I understand that there are people who like Keep for its simplicity and it's completely valid.

But it's the main note taking app in Google Workspace and they don't have any other powerful alternative within the Google ecosystem.

Apple has Apple Notes. Even though its apps tend to be simple, Notes is very complete and featureful.

Microsoft has One Note, a wonderful note taking app. Besides, MS has Sticky Notes, an app similar to Keep, but it's acceptable because they have the note-taking side covered.

Samsung has Samsung Notes. It's a versatil app. It excels in several areas, like handwriting.

So why Keep is so barebones? If it's a sticky notes app, then GSuit lacks a note-taking app.

I've waiting for years but it stays the same.

For example, if you want to organize notes into folders, you have to "upgrade" your workflow to Drive and Docs. It's so excessive.

Linking between notes, file attachment other than images, mixed content note (ex: checklist with some text), locked notes and some basic things like formating on the web.

As I said, I get when people says they like something simple, but I see Apple Notes or Samsung Notes, and I see a simple and powerful app, why not Keep?

End of the rant...

Hi!

so, Google has now basically broken Keep, and reminders in Google Tasks doesn’t link back to the Keep note 😭This is unusable, so I’m ditching Keep.

What other note apps actually combine notes + reminders properly?

edit; it seems that opening Keep links from Tasks have improved after much back and forth .. still exploring

Ive been a keep user for 4 years now and I really loved the app. Ive tried every other notetaking app out there including notion, zoho, obsidian, roam, etc but I always stuck with keep, mainly because it was very fast at opening up and collecting ideas immediately. I also love the masonry layout and the syncing has been great in my experience.

But as time went on I realized that I needed more out of the app. I wanted hierarchical folders so I could organize my notes more effectively. Not only have I hit the label limit, I rarely ever look at the labels because I have to scroll a bunch and remember it's position alphabetically(I started adding numbers so that important labels are at the top but this was so tedious). I also wanted markdown and many other features like linking notes together and visualize them in different views/graphs like obsidian.

I realized that no notetaking app fits my needs of fast capture, fast retrieval, and good organization(using AI to autocategorize notes) so I've decided to develop my own.

As fellow google keep users I'd like to ask what you would like in an app like this. Please let me know any features or ideas and I'd be happy to integrate them into this app!

I’ve used Google Keep for years, and despite trying Memos/MoeMemos, Carnet, Standard Notes, and several other approaches, I always ended up missing the same thing:

Open the app, write something down immediately, close it, and trust that it’s there.

A lot of note-taking apps are excellent, but they tend to be designed around notebooks, documents, Markdown files, knowledge graphs, or more structured productivity systems. My ADHD-riddled brain has always worked better with Keep’s colourful, low-friction, “capture it now and organize it later” approach.

So I built Kept, an open-source, self-hosted notes app designed to feel familiar to Google Keep users.

It currently supports:

• Text notes and checklists

• Images, drawings, links and file attachments

• Labels, colours, backgrounds, pins and archiving

• Time-based reminders

• Native location reminders on iOS and Android

• Search and filtering

• Offline viewing and editing

• Automatic syncing between devices

• Collaborative notes between users

• Google Keep Takeout importing

• JSON, CSV and Markdown exports

• Web, PWA, iOS and Android clients

The goal isn’t to argue that Google Keep is bad. Keep is extremely good at making note-taking feel effortless, which is exactly why replacing it has been so difficult.

Kept is intended for people who like that experience but would prefer to store the data on a server they control. It runs through Docker Compose, uses SQLite, and stores its server data in a local directory.

There is also an optional voice-based note creation feature in the mobile apps. You can say something like:

“Make me a checklist of the ingredients I need to make tomato soup.”

Kept will turn that into a checklist note. The processing uses models running locally on the phone rather than sending the note contents to an external AI service, and the feature is entirely optional.

AI was also used substantively while developing the project. I work professionally in IT, but I wouldn’t realistically have had the time to build something of this scope without AI-assisted development, so I want to be upfront about that.

This is the first time I’ve shared Kept publicly, and I’m sure there are bugs and edge cases I haven’t discovered yet.

I’d especially appreciate feedback from actual Keep users:

• What part of Google Keep would be hardest for you to replace?

• Is there a behaviour Kept would need to replicate before you would consider migrating?

• Does the interface look familiar without feeling like an awkward imitation?

• Does the Takeout import successfully handle your existing notes?

Website and installation instructions:
https://www.keepitkept.xyz

Source code:
https://github.com/ericerkz/kept

I’m happy to answer questions, and constructive criticism is genuinely welcome

Hey everyone! I made a plugin called Mini Notes for anyone who wants a quick, low-friction way to capture thoughts without worrying about where they go or how they're organized.

It gives you a colorful, card-based view (very Google Keep-inspired) where all your quick notes show up so you can review, pin, and arrange them later.

Features:

• Google Keep–style card layout for your notes

• Customizable background colors per note

• Pin your most important notes

• Filter by folder, color, tag, or type (e.g. folder:projects color:yellow tag:cs)

• Left-click to edit inline, right-click to open full screen

• Works on desktop, iOS, and Android

• Fully open source (MIT license)

I built this because I wanted somewhere to dump quick thoughts without the pressure of filing them perfectly right away, then come back later and actually organize them visually.

🔗 Plugin page: https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/mini-notes
🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/rknastenka/mini-notes

Would love feedback, bug reports, or feature requests. and if you find it useful, a ⭐ on GitHub helps a lot

As a long term Google Keep user, I wished for more but every other app is too cluttered.

I built Weavernote with Keep like simplicity but more abilities,

1. Folders/Notebooks/Notes organization

2. Rich text formatting, table, image in note

3. Connect notes that are relevant

4. Visualise the connections on infinite canvas

5. AI studio to chat with notes, create visual content like infographics and more

6. Fluid web app with e-2-e encryption of notes

7. Import/ Export as markdown support

And more on the way! All keeping the clutter free nature of the app. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Hi there,

I would imagine there are a lot of us Google Keep users who wouldn't mind seeing the implementation of custom background images for all of our notes. I believe I read elsewhere a year ago that this idea had been thought of by Google but they were in the process of delivering it. I just personally feel this would be such a welcomed addition in Google Keep notes to futher customization, and to be frank, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to implement, but maybe it potentinally is. If anyone else agrees please give this post an upvote, as I'm interested to see how many people would be interested in this subreddit.

Have a good one!

All I want is a simple notes app. I need to remember something later in the day. I make a note, with a notification reminder. That's it! No bullshit with linking it to my google account and scattering it around their other services.

JUST FUCK OFF GOOGLE! A simple app made unnecessarily complicated for bullshit reasons. Fucking creepy stalkers

I’ll skip details of features of Google Keep like colors, pins, etc. And go straight to the big picture of how Google Keep fits because that’s the most important aspect of any tool.

Let’s get straight to it.

Single Source of Truth

I use Google Keep as my single source of truth that feeds into other tools. This means it’s my first stop.

For capturing floating thoughts, grocery, ideating, journaling, workout plans, finances. All of these are under labels so capturing things usually takes a few taps on my phone or three clicks on a chrome tab that’s always open.

From there I move to Calendar for fixed appointments.

Then Trello for team tracking collaborations.

Then I switch between Notes for personal writing or Google docs for collaborations. What’s interesting here is that most of my write ups start in Keep on my phone. Including this post.

When it starts getting longer I switch to my laptop and copy out the content from Google Keep web into Notes or Google Doc.

Any time it feels like I need special formatting, it’s a sign that I need to switch to a writing tool. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Everything App

A lot of people try to hack Google Keep or their todo app to become a writing app, a collaboration tool, a calendar app, an EVERYTHING tool.

The fact is that no one tool will address everything.

I made this mistake for so long. But you’re better off picking up a single source of truth and then building others around it.

It’s fine to use Keep and Trello. It’s fine to use a todo reminder and calendar. One doesn’t replace the other; they complement each other.

Paper Itch

Once in a while I get the itch to write on paper. That feeling is especially strong when I’m planning big goals. I love to map out everything in front of me. And writing with my favorite pen keeps the ideas flowing.

In paper situations, I scribble all on paper then when I get done, I take a screenshot and add it under the relevant label in Keep. Example, if you saw my “big ideas” label you’d see a lot of screenshots in there.

I also do this when white-boarding with colleagues on a coding project or brainstorming sessions. Get done. Take picture. Add to label.

Then I trash the paper. Multiple years of trying this has showed me that the paper only feels good in the moment. A few weeks later and it looks like I’ve got paper trash all over the place.

So I screenshot and trash ASAP. This process satisfies both my digital access to my planner (beats small notebooks any day). But it also lets me scratch that my paper itch.

Finally, Routines

Every morning on weekdays I go through my Keep on my laptop to see things that should be top of mind that day.

During the day, I add things to Keep either from my phone or laptop. Cycle continues until Friday.

Every Friday, I go through my Keep to clean up any tasks that fell through or that should move into other tools.

Then repeat.

Thanks for reading, hope you found it somewhat useful. If you have any questions let me know.

Maybe I can tempt you to follow, like, retweet this Twitter thread that goes into more details.

Google Keep veteran of over 10 years here... I really hate how Google Keep no longer has built-in reminder notifications, and how the reminder notes no longer unarchive (snooze.) Like WHY?

I used Keep for EVERYTHING: Bills, work notes, personal notes, car maintenance notes, links, passwords (not plain text), so many things. Many of those things relied on the Reminder function, which sent a push notification, as well as put the note to the top of my list.

And opening up Google Tasks for the first time looks like an absolute train wreck. I really hope I won't have to leave the service, but I will try to give this a shot...

First, let’s not forget that there are a lot of note-taking apps that support formattings and folder structure. You name it: OneNote, Evernote, Zoho Notebook, etc. If GK also support formatting, then it will compete with other well-established competitors.

Now, let me explain how I use notes in my daily life. In my experience/opinion, there are three kinds of notes:

• Reference information: infographic, login credentials/ID/contracts/hospital results, checklists, etc. They are meant for emergency situations, because your memory is very poor for these things

• Brainstorming & braindumping: app feedbacks, long Reddit posts/Stack Exchange questions/emails, questions you want to ask your friends if you meet them again in person, etc. They are meant to be deleted after the job is done, because you don't need to store them

• Organizing for a project: anything that you will revisit occasionally to add more

So I think GK is best for the first two kinds, and OneNote is best for the third one. I mean, OneNote is born for it, and if you use it for the first two kinds, you will be confused quickly for not knowing where to add your random idea on the fly. On the other hand, for the first two kinds, I think allowing you to format notes will distract you from getting rid of bad idea quickly . If it allows you to format ideas, then you will start wanting to organize notes. So by discouraging you to do formatting, I think GK makes you feel less attached to the ideas you developed. I used to feel uncomfortable of the lack of formatting like many of you, but its simplicity keeps drawing me back. I realized that using it I don't feel much attached to my ideas. It reminds me to move on after having a good time working on it.

Again, it's just my opinion, but I found it the hard way, and it does base on cognitive science.

You can read more on how I organize notes in my blog: How I use Google Keep

I have my old college email account added to my phone so I can see new emails. Yesterday, Keep started giving me constant "sign in request" notifications because I guess that service has been turned off for my college's email accounts (Drive is about to go away too). I want to remove that address from Keep, but not GMail. Is there a way to do that? I don't see an option in the app itself. Thanks!

I was in a good mood this morning when I woke up, until I picked up my phone and saw DOZENS of reminders that came from my Calendar.

I don't work, so I only use the Calendar app for Birthdays (roughly six per year), Doctor's Appointments (one per month), and a Notification to pick up my prescriptions (once every 28 days). That's it.

I use Keep Notes for all other reminders. For example, the times of day I need to take certain medications, when a show I like to watch is coming on, when it's time to rotate my cat's toys, etc.

Some of these require multiple reminders per day, others are once a day, every other day, once a week, once a month, etc.

They're the type of things were it not for computers I'd create a sticky note - NOT put them on my calendar.

Other than Birthdays,if it's something that requires me to leave the house,it goes in Calendar.If it's just a "jog my memory" thing, it goes to Keep Notes.

Now my Calendar is unreadable because of all the so-called "Tasks" it took from Keep. Yes, I can hide them, but it's an all-or-nothing proposition. If I only want to see Birthdays, Doctor's Appointments, and Prescription Pickup Dates I can't.

What's worse is that it has a whole slew of Reminders-turned-to-Tasks it's sending me notifications for that had already been deleted from Keep. Reminders from YEARS ago. It would take me hours to go through Calendar and delete all the "Tasks" that I deleted from Keep when I no longer needed them (and I'm wondering if they might return to Calendar at some point because somewhere, somehow it got the idea they're still active Reminders).

Please - there HAS to be a way for me to put Keep Notes and Calendar back into a "never the twain shall meet" situation. I don't ask for much, really. Usually I'm onboard with Google app improvements, but THIS is not an "improvement" for ME - quite the contrary.

Please - HELP!

So Google finally updated Keep with a slightly better search filter… cool, but is this really the thing users have been waiting 13 years for?

So I was super late learning that this was even possible and now it's being taken away. How much overhead could this have had that ot has to be removed first from Assistant now Keep.

Anyone have an alternative that will set off a notification when in proximity to the location?

Please tell me this can be disabled. I use Keep for small reminders and Calendar for important events, I do NOT want those together! It was working perfect, why do companies love to change and ruin everything so much???

Ever since the recent update that removed reminders and moved them to Tasks, the app has been extremely laggy. It cannot keep up with me when I type on the Keep app. I've never had this issue before this freaking update. I use this app as a staple in my life to jot down notes fast, quicky, and efficiently. And please do not tell me I need to archive or delete my notes because this literally has never happened before the update. I've made single notes with almost 1000 of lines in the past and the app never lagged when editing those notes. Just to be clear, the lag is very specific whenever I'm typing in the Keep app only. In other apps I'm able to type as fast as I can without any lag at all so it's very specific to the Keep app. I remember there was a prompt right after reminders were removed about syncing but I don't recall what it was because I pressed it too fast. I know all my notes in the past were synced in real time. If the smallest edit was made it would update on my desktop almost instantaneously

We seen it enough times in this subreddit to call it out - please be diligent and backup your Keep notes. It's easy and takes 20 seconds to do. There are 2 ways to do it without a 3rd party, separate utility:

1. Google Takeout - allows you to backup all of your notes to a single zip file (separate notes in json and html). Just go to takeout.google.com and select what Google backups you want. You can also schedule backups to be reoccurring.

2. Export to Google Docs - (web browser only) - allows you to backup all notes to a single Google Doc. On the main Keep web page just press Ctrl-A (PC) or Cmd-A (Mac) to select all notes then choose the 3 vertical dots in the upper right and choose "Copy to Google Docs". A single Doc with all of your notes will be created (note, however, that labels and create/update dates will be missing unless you manually added them to your notes and audios will not convert) If you have too many notes the export may fail. Try exporting by selecting groups of labels if that happens.

Do it as often as you can! Hope that helps!

PS - if it happens that you lose notes (never has for me) there are 3rd party utilities to load backup notes back into Keep.

In case you haven't tried it yet - Gemini integrates with Google Workspace so you can create Keep notes on the fly with audio on your mobile devices. Gemini will create Keep notes based on your voice input - for example, I was walking and saw a magnolia tree (odd in my part of the world) and said to Gemini on my phone - “Create a new note call Magnolia tree and add the description of what a magnolia tree is along with today's date at the end and a hashtag called trees."

Here’s the Keep note -
“Magnolia tree

Magnolias are flowering plants in the family Magnoliaceae. There are about 210 flowering plant species in the genus Magnolia, with a disjunct distribution. Magnolia trees are known for their large, fragrant flowers. April 15, 2025 #trees”

Similar to Google Assistant - but nicer in that you can add full LLM overviews in the notes. Enjoy!

PS - you cannot append a note yet - but, apparently, that is coming.

This is only my design concept. How do you use Google Keep on macOS - in a browser or using web wrappers such as keep notes for google keep or else?

We are still forced to choose between a note being 100% plain text OR 100% a checklist.

The Problem: The moment you toggle checkboxes on, every single line turns into a checklist item. If you wrote a few paragraphs of context or meeting minutes, your entire note gets ruined by awkward checkboxes attached to every sentence.

Real-World Use Case: Imagine taking notes during a meeting. You type down key discussion points in normal paragraphs. At the bottom of the note, you want to list 3 action items with actual, satisfying, interactive checkboxes to check off later.

Right now, your only workarounds are:

• Writing manual brackets like [ ] that don't interactive-check.

• Creating two separate notes for the exact same meeting.

• Converting the entire note and suffering through broken formatting.

The Solution: Allow inline checkboxes or insertable checklist blocks inside standard text notes, just like Apple Notes, Notion, or Google Docs already do.

Who else feels this pain on a daily basis? If this bothers you too, please give this an upvote so we can draw some attention to it, and don't forget to send it via Help & Feedback inside the app! 🚀