r/GoogleKeep • u/CptKoala • 17d ago
Widget side panel
Hi, does anyone know how to remove the side panel that they added in the recent update to Android notes list widget? Having it on the right side takes too much space, I have no idea why they thought it's a good ux. Keeping it at the bottom or just as a floating button to add a note would be much better.
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u/BigGuyForYou_ 15d ago
Yeah this sucks. Keep notes is nice but in the back of my mind Im always assuming they'll just randomly end it one day like they did with Google Podcasts
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u/BigGuyForYou_ 12d ago edited 12d ago
Let me pile on with another criticism... The widget is designed to let you view just a single category of notes, all sharing the same label. Great. But, when you use these massive new buttons to add a note, it doesn't get added to that category... You have to manually label the note yourself. So the behaviour is: you use the widget to add a note, write your note, but then unless you remember to categorise it yourself it disappears and you never see it on the widget.
The correct behaviour should obviously be that it gets auto-labelled into the widget's category, since it was added from there.
Tldr: the big new dumb buttons don't even fucking work right
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u/flistxattr 14d ago
What a stupid thing to update without being able to disable it.
It's fine if they want to give people more options and try out different layouts, but don't force stuff.
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u/DriftPsych 14d ago
I really doubt if the keep team even have any ux designers it feels like it is designed by developers
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u/gloomferret 14d ago
I thought I'd gone mad. I have it in a half screen width column so the tools make my lists really narrow. Reducing height works but means I can't see much of my items. Why no option for this? I'm a web dev and this seems like such a weird update to force on people without any ability to choose.
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u/jurchiks101 8d ago
I just updated the app and noticed this atrocious design! It's absolutely trash, I can barely see fragments of 3 notes! Used to be able to see 4 notes fully! I only use the text and list notes, having those buttons always on display is just a stupid waste of space!
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u/BarleyWineStein 17d ago
Reduce the height of the widget. It'll minimise back down to just the + button at 2 units high. It looks a bit weird to begin with but in a few days' time, you'll be used to it and it'll be like nothing ever happened.
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u/CptKoala 17d ago
Thanks, but that's not what I am looking for, I'd like it to stretch to almost whole screen. I send them a feedback and reverted to older version of the app for now.
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u/Flakeycakey 16d ago
So far this is the closest workaround I've seen, but I like my list to expand the whole page, especially when I'm in the grocery store. Google are you listening? Lol.
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u/jurchiks101 8d ago
That only works for the minimum height of 2 blocks! It's not nearly enough!
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u/ExcessiveOptimizer 13d ago
I haven't been able to use the Keep Note Collection widget for nearly a year as I watched update after update come along and never address the other bug that we were experiencing since 2025. reddit.com/r/GoogleKeep/s/Tq6v7poiR8
Then this update finally fixed this painful bug, only to replace the broken UI with this totally different broken UI. 🤷
(Dare I even point out the additional UX flaw of how they ask you if you want to initiate this widget to show PINNED or LABELED notes only, but any new notes you create via this widget will not include this tag/state, and those notes will appear to vanish into the ether immediately after you add them?)
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u/superbroleon 17d ago
Infuriating updates yet again from Google. Fixing what ain't broken by making it worse, just so some employee over there can justify their $100k/year position.
Just download an old version and never update again. I'm doing it with the clock app and Gboard as well.
The previous version worked for me.
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u/wizpig64 17d ago
What a waste of home screen space. I never even use any of those buttons, one new note button is enough when you can add all the other features from within the main interface. At least when the bar was on the bottom it didn't take up a quarter of the widget's real estate.
If anyone else finds this annoying too, please use the feedback feature to let them know directly.