Google Keep for Android: App Pick

BreakingModern — Keeping your life organized is not an easy thing to do. Chaos is the general operating status for most of us, no matter how much effort we put in to making it otherwise. Don’t fret — there’s still hope! So many new apps are available to help you rein in that everyday bedlam if you make the effort to find them. Google Keep is keeper: it takes a minimalist approach to creating order out of the madness.

google keep

 

Google Keep is available free for Android on Google Play, and you can install a plug-in Chrome for use on your computer. You can also navigate directly to the Google Keep website, if you prefer. Data entered on any device is automatically synchronized to all other devices attached to your Google account.

Keep It Simple

Google Keep is similar to other products you may have heard of, like Microsoft’s OneNote, which is part of the Office Suite of apps. Evernote is another productivity app that has made a name for itself. These apps all strive to accomplish the same thing — to give the user a platform for organizing thoughts, tasks and appointments.

Google Keep ups the ante by taking advantage of Google Search technology so that your notes, no matter how far in the past or how cryptic they may have been written, can be retrieved. This is very handy if you’re a person that takes random notes. Be honest, how many Post-Its are on your desk right now? If it’s more than a few, Google Keep may be the app for you.

google keep

Thoughts in All Forms

Google Keep allows you to capture your thoughts in just about any form they can come in. You can write text notes, capture photos and even dictate notes to your smartphone while on the go. Google Keep will transcribe your spoken words into text that you can search for later.

If you’re using Google Keep on an Android device, all you have to do to archive your note is swipe it off your screen. Once a note is in the archive it can be retrieved with a simple keyword search. You can also add reminders to your notes that will notify you when something, or some appointment, has reached its due date and time.

One of the features I find most useful is color coding your notes. I have organized my life based on color across all the platforms I use — everything from Microsoft Office to Google Apps. With a color-coded calendar, I can see at a glance what’s coming up and which part of my life is involved. Google Keep makes it possible to extend the metaphor.

google keep

Bottom Line

The benefit of an app like Google Keep depends on how your try to organize your life. If you’re highly organized and are able to keep it together while chaos engulfs everyone else, then you probably don’t need the help Google Keep provides. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who is constantly making and taking notes on slips of paper, which are strewn about your desk haphazardly, Google Keep is likely to make your life much easier.

For BMod, I’m .

All Screenshots: Mark Kaelin

Featured Image Credit: Office with Post-Its by Michael Arrighi via Flickr

Mark Kaelin

Author: Mark Kaelin

Based in Louisville, KY., Mark W. Kaelin is a tech and gadget writer who also covers fine living for us here at BreakingModern.

Share This Post On

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>