Google Keep is and always probably will be my absolute favorite Google service. The ability to quickly jot down ideas as I experience and become inspired by things around me in life is invaluable. While other note-taking applications do exist, Keep’s simplicity remains the reason I choose it over its competitors.
That’s not to say it doesn’t have its flaws though. Sure, the ability to change your font size, drag and drop images from it to other places and even basic markup formatting are all on their way as future updates, but it’s infinitely simple and as some would say, too much so. The basic and straightforward nature of the app is both its superpower and its crutch, at least for those looking to get more out of their notes.
Today, I want to toss around an idea I’ve had, and just get it off of my chest. I wish Google Keep notes could be directly integrated into the Google Drive file system and organized within the same file structure. Most people would absolutely hate this, but I do have my reasons for wishlisting such a feature. The main one is that I use Keep not only for my day-to-day life but as a game developer, entrepreneur, and all-around creative in business.
I have plenty of ideas, yet they remain completely divorced from my primary files, and that’s oddly frustrating. I’m aware that I can open a Google Doc and drag Keep note text, images, links, and more directly in, and this has been Google’s solution for people like me, but I don’t want to dump everything in there, because loading up a Google Doc in order to look at my ideas is more work. Keep notes can be glanced at without even clicking them, I can scroll through them and ingest information at a rapid pace.
No, what I want is the ability to place info in a Doc, while simultaneously keeping it in well, a Keep note. I want these ideas to be both loose and structured all at once. I want the information to stay on a scrap piece of paper while also being plugged into a larger structure like a design document, collaborative outline, and so on.
I know this will likely never happen, but with all of the great Smart Canvas features popping up and becoming more well-rounded lately, I figured I would at least put this out there and get your thoughts. Is it crazy to want my notes to be more useful and yet remain easy to access? Having the ability to organize Keep notes into a Drive location and still access them from the Keep interface would be the best approach to this.
Another solution could be to get rid of Keep entire (please don’t, Google!) and merge it with Docs. Docs could become glanceable without having to open them, pinned, colored, able to be mixed with reminders, and so on. Why not just converge the two services so that Docs have quicker, simpler functionality on a higher level while digging in would still provide plenty of editing tools, collaboration, and smart features like video calls?
Either way, I’ve been mulling over this for quite some time, and I truly believe that some form of merger or exchange of features would better serve both audiences. If Docs doesn’t become more glanceable, then maybe Keep can continue to receive more advanced editing features like Docs has. It may sound crazy, but who knows, anything is possible these days, right? Google is rapidly developing its tools, so now would be the perfect time to experiment with this!
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