When Google Keep first appeared, myself and others thought it was Google’s attempt to make an Evernote type product.
I had long thought Google should acquire Evernote, or barring that, create their own personal note storage system. Google’s mission seems to be indexing all the world’s information. That should include our own personal information, but before they can index it and let us search on it, they need to give us a place to store information.
Perhaps that is still their intent, but if it is, they are getting there at a snail’s pace. There have been few upgrades to Keep.
The only really major upgrade was the addition of reminders; adding a date and time to a note and having the app alert you when appropriate.
At our Google+ Keep community a poster wondered if perhaps Keep was not actually intended to replace Google Tasks.
Google Tasks has always been a ignored by Google. They added a simple Task list to Gmail, and a freestanding page that didn’t do much.
They never created their own Tasks app for either Android or IOS, but instead left it to third parties.
Considering their excellent Calendar, not having a great Tasks capability was a glaring hole.
When I read the post, I decided to try using Keep as a task manager.
At first, I simply created Notes for each day of the week and listed the tasks I wanted to get done on that day. I created a reminder to bring the note to my attention at the right time.
The problem was if I didn’t complete an item on the day assigned. There was not a way to move the item to the Note for the next day.
So instead, I now create notes for each item, and color code them to one color that always means a Task.
I just wish that Keep had a way of sorting the Notes by the reminder dates to that already reminded tasks are at the top, and then going down by date from there.
There should also be the option to have Notes without reminders placed at the top or bottom depending on how you set a preference.
I have added that to the Suggestion list maintained by members of the community. Feel free to visit there and vote on suggestions you want.
That’s my two cents. Now back to waiting for Keep to gain more features.
You were right the first time. Keep is a note taking app. You can use it for tasks, but that's not it's strength. There are several great web based task management apps with iOS and Android apps. Why try to force it into the Google environment? I use Remember the Milk. There are gadgets that let me see my RTM tasks in the web interfaces of gmail and google calendar. For me trying to use evernote or keep as a task manager when there are so many good task managers out there. It's like trying to drive a nail with a screwdriver.
ReplyDeleteThe day when Google is going to acquire Evernote, I am going to leave Evernote and burn Evernote offices down personally! My whole life is in Evernote, and I would never ever consider giving this amount of intimate details to Google. For that reason I pay $150 every year to upkeep my 3 accounts at Evernote. I sincerely hope something like Google acquiring Evernote will never happen.
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