Notetaking Jedis know the power of organization. Creating a system for your Google Keep notes isn't any different, even if the sticky notes app doesn't have an obvious tier of folders and sub-folders. Google Keep is deliberately minimal, but there are enough tips and tricks you can combine to stop yourself from drowning in a sea of digital sticky notes.

Seven tips for organizing Google Keep

It's important to set up a system before the sea of notes starts overwhelming you, but you can do this retroactively, too. Start by discarding notes you no longer need and shifting the relatively vital notes to more permanent places. For instance, a shopping list isn't a permanent note, but a list of contact numbers might be. Next, begin by creating a scheme or rules (that works for you) with these features in Keep.

Color code your notes with colors and backgrounds

Since Google Keep doesn't have folders, use colors and background options instead. I suggest you reserve the darker peach color for urgent tasks or notes. There are specific background patterns for groceries, recipes, places, travel, etc. You can drag the notes around and arrange them by color.

If you use Google Keep for tracking projects, specific colors can help you design a Kanban board too.

Tip: Tracking family chores with a Kanban board is absolutely doable with Google Keep's checklists and collaboration options.

Embrace labels to tag your notes

You can think of labels as "folder names," so give your Google Keep labeling system a lot of thought. Tag related notes with labels. Any note can have more than one label, so you can connect related notes. The "/" or "|" could be a clever way of visualizing related notes with different labels.

For instance, notes can have a primary label like "Personal Development." Then, you can create separate related notes with labels like "Personal Development/Health,"; "Personal Development/Nutrition,"; "Personal Development/Projects," etc. You can also add labels with a "#" (hashtag).

You can use a similar labeling system to keep a note private while sharing a related one with a collaborator.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Think about your labels with care, as Google Keep allows a maximum of 50 labels.

Number your labels

The heart of Google Keep's organization lies in the labeling system. Though you cannot organize labels by dragging and dropping them, you can use numbers to force them in the order you want.

Add a number to the label names in the order you use them. So, if it's "Work," then "1 - Work" will push this label to the top, followed by any label you number with a "2"... and so on.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Make notes (and labels) more visual with emojis

Don't let the lack of formatting options deter you from creating visual notes. You can insert all sorts of emojis and symbols in Google Keep. Inserting the right emoji in a note is easy on the desktop too, with the Windows + keyboard shortcut that opens the emoji keyboard.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Tip: Insert emojis in your labels and make your Google Keep sidebar look fun.

Pin only the important notes on the top

Pin the notes that are absolutely necessary—ideally, limit the pinned notes to a number that doesn't make you scroll. My iOS screen lets me see four to five notes at a glance in the Tile view. I usually pin notes that are reminders or timely, like a shopping list.

Use reminders to clean up

Reminders are a great way to ensure that you don't forget important tasks or deadlines. You can also set reminders for recurring daily or weekly tasks. But why not also use reminders to clean up the notes you no longer need?

Choose a time in the future to review a specific note. If it's no longer useful, trash it.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Archive notes for a cleaner home view

One of the problems with Google Keep is that all your notes show up on the home screen, even if you've labeled them. This clutter can be overwhelming when you have a lot of notes.

A nice tip from the Simpletivity YouTube channel suggests using the archive feature to clean things up. You can archive all your notes as long as they are labeled properly. They will still be searchable and editable, but they won't clutter up your home screen anymore. You can unarchive any note at any time.

You can then display only the critical pinned notes on the home view.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Tip: Google Keep has a powerful search with several filters too. It can look through your pile and find notes by Types, Labels, Things, and Colors.

Do you keep getting unwanted messages from random WhatsApp groups you never asked to join? Spammy groups can be annoying, but you can change a single setting to limit them. Let's see how you can adjust your WhatsApp settings and keep yourself from being barraged with spam messages. After that, you can adopt better privacy habits to keep your chats clear of unsolicited content.

Set up the WhatsApp Group invite settings

The instructions and screenshots below are from the WhatsApp app for iOS. The steps are similar for Android, with minor variations.

1. Open WhatsApp and tap Settings. In Android, Settings is located under the kebab menu (three vertical dots) at the top right.

2. Tap on Privacy on the Settings screen.

3. Select Groups. You'll see multiple options for "Who Can Add Me to Groups?".

4. By default, it's set to Everyone. Anyone with your phone number can add you to any group. Here are three more settings that give different levels of control.

• My Contacts: Only people in your address book can add you to groups. They'll need to send a private invite for you to approve within 72 hours.

• My Contacts Except: This offers more granular control. Choose this option and select specific contacts to exclude from adding you to groups.

• Nobody: This gives you complete control and is the recommended setting. You have to explicitly give your permission when you receive an invite from a WhatsApp group. WhatsApp on Android doesn't display this option (and some users on iOS may not see it, either)—choose "My Contacts" instead, or "My Contacts Except" and manually select people, if you have contacts who are trying to spam you. (If you don't have the "Nobody" option and you really don't want invites, choose "My Contacts Except" and then "Select All.")

Credit: Saikat Basu

You will still receive invite links in a private DM to join a group. But now you have the choice. If you want to join a group, you'll have three days to accept the invite before it expires.

Note: Group privacy settings can’t be changed on WhatsApp Web or Desktop. When you change the settings on your phone, they will be synced with WhatsApp Web and Desktop. Also, this setting doesn't apply to community announcements; if you're in a community, you'll always be added to these.

More tips to avoid unwanted WhatsApp Groups

WhatsApp makes texting and sharing easy—which makes it easy to overlook some basic privacy guidelines.

1. Don't share your number publicly online. Spammers can scrape contact information from social sites.

2. Don't click on unknown links or phishing messages that use link shorteners from unknown sources.

3. Be cautious of messages with urgent language or unknown senders.

4. If you accidentally join a spam group, you can report it by tapping on the group info and selecting Report Group. Then, select Exit Group to leave the group. You can archive the WhatsApp group and hide it from view.

5. WhatsApp also has a Privacy Checkup tool. It's like a guide that takes you to the ideal settings to apply and control your privacy on the app.

Tip: While you're at it, tweak another setting to silence all unknown and spam callers on WhatsApp. 

You will see only a tiny fraction of the billions of videos on YouTube in your lifetime—which may be for the best. There are some videos where you just want the key points, and you have to sit through a lot of nonsense to get to it. That's wasted time. What if you could cut short your viewing time by summarizing the key information in the videos you watch? Fortunately, Gemini, Google's AI chatbot, has a YouTube extension built in and enabled by default.

Enable the YouTube extension in Gemini on the desktop and mobile

All available extensions are enabled by default in Gemini. But if you need to check, here's where you should go on the desktop and an Android or iOS phone.

On the desktop, open Gemini in your browser. Ensure you are logged into the Google account you want to use. Then, click Settings on the left sidebar and select Extensions in the menu. Toggle the switch for YouTube if it's not blue.

Credit: Saikat Basu

On your mobile, open the Gemini app (Android only) or open Gemini in the Google app (iOS). You can also access it on the mobile browser. Tap on your profile photo and select Extensions to open the list. Enable YouTube with the toggle switch if it's disabled.

How to use Gemini to summarize YouTube videos

Open the video you want to watch and summarize. Copy its URL from the address bar if on desktop, and the Share menu on mobile.

Paste the link into Gemini, and use a natural language prompt like "Summarize this video" or "Give me a quick summary."

As this screenshot shows, it did an accurate job with a video I had just watched:

Credit: Saikat Basu

Note: Gemini summarizes YouTube videos using text that YouTube automatically generates, like captions and transcripts. If a video doesn't have them, it won't be able to extract anything from it. Also, the summarization feature isn't supported for YouTube videos in every language: it's only available in English, Japanese, and Korean.

This summarization feature is especially handy if you need to pluck the key details out of the video: for instance, the price or a price comparison of the products that are being reviewed.

Tip: I often use it to generate the main points and check if a long YouTube video is worth watching, especially if the description and comments don't suggest anything.

Use Gemini + YouTube as learning companions

You can ask Gemini to recommend a few videos on a topic of your choice. Then, in a follow-up, you can ask Gemini to summarize a specific video—or all of them.

The Gemini and YouTube pairing works well with well-structured and informative videos. This method can quickly give you an overview of a topic before you dive into the deep end. And with the right prompts, you can start a Q&A session with Gemini on the videos and create your own "Sparknotes" for learning from a bunch of videos.

Tell Gemini the format you want the information in

Asking Gemini to dress up the information in a nice table is visually helpful when the YouTube video compares two items (for instance, which laptop to buy). You can also ask Gemini to present their pros and cons. Sometimes, the AI does this without any additional prompting.

Credit: Saikat Basu

It's easy to create a new Lock Screen wallpaper on your iPhone, but how do you delete one if your wallpaper carousel has become crowded with too many images? The process isn't as straightforward as opening the Settings app. While the Wallpaper settings allow you to set up or change the iPhone wallpaper, the tool to delete Lock Screen and Home Screen wallpapers lies elsewhere.

Lock Screen customization arrived with iOS 16. While it made for prettier facades and neat screen widgets, the extra frills have made it a bit more unintuitive with every subsequent update. Here's how to get rid of those extraneous wallpapers.

How to delete wallpapers on iPhone

iPhone creates wallpapers in pairs — for the Lock Screen and the Home Screen. You can make a wallpaper pair by heading to Settings > Wallpaper.

You will notice that the tiny animation on the Wallpaper Settings screen describes how to change your wallpaper from the Lock Screen. But there is no explanation on how to delete it. Well, it's simple:.

1. Lock your screen if it's unlocked.

2. On the Lock Screen, press and hold to bring up the wallpaper gallery.

3. Your current wallpaper will be in view, but you can side-swipe to choose any other wallpaper in the gallery for deletion.

4. Swipe up on the wallpaper you wish to delete to reveal the Delete icon (trash can).

5. Tap the Delete icon and select Delete This Wallpaper.

Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu -- No attribution required

The wallpaper pair is now gone; you can choose another pair or create one from scratch by going to the Settings app. Deleting unwanted wallpapers is a good idea if you want to keep your wallpaper gallery uncluttered.

(Tip: You can also bring up the wallpaper gallery with a long press on the empty area (at the bottom) of the Notification Screen.)

Your wallpaper photos won't be deleted

Note that deleting Lock Screen and home screen wallpapers made with your personal photos doesn't erase the photos themselves from your iPhone. If you chose your wallpaper photos from Suggested Photos or created a Photo Shuffle (the dynamic set of 50 photos that change throughout the day), they will still be in your Photos app. You can always go back to the customization options in Add New Wallpaper and select them again.

However, if you have already deleted the original photo from your Photo albums, deleting your iPhone wallpaper will make the wallpaper irretrievable. There is no way to "save" a wallpaper, but you can take a screenshot to preserve the wallpaper photo if it has some worth as a memory.

It's easy to take screenshots in Excel. But what if there was a way to take a snapshot of anything on a spreadsheet, paste it anywhere in the workbook, and automatically update the snapshot later by changing the underlying data? Excel's hidden Camera can create these sorts of linked images.

From using INDEX MATCH to XLOOKUP, different methods exist to insert and display images, depending on the data involved, but the Camera tool in Excel is the uncomplicated and formula-less way. It's a simple button on the Quick Access Toolbar, and incredibly useful—but it's not enabled by default.

Note: This isn't the same as Excel's Screenshot tool, found on the Insert tab under Illustrations. The Screenshot tool can take screen clippings, but cannot create linked images like the Camera tool.

How do you enable the camera in Microsoft Excel?

The Camera tool in Excel is a hidden feature, so you have to mess about under the hood to add it to your Quick Access toolbar. To do so, launch Excel and follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Home screen (the Backstage view) on Excel from File on the menu bar.

2. Select Options from the bottom of the left sidebar. In Excel Options, open the settings for the Quick Access Toolbar from the list on the left.

3. Select the dropdown for Choose commands from and pick All Commands.

4. Under All Commands, go down the alphabetical list and select Camera.
   

Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu -- No attribution required

1. Click the Add button between the two boxes to include the Camera tool in the Quick Access toolbar.

2. Go to an open spreadsheet, and you can see the Camera button on the Quick Access toolbar.

Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu -- No attribution required

Alternatively, you can customize the Quick Access Toolbar by clicking on the tiny Customize Quick Access Toolbar down-pointing arrow. Select More Commands... in the menu and follow the same steps as listed above.

How to use the Microsoft Excel Camera

Now, with the Camera as a part of your Excel toolkit, you can use it to take quick dynamic screenshots of your data. Here's a basic example of how it functions:

Open a spreadsheet with data you want to capture and paste somewhere else. Select the data range or chart and click the Camera button on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Open the worksheet you'll be pasting the data into and select the location you want to paste to. The cursor will change to a tiny crosshair. Drag and release the crosshair to paste the data.

Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu -- No attribution required

As you're pasting in a picture, you can use any formatting option available on the Picture tab on the Ribbon to customize the appearance of the data.

The notable feature of the Camera tool is that it isn't a simple screenshot feature, but a way of linking the two worksheets. Here's how to use it to save time and create better spreadsheets.

How to use the Camera button in Excel for linked snapshots

The camera button makes working with your data across spreadsheets much easier. Try it out with a range of data cells or a chart in a spreadsheet; the Camera button allows you to copy that data and paste it as a linked image in the same spreadsheet, another sheet in the same workbook, or an entirely different workbook.

Once you've pasted the image into the new spot, try changing something in your original data or chart. The snapshot pasted in the other locations will also update instantly.

Here are some possible use cases:

• Collect data from different sheets and paste them as a dynamic snapshot on a common sheet for presentation or printing.

• Make dynamic dashboards that display real-time information as the linked data is updated behind the scenes.

• Create micro-charts by taking a linked snapshot of a small section of a more extensive chart and sharing only specific information.

• Manage large datasets spread across many sheets and workbooks by monitoring important cells with their snapshots.

• You can use the Camera to paste data into Word and PowerPoint documents, but they won't be linked. But it can help you create presentations and reports faster.

Artificial intelligence is feeling harder and harder to avoid, but you still have options. Microsoft recently introduced Copilot in Windows 11, and it has taken root in its new home on the taskbar. But if you want it to be inconspicuous, or perhaps disable it altogether, you can do so.

Hiding the Copilot button in Windows 11

Microsoft Copilot can be hidden by clicking a toggle switch in your taskbar personalization settings. The quickest way to reach the settings is from the taskbar itself.

1. Click on an empty area of the taskbar.

2. Select Taskbar settings from the menu.
   

   

   Credit: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

3. This directly takes you to the Personalization > Taskbar screen in the Settings app.

4. Turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed under Taskbar items.

   

   Credit: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

You can reach the same screen from the Settings app.

1. Click Start and select Settings from the menu or press the Windows + I keys on your keyboard.

2. Select Personalization on the left and go down and open Taskbar, which allows you to show or hide buttons that appear on the taskbar.
   

   

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3. Like before, turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed under Taskbar items.

The Copilot button should now disappear from your taskbar. Remember, this action only hides the button. You can still bring up Copilot on a separate desktop sidebar by using the Windows key + C shortcut.

Hiding the Copilot button in Microsoft Edge

Copilot is also now an integral part of Microsoft Edge. If Edge is your default browser, you might want to declutter it by removing the Copilot button from view. Here's how to hide it:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots in the top right corner to open the menu.

2. In the menu, select Settings.

3. Select Sidebar from the left column.
   

   

   Credit: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

4. Under App and notification settings, go to the App specific settings and choose Copilot.

5. Turn off the toggle for Show Copilot. It also automatically disables the Automatically open Copilot in the sidebar setting as well.
   

   

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6. Restart the browser for the changes to take effect.

Alternatively, you can also quickly hide the Copilot button from the button itself.

1. Launch Microsoft Edge and click on the Copilot button to open the sidebar.

2. Click on the three vertical dots for More options.
   

   

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3. Click on Notification and App settings to open the same screen (as above) with the Show Copilot toggle switch.

How to disable Microsoft Copilot on Windows

As Copilot is built into Windows 11, you cannot uninstall it like a normal app. Instead, Windows 11 users on the Professional, Education, or Enterprise editions can use the Group Policy Editor to disable it from their computers a bit more permanently. Those on Windows 11 Home have to fall back on a registry tweak.

After using these methods, Copilot won't re-appear when you use the keyboard shortcut. Don't worry, all these methods are reversible, and you can easily bring Copilot back if you wish to benefit from generative AI on Windows at a later time. Here are the step-by-step instructions for both.

Disable Copilot using Group Policy settings

The Group Policy Editor is an administrative tool in higher Windows editions that can be used to manage system settings like Microsoft Copilot and policies within a networked environment.

1. To disable Windows Copilot using the Group Policy Editor, open Start, type "Group Policy Editor" in the search field, and press Enter.

2. In the Group Policy Editor window, drill down to the following level:

   User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot

3. On the right pane, right-click on Turn off Windows Copilot and choose Edit.

4. The Turn off Windows Copilot dialog displays several options. Choose Enabled to disable the Copilot button from Windows.
   

   

   Credit: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

5. Select Apply and OK. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

To reverse these changes, just select the Disabled radio button and restart the PC again.

Disable Copilot from the registry (for Windows 11 Home users)

Editing the registry settings is always risky, so always make this your last option. Create a backup of your registry and a restore point as precautions if things go wrong.

Here's how to disable Microsoft Copilot with the Registry Editor.

1. Open Start and type "registry" in the search box to find the Registry Editor.

2. Drill down the tree view on the left to the following registry entry:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

3. Right-click on the Windows key > New > Key. Label the key as WindowsCopilot.

4. Right-click on the WindowsCopilot > select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the DWORD as TurnOffWindowsCopilot.

5. Double-click the TurnOffWindowsCopilot and type 1 in the Value Data text field. The Base should be the default "Hexadecimal". Click OK.
   

   

   Credit: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

6. Restart the PC to see if the Copilot button has been disabled.

The above steps will disable Copilot for the current user. To make the changes for all users, go to this registry path instead and follow the same steps to create and modify the new DWORD value.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

There are ways to get Microsoft Office for free—but if you're using it regularly, you may want to take advantage of the different productivity features in the software. A Microsoft 365 subscription unlocks benefits that go beyond the occasional use of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Once you're ready to commit, you can choose between the two available subscription plans offered by Microsoft 365—Personal and Family. Family covers up to six people total, so if you have anyone in your circle (they don't have to be family!) who wants to use Microsoft Office, then it's worth it to get the Family subscription and share.

How to start sharing your Microsoft 365 Subscription

Credit: Saikat Basu

Sharing the Microsoft 365 Family subscription is a straightforward exchange between you as the Family organizer and the other five people. There are two methods—an invite email or a shared link. You can go with either.

Log into the Microsoft account page using the same Microsoft account you used to purchase your subscription; select Manage sharing on the top right. This opens the Services & subscriptions page in your account.

• Select the Share button.

• In the pop-up overlay screen, choose Copy link or Email invite.

• If you've chosen Copy link, send the link to your fellow subscribers.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Once each member of the Family group accepts the invite, they can install all the Microsoft Office apps on their devices and access their own private 1 TB of OneDrive storage by signing into Microsoft with their personal Microsoft account.

How to stop sharing the subscription

To remove someone from the group, go to the Services & subscriptions page and then to the Share subscription section. Select the person you want to remove from the You’re sharing Microsoft 365 benefits section, and choose the Stop sharing option next to their name. The group member will be notified about the change.

Credit: Saikat Basu

Anyone using a shared subscription can also exit from the group on their own by logging in to their Microsoft account. Go to the Sharing page, and in the Subscription sharing section, select Stop using this shared subscription. Click Leave in the confirmation box.

Get the benefits of a shared Microsoft 365 subscription

There are some obvious (and some not-so-obvious) benfits to using a Microsoft 365 Family subscription for collaboration.

• Each member of the family group uses every Microsoft Office app independently with their own Microsoft log-ins. Everything like email, calendar, cloud storage, or OneNote notebooks of others stays private.

• Like any other Microsoft 365 subscription, all members automatically get the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with the updated features.

• Each member gets 50 GB of an Outlook mailbox and an ad-free experience. This is considerably more than the 15 GB of space shared by Gmail with Google Drive and Google Photos. Microsoft Outlook also has Microsoft's advanced real-time protection against phishing and malicious attachments.

• The 1 TB OneDrive storage gives you an encrypted Personal Vault and seamless integration with Windows and Microsoft Office. It could work out to be one of the best value cloud storage solutions to store your sensitive files in the cloud.

• You can use Outlook to email your Family group and share any news, photos, or files. Add events to the Family calendar or create more detailed plans on the Family OneNote notebook.
  

  

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• Every group member can also use the 60 minutes of free Skype calls to mobiles and landlines every month to more than 60 countries worldwide. You can also have virtual get-togethers on the Microsoft Teams app from anywhere in the world.

• You can share the Family plan with your kids and use different features like Content filters, Screen time, and Family Safety activity reporting to keep them safe. The Family Safety app is a useful install for your peace of mind.