- [Scott] Whether you're a
brand new Google Keep user or perhaps you've been
using this note taking app for many years and want to make sure that you can get the
most out of Google Keep this video is for you because I'm going to go
through every single feature so you know how to get the
most out of Google Keep. (air wooshing) Hello everyone. Scott
Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more
done and enjoy less stress. And we're going to start with
the notes section, of course, but we're also going to make
sure that we know how to search, how we can use all of our labels, and even get into some specific settings. So first things first,
taking a note is right here at the top of the screen and
by entering in our cursor we can start to take our brand new note. Now you'll notice that
the cursor goes directly into the note field. It is not a requirement
for you to add a title. So if I select close at this point you can see that that new
note is still very visible. And if I click on it, I
could give it a title. Let's call this one Title 1
and I'm going to close it. The title may actually appear
a little smaller in this case because I don't have a lot of text, but keep in mind that a
title is not a requirement. So whenever you have that idea or want to grab that new note, you can simply enter in your cursor here. Now, we're going to go
through the different details of what you can do within our note but remember that's not the only way in which you can take a note. If you want to start with a checklist, we can check the checklist option. If you want to start with a drawing, you can choose that option as well. And last but not least, if
you want to upload an image, you can do that here as well. So you don't have to start
with something text-based and then add these components. We're going to get into the details of each of these three in just a moment, but I wanted to point
that out from the start. So let's open up our new note here and go through the various
options down below. The first thing we will see
is this remind me option. And by selecting this we have
a few options available to us. There are going to be a couple of defaults which we can
change within our settings. So if we want to quickly
remind ourselves later today, tomorrow, or next week, it's going to give us
our default settings. But of course we can also pick
a particular date and time. So if I want to be reminded
tomorrow, for example, and let's say I want to
be reminded in the evening I'm going to hit save. You also have the option to make this a repeating note
as well, which can be great if there's something that you
need to do on a weekly basis, a daily basis, or some other interval. I'm going to hit save and it will declare or show that reminder
right here within the note. You'll see in the top left hand corner of the screen we have
an area for reminders. So if we need to filter just our reminders that's where we will find that new note and anything else that
has a reminder as well. But for our example, let's go
back to the notes main screen. I'm going to open up this note again but this time I'm going
to delete the reminder which I can do by just
hovering over that little icon. But you may have noticed
within the remind me icon there's one additional way in
which we can set a reminder and that is by selecting a place. If I select this option I can start to type in any address I want or maybe the name of a store. So let's say I'm creating a list of items that I need to buy at
my local Staples store. So by typing in the word
Staples, that's my nearest store, I'm going to hit save. Now, what Google Keep is going to do on my mobile device is remind me when I'm within a close proximity of that address. Now, I'm not exactly sure of the exact proximity
that Google Keep uses for this reminder, but I believe
it is roughly a half mile or a full mile in terms
of when it will notify you when you're close to this location. Again, we can hit X if we
need to remove that reminder. Next, we have the ability
to add a collaborator and this is as easy as simply
adding in an email address. Now, the collaboration functionality within Google Keep is very, very simple. Essentially you've given
this other individual access to this note where they can
do really anything with it including the ability to
delete the note as well. So you are truly sharing
the note as equals. If you need to remove this individual, all you need to do is
click on their profile and then you can hit X beside
their name and then hit save. But this can be a great
way to share a list or to collaborate with others
in a very simple manner. Next, we have the ability to
change the background color. So if you want to change
what this note looks like, maybe I want to give it a
bit of a dark blue shade and maybe all of my notes with a dark blue shade are
going to be work related or they're going to be
related to some other topic. Of course, I can change from
a variety of different colors or leave it in the standard white. Down below, you can also see that there are some more
creative backgrounds that we can add. So here is a recipe background perhaps, here's something else
that is food related. Maybe this is a little more fun related, so we can add that to our cards as well. So here you can see that
this note really stands out with that background. You'll also notice that most of these features are also
available from the front of the note, so you don't
always have to open up the note, but we can make those
changes here as well. You may notice that you can actually add both a color but also a background as well and that can be important. Later, when we get into the details of our search functionality you can see that we can
filter by specific colors, but you cannot filter
by specific backgrounds. So if I want this particular note to be in the same category as
this red note down below I would perhaps give it that same shade, but the background is more of a fun or creative way to make
your notes stand out. Next, we have the ability to
add an image to our notes. So in this example, maybe I'm going to add my logo because perhaps I'm in the
process of redesigning my logo. And so I'm going to take some notes about what I like or
dislike about this image. You are not limited to
just one image per note. If I select add image again, maybe I'll add this
other element of my logo and now you can see I
have both images added. But that's not where it stops
when it comes to images. If we do open up this note, you can see if I hover over either of them,
we have this trashcan icon. So if we need to remove a note we can do so quickly and easily. But if I click on that image, we also have not only
a full screen preview of that image and the
ability to print that image, we can also edit any of our images. So by selecting the edit option now I can take a pen for example and I can start to highlight
the things that I don't like. Maybe I don't like the arrows at the end or maybe I want to highlight
some other component for someone to take a look at. It even gives us some
more advanced options including adding rulers or dots or a grid if we're doing something
a little more intricate. And at any time you can
always choose the back, the undo and redo options. Or if we come back to the top left and choose this second option we can choose to clear the page. So here I've removed all of my drawings. I think one of the most useful tools here within this page is that
we can add a drawing. Let me just put a X between
this for an example, and then in the top right hand corner we can say new drawing. So what it's going to do is actually save the previous drawing that I just had and now I've got a blank
canvas to start something else. I can start to draw something, attempt to draw my
signature in some fancy way or do something else here if
I'm sketching out an idea. So a lot more power available to you here within the drawing world. We can delete the current drawing, we can export it as an image. So a lot of fun features and helpful features here
within the image options. And whenever you're finished
you can come up here to the top left and hit the arrow which will return you to your note. And here you can see that that image now has
that faint little X in it which I added while editing. Next to our image, we have the ability to
archive our messages. And where does the archive go? I'm going to select this, which
is going to remove my note from my main notes home screen and I will now find it
in the archive folder. Now, nothing in the archive
folder will automatically expire or be deleted. Things in the trash will be
deleted after seven days, but within archive you can keep anything that you don't want to appear
in your main notes screen. This can be a very helpful
way to keep this area current, up to date and more manageable, but still have access to
everything in your archive. And yes, this is all searchable
and filterable as well. If you want to unarchive something, all you need to do is select
the unarchive button beside it and now it will be returned
to the main notes screen. Now just before I get
to the more option here in the lower right hand corner, I want to take a look at this check mark and also pin, which you
will see on each card including the ones that you hover over. So what we can do is select
multiple notes at one time. So here you can see I'm going
to select these first four notes and maybe I want to change
them all to a single shade. So now, in the top right hand corner I can come up and change
my background options. I'm going to make them all a yellow shade, so this can be a very
efficient way to make changes in bulk to multiple cards. Or maybe I want to come up here and give them all the same reminder. Or maybe I want to
archive them all at once. So that is what this check
mark is doing at the top of each note, you simply need to select it or any of the notes on the screen and then you can apply those bulk actions. The other icon that you'll notice either when you're hovering over a note or when you're within a
note is this push pin icon. And this allows us to
pin a note to the top of the screen. Here you can see that
this note is now separated from all of the others on this screen. And I'm going to hit the pin for this one and maybe this one as well. Pinning notes to the top of the screen is a great way
to never forget those notes, but can also be used to
prioritize certain notes that you want to appear at the top. And yes, you can pin or unpin in bulk if you need to as well. Lastly, when it comes to
features within the note let's go to that more option. By selecting this, you'll see that there are
seven options available to us. First, is where we can delete this note. Second, we can add a label. By selecting this, we can either choose a label
we have created before or maybe we can start a new one. So I'm going to say that
there is a new label, I want a new label, and that
has now been created for me. It will also be listed
here on the left hand side. Now, you're not limited to
just one label per note. So maybe this is not only new
but it's also related to work. So I'm going to select
that option as well. And if you want to remove the label you can either come back
here and select change labels or you can come over here and select the X to remove the
specific label that you like. Below changing and add labels, we have the ability to
add our own drawings. So just like I showed you
within the image space if I select this, this will immediately bring
me to the drawing space where once again I can
start to create any drawing that I like. We also have the ability
to make a copy of this note and down below that we have
the option to show checkboxes. By selecting this, it
will convert any text within our note into a checkbox. Now, within Google Keep, you
cannot have a combination of checkboxes and simple text. It's either all or nothing. So here is the standard note, but I can come here
and say show checkboxes and maybe if I'm making that
list at the computer store, I need to buy a new mouse and I also need to buy a new keyboard, I can start to create
that checklist right away. As you saw earlier, we can start with a checklist by choosing the new list
option directly here from the top of the screen. But let's continue our example
within this existing note. Now you can add as many
checklist items as you like and as you start to check off those items you will see them crossed off down below. If you want to minimize that,
you can choose to do so. It will tell you how many
things have been checked off and you can always expand it if you want to see the full list. Keep in mind if you uncheck something it will be removed to the top. So this can be a great way if you want to repurpose
a particular list. But there's a few other
features we want to take note of here within the checklist area. Let me move this one back
to the top of the list. On the left hand side, of
course, we can rearrange any of our checklist items, so
maybe getting the keyboard and then the mouse are most important, I want to put that at the top of the list. But we can also indent
our checklist items. So for example, maybe I want to change
this new note checklist and I'm going to create a
section called computer tools. Here, I'm going to drag this to the top, but now what I can do is click and drag and indent the keyboard
and indent the mouse. So now they are a part of this
master checklist at the top. Let me add just a few more items for our example here so
you can see how it works. By indenting certain items not only does it make it easier to read and group certain things together, but if I've already put the
keyboard and mouse into my cart, I can come up here and
select computer tools and now everything is
checked within that category. So it keeps everything nice and together. If I uncheck it, everything will be
unchecked up above as well. So a nice time saving tip when it comes to using
checklists within Google Keep. Returning to our more dropdown, below the check boxes option. We have the ability to grab image text. Now this is only going
to be available to you if you have an image
attached to your note. In this case we do, and the
good thing is we have some text within those images as well. So I'm going to select grab image
text and look what it's done. It's brought in two S's, attempting to mimic these two logos and then it's brought
in Simpletivity as well. So this is a fantastic way
if you are taking a picture of something when you're on the go or if you've uploaded
other things into your note and you want to get all of
that text into the note itself, you can simply select grab image text. Lastly, we have the option
to copy to Google Docs. So if you have perhaps a
lengthy note, maybe the start of an article or a blog
post or a lot of information you can quickly and easily convert that into a Google Doc by
selecting this last option. Lastly, each note also has
an undo and a redo button. So if you want to go back
and maybe remove certain text or remove certain labels,
you can quickly go back and forth with these options as well. (air wooshing) Now that you know everything about taking and editing your notes, let's
take a look at searching and categorizing our notes as well. Let's first start in
the top left hand corner where if we select the main menu option it will either minimize
or maximize our options on the left hand side. This can be a great way to
gain a little more real estate on your screen and especially if you're comfortable with these icons. Of course, by dragging your cursor over it will automatically expand. I'm going to expand it here for our case and notes is our first option, our main screen here within Google Keep. Next up is our reminder section where we're going to see a separation between a reminder which
is past in this case, this has happened in the past. and we will also see our
upcoming options here as well. You'll notice if something has been past we can choose to mark it as done and that will remove the reminder and therefore remove it
from this screen as well. Down below you will
find all of your labels. Here is the new label which we created just a few moments ago and since I removed it,
we have no labels here. But if I click onto some
of the other labels here you can see what notes are listed. And yes, things such as pinned or archived will be listed here as well. You'll notice that most
of the ones that I have in my example are archived,
but it doesn't mean that only archive notes
will be listed here. So for example, I'm going to
come back to my main note screen and select three additional notes here and I'm going to come up here
and apply the same label to them. I'm going to make them all as work. Now you can see there's
actually a third category, not only the one that was pinned and will remain pinned here. We have all of our other notes down below and our archive notes. So a nice clean separation between those three distinct areas. Below that, we have a
choice to edit our labels either if we want to create a new label or if we want to edit an existing label. Down below that we have our archive which we've seen before. And then last but not least is our trash. And yes, anything in the
trash will be deleted after seven days, but if we like we can go ahead and empty
the trash right away. Now while it can sometimes
feel overwhelming to manage so many notes on a single screen, even if you are using labels, that's where the search
feature comes into play. By selecting our cursor
at the top of the screen our display changes so that we can not only search
by a basic text search but we can also use a variety of filters. So if I type in the word simple it will actually bring a
variety of different notes. Here you can see that I have a note that
actually uses the word simple, but it is also bringing
back these two notes because simple is a part of the image. Even if you have not grabbed
the text from that image Google Keep will search for
any text within those images. Last but not least, as we
look at this archive note you may think that it has made a mistake 'cause I don't see the word simple and I don't see an image that says simple. But if I hover over this collaborator, you can see that his name
is listed as Simple Scott. So yes, that is being returned as a part of the search results as well. Let me clear this out and quickly look at some of the other filter
types that we can use as well. So if you want to filter
simply by reminders or checklists or images, you can do so. But keep in mind, in order to make use of any of these filters, we
need to select them first. So I'm going to select images which will bring back all of my images, but now I can continue that image search by selecting simple. And now we only have these two returned. You can see that we can also search by any notes that have a URL. So anything where I've included a link, it will be displayed as
a part of the results. Down below we can search by labels. We can also search by things and this is using some smart technology to quickly identify things
such as food or groceries. Here you can see I have a list which is quite obviously a shopping list. So this can be a quick and easy way for it to find things that
you may not have thought of. Lastly, we can also filter
and search by people or by specific colors, just
not by those backgrounds. (air wooshing) Next, let's move to
the far right hand side of the screen where we
start with a refresh button. If you are frequently taking notes on your mobile device or other machines you can always select
this option to make sure that all of your Keep
accounts are up to date. Next up, we have the
choice to alter the way that we view our notes. Here we are looking at the grid view which we can still click and drag and move things around
into different orders. But we can also transition to a list view which is more of a top down view where everything is in order. This view may be more preferred for people who want to prioritize
or stack rank their notes into a particular category, but we can always return to the grid view when we wish as well. Lastly, let's select our
gear icon and go to settings where we have a few other options where we can customize our
Google Keep experience. The first one is the add new
items to the bottom option and this is pertaining to checklists. You'll notice here with this selected, any new item will be displayed below. If I was to uncheck this item when I'm adding a new checklist, that will always be apparent
at the top of the list. So this really comes down
to personal preference. Next up is moved checked
items to the bottom. (air wooshing) In my example, you saw that
as I checked things off they are moved to the bottom of the list and I can even hide them if I want. But if we go back to our settings and let me de-select this option, don't forget to hit save down below. When I come here you can see that those checked items will
now remain within my list. So again, something else that comes down to personal preference. Our third option is to
display rich link previews. With this selected, you can
see that I have an article here which is showing a preview of that image and the website where it's coming from. But if you don't want
to see these previews and you only want to see these links, all you need to do is come
here and deselect this box. Lastly, if you prefer a dark theme and hit save you can convert Google Keep into that dark theme. Below notes and lists, we
have our reminder defaults for morning, afternoon, and evening. So when you are setting a reminder, you will recall that I had
these times available to me. Now pay special attention because what you change
here is actually going to be attached to your Gmail account as well. So for example, you'll notice that my reminder defaults
are 7:30, 2:00PM and 8:30. I'm going to hit save and
jump into my Gmail account. Here if I come over and
select the snooze option, you can see that 7:30 and
8:30 are the default times that are being displayed here. But if I jump back to
my Google Keep account and let's say I want to change
my morning reminder time to 5:00 AM and I'm going to hit save. Now when I return to my Gmail
account and select snooze, 5:00 AM is the default time which is presented to me as well. So when editing these
defaults within Keep, you may want to pay special attention as to where these will affect you the most either within your email account
or here within Google Keep. Last but not least, we have
the ability to disable sharing. So if you don't want to
accidentally share your notes with anyone, you can come in
here and uncheck this box. After hitting Save, you can see that that icon is still visible, but it has been grayed out
so we can no longer share within this account. (air wooshing) So now that you know every
single feature and function within Google Keep, I would
love to hear from you next. Do you still have questions on how to organize and
set up your Keep account? Be sure to let me know in
the comments down below. Thank you so much for watching, and remember being productive
does not need to be difficult, in fact, it's very simple.
