How (and why) to use Google Drive as a powerful note-taking tool - smithalitill

There's an abundance of utterly good note-taking software available for organization addicts, with tools like Evernote and OneNote typically topping the list. The field gets even up more crowded if you boom to mobile app stores, which are loaded with specialized tools that promise to save all your ideas from those lengthy brainstorming sessions, meetings, or schoolroom lectures.

Simply don't overlook Google Motor as a potential go up-to note-taker even though it's generally designed as a word processor. The productivity suite has some key advantages that the note-winning non-quite-competition fail to put up, at the least as a singular package.

Derek Walter

Firstly, all of your docs (or notes in this case) are saved in Google Drive, which has the best search capabilities more or less, hands-down. That makes it easy to find the note your looking at for outright. Evernote's search is good, just non Eastern Samoa good as Google's.

You also can use Drive's excellent collaboration feature to write and share notes with others in echt-meter—an specially useful scenario if you're doing a group project with colleagues or classmates.

At last, using Docs as your note-taking tool of selection prevents that oh-so-annoying scenario when you'Ra nerve-wracking to remember incisively where you redeemed a key file out. On that point's atomic number 102 to a greater extent "Oh, I put that promissory note in Evernote, but the attached Word document is in Dropbox, and the image is in OneDrive,"et cetera. If you go all-in with Driving force, it's complete there.

If those sound like capabilities you need, Google Docs could same well scratch your note-attractive itch. Transforming Docs into a take note-taking power station takes a wee bit of upfront puzzle out, however—not so much, but some. Here's how to get started.

Primed up an organizational social organisation

The commencement step is to create a brochure for wholly your notes—even though Drive's look for capabilities are excellent, it still helps to have some kinda organizational plan for your notes and other files.

Create a leaflet, or several, for all your notes operating theater other items you'd like to keep organized.

You could just set up one blanket folder known as Notes that you stuff all of these into, or you could get more specialized with folders for merging notes, agendas, recipes, or perhaps even individual classes if you'atomic number 75 a student. Drive also lets you nest folders if you want to further subdivide your organizational system.

Cooperative note-taking

If you're on the job on a project with others, you still can't recover a better real-time collaboration app than Google Docs.

Share a file and edit in real-time with another Google Drive user.

Google Drive makes information technology exceptionally easy to share a page of notes with a colleague—just use larger-than-life blue Share button in the corner and fire away. Even better, the Docs commenting system allows you to necessitate questions or discuss whatsoever of the material back and off right inside the file away.

Use those tables

For some notes you may want to a higher degree just the usual blank ticket. Fortuitously, you buns tweak documents to make them function better for notes.

Making a table is a good direction to organize a page for note-taking.

Inserting a table works best. Add a table (Insert > Set back) with a few rows for a quick and pestiferous means to split up the page. This works great for a number of function cases, but especially for classroom note of hand-taking surgery whenever you penury to come in text next to graphics.

There isn't a native capability for splitting your doc up into columns, so a table works best for this kind of situation. You can also add in a horizontal line from theInsert carte du jour if you wishing to split off one segment from another.

Search smarter in Google Drive

Google's search is unremarkably best in socio-economic class, but sometimes you'll need some additional tools to perfect in on what you'atomic number 75 hard to find. Drive has several parameters that bathroom refine your search, which is especially recyclable if the only matter climax to mind is a average terminal figure that could be in a large number of files you have saved.

Use look for parameters to hone in along what you're trying to find.

You can specify what typecast of file you're trying to find—perhaps you want an image you scanned or a doc. If mortal else started the file, you can look into for matchless where they're the owner, preservation you from too many search results that manoeuver you in the wrong direction.

Drive also supports powerful search modifiers similar to the ones you give the sack function in the Google Search, which can help you narrow your queries drink down to improbably granular levels. Check the "Advanced Search Options" segment of Google Push on's search assistanc page for a full list.

Put your camera to work

It's elementary to attention deficit disorder images to Push back; antimonopoly snap a picture with the Drive iOS or Android app or use your estimator's webcam on the desktop. From there you can lend the movie to a specific file or anyplace else in your Google Drive.

Lead a snap of your handwritten notes and upload them to Tug.

Like Evernote, Google Drive employs optical type recognition to let you search for text within of the first 100 pages of a textual matter-supported PDF, the firstborn 10 pages of an image-settled PDF, or JPG, PNG, or GIF images adequate to 2MB in size. Be certain to orientate pictures left-to-right (like you were reading a book) and take photos with as high a resolution as possible to get the best results.

The Google Docs Inquiry Tool is fantabulous for use with articles or research papers—and mention-taking, as IT turns out. For example, if there's a phrasal idiom you desire to recognise more about, just highlight it and select the search tool.

The Research Tool around can be an first-class resource for committal to writing in Google Docs.

Docs will then haul up in hand links. If you want to keep in those links around or if they're useful for a collaborative short letter-pickings session, then you can make the selected textbook a link. This can prove specially handy if you have a lay out of notes that are going to puzzle out worked into a cover.

When it may not be right

Docs workings well for the use cases we covered here. But it notwithstandin May not be right for you, depending on your grammatical category note-taking style. For example, if you like to mark up your notes on a tablet with your finger surgery stylus, Docs isn't the right choice for you.

Further reading: Google Stay fresh vs. OneNote vs. Evernote: We name the note-app winner

OneNote and Evernote have more extensive organisational systems if you juggle sextuple projects or digitize a ton of paper notes. Evernote and OneNote too allow you to embed audio recordings in notes. Additionally, Surface In favou 3 owners shouldn't forget about the tablet's deep consolidation with OneNote, which fires up with nonpareil get across of the digital pen.

Both OneNote and Evernote offer some in-profoundness tricks for note-taking big businessman users, besides—tricks that Google Docs can't match.

Watch Google Keep

Google Keep is is Google's take connected a quick note-fetching tool. IT syncs across the WWW and Humanoid (sorry iOS users) and is in the main a outstanding room to save quick notes or curb-box lists—its Sticky Note-style layout doesn't really lend itself to more detailed files, still.

Yet you never know if Google will one day announce many bigger plans, perhaps more deeply integrating Hold open with the roost of Ram. Indeed follow for how Keep develops all over time. Either way, Google doesn't anticipate be letting Evernote or Microsoft run away with the productivity booty.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/431357/how-and-why-to-use-google-drive-as-a-powerful-note-taking-tool.html

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