Google Keep rolling out a basic version history for notes

Abner Li | Aug 17 2023 - 7:55 pm PT

Google is in the process of adding a version history feature to Keep on the web that sounds quite basic.

Opening a note on the web and tapping the three-dot “More” menu (via Artem Russakovskii) reveals a “Version history” option. It’s currently grayed out with a “Coming soon” description that links to this support article.

Google Keep’s Version history will let you “download a text file of previous versions of your notes or lists to see changes you’ve made over time.” Once rolled out, going to that menu will let you choose a version for download.

You’re specifically getting a text file that does not support images. Additionally, it’s only available on the web client and not Android or iOS.

Important: You will only be able to see previous versions of text changes. Images won’t appear in version history.

Google says Keep version history is “currently rolling out and will launch gradually to all your notes.” However, it’s not clear if all your past notes will have versioning or whether it will be limited to a more recent start/save date.

The implementation from the description we have leaves a lot to be desired. Google Keep resorting to text files is peculiar especially since Keep does have a sync conflict resolution feature and UI. Available on the web (if I recall correctly), it lets you compare two versions and select which one you want to save. Meanwhile, Google Docs also offers a rich version history capability.

Overall, this is a useful feature to have if anything ever gets lost, but the approach is somewhat barebones.

This would join recent visual refreshes to the Android app, with the most notable being the dual pane UI for tablets, foldables, and Chromebooks. Google Keep recently added a single note widget on Android and Wear OS, which also got a richer main feed.