I wrote about this free app from Google several years ago. But I get questions often about how to do things that this app can help people with. The standard question is like, “Ron, how do you take notes for important things on your phone?”
You know, an idea hits you and you want to “jot” it down for later. Yes, I know all of you old timers out there like a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. However, I always have my phone with me but a pencil and paper are not usually around when I need them. Of course, after I write something on the paper, I cannot find the paper later. Again, my phone is always nearby if not in my pocket.
The app is, as I told you above, free from Google and is called “Google Keep.” You can use it online at “keep.google.com.” You can also install it at the Google Play Store (ghtech.site/google-keep) for your Android phone/tablet and in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad devices (ghtech.site/apple-keep) .
There are several useful features found in this small app. First, you can take a note. In your note, you can type in text. You can even create a list with check-off boxes as to mark as complete individually.
Next, you can leave yourself a voice message to listen to later. But my favorite part is that it immediately takes the recording you make and transcribes it into text. How accurate is it? Well, as my friend Jim Britt and I suggest, “I would not dictate an important document, have it transcribed and hit the send button without a very careful review and edit.” For instance, I dictated the first paragraph in this article, and it transcribed everything but the word “Ron” correctly. It wrote “Run.” It is still helpful, but make sure you review anything important for accuracy.
Next, you can set a reminder to go off for a specific note at another date and time. Not bad, but even better is you can also set it to go off at a specific location. Yes, it can track your location with GPS and say have your grocery list pop up on your phone when you drive by the grocery store. It reminds you to stop and also what to get from the list.
Next, something that I use often. As a technology trainer/writer/broadcaster, I will often find a quote, paragraph, or other interesting information I would like to include in a document I am researching. The only issue is that the possibly lengthy text may be in a graphic, photograph, or even a website page online. In Keep I can place the photo in a note and then click the menu and choose, “Grab image text.” (See the graphics below.) Then it quickly scans the graphic and places all the text below the graphic as plain text. You can then manipulate the text as if you had typed it.…without any of the background picture clutter getting in the way. This is not always perfect but is accurate most of the time.
Copy and paste it where you need it. Easy, very accurate, and above all extremely helpful in the day-to-day. Check out Google Keep as it has even more helpful features that I did not mention here.
