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Google Keep, the reminder and note service that integrates with Google Drive, Docs and, of course, your Google profile, is a fairly simple service and as such, doesn’t get much in the way of updates and new features, since most of the features that could extend it terribly far beyond its current capabilities are featured in other Google products. There are, however, some improvements that could be made to Keep that would stay in line with its key philosophy of being simple, easy to use and feature-rich for what it does. The newest update to Google Keep brings a few new features, and finally brings Keep’s desktop version into the Material Design fold.
On top of the material design for the desktop version of Keep, including the colored toolbar, animations and trademark hamburger menu, the app can now preview links, detect duplicate entries and help with grocery shopping, the last one being a classic example of Google finding a mundane and utilitarian use for its futuristic A.I. As far as previewing links, when a link is entered into an item in Keep, a small window will pop up showing the contents of the link in a condensed view. If you happen to enter a duplicate entry into a Keep item such as a checklist, the app will show you that you’ve already entered it in and give you a chance to confirm entering it anyway. Finally, grocery lists can now be auto completed in the same way as web searches – start typing something like butter or corn, and the app will show you a list of candidates based on what it think you were typing.
The update is already live for desktop users, as you can see in the header image, with all of the above mentioned features intact. The mobile update containing the features should already be live on Google Play, so, as with any app update, if you can’t see it, try restarting your device or clearing data for the Play Store. With these updates, using Keep to do anything from making a checklist of chores to planning a party should be much easier.