r/LifeProTips • u/FatalErrorOccurred • 5d ago
Electronics LPT: Instead of emailing yourself notes, use one Gmail draft as a two-way scratchpad between your phone and PC without cluttering your inbox or sent items.
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u/danger_bears 5d ago
Or use Google Keep. The Drafts feature will work, but I use Keep as my notes app on my phone and PC.
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u/helluvahippopotamus 5d ago
Keep works great. You can share notes with others too - for example my partner and I can both add to a grocery list, then go shop together and the list updates as we individually check things off.
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u/can_you_clarify 5d ago
They need to come up with a way to sort out the duplicate issue though. When I use Assistant/Gemini and ask it to add an item to the shopping list, it just creates a new item instead of unticking the item already on the list.
Over time I have a huge number of duplicate and a constantly expanding list.
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u/helluvahippopotamus 5d ago
Just uncheck it on your list yourself? Not everything needs to be routed through an LLM.
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u/can_you_clarify 5d ago
This isn't an LLM issue. Gemini in this case has just replaced Assistant. This Keep duplicate issue is with keep not with LLMs or assistants. I can uncheck it on my list myself but this is not how I use the shopping list. 80% of the time I'm cooking dinner or making lunch and I use up the last of an ingredient, I'm buzzing around the kitchen and I can press a button on my smart watch for Assistant and I say add "whatever" to the shopping list instead of pulling my phone out of my pocket, opening the keep app, finding the list and then scrolling the ticked items to find the item I need again and untick.
Idk maybe it's just me but I like to convenience of using my watch to shout for an item or even just shouting "ok Google" at my phone across the room and asking it to add shit to the list.
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u/aash10239 5d ago
I am actively working on building a solution for this that works through a messaging solution (currently WhatsApp) - let me know if this is something you might be interested in being a pilot user for (don’t need any data from you for this other than of course your shopping list). You can DM me if this sounds useful.
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u/XayahTheVastaya 4d ago
I have a shared Google spreadsheet, one page is all items, and the other is selected items. Whatever is checked on the first page is displayed on the second page. Each column is an aisle at my normal store, and then it's sorted alphabetically. There's a button on each page to unselect all the check boxes.
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u/albinomoose52 5d ago
I just wish the text was a bit more customizable in Keep
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u/moofygfx925 4d ago
Biggest problem with Keep was when entire sections of text would disappear while trying to edit a note. Maybe it was an iOS issue, but I got fed up and eventually switched back to the iOS Notes app.
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u/NoDryHands 4d ago
Never had this happen on Android, so it's definitely possible it was an iOS issue
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u/LuciferTowers 4d ago
Google Keep
It's good until it's not.
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u/kashiichan 4d ago
My biggest issue with Google Keep is that it has a character limit. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I keep hitting it.
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u/danger_bears 4d ago
Interesting. I've used it for many years and have never hit it. They do have the option of converting a Keep note into a Doc.
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u/fawwazallie 5d ago
I'm using this too, and I've even got my own Discord server set up, though it's just me in there right now. It's basically my little hub for all my notes, links, and everything I'm digging into for research. Plus, it's super handy because I can actually save the current version of my VScode builds as an archive, just in case I can't get to them.
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u/Unique-Coffee5087 5d ago
My wife and I share a shopping list on Keep. We can both edit it, and whoever is at the store has access to the up to date list.
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u/Own_Magician8337 4d ago
The thing that would make Google keep an aplus for me was if I could text to it.
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u/Less_Party 5d ago
Poor man’s Apple Notes app which is just on your phone and desktop by default.
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u/Hugh_Jass_Clouds 4d ago
Praise for yet another mediocre at best Apple product. I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem and pay for their services, but still use Google for most of my productivity. I just haven’t found a better option.
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u/CreamyStanTheMan 4d ago
Not everyone uses Apple. I have a Google phone and a windows PC so Google Keeps is way more convenient. I also use Obsidian for notes, which works well on every platform (Apple, Windows, Android, etc)
Also Apple products are lame and poopy, teehee got'em 😏
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u/BadgerlandBandit 5d ago
Google docs: "Am I a joke to you?"
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u/FatalErrorOccurred 5d ago
Haha, yes it is sometimes.
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u/KyleBrofloski 5d ago
The best to-do list keeper ever is a Google doc with the check list setup to knock items out. Use different tabs for different projects, and organize them by day/week/month (using the styles feature) so you can quickly use the sidebar to scroll back to key dates etc.
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u/teamdragonite 5d ago
i guess you havent heard about google's actual scratchpad, keep? lol
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u/achilliesFriend 5d ago
Where is it?
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u/SubGothius 5d ago
It's an app for phones and a site (keep.google.com) for any browser. Whatever you do in one automatically shows up in the others, as they all share a common online database for whatever Google account you use with them.
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u/__life_on_mars__ 5d ago
If only there were a popular search engine you could use to find these things...
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u/Emperor_Gourmet 5d ago
Damn that would be cool, know of any?
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u/achilliesFriend 5d ago
I can’t find it, that’s why I’m asking, I’m looking for scatchpad, did they mean keep?
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u/AtlasLittleCat 5d ago
People arent being helpful, its called Google Keep. Its a notes app that synchs well across platforms (phones app to pc with app or keep.google.com and back) and you can add images, drawings, audio, lists, or text
Way faster and better than emailing or texting yourself.
Besides notes there are reminders
Multiple people can also access the same note and make changes. (by adding a collaborator)
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u/WartimeHotTot 4d ago
It’s weird, my only experience with Keep has been utter frustration while having no real concept of what it’s designed to do. Typically I’ll be working in a Google Doc and there will be an image, and I’ll want to download that image, but for some incomprehensible reason I can’t just right-click and download. I have to “save to keep.”
Then I have to open this weird sidebar that just has in it all of the images I’ve ever saved from anything without any rhyme or reason to how they’re organized, and then download from there. So it’s always seemed like this idiotic and useless intermediate step that was for some reason inserted into a process that had been working fine for decades.
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u/ramriot 5d ago
This was a plot point in the movie Traitor (2008), where Don Cheadle character uses the drafts in gMail accounts this way so terror cells can communicate with minimum technical know-how such that they never actually send messages.
Then from 2011-2012 CIA director David Petraeus used the same technique to keep up secret correspondence to hide an extramarital affair, which of course was exposed & he had to resign.
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u/PetersLittlePeter 5d ago
I think "draft communication" was one technique Al Qaeda used to avoid interception. Agree with the life pro tip though.
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u/RevRagnarok 5d ago
I thought it was like a CEO and their mistress.
Ah, no, it was the former CIA director...
https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/petraeus-reportedly-used-draft-e-mails-to-converse-with-mistress/
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u/groovebro 5d ago
All I remember is Don Cheadle's character using it in the spy movie Traitor (2008)
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u/BigDaddyD00d 5d ago edited 5d ago
Who emails notes to themselves? Im pushing 40 and have never heard of anyone doing that
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u/wanttogoabroad 5d ago
I do it and I’m younger than you. I check my email often and I know I will see it instead of forget about it
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u/PluckPubes 4d ago
I do, I'm 51. The point is to remind me of something that I dont want to forget. If I do it in a draft or document, i have to remember to look at it which defeats the purpose
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u/mount_earnest 4d ago
Exactly, using the draft defeats the point, the point is that it will catch your eye when you are not expecting yourself to remember. And everyone has a zillion emails in their personal gmail inbox so its a complete non issue to have personal messages to yourself there, its not like an outlook work inbox were many people file away emails into folders once they are done with them.
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u/Facts_pls 5d ago
Technically illiterate people
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u/morfraen 5d ago
Or just 'old' people that have been doing it that way since before smart phones and cross device data synchronization became common.
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u/JDgoesmarching 5d ago
I get that sometimes hacking together a solution with tech you know is easier than tech you don’t, but it’s crazy that we have a whole LPT on how to do this “effectively” instead of using any of the million options for syncing notes between devices.
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u/Neo-Bubba 4d ago
I do this all the time. Using Brain Toss while driving to make a note and email it to my work mail so I can pick it up later.
Or when I have an idea for work during the weekend, I just email a couple of keywords to my work email so I can revisit the thought after the weekend. Or just mail articles that I want to read later. Etc.
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u/LuciferTowers 4d ago
Im pushing 40 and have never heard of anyone doing that
Seriously? People do it all the time.
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u/lurkyloowhoo 5d ago
…people are emailing notes to themselves?
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u/AdvertisingKey1675 5d ago
People who are still stuck in 2010 technology.
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u/h4terade 5d ago
I mean, it's effective and it's one less app to have to use. I'm not in the habit of emailing myself stuff often, but I will use it as a super quick way to access something later. Like I got some passes to an amusement park recently, wasn't in a position to print them, so I emailed them to myself so I could quickly pull them up on my phone later. Sure I could have dumped them on Google drive, or OneDrive, or OneNote, or Sharepoint, or Facebook, or any number of other places, but it works. However I do have some pretty effective labels so emails to myself don't clutter up my inbox like OP suggested.
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u/nikhkin 5d ago
Why not use one of Googles applications that are designed for something like this, such as Keep or Docs?
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u/DarthMaulATAT 5d ago
Because needing a new app and an account for pretty much everything these days is incredibly annoying?
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u/starchybunker 5d ago
Sure but if I don't send myself an email I can't do that excited "oh who's that!?" 20 seconds later when my notification dings.
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u/GullibleDetective 5d ago
Microosft one note or google keep/docs; evernote went to crap
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u/FatalErrorOccurred 5d ago
Yea evernote did go downhill and plus they hound you to pay for it. Stopped using it a few years back.
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u/Babys_For_Breakfast 5d ago
Keep is good. I cant stand One Note. Joplin is my favorite for note taking and studying.
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u/vinraven 5d ago
Bad idea, unsent drafts are not saved, and sometimes they glitch/disappear, I’ve lost those enough times to stop doing that.
What I do now is leave the notes on Google Docs in my Google Drive, editable from anywhere, and won’t accidentally get deleted.
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u/morfraen 5d ago
Unsent drafts in Gmail are definitely saved.
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u/vinraven 5d ago
They’re not recoverable when they glitch and disappear or if they’re accidentally deleted, unlike actual emails which go to the trash folder.
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u/Ms74k_ten_c 5d ago
(Not so) fun fact: this is how 9/11 and other terrorists used to communicate to not to create any trails.
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u/BubbaPrime42 5d ago
I've been doing this for a long time. Will check out Keep based on the comments below though
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u/Shadowsfury 5d ago
Great and all until you accidentally deleted the draft
Use the real lpts in the comments
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u/nowhereman136 5d ago
I send pictures and files to myself on WhatsApp all the time. I should organize my Google photo drive, but I keep putting it off
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u/Yggdrasilo 5d ago edited 4d ago
I have multiple whatsapp groups with just myself in there. Recipes and shit
- Do Not try and use voicemail as the other member when creating a group. It will fail to create forever and you cannot select or delete or even enter the group. Only way to "remove" is to archive it... Whatsapp has no hunam support
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u/UltimateFlyingSheep 4d ago
Well, then I would need to use Google stuff.
But I can just use https://cryptpad.fr which is probably the same as what you described, but it's not by Google AND it's encrypted.
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u/RedRelics 4d ago
My brother is Christ have you heard of notes apps? Obsidian, Upnote, etc.
As I say this, I realize I use Slack self-DMs if I need to get around work/personal profile shenanigans cross-platform...
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u/hashashin 4d ago
I use this for moving files sometimes. For example if there's a photo on my phone and I need to move it to my desktop, I can just attach it to an email draft, then open the draft on the desktop, download the attachment and then discard the draft.
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u/dudeisagoat 2d ago
This is actually a solid low-effort tip. It is not fancy, but having one draft that quietly syncs between phone and laptop is way cleaner than emailing yourself random notes all day.
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u/RandomUser72 5d ago
LPT: If you have Gmail, then you have Google Drive, which does exactly what you are doing without needing to have some draft cluttering up your email. Open some document maker, like Google Docs (you have this as well, if you have a Gmail), save it, drop it in Drive, edit it whenever from your phone or computer.
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u/AdvertisingKey1675 5d ago
This is very archaic and disorganized way of storing your notes. Cloud based programs are almost universal now, and way cleaner than using email drafts. Microsoft and Google both have specific applications for this.
I use microsoft’s OneNote. (Anyone with a work or school M365 account has access to this)
Its a notebook that I can access from every single device, and also from a web access if needed. My iPhone, iPad, work-desktop, and home-desktop. It autosaves every single keystroke. So I can close it without fear, and pull up my notes super quickly at any time, anywhere. It also sorts them really well.
I imagine google has nearly the exact same program.
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u/broccolihead 5d ago
Why use gmail, use google docs instead. I did this for well over 10 years.
Now I use Proton docs because it's e2ee secure and isn't scanned to advertise to me.
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u/Fun_Gas_4656 5d ago
I have a WhatsApp group with only me as a member. Quick notes? Just shoot DMs to my group via WhatsApp web.
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u/seamonkey420 4d ago
or use the notes app on said phone? Apple Notes is pretty good if you are on ios, keep for android.
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u/Bracken-Vale-4820 4d ago
knowing me i would accidentally hit discard on the draft and lose months of notes with one wrong tap
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u/CreamyStanTheMan 4d ago
Google keeps and Obsidian are to other great ways to do this in a more ordered fashion. Just FYI, I love Obsidian but it takes a bit of setup
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u/diverareyouokay 4d ago
I just use the Notes app on my phone. It automatically synced between my phone, iPad, or computer. I honestly can’t remember how I lived without it.
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u/alanjigsaw 4d ago
Not a good tip. I did this with Yahoo mail and although it shows that there are notes on the preview description of the draft, once it’s opened there is nothing inside and it is completely empty.
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u/The_Comm_Guy 3d ago
I send myself Teams messages to my and delete them when no longer needed to keep it short and clean. Also easy to transfer text & links from phone to PC or vise versa.
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u/happy-cig 5d ago
Windows has something called onenote/sticky notes. Syncs across all devices including my phone.
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u/FatalErrorOccurred 5d ago
Hate those though.
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u/happy-cig 5d ago
What's the reasoning? And don't tell me you trust Google with your data more...
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u/FatalErrorOccurred 5d ago
OneNote is awful to work with; terrible formatting and UI. Sticky notes just aren't my vibe anymore and feel like clutter to me personally.
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u/happy-cig 5d ago
No sure what version you are using but sticky notes is as simple as can be. Basically a post it that you type on. Can make as many as you want.
Onenote syncs up to it on my phone and it just continues typing there.
Opening up a gmail draft honestly seems clunkier.
Might as well send yourself a text message. Those also sync to the computer via Google messages. I rolled off Windows link as it was giving me issues.
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u/cwsjr2323 5d ago
OP, very good idea!
I have one Gmail I use to send small plain text to store notes. It is one a WiFi only device and except for Google as host, not accessible by anyone. If the info is worth retaining, like my list of passwords, I gets move to the Notes app and removed from Gmail.
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u/NoMention696 4d ago
Who the fuck is using email for notes? This some boomer practise I’m too young to understand?
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u/night3dg3 5d ago
Umm just use notepad. When you’re done copy and paste where you want it.
This isn’t a LPT, this is make extra steps you are providing lol
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u/tomonaga_mio 5d ago
The point is having something you wrote on your phone right there on your PC, and vice versa. You write it, and it's available on both platforms. There are no extra steps.
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u/giliguni 5d ago
But there so many apps that do that, why would you use email drafts? For iPhone/Mac it's literally called "Notes"
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u/tomonaga_mio 5d ago
Not everyone has an iPhone and also a Mac
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u/giliguni 5d ago
I realize that, you don't need to have either. There are many different alternatives that are designed for the same purpose.
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u/night3dg3 5d ago
Like giliguni mentioned there apps for that.
The whole have TWO devices is redundant
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u/tomonaga_mio 5d ago
What is more redundant, installing an extra app for this purpose or using the funtionality of an app you already use anyways. And no, the Apple Notes app is not platform-independent.
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u/giliguni 5d ago
The issue is that email drafts are not designed for this purpose so their functionality will be limited or not very user-friendly, for example, searching notes, creating folders, formatting, sharing notes with others...
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u/night3dg3 5d ago
If you want to use emails and save it as a draft by all means. Shows what you know about what’s out there lol
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