I finally fixed my messy note-taking habit by switching from Google Keep to Notion

For years, Google Keep was my go-to for jotting down quick notes and ideas. Whenever inspiration struck or an important task popped into my head, I'd create a new Keep note to capture it.

As my workload grew and I started taking more quick notes, I realized I could never find the one note when I needed it.

Eventually, Google Keep became a cluttered mess of notes that I couldn't make sense of. Instead of cleaning Google Keep and running into the same problem again, I decided to switch to Notion.

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Posts 12
By  Parth Shah

Google Keep was never built for serious note-taking

Its simplicity is also its biggest limitation

I've used Google Keep for years, and even now, my brain looks for the Keep icon when I'm in a hurry to write something down. However, I've realized that Keep was never intended for serious note-taking.

This is not a Keep issue. Google has positioned Keep as a quick capture tool. While it could do with some usability improvements, it isn't built for what I needed.

There's no way to organize notes into folders or link them together. At best, you can label them, but that only works up to a point.

When you have dozens of notes and labels, finding the right one at the right time becomes a challenge.

Formatting options are even more limited in Keep. I could create checklists and texts, but that's about it. There's no way to add headings, tables, or multiple images.

Anytime I wanted to use Keep to capture a serious thought, I felt limited.

After failing to find the right note for the nth time, I decided to switch to Notion

Notion gave my notes a real home

A place for everything

Unlike Google Keep, Notion is not a quick note-taking app. It's meant for more serious work, where you capture your thoughts and ideas in a more detailed and structured way. That works both in its favor and against it.

With Notion, I can finally organize my notes properly. I create different pages for different projects and even link them together. Instead of an endless list of notes, I have a logical structure that makes sense.

Admittedly, this requires a bit more effort, but it also means that I find the right note when I need it.

For example, I frequently used Google Keep to jot down key action points during meetings. More often than not, I'd either forget about them altogether after a few days or fail to find them when needed.

In Notion, I've created a structure that solves this. Each client gets a dedicated page, and for every meeting with them, I create a new sub-page to record the main points and action items.

To speed things up and ensure consistent styling, I use templates for meeting summaries or article outlines.

All of this is tied together with Notion's database system.

Besides nested pages, I keep the meeting notes in a database where each entry has all the relevant properties, like client name, date, and status. This way, I don't have to worry about remembering the right keywords to find the right note.

All the information is right there in the database that I can search through.

The formatting freedom is another big plus. A single Notion page can hold headings, tables, checklists, images, links, Google Drive links, and much more.

Thanks to this, all my notes have gone from just a wall of text to properly structured documents, which are more readable, understandable, and easily shareable.

Notion isn't perfect, though

Speed comes at a cost

Notion is undoubtedly a great tool for serious note-taking. But it's not without its flaws.

First and foremost, it's a lot heavier than Google Keep. Notion is not meant for quick but serious note-taking. The app takes noticeably longer to load, and by then, I sometimes lose my train of thought.

So, when I quickly want to jot down something before it slips my mind, I still have to fall back on Google Keep.

Second, Notion has a steep learning curve, which is time-consuming. It took me a few hours to get the hang of databases, templates, and nested pages. And setting all this up just the way I wanted took even longer.

All that investment certainly pays off, but it's not something that I imagine most people will be willing to do upfront.

A system I can finally rely on

Switching from Google Keep to Notion was not about replacing one app with another.

Notion fixed my messy note-taking habit and helped bring order. My notes are no longer scattered, and I can finally find them when needed.

Google Keep also remains a part of my note-taking flow. For quick captures, it's hard to beat Keep's speed and simplicity.

However, it's just the starting point, as I eventually move anything important over to Notion for proper organization.

If you are also a messy Keep note-taker like me, you may want to consider doing the same.

The problem may not be your lack of discipline. Instead, it could be that you are using the wrong tool for the job. For me, switching to Notion made all the difference.