Until I started using Keep Notes to take notes on a daily basis, this note-taking app from Google felt pretty basic. Notion and Obsidian, in my estimation at least, were way more powerful. For some people, their Notion or Obsidian spaces are so sophisticated that they call them their “second brains.” Google Keep isn’t as complex as Obsidian, but it’s not as simple as a sticky notes app either. It sits comfortably in the middle ground between the two. Let me show you what I mean.

You can archive notes instead of deleting them

This feature is so obvious, but it took me a stupid amount of time to figure it out. Whether you open Google Keep in the browser or the phone app, it always drops you in the Notes tab. Here, you get a cluster of notes in reverse chronological order, separated as Pinned and Others. If you take a lot of notes, this space quickly fills up, and you have to rely on the search bar to find the note you’re looking for. Your go-to solution (or at least mine was) would be to delete notes to free up some space. You tap the three dots on the note and click “Delete Note.” It goes to Trash, which automatically wipes everything after 30 days.

However, there are always notes which you want to save for later, but you don’t want to display on the main dashboard either. That’s what the Archive tab is for. You can tap or click the tiny “Archive” icon to send that note to the Archive tab, where it’ll stay out of sight but still available.

The mobile version of the app lets you send links and text to Google Keep from anywhere on the interface. Usually when you select a piece of text, you get a button to share the text along with copy and cut buttons in the context menu. If you tap the “Share” button and select Keep from the list, the app will automatically capture that text as a note—all without ever opening the app itself.

The same method works for links and images. Say, you’re reading a page inside the browser app and want to save it for later. You can simply tap the share button in the browser’s three-dot menu and select Google Keep in the share menu. You can share images from the gallery and send them directly to Google Keep too. It’s the fastest way to capture notes without breaking your workflow or concentration.

Send Keep notes to Google Docs

With Google Docs, you have to start a new document or create one from a template to start writing. Google Keep is way faster because you can just open the app, tap the “Take a note” field and just start writing.

When your draft runs too long (Google Keep supports about 10,000 words per note) or if you need to format it, you can just send it directly to Google Docs and edit there.

Just click or tap the three dots on the note you want to send to Google Docs and select “Copy to Google Docs.” The note will now appear on the Docs dashboard with the same title you gave the note.

Collaborate on tasks

If you’re working with a partner or in a team, you can create a collaborative note and share it with them. The feature works just like collaborative editing in Google Docs, except in Keep, you could use it for collaborative to-do lists and project management.

To share a note, just add your teammates or partner as a collaborator using the email address they use for Google Workspace. The button for collaboration is visible on the note on the desktop and tucked into the three-dot menu on the mobile app.

Access version history

If you accidentally overwrite a note or delete something you didn’t mean to, you can get it back using Keep’s version control. This feature is only available on the desktop version, or at least I couldn’t find it on the mobile app. Click the three-dot menu on any note and select “Version History.”

You’ll be presented with a list of all the changes you have made to this note, alongside a list of timestamped downloads. You can’t revert changes here like you can with Google Docs, but you can get that old version back in a downloadable HTML format.

Set easy reminders

You can set Google Keep to send you reminders just like you can with Google Calendar or Tasks. Once you’ve captured or typed up a note, tap the tiny bell icon and set a reminder. You can set reminders based on location or based on time.

For example, you can set a location-based reminder on the grocery list, so that Google Keep reminds you to get groceries when you walk by the grocery store. You can also set time-based reminders (even make them repeat every day, every week, every month and so on). Google Keep will send a notification to remind you.

Use desktop shortcuts

Google Keep supports a bunch of neat keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflows. For example, you can press “c” to compose a new note, “l” to start a new list, and Esc to put a note away. You can jump between notes using “j” and “k.” A lot of formatting shortcuts work too.

You can pull up the detailed list of shortcuts by clicking the gear icon and selecting “Keyboard Shortcuts.”

Color-code notes

One gripe I have with Google Docs is that there is no way to organize documents; Google Keep is a bit better in that respect. You can pin important notes on the top, and you can color-code them too.

For example, you could assign one color to work notes, another for school notes, and yet another for personal notes. When scrolling through the dashboard, it’ll be easier to tell them apart.

Keep Notes has a bunch of neat features that aren’t obvious, but once you learn them, this notes app becomes a Swiss Army knife for productivity.