotate images in Google Keep. 

Collaborate with others

You can easily collaborate with others using Google Keep. Whether you plan a holiday with friends or family, work on a project with colleagues, or share a grocery list with someone else, you can share any note with others. Another example would be when the students take notes using Google Keep and then share them with fellow students. Students can also add their notes to a Google Docs document. 

Use Google Keep for recipes 

You can use the Chrome extension to save recipes to Google Keep. You can code recipes by colour; for example, have one colour for veggie recipes, another for chicken dishes, etc.

Use Google Keep for lists

Google Keep’s notes are perfect for making lists. You can have lists for movies you still want to watch, books to read, grocery lists or projects you want to try. If you are a blogger, keep your blog post ideas in a Google Keep list. If you like crafts, keep a list of crafty things to try in a Google Keep list.

Do your meal planning in Google Keep

Add custom headers and create a weekly layout for meal planning. You can even create a design for an entire month if you feel productive. Now add recipes to each day and make a shopping list of items you need for the meal plan.