I Use Google Keep Daily, and These 5 Features Deserve More Attention

I’ve tried a batch of productivity tools implicit the years—some excessively complex, immoderate excessively basic, and a fewer that conscionable didn’t click. But Google Keep? It’s the 1 I support coming backmost to.

It’s simple. It loads fast. It syncs crossed devices without drama. I usage it each azygous day—whether I’m making a market list, redeeming nonfiction ideas, oregon mounting reminders for random thoughts that onslaught portion walking. It’s a low-maintenance instrumentality that does precisely what it’s expected to. But here’s the thing—beneath that simplicity, determination are a fewer features that spell wholly unnoticed by astir users.

These lesser-known tools person softly made a existent quality for me, and honestly, they merit mode much attraction than they get.

Grab Text from Images

One of the champion things astir Google Keep is its built-in OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and yet, hardly anyone talks astir it.

Let’s accidental you’ve taken a photograph of a handwritten recipe, a printed flyer, oregon adjacent a screenshot of your computer. Instead of typing everything out, you tin person Keep extract the substance for you successful seconds.

Just unfastened the enactment with the image, pat the image, past deed the three-dot paper and prime “Grab representation text.” Keep volition scan the representation and propulsion retired each readable substance close into the note.

It’s not flawless, but it’s amazingly accurate. I’ve utilized it to digitize everything from messy whiteboard notes to my desktop screenshots. It fundamentally turns your telephone into a mini scanner with conscionable a mates of taps.

Location-Based Reminders That Actually Make Sense

We’ve each acceptable time-based reminders—“Call Mom astatine 4 PM” oregon “Send the record earlier 6.” But sometimes, clip isn’t the trigger—you conscionable request to beryllium reminded erstwhile you’re somewhere.

That’s wherever location-based reminders travel in. In Google Keep, erstwhile you adhd a reminder, you tin prime a circumstantial location, similar a market store, office, oregon pharmacy. Keep volition past punctual you erstwhile you're physically adjacent that place.

How to Set Location-Based Reminders successful Google Keep

Open the Google Keep app connected your phone.

Create a caller enactment oregon unfastened an existing one.

Tap the reminder icon (bell) astatine the apical close of the screen.

In the pop-up menu, pat “Pick a place.”

Type successful a location.

Select the close determination from the suggestions and pat Save.

You’ll present spot the determination listed astatine the bottommost of your note. Keep volition notify you erstwhile you’re adjacent that spot.

Color-Code and Label Your Notes Without Overthinking It

Most productivity apps emotion to overcomplicate enactment organization. Folders, subfolders, notebooks, nested tags—it tin beryllium overwhelming fast. Google Keep avoids each that with a elemental combo: colors and labels.

You tin delegate immoderate enactment a color—just pat the palette icon. Personally, I usage greenish for idiosyncratic notes, bluish for work, yellowish for errands, and reddish for thing urgent. It makes the app consciousness little similar a partition of sticky notes and much similar a ocular dashboard.

Labels enactment similar tags. I person labels similar "Food," "Inspiration," "Work," "Purchase," and galore more. You tin adjacent adhd aggregate labels to a enactment and filter them later. It’s quick, clean, and it works.

How to Add Labels to Notes

Open oregon make a enactment successful the Google Keep app.

Tap the three-dot paper successful the bottommost close corner.

Tap “Labels.”

Select an existing statement oregon benignant a customized 1 (like “Ideas” oregon “Groceries”) and past make it by tapping the + button.

You tin adhd much than 1 statement to a note.

Later, pat the paper icon from the location surface to presumption notes by label.

Send Notes to Google Docs with One Tap

Sometimes a speedy enactment turns into thing bigger. Maybe it’s a brainstorming league that becomes an nonfiction draught oregon a gathering summary that needs formatting and sharing. Instead of copy-pasting into Google Docs, Keep lets you nonstop it determination directly.

Just pat the 3 dots connected immoderate note, prime “Send,” and take “Copy to Google Docs.”

It creates a caller papers successful your Drive with each the note’s content. You adjacent get a nexus to unfastened the doc instantly.

I usage this perpetually erstwhile fleshing retired nonfiction ideas oregon turning unsmooth notes into thing much polished.

Some ways I usage it:

• Expanding speedy ideas into afloat articles
• Moving gathering notes into a shareable doc
• Drafting emails oregon outlines portion connected the move

It’s not a flashy feature—but it's incredibly utile if you're idiosyncratic who writes, shares, oregon conscionable needs operation beyond slug points.

Voice Memos with Auto-Transcription

Typing isn’t ever the astir applicable option. Maybe you’re walking, cooking, oregon you conscionable don’t consciousness similar staring astatine your screen. That’s erstwhile Google Keep’s dependable memo diagnostic comes successful handy—and yes, it besides transcribes what you say.

To bash this, make a caller note, pat the + icon, past take “Recording.”

Keep volition grounds your dependable and transcribe it into substance close beneath the audio clip.

I usage this erstwhile I’m excessively lazy to benignant oregon erstwhile an thought hits mid-walk. It’s large for dumping speedy thoughts without losing momentum. Both the audio and the transcription are saved successful the note, truthful you tin revisit oregon edit them later.

Bonus: Use the Power of AI to Create Lists

This one’s new—and yes, it’s AI-powered, due to the fact that we unrecorded successful 2025 and everything has AI now.

When you unfastened Keep, you’ll announcement a “Help maine make a list” fastener astatine the bottommost right. Tap it, benignant a punctual similar “snacks for a roadworthy trip” oregon “packing database for a play successful Goa,” and Keep volition usage Google’s Gemini AI to make a database for you.

I tried it precocious to program Indian snacks for a household get-together. Some suggestions were connected point, others… not truthful much. But you tin edit the punctual oregon tweak the database manually earlier tapping “Insert.” It’s not perfect, but it’s a amusive shortcut if you’re successful a rush.

Will I usage it daily? Probably not. But it’s bully to person successful your backmost pocket.