When you are rapidly creating tasks in Google Keep, manually selecting a specific hour and minute for every single reminder is incredibly inefficient. Google Keep provides three quick-select options in its reminder drop-down menu: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. However, by default, Google defines “Morning” as 8:00 AM. If you do not wake up until 9:30 AM, or if you prefer to start your deep work at 7:00 AM, this default setting is completely useless. To maximize your productivity, you must dive into the hidden settings menu and customize these exact default times to match your personal circadian rhythm.
How to Access the Settings Menu
The core configuration options for Google Keep are hidden behind a standard gear icon.
- Open Google Keep on your desktop browser (keep.google.com). (While you can change these settings on the mobile app, the desktop interface is generally faster to navigate).
- Look at the absolute top-right corner of the screen, directly next to your profile picture.
- Click the Gear icon (Settings).
- Click Settings from the small drop-down menu.
A minimalist pop-up window will appear in the center of your screen.
Customizing Your Default Times
Inside the Settings window, locate the section labeled Reminder Defaults. You will see three distinct text boxes:
- Morning: (Default 08:00)
- Afternoon: (Default 13:00)
- Evening: (Default 18:00)
Simply click into the specific box you want to change. A standard clock interface will drop down, allowing you to manually type a new time or select one from the list. If you work the night shift, you can completely invert these times (e.g., setting “Morning” to 6:00 PM when you wake up).
Once you have configured the three times to perfectly match your personal schedule, click the blue Save button at the bottom of the window.
How This Changes Your Workflow
From this point forward, whenever you click the “Remind me” bell icon on any note, the quick-select drop-down menu will instantly display your highly customized times.
Instead of clicking “Pick date & time” and manually typing “09:30” every single morning, you can simply click the pre-configured “Morning” button, saving yourself three unnecessary clicks. When multiplied across 20 tasks a day, this minor optimization significantly speeds up your workflow and ensures you never accidentally schedule a task for an hour when you are asleep.