The best way to run Google Keep on the desktop in Windows

Search for Keep and then select the Apps category on the left and you will find the Google Keep app and it can be installed into Chrome. Not for long though. GoogleannouncedlastsummerthatChromeappswerebeingdiscontinued.WhatdoesthismeanforusersofGoogleKeep,oneofthecompany’sbesttools?Herearesometoptipsforthenotesapp. Newarticlesarepostedonrawinfopages.co.ukGoWindowsPCarticles Forthosethathavenotyetdiscoveredthisbrillianttool,GoogleKeepisagreatnote-takingappthatreplacesthestickynotestypeofutilitiesonyourcomputer. ItenablesyoutojotdownthingsyouwanttorememberlikeURLsandtextcopiedfromwebpages,thoughtsandideas,todolists,shoppinglists,remindersandsoon. ItismuchsimplerandmorelightweightthanGoogleKeepalternativesOneNoteandEvernote.Theseappsarefineintheirownway,butKeep’sstrongestfeaturesarespeedandsimplicity. *ShareGoogleKeepnoteswithothers *GoogleKeepjustgotaChromeextension *GreatnewfeaturesforGoogleKeep *GoogleKeepaddsthefeatureyouhavebeenwaitingfor *SpeakGoogleKeepnotesusingvoicerecognition *GoogleKeeptips,secrets *Abandonstickynotes,putGoogleKeeponthedesktop *RecognisetextinGoogleKeepimages NotesenteredintoKeeparestoredonlineinyourGoogleaccount. ThismeansthattheyareavailableonanycomputeranddevicethatrunsKeep. ThisisprettymucheverythingandyoucanuseaPC,Mac,iOSandAndroidphonesandtablets. TheendofChromeapps GototheChromeWebStore andtherearethreecategoriesofitems–Extensions,ThemesandApps.Thecategoriescanbeselectedintheleftsidebar. SearchforKeepandthenselecttheAppscategoryontheleftandyouwillfindtheGoogleKeepappanditcanbeinstalledintoChrome.Notforlongthough. GoogleisremovingsupportforChromeappsandsoonerorlatertheAppscategoryandalltheappsinitwilldisappear.ItturnsoutthatChromeappswasanexperimentthatdidn’tworkandGoogleisabandoningit. ItisstillpossibletoinstalltheKeepappintoChromeanditispossibletoaddashortcuttothedesktoptoruntheappinitsownwindow,separatefromtheChromebrowser.However,itdoesnotseemtoworkproperly. EitherIhaveabugorGooglehasalreadybeguntoremovesupportfortheKeepapp.AllIgetarethetitlesofnotes,butnocontentinthem.Thenotesareempty. ThereisaGoogleKeepextensionintheChromeWebStore,butthisisnottheapp,itisasimplewaytograbstuffoffwebpagesandstoretheminnotes.Itisdifferenttotheappitself. UsetheGoogleKeepwebapp ThisdoesnotmeanthatKeepisbeingabandoned.Chromeappswilldisappear,buttheycanbeturnedintowebappsthatruninanybrowserinstead. Forexample,insteadofrunningKeeponthedesktopasanapp,youjustgotokeep.google.comanditrunsinthebrowser–anybrowserandnotjustChrome.Itworksthesame,butonedifferenceisthatthereisnoofflineuse.Ifyouareofflineyoucan’taccessKeepontheweb. RunKeeponthedesktop Theapphasbeenabandoned,orsoonwillbe,andifyouhaveitonthedesktopitmightcontinuetoworkforawhile,buteventuallyitwillstopworking.I’vebeenusingaccessingitinabrowsertabandwhenItriedtoinstalltheappagain,itdidn’twork. However,thereisawork-around. Chromecanbemadetoruninawindowwithouttabs,withouttheaddressbox,withoutthemenuandwithoutthetoolbarwithextensionicons. PressWindows+RandintheRunboxenter: Chrome.exe–app=https://keep.google.com GoogleKeepopensinaneatlittlewindowonthedesktopexactlythesamewayitusedtoasanapp. Itisnotveryconvenienttypinginthatcomplicatedcommandandyoumightmakeatypingslip.Let’smakeashortcutforthedesktoportaskbarthatwillopenKeepinthiswindow. CreateaGoogleKeepdesktopshortcut RightclickthedesktopandselectNew,Shortcut. ClicktheBrowsebuttonandfindandselectChrome.Itwillbein: C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe or C:\ProgramFiles\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe Addaspaceandthenthe–app=https://keep.google.comtotheendofthepathsoitlookslikethis: ClickNext,setthenametoKeepandclickFinish. TheiconusedfortheKeepdesktopshortcutisastandardwebbrowsericoninsteadoftheKeepicon,butdoubleclickingtheshortcutopensKeepinaneatlittlewindowwithoutalltheusualbrowserclutter.   Changetheshortcuticon Therearetwomorethingsyoucando.Thefirstoneistochangetheicon. RightclicktheKeepicononthedesktopthatyoucreatedandselectProperties. ClicktheChangeIconbutton. ThereareseveralalternativeiconsandonelooksabitlikenotesinKeep.Selectitandclosethewindows.   PinKeeptothetaskbar Nowrightclicktheiconagainandtherearetwooptions.OneistopinKeeptotheStartmenuandtheotheristopinKeeptothetaskbar.Selectthemboth. NowyoucaneasilystartKeepinitsownwindowonthedesktopseparatetotheChromebrowser. UseGSuitetohelprunyourUKcompany.YoucanuseGmail,aswellasGoogleCalendar,Drive,Docs,andothertoolsthatallowyoutogetthingsdonefromanywhereonanydevice.GSuiteisofferingafree14-daytrial.Signupusingmyreferrallinkandemailmetogetadiscountoffyourfirstyear.–RW (Affiliatelink)Clickheretogetstarted:https://goo.gl/FRhLYV   Halloween,BlackFriday,CyberMonday:It’sSALEseason!GrabagreatdealwiththeserecommendedVPNsforprivacy&security:(affiliatelinks) NordVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals Hide.meVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals Surfshark:Seelatestsalesanddeals PureVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals IvacyVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals PrivadoVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals AtlasVPN:Seelatestsalesanddeals 90Comments Ilikeit!thankyou. Reply cool.Butyoulosttheofflinefeature.Googleareabunchofquitters Reply Itcanbedonemoreeasilynow: 1.Gotohttps://keep.google.com/ 2.Onchromeoptionsmenu:moretools>>createshortcut 3.check“openaswindow”andclickCREATE Reply Thewholearticlecanbereplacedbyyourcomment.Thankyou! Reply Yep,thispostwaswayfaster.Thanks! Reply THANKYOU! Reply Afterthis,Ipinnedittothetaskbar,let’ssayasathirdicon;thenhittingWin+3instantlypopstheGoogleKeepwindowopenandIjotmythought. Reply Awesomecomment. Reply whatdoyoumeanbytheChromeoptionsmenu?IsthisSettings? Reply omfgthankyousomuch! Reply ThanksRolandWaddilovefortheinsightfulfirstpartofthejourney. ThanksNewWayfortheremainderpart. WithborhyoureffortsKeepnowshinesevenmoreandfeelssnappierandfaster! Reply Wow.it’sreallyeasytogo. Thankyouverymuch. Reply Yep,thisistheway.Nicesimplehow-to. TheGoogleKeepwebappwillbealsoaddedtothetheStartMenusoyoucanlaunchitasanormalapp.BTWEdgecandothistoo. Reply Thanks.Worksgreatnow Reply wowthatwasveryhelpfulthankyou! Reply Brilliant…havebeentryingtofigureouthowtopinKeeptothetaskbarforthepastcoupleofhours…cameonthisarticle…fortunatelyIcontinuedtoreadthroughthecomments&therewasthesolutionin3uncomplicatedsteps..thankyou! Reply NicetipThanks! Reply Great–Ihavebeentryingtofindawaytodothatforages Reply Thisisareallygreatarticle. Reply ThisisthesolutionIwaslookingforanditworksreallywell.Thankyouforwritingandsharingthisclearstep-by-stepguide.Hopefully,GooglewillallowustocontinueusingKeep.It’soneofmymostusedapps. Reply Thanksthisisreallyniceinformation… Reply GladIfoundthis.I’vebeendebatingusingKeepandoneofthethingsIwantedwasastickynotefeature.Thisjustmaydothetrick.Thanks! Reply Thankyouverymuch!Greatarticle Reply Whatagreatpost.Googleshouldpayforthis.Thanksmate Reply ExcellentPost! P.S.Youcanfindthekeepiconhere(inpng):https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Google_Keep_icon.png Headovertohttp://convertico.com/toconvertitinto.ico Changetheiconbyheadingtopropertiesoftheshortcutandyouaregoodtogo! Reply Thankyousomuchforthisinformation!Thisprocesswentverywell,butafterIchangedtheiconandpinnedittoStart—theiconchangedbacktothedefaultChromeicon.HowcanIfixthat?Thanksinadvance! Reply Well,youneedadifferentmethodtobeabletodothat.This‘hack’reliesoncreatingashortcutwhichopensthecommandlineinthebackgroundandthentellsthecommandlinetoopenthewindowedwebpage.Thisallowsyoutosetyourownicon.Herearethesteps: 1.OpenChrome,andnavigatetochrome://apps.Inanothertab,openGoogleKeeporGoogleCalendarorwhatever. 2.HighlighttheURLoftheGoogleKeeporGoogleCalendarorwhateverinthechromesearchbox,anddragitintothechrome://appstabyoujustopened,wherealltheotherappiconsare.AnewsquareshouldappearwiththeiconandURLofthewebsiteyoudraggedin,nexttoyourexistingchromeapps. 3.Rightclickonthissquare,andclick“OpenasWindow”.Also,select“CreateShortcuts”->“Desktop”(“StartMenu”doesnotworkrightnow) 4.Gotoyourdesktop,rightclickonthenewshortcutyoujustcreated,open“Properties”,andcopyeverythinginthe‘Target’box.Pastethissomewheretouselater.Thatshouldlooksomethinglikethis: “C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–profile-directory=Default–app-id=lfeaehhpmhbkaimpembmeeojpoohnpfl 5.Rightclickonyourdesktop,select“New”->“Shortcut” 6.Inthe“typethelocationoftheitembox”,pastethefollowingcode: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe/Cstart“”[‘Target’copiedearlier] Replace[‘Target’copiedearlier]withwhatyoucopiedinstep4. 7.Click‘Next’.Nametheshortcutwhateveryouwant.Click“Finish”. 8.Now,selecttheshortcutyoujustcreated,right-clickit,andopen‘Properties’.Underthe‘Run’option,select‘Minimized’.Here,youcanalsosetyourcustomicon,whichwillalsoappearintheStartmenu,byclicking“ChangeIcon”(thisneedstobein.icoformat).Closethepropertiespanel. 9.Navigatetothisfolder:C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\StartMenu\Programs.Dragtheshortcutyoujustcreatedintothatfolder.Youwillneedadminprivileges.Rightclickontheshortcut,select‘PintoStart’ 10.Fortheiconyoujustsettoalsoappearinthetaskbarwhentheappisopenedfromthestartmenu,dothefollowing: –Opentheappfromthestartmenu. –Right-clickonthetaskbariconthatappears –Right-clickonthenameoftheappintheright-clickmenuthatjustappeared(shouldbethefirstoptionabove“PintoTaskbar”). –Select‘Properties’inthenewright-clickmenuthatjustappeared. –Click“ChangeIcon”inthatwindow,andselectthesameiconyouselectedinstep8. Done! Reply Thisisahugetimesaver.Muchappreciatedmate. Also,youcanfindtheKeepiconin“ico”formathere: http://www.iconarchive.com/show/pacifica-icons-by-bokehlicia/google-keep-icon.html Thiswayyoudon’tneedtogotoanotherwebsitetoconvertitfrompngtoico. Againthanksforyourgreateffort. Reply Thanksamillionforthis! Reply Wow,thankyousoverymuch–thatisthebesttutorialIhavefollowedinalongtime!Simple,concise,justrightamountofimages. Reply Thankyousomuch.Helpedalot!😉 Reply Thankyousomuch!Thatworkslikeacharm,andyouROCK! Reply It’snotworkingforme.thisisthelinkihaveasthetarget: C:\Users\Joshua\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application–app=https://keep.google.com IwasabletoaccesskeepwiththectrlRmethodbutIcan’tseemtomaketheshortcutwork.insteadthedesktopshortcutisonlyopeningthefilelocationinawindowsbrowser Reply Ihadthesameissue.ThearticleisgreatanditgavemeasolutionIhadbeenlookingforforalongtime.Thereare2kindsofmiddledashes,ashortoneandalongone.Ichangedthelongoneinthetutorialfor2shortonesanditworked:“C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–app=https://keep.google.com Reply Updatefrompreviouscomment.Itworks.iforgottotypeChrome.exeafteripointedtothefolder.Thanksforthegreatpost! Reply YourpathtoChromeisdifferenttomine.Itcouldbewrong.TryaddinganicontothedesktoptorunChrome,thenrightclickit,selectPropertiesandseewhatthepathis.Forme,itisC:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe Reply JUSTreplaceallyourswith “C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–app=https://keep.google.com Reply Wronglink–seeinProgramfilesforchrome.exe Reply Ikeepgettinganerror… “ThefileC:\Programcannotbefound.” Imadenotypos,Ievenbrowsedforthefileandamstillgettingthesameerror.Iamsoconfused! Reply Orinothercase “C:\ProgramFiles\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–app=https://keep.google.com Reply yeahsamehere Reply whataloadofcrap howalltheotherpeoplefoundthishelpfulisbeyondme.Mychromeexistsat“C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”butwhenItrytoadd –app=https://keep.google.comandclicknextitjustsayserrorcannotfindprogram soIhavegivenup,probablysomethingthatnolongerworksinthefallcreatorsupdate,googleandmicrosofthaveneverplayedwelltogether,nosurprisethere! Reply Igotthesamething,“ThefileC:\Programcannotbefound”untilIactuallyfollowedtheinstructionsand“Browsed”tothefilelocation,selecting>ThisPC>SSDC:\>etc.Thenitworked.HoweverIthendiscoveredthatLisette’smethod,usingthe“addtodesktop”featureintheChrometoolsmenu,worksjustaswellandgivesyouaKeepiconautomatically.Sonoworries! Lisettesays: 2018/01/08AT14:00 Isn’tthesamewithouttypinganycommand? –OpenChromebrowser –GototheKeepWebPage(oranyother) –OpenChromemenu(3verticaldots) –Open“Moretools”(approximativetranslationfromfrench) –Choose“Addtodesktop” –Modifythenameifyouwantto –Check“Openinawindow” Reply +1,onlythe‘new’terminologyis“CreateShortcut…”under“Moretools”and“Openaswindow”. It’sfunny,Macatworkstillhasappsupport,orIfiguredouthowtodothis3yearsago,andthenforgot… ja Ihadtoadd2dashestowork…afterthe…chrome.exe”–app=http… thisshouldwork. Iamhappywiththisworkaround. Reply Thanksforawesomearticle,itreallyhelps… Reply Perfect!!!Veryvaluableinformation. Reply Isn’tthesamewithouttypinganycommand? –OpenChromebrowser –GototheKeepWebPage(oranyother) –OpenChromemenu(3verticaldots) –Open“Moretools”(approximativetranslationfromfrench) –Choose“Addtodesktop” –Modifythenameifyouwantto –Check“Openinawindow” Reply Yeah!It’sprettymuchsameasexplainedhere! Reply Welldone,Lisette,thankssomuch,brilliant. Formidable,muchbetterwaytodoit! Reply Youareabsolutelybrilliant.Thankyou.Ahiddengeminthebigpuddleofs***. Reply Thanks.Theadvantageofdoingitthiswayisthattheiconiscorrect(nothingelsetodownloadorsearchfor).Plusthisworksfortheothergoogleapps. Reply thisworkedforme,thanks! theonlydisadvantageofthismethod(astheoriginalpost)isthatitisnotpossibletoseetheactualnotesfloatingonthedesktopasPost-its(aswithWindows’stickynotes).OnlyseetheKeepwindow. Reply Thankyousomuch!🙂 Reply Thisisanawesomearticle.Mademylifesomuchmoreorganizedandeasier!THANKYOU! Reply Thanksfortakingthetimetopostandexplaintheprocess(w/pics!) Reply Thankyouverymuch!!Greattip😉 Reply Thankyousomuch!Thisworksperfectly! Reply MyGoogleKeepwillnotsyncinWin10.Itwasworkingbuthasstopped.I’mnotrunninginChrome(sinceIdon’tlikeChrome).Cananyonepleasehelpmeouthere.Iwouldbemostgrateful.SharoninAllentown;0) Reply ThisworkedreallywelluntilarecentupdatetoWindows.NowwhenItrytousetheruncommand“Chrome.exe–app=https://keep.google.com”IgetanerrormessageontheChromepagethatopens:“Thissitecan’tbereached xn--app%3Dhttps-lg3f’sserverIPaddresscouldnotbefound.” Anysuggestions? Reply Imgettingthesameerror… Reply Igetthesameerror.. Reply Linda,Ijusttrieditanditworked.Areyouusingtwodashes–?‘Chrome.exe–app=https://keep.google.com’ Reply Aggghhh!WordPresskeepschangedoubledashtosingledashincomments, Reply Thanks.Itsolvedmyproblem.Thisdoubledashwastheissue. Reply Thxalot. Reply Thisworksgreat,however,whenyoucopy/pastethelinkprovidedabove,thedashdoesn’tpastecorrectlyandthatcausesanerror.Tofix,onceyou’vecopy/pastedthefilename C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–app=https://keep.google.com gobackanddeletethedash,thentypeitbackinmanually.Itwillworkgreatafterthat! Reply THANKYOUHeathC. Reply Thankyouverymuch,veryusefull! Reply THANKSALOT,ITSONEOFTHEKEYAPPSWITHWHICHIRUNMYLIFE,ANDITSTOPPEDWORKING,WITHTHISWORKARROUNDYOUSOLVEDIT!!! Reply Thisisgreat,butisthereawaytocreatethisshortcutwithalabelastarget? Reply oryoucouldjustdownloadtheappfromthewindows10store. Reply What’sthereasonfornottimestampingtheposts? Youstartedyourpostwith“GoogleannouncedlastsummerthatChromeappswerebeingdiscontinued”.“Lastsummer”couldbethreemonthsorsixyearsago. Please,showthedateofyourposts. Thanks Reply PerfectThankYou Reply Greatsolution,thankyou Reply Hello. Thankyou…Thisworkedwithkeep,CalendarandevenwithGmail…Thankyouforyourhelpinthis.I’dliketochangetheiconforotherthanthosesuggested.Idownloadedakeepiconfromtheweb(.pngfile)butitdidn´tacceptatheproperties.HowdoImakemyownicon?Canyouhelpmeinthis.Thanks. Reply Thankyousomuch Reply Thankyousomuch!🙂 Reply NeveruseGoogleKeepforanythingimportant.Ithasatendencytodumpyournotesandtheyarenotrecoverable Reply neverseenthathappen.Diditendupinthearchiveortrash? Reply Thisisreallyhelpful.Thanks! Reply thankyou!thathelpedsomuch! Reply Oneimportantoptionisthe–user-data-dirallowingtostartChrome(andkeep)asseparatesession,i.e.likeaseparateapp. Todothis,youjusthavetocreateapersonaldatafolderforthisChrome-Keepsession(ex:C:\Users\Phil\Keep\DefaultUser) Shortcutexample: “C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–new-window–window-size=520,750–window-position=0,0–app=”https://keep.google.com”–user-data-dir=”C:\Users\Phil\Keep\DefaultUser” HereIalsoresizeandsetpositionofChromeasanewsmallerwindow. Note:ThefirsttimeyoustartthisChromeshortcut,youwillhavetologinKeep,butnext,youwillbelogged-inautomatically.Thischromeshortcutwillbelinkedtoyouraccount(inyourwindowspersonaluserdata). Reply Greatandvaluablesupport!Thankyouverymuch,Roland Reply didn’tworkforme.AfterexecutingtheRunboxcommand,itopenedanewtabinmyexistingChromewindowwiththeaddress“http://xn--app%3Dhttps-lg3f//keep.google.com”.Ofcourse,Chromecouldnotfindthissite. Reply https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-notes-and-lis/hmjkmjkepdijhoojdojkdfohbdgmmhki/related Reply notasolutionforopenthe“OFFLINE”app,sincewith“Keep”wehavebunchofconfusionwith:1)webbasedapp(likeDrivee.g.),whichallthistipsareokfor2)chromeextension3)theOFFLINEgoogleapp(openingwithoutinternetconnection) Fortowinstartthe3)modeofGoogleKeep,istruggletofinallyfindthatucansimplyrightbuttononchrome://apps/iconofKeep(nottheextensiononeifuhaveiton)andcreateadesktopshortcut.THisisthe“offline”versionworkin enjoy! Reply Forthosewhohaven’tbeenabletomakeitwork,checkthatyouwrite2shortdashes.Somewordprocessingsoftwarewillchangethattoonelongdash“C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”–app=https://keep.google.com Reply I’mverygratefulforyourpost.AnexcellentworkaroundtouseGoogleKeeponWindows10. IuseKeepalotsothismakeslifeeasier.Thankyou…Keith. Reply Lovedthistutorial,veryhelpfulandtheresultprovidesawesomeuserexperience. Ihaveasuggestiontho:pleasefixthecommand`–app=https://keep.google.com`to`-–app=https://keep.google.com`.Ithurtscopyandpastenerdslikemehaha Again,awesomecontent,thankyou! Reply LeaveaReplyCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.CommentName Email Website Savemyname,email,andwebsiteinthisbrowserforthenexttimeIcomment. Searchthissite Searchfor: It’sthesaleseason:Grababargain! Followus,chatwithus Facebook|Pinterest|MeWe|Twitter|Bloglovin Haveyoureadthese? Don’tbefooledbythesefakePayPalemails,learntospotphishing HowtodecryptfilesencryptedwithransomwareinWindows StopFacebookadsandtrackingandtakebackcontrol IncreaseyourprivacyinWindows10 ©2021R.A.Waddilove