My Google Keep notes were a mess — here’s how I got them under control

Google Keep has been my go-to note-taking app for years, but I recently noticed that my disorganized notes were becoming overwhelming, making it harder to find what I was looking for. I had previously tried color-coding notes and pinning important ones, however these fixes were no longer enough.

I decided to finally get control over my notes by using features I’d often ignored, including labels and deleting old notes I no longer needed. But I also moved some of my notes to another app with more advanced features.

My notes in Google Keep fall into three main categories: personal notes like shopping and medication lists, notes for articles I’m writing, and notes about hardware I’m reviewing. The labels feature lets you categorize notes, but the label itself is not enough to keep these notes organized.

Rather, the ability to filter your notes to view a single label is what helped me get my Google Keep organized. Instead of being met with all my pinned notes and a series of disorganized notes spanning years, I can tap on a specific label to only view notes from a single category.

When you view a specific category in Google Keep, it also remembers your pinned notes preferences. This means you can still see your highest-priority notes with a specific label at the top of your screen.

I do wish, though, that Google made it a bit easier to organize notes on your home screen. Folders would be a really useful addition, allowing you to drag-and-drop your notes rather than assign them specific labels. It would also mean that when you open the app, your default screen gives you an organized overview, rather than requiring you to use labels as a filter.

When looking at ways to organize my Google Keep notes, I realized that I was hoarding a bunch of useless notes and information that I no longer needed. There were old notes for articles I had published years ago, random screenshots that I had no context for, and links to old shopping carts. There was even a text note that was just a series of 8’s taking up several lines, likely created during one of the many times my cat has stepped on my keyboard.

So I finally decided to do a thorough overview of my notes, deleting ones that I no longer needed. I am a bit of a digital hoarder, but even I can see how I no longer need my duplicate shopping lists and old article notes. For the things that I still wanted to keep around, I used the archive feature instead to remove them from my home screen view.

This is arguably one of the most important steps for getting Google Keep under control, especially if you’re a prolific note-taker. Delete what you no longer need, archive unimportant notes that you may want to keep just in case, and make sure your home screen includes your most important and recent notes.

I like Google Keep for its simplicity, especially since I find many productivity apps overwhelming with their learning curves and abundance of features. But even I need to admit when Google Keep’s sticky-note format no longer cuts it.

I noticed this first with my medication notes. As I changed between different treatments for my fibromyalgia and chronic migraines, it became more difficult to track the dosages, why I stopped taking certain medications, and the full history of different treatments.

As a result, I created a Notion template that keeps track of my current and past medications in a more nuanced way. This allowed for more detailed notes and simple ways to mark whether I still take the medication or supplement. I also added a column to my template that notes the effectiveness of the treatment, along with any side effects.

I’m also doing this with my notes related to my cats’ vet visits. I usually use Keep to list some questions I have for the vet, along with any notable problems my cats are experiencing. But these have also become scattered and disorganized, so I plan to create a dashboard in Notion that I can use to consolidate my notes. This will let me make much more detailed notes and easily organize them according to the date and which cat they apply to.

Technically I could’ve used text formatting in Google Keep to make more detailed notes, but they still wouldn’t have the more advanced benefits of Notion databases and templates.

Google Keep’s simple approach to note-taking means that I will still use it as my primary app for quick notes. It’s also the best place to keep my article ideas, since I can quickly jot them down whether I’m on the move, working, or lying in bed.

But I’ve also had to start using the app more thoughtfully to stop it from being a disorganized mess. This includes deleting and archiving old notes, simplifying my view with labels, and realizing when a note requires more advanced features than what Keep offers.