Google Keep: Lists, Ideas & Shared Grocery Lists

Opening Google Keep

Google Keep comes on most Android phones. Its icon is a small yellow lightbulb — a nice reminder that this is where your bright ideas live.

• Look for the yellow lightbulb icon on your home screen or in your list of apps.
• Tap it once to open.
• If you cannot find it, tap the Play Store and search for 'Google Keep' to add it for free.

Making Your First Note

A note is just a place to type or scribble down whatever you like — a thought, a phone number, a reminder to yourself.

To fix or add to a note, just tap it open, make your changes, and tap the back arrow again. There is no separate save button to hunt for — Keep saves as you go.

• Tap Take a note at the bottom of the screen.
• Type your title at the top, if you want one, then your note below.
• Tap the back arrow at the top-left when you are finished.
• Your note appears as a card on the main screen.

Making A Checklist

A checklist is perfect for a grocery run or a to-do list. Each line gets its own little box you can tick off as you go.

Already typed a note the plain way? Open it, tap the plus or the three-dot menu, and choose Checkboxes. Each line turns into a tick-able item. It is never too late to switch.

• Tap the plus button, then choose New list.
• Type your first item and tap Enter to start the next line.
• Keep adding items, one per line.
• Tap the back arrow when your list is done.

Checking Off And Tidying Items

The satisfying part: tapping items off your list as you gather them or get them done.

When your shopping is done, you do not have to delete items one by one. Tap the three-dot menu and choose Delete checked items to wipe them all at once, ready for next time. Or leave them and un-check them as you need them again.

• Tap the little box beside an item to check it off.
• Checked items get a line through them and slide down to the bottom.
• Tap the box again to un-check something if you change your mind.
• Drag the small handle on the left of an item to reorder your list.

Sharing A Note With Family

This is Keep's finest trick. You can share a note with your spouse or a family member, and you can both add to it and check things off — on your own phones, at the same time.

Picture one shared grocery list. You add milk at home; your spouse adds coffee at work. Whoever is at the store sees both. No more two half-lists or forgotten items — one list, always up to date for both of you.

• Open the note you want to share.
• Tap the three-dot menu, then Collaborator (or the person-with-a-plus icon).
• Type the person's email address and confirm.
• They can now see and edit the note on their own device.

Color-Coding Your Notes

Giving your notes different colors makes them easy to spot at a glance — grocery in green, perhaps, and to-dos in blue.

You do not need a color for everything. Even coloring just your one or two most-used notes — say, the grocery list — makes them jump out from the pile in an instant.

• Open the note, tap the three-dot menu, and look for the row of colors.
• Or, on the main screen, press and hold a note, then pick a color.
• Tap the color you want, and the note's card changes to match.

Labels To Organize Notes

A label is like a folder name you can put on a note, so all the notes on one subject stay together — 'Recipes,' 'Travel,' or 'Home.'

Tap the menu (the three-line button, top-left) to see your list of labels. Tap one and Keep shows only the notes wearing that label. It is a tidy way to keep a growing pile of notes under control.

• Open a note, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Labels.
• Tick an existing label, or type a new name to create one.
• A note can wear more than one label at a time.

Pinning An Important Note

Pinning lifts a note to the very top of your screen, so the ones you use most are always the first thing you see.

Pin the notes you reach for daily — the grocery list, an important phone number, this week's to-dos. Everything else stays neatly below.

• Open the note, or press and hold it on the main screen.
• Tap the pin icon (a little pushpin), usually near the top-right.
• The note jumps up to a 'Pinned' area at the top of your list.
• Tap the pin again to un-pin it when you no longer need it up there.

Reminders By Time

Keep can nudge you at a time you pick, so a note becomes a gentle alarm. Perfect for 'take the roast out at five' or 'call the pharmacy Monday.'

You can also set a reminder to repeat — every day, every week, or every month. Handy for a weekly pill refill or a monthly bill you like to pay by hand.

• Open the note and tap the bell icon (Remind me), near the top.
• Choose Pick a date and time.
• Set the day and hour you want to be reminded.
• At that time, your phone shows the note as a reminder.

Reminders By Location

Keep used to nudge you when you arrived at a place — your grocery list the moment you reached the store. Google has since retired these location reminders, so they are no longer available in Keep.

Happily, a reminder by time, from the page before, does much the same job. Pick a time that fits your routine — say, Saturday morning before you shop — and your phone will nudge you then.

• Open the note and tap the bell icon (Remind me).
• Choose Pick a date and time instead.
• Set a time when you are likely to be near the store.
• Keep now saves your reminder to Google Tasks, and your phone reminds you at that time.

Voice Notes: Speak It, Don't Type It

If typing on a small screen is a bother, you can simply speak, and Keep will write it down for you. Wonderful when your hands are full.

This is a lovely way to catch a thought while you are cooking or out in the garden. Speak it now, tidy up the words later if you like.

• On the main screen, tap the microphone icon near the bottom.
• Speak clearly — say your note out loud.
• Keep writes down your words as text, and also saves the recording.
• Tap to stop when you are finished.

Photo Notes: A Picture In Your Note

Sometimes a picture is easier than words. Keep lets you add a photo to a note — snap the wine label you liked, or a page from a cookbook.

Photo notes are handy for the model number on the back of a device, a handwritten recipe, or the label of a medicine so you remember the name.

• Start a new note, or open an existing one.
• Tap the plus or camera icon at the bottom of the note.
• Choose Take photo to snap a new one, or Add image to pick one you already have.
• The picture appears right inside your note.

Searching Your Notes

Once you have a fair few notes, the Search box finds any one of them in a snap. No scrolling required.

• Tap the Search box at the top of the main screen.
• Type a word you remember from the note.
• Keep shows every matching note as you type — tap the one you want.

Keep On The Phone And Computer

The same notes you keep on your phone are waiting on your computer too. Type a long list on the big keyboard, then carry it in your pocket.

This is grand for a big grocery or packing list — type it in comfort at the kitchen table, then check it off on your phone at the store.

• On your computer, open a web browser and go to keep.google.com.
• Sign in with the same Google account you use on your phone.
• All your notes appear, ready to read and edit.
• Anything you change shows up on your phone within moments, and the reverse is true as well.

Handy Everyday Uses

Once Keep feels comfortable, you will find little jobs for it all over your day. Here are a few that folks find especially useful.

• A medicine list — the names and doses you take, handy to show a doctor.
• A packing list for trips, reused each time so nothing is forgotten.
• A gift ideas note, added to through the year.
• Important phone numbers — the plumber, the vet, a neighbor.
• A running grocery list, shared with your spouse.

What Not To Store In Keep

Keep is grand for lists and reminders. But it is not the right place for your most sensitive secrets — and this page tells you why.

A note is not locked the way a proper password app is. If someone got into your phone or your Google account, a note holding your bank password would hand it right over. Passwords belong in a proper password keeper, which is built to guard them.

• Your banking passwords or PIN numbers.
• Your Social Security number.
• Credit card numbers or account log-ins.

Archiving And Deleting Notes

When a note has done its job, you can tuck it away or throw it out. Both are easy, and archiving keeps a note without cluttering your screen.

Archived a note by mistake? It is safe in the Archive. Deleted one you wanted? Look in the Trash (in the menu) within a week and restore it. Very little in Keep is ever truly lost in a hurry.

• Archive tucks a note out of your main view but keeps it. Find it later under Archive in the menu, or by searching.
• Delete moves a note to the Trash, where it is erased for good after about a week.
• Open a note and tap the three-dot menu to find Archive or Delete.

A Simple Keep Routine

Keep works best as a quiet habit. A few small moves, done regularly, and it becomes the one place you trust for everything you jot down.

• Add to your grocery list through the week, the moment you run low on something.
• Jot new thoughts, numbers, and to-dos into Keep instead of onto loose paper.
• Pin the two or three notes you use most so they stay on top.
• Set a reminder for anything with a deadline.
• Now and then, archive notes you are done with to keep things tidy.

What's in the 27-page PDF

• Pages 3-6: The basics — opening Keep, making a note, and building a checklist
• Pages 7-10: Sharing with family, color-coding, labels, and pinning what matters
• Pages 11-14: Reminders by time and place, plus voice notes and photo notes
• Pages 15-16: Searching your notes and using Keep on your computer too
• Pages 17-20: Handy everyday uses, what not to store, tidying up, and a simple routine
• Pages 21-22: A cheat sheet and a plain-English word list

Why I wrote this

I write these as printable handouts because a guide you can keep in a drawer beats a web page you have to find again. No jargon, no judgment, no rushing. If you'd rather have someone sit beside you and go through it together, that's a flat $99 first visit with the 30-day follow-up included — serving Portage County from Atwater, Ohio. — Bill