Collected notes are (almost) the best alternative to Google Keep

Google Keep is a great note-taking service, and it can also double as a to-do app, there’s no doubt about that. But even when you use all the organizational features available, like labels, archiving, and colors, you can soon end up with a tangled mess that’s difficult to undo when you’re not careful. If you ask me, alternatives like Notion or Evernote can get too complex for purely personal use, and that’s where one of my favorite standalone Android apps comes in: Bundled Notes.

Interface and notes management

The name of the collected notes immediately tells you what’s going on. Instead of taking the Keep approach and throwing all your notes, checklists, and to-do lists into one home screen, distinguishing them only by labels and colors, grouped notes force you to arrange your notes and tasks into folder-like packages that first need to be accessed before you can interact with them. This may cause more friction when you just want to jot something down really quickly, but it will force you to organize your notes from the beginning. As such, the main screen for grouped notes consists only of these bundles, with options for manual or alphabetical sorting and a grid or card layout. A small plus button on each pack lets you quickly add a note, and you can create shortcuts on the home screen for individual packs by long-pressing them. In Android 12, the app also supports Material You themes, dipping its interface in a color based on your wallpaper.

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll find the centerpiece that lets you do almost all the magic: the bottom action bar with a floating button on the right that allows you to quickly create a new package (or note, when you’re inside a package). The three-line menu to the left of the ribbon gives you access to your account details, settings, upgrade options, and theme preferences. Additionally, the ribbon lets you view any files and photos you’ve added to your notes, making it easier to manage your storage space. There’s also a quick shortcut to view all your upcoming and past reminders, giving you a calendar of sorts if you use the app as your to-do list.

The bottom bar looks a little different in packages, giving you configuration options, a shortcut to archived notes, and a search button. The configuration options for the bundles are extensive and one of the reasons why bundled notes are so flexible for different use cases. You can use the bottom bar to switch between a Google Keep-like grid view with two rows of notes next to each other, or a card view that previews one note per line — much like the compact layout, which just shrinks the card width a bit.

Depending on what you’re using the pack for, you can launch a sorted list, showing the numerical order of your notes — which is useful if you’re using the pack to categorize your favorite movies, games, or favorite Android phones. . If necessary, you can also show the created and edited dates for notes. Basics like pinning notes to top, archiving, and multi-selecting for bulk actions are also available. Configurable left and right swipe actions make it easy to access.

If anything, there may be also Too many options – You can easily become overwhelmed and lost in the sea of ​​available settings. But once you’ve tested everything and determined what you need the package for, you should settle with a system that works perfectly for you, and you alone. There are only a few apps that give you this much flexibility, and there is a learning curve associated with that.

Then there are tags, which offer a whole other layer of organization and automation. You can create new tags at the top of the stack using the plus button. Here, you can choose a name and color and set it as the default label for new notes or not.

Task boards and Kanban boards

Tags are great for organizing notes into different categories, but they’re even more powerful when it comes to tasks. You can have Bundled Notes automatically add checkmarks or archive buttons to notes that contain certain tags, making it easy to turn Bundled into its own little to-do app for a project or just for general everyday stuff.

Manually sorting by priority and using reminders works best for me

If you want to spice things up, you can also add Swap Tags buttons to notes, which makes it easy to move a note through different steps like from a Planned tag to a Done tag and then to a tag called Done. This is complemented by the so-called Kanban view option, which allows you to turn marks into a horizontal planning board inspired by the Kanban method. Using this, you can easily view the progress of long-term tasks and projects. If you ask me, the Bundled Notes implementation for Android is one of Among the best I’ve ever seen for this type of horizontal board, even if it is a bit hidden and takes some time to set up properly.

If you don’t like this Kanban board style, you can still use tags to organize tasks. You can sort your tasks with a self-defined tag order, so you’ll see all your tasks marked as “Urgent” at the top of your package, for example. Collected Notes is really flexible when it comes to organization, and you can create almost any workflow you can think of.

Google Keep also offers rudimentary options for organizing and sorting your tasks, but as things get more complex, it becomes harder to stay on top of your to-do lists, especially when you have multiple complex tasks that require in-depth description. Believe me, I’ve tried.

The only thing I really miss from Keep is the integration with Google or Nest Home, which allows you to manage your shopping list using just your voice.

Notes editor

Grouped notes are equally impressive when it comes to individual notes. While Google Keep offers some very basic formatting for creating lists and the like, Bundled Notes is a full text editor with rich support for links. It supports markdown editing, which allows you to use a set of instructions and icons in text to apply the formatting you need. With a little practice, I find it faster and more intuitive than other types of editors. The Bundled Notes Android app also offers a bottom bar where you can select formatting options, if you prefer. You can create titles, make text bold or italic, add check marks, and create quotes, links, and code.

When linking to any website in a note, a formatted link will be generated with a thumbnail and the title of the respective page, directly visible in the top-level package, where it can also be opened or the URL copied without entering a note itself. The same goes for image and file attachments – that’s right, you can add relevant images, PDFs, and anything else you can think of to a note, with the data saved in the Bundled Notes itself (limited to 10GB max for Pro users).

Web application

The subscription-only web app pretty much copies everything the Android app offers as well, though it does offer some nice conveniences for the extra space afforded by a larger screen. Depending on how much horizontal space you have, the interface can stretch to make room for up to three columns, with instant access to all your bundles on the left, all the notes in the bundle in the middle, and the notes editor on the left side. right. On smaller screens, Notes opens as a pop-up window.

The Kanban interface manages to shine here as the web application can display columns next to each other. This makes it much easier to scale larger projects.

The web app can also be used on tablets and phones, so if you have a device that doesn’t support the Android app, the web app can be a temporary solution. However, it does not support reminders.

Pricing

Since Bundled Notes doesn’t have a multi-billion dollar company backing costs, you’ll have to be prepared to pay a small fee to take advantage of all the service’s features. In the US, you can get the full version for $1.89 per month or $17.99 when paying annually, although prices vary slightly internationally based on average income and exchange rates.

Paying the fee will give you access to the web app, unlimited packs and notes (limited to 6 packs containing 400 notes in the free version), 10GB of account storage with a maximum file size of 200MB each, and recurring reminders.

Expectations

In contrast to the stagnant Google Keep, Bundled Notes is still a small project and is currently developed by one person. While workforce expansion is planned, these things take time and hence we will also have to wait a little longer to get some of the expected features.

For one, iOS support It’s only coming sometime in the first quarter of 2022. Initially, the app will support editing and viewing everything available in its Android and web counterparts, but customization options and reminders will come later. A Mac build Based on the same code, it is also planned.

Once this foundation is laid, the developer also wants to consider it Participation and collaboration — which makes sense, since Bulk Notes will reach a lot more people once iOS support ends, and no one will have to worry about which phones their collaborators have. At some point, the developer also wants to implement Import options To transfer all your notes from another service. Drawing and pen support It’s another thing the developer is looking into, but it goes beyond that.

The developer also plans to Open source Some components of all its apps (Android, iOS, and web). This will allow anyone interested to help with development, but it will also be possible to reuse things like the markdown editor for their own projects.

Judgment

Of course, it is difficult to say that an application is the Best for everyone. Preferences vary, and while some people can easily live without the drawing and sharing tools, the iOS app, and Google Home integration, these factors may be a turnoff for others. However, I still think Bulk Notes should fit the bill for many, especially people like me who stick to the organizational limits of Google Keep and don’t want a full-fledged uber-app like Notion (which is a great free cross-platform alternative, but I’ve found to be also complex for my use case).

Unlike many other services, Bundled Notes is completely customizable as well. It can be a little overwhelming when you’re starting out, but the possibilities are endless, and you can basically set up completely different rules for different bundles, making Bundled Notes a comprehensive tool for notes, projects, and to-do lists.

Since bulk notes can save me hours of frustration trying to organize my notes, to-do lists, and ideas, I feel like $1.89 per month or $17.99 per year is a worthwhile investment. There’s also a free trial for those on the fence, and the free version is actually pretty solid on its own if you don’t need the web app.