Sticky notes on a Chromebook

On a Chromebook, the note tools Google documents are Google Keep, a handwriting app on some models, and Chrome itself. Which one you want depends on what the note is for.

Here is what ChromeOS gives you out of the box, what each tool is good at, and how to put a note on a web page, which none of the built-in tools do. If you just want the answer for your note, pick it here:

Google Keep: notes and lists that follow your account

Google Keep is Google's own note app, and on a Chromebook you open it from the Launcher in the corner of your screen. You can make lists, save drawings as notes, label, colour and pin notes, archive them and set reminders, as Google's Keep help describes.

Keep also works without a connection. Google says your Chromebook saves your notes automatically so you can see them offline, edit them and write new ones, and the changes show up in Keep the next time you are online.

Keep is the right choice for a shopping list, a reminder at a set time, or anything you want on your phone too. Its notes live in Keep, though, not on the web page they are about.

Cursive: handwritten notes with a stylus

If your Chromebook has a touchscreen and works with a stylus, it can run Cursive, Google's app for capturing, editing and organising handwritten notes. Open it from the Launcher, or tap the stylus icon and choose Create note. Your notes sync to your Google account.

The reading list: pages to come back to

Sometimes the "note" you want is just "read this later". Chrome on a Chromebook has a reading list for that: right-click a tab and choose Add tab to reading list, and find it again in the side panel. It saves the page, not anything you write about it.

TackNote Lite: a note on the web page itself

None of the tools above lets you write a note on a web page and see it again when you open that page. On a Chromebook most of your work happens in Chrome, so that is often exactly the note you want: a reminder on the client portal, a question on the shared document, what to check on a booking page.

That is what we built TackNote Lite for. It is a Chrome extension, so it runs in Chrome on ChromeOS like any other.

1. Add it from the Chrome Web Store: select Add to Chrome, then Add extension. Pin its icon from Chrome's Extensions menu so it stays in view.
2. On the page you want, right-click and choose Tack a note to this page. Or click the TackNote Lite icon and choose + Note on this page.
3. Type. The note saves as you type and stays on that page. Leave the page and it steps aside; come back and it is waiting.

A note on the shortcut. On Mac and Windows, TackNote Lite's shortcut is Alt + Shift + N. Google's list of Chromebook shortcuts gives Shift + Alt + N to checking your notifications, so on a Chromebook use the right-click menu or the button above. If you want a shortcut, open TackNote Lite's settings and choose Change the shortcut to pick one ChromeOS does not use.

Everything else works the same as anywhere else. Choose Whole site to show a note on every page of a website, or Just this page for one page. Turn a note into a Checklist. Pick one of five colours: yellow, pink, blue, green or purple. Click the icon to see every note, grouped by site, search them with Search every note, and click one to jump back to its page.

Private, and kept on your Chromebook

TackNote Lite stores your notes in Chrome on your Chromebook and nowhere else. It has no account, no analytics and no servers, and it never sends your notes anywhere. That also means your notes do not follow you to another device on their own: on TackNote Lite's settings page, Save a backup writes them to a file, and Restore a backup brings them back on another computer.

On a school or work Chromebook, your administrator decides which extensions you can add. Google notes that your organisation might block some extensions; if Add to Chrome is not available, that is why.

Which one to use

• A list or reminder you also want on your phone: Google Keep.
• Handwriting with a stylus: Cursive.
• A page to read later: Chrome's reading list.
• A note about a web page that shows when you open that page: TackNote Lite. Your first 25 notes are free, for life, and unlimited notes are $4.99 once.

For the full walkthrough of notes on web pages in Chrome on any computer, see how to put a sticky note on a web page in Chrome.

Questions

Does a Chromebook have a sticky notes app?

ChromeOS has Google Keep, which you open from the Launcher, and on a touchscreen Chromebook with a stylus there is Cursive for handwritten notes. Neither puts a note on a web page. For that, a Chrome extension such as TackNote Lite adds notes that stay on the page they belong to.

Does Google Keep work offline on a Chromebook?

Yes. Google says your Chromebook saves your Keep notes automatically so you can see and edit them offline, and the changes show up in Keep the next time you are online.

Does TackNote Lite work on a Chromebook?

Yes. It is a Chrome extension, so it runs in Chrome on ChromeOS. Right-click a page and choose Tack a note to this page, or use the button on its board. ChromeOS uses Shift + Alt + N for notifications, so set your own shortcut in TackNote Lite's settings if you want one.

Is TackNote Lite free on a Chromebook?

Your first 25 notes are free, for life. Unlimited notes are $4.99 once, with no subscription.