Keeping Track with Google Notebook
As you surf pages or work with Docs & Spreadsheets or other Google applications, you’ll inevitably want to take notes to record thoughts that occur to you. You can send quick notes to a coworker using Google Talk, or you can e-mail notes to someone else or to yourself using Gmail.
But Google Notebook is in fact the perfect note taking application for working with Google’s own business applications or simply for remembering Web sites, making notes about content, or recording thoughts you might comment on later in your blog. You probably already take notes while you’re online by typing in a Microsoft Word or other window.
One nice thing about Google Notebook is that it comes with a utility that lets you publish notebook contents to your Google Apps site so members of your work group can read and respond. Other colleagues can add their own notes to yours if you give them the ability to collaborate with you. Google Notebook comes with an optional plug-in application (also called an extension) that makes it more functional if you take notes within a Web browser window.
The plug-in lets you use a ‘‘mini’’ version of the Notebook so you don’t have to switch between the browser window and the Notebook window. It even records the source of the Web page data you copy, so you can always refer to your Web page links and return to a page later on if necessary.
To get started using Google Notebook, go to http://www.google.com/notebook. Sign in with your Google Account information. The next page prompts you to download the extension for the Web browser you are currently using: if you sign in with Firefox you’ll be prompted to download the software for Firefox, and if you use Internet Explorer, you can download the extension for that browser. Click Agree and Download. When a Software Installation dialog box appears, click Install Now.
A dialog box will then appear prompting you to quit and restart your browser automatically. After your browser restarts, you view not your usual startup page, but the original download page. Click the link at the bottom Continue to your notebooks. If you want to find out more about Google Notebook at any time when using the program, click the Notebook Overview link at the bottom of My Notebook, or whatever you have named the current notebook. You’ll find basic instructions on how to use the application. If you’re in a hurry and just want to start taking notes, however, you can simply start taking notes by typing or pasting them into the blank box labeled Type here or add section at the bottom of the Notebook window.
As you work, a red box will appear on the right side of the window to let you know your changes are instantly being saved. The interface, in fact, is remarkably similar to that of Google Docs, which saves your work almost constantly so you don’t have to manually save it. You can use the buttons above the text box to format text in bold, italic, or a color, or to change the font or type size.
When you’re done typing, click New Note to add a new, separate note in your default My Notebook notebook. You don’t have to stick with My Notebook, however. To keep your notes organized, you can create custom notebooks at any time and give each one a distinct name.
To create a new notebook, click New under Notebooks. A new blank screen will appear with the cursor positioned in a box that lets you enter a title for the notebook. Type the title and click OK. The notebook will be added to the Notebooks column on the left side of the screen.