spikey Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 I'm still getting to grips with this 'ere new Android phone, which is indeed infinitely smarter than its owner, and I'm stuck for a way of doing one simple thing. I want to create lists on my laptop (Windows 10, current version, running Firefox) from time to time and copy them to the phone. Think shopping list, or more to the point, lists of rolling stock which I can view in a shop to avoid buying something which I'd forgotten I already have. It was suggested to me that Google Keep would be the answer, and it does indeed look nice, but I'd have to install Chrome on the laptop, and I'm not a fan of Chrome. So much so, in fact, that as soon as I get a round tuit, I'll be going over to Firefox on the phone. Is there anything similar to Google Keep which doesn't need Chrome and/or the internets? I've tried doing a list in Notepad and copying it to the phone via USB but alas it won't play ball, so is there another way of skinning this particular cat? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold StuAllen Posted February 1, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 1, 2020 I use Microsoft Onenote on my PC/iPhone - works well. I’d expect that there is an Android version. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) There is a web version of Keep: https://keep.google.com I just tried it and it works fine accessed using Safari and Firefox on my iMac, and using Edge and Firefox on my Windows 10 machine. You do need to be logged in to Google on both devices in order for the notes to sync between them. And, of course, that means you need the "internets". Might be simpler just to send an e-mail from your computer with the note, list, what have you in the body of the e-mail, to your Gmail address and open it on the phone. You don't necessarily need mobile data for this: if you do it at home with the phone connected to your home wifi then once the e-mail has been received on the phone you can open it and read it when you're out and about even if the phone's in flight mode (ie all comms turned off). Edited February 1, 2020 by ejstubbs 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 By the way, in what way did copying a notepad (.txt) file to the Android phone via USB "not play ball"? In other words: what actually didn't work, or happen the way you expected it to? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 My android phone has a notepad function built-in, I use it all the time for shopping lists for groceries, model railways etc. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave47549 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) . Edited October 4, 2021 by Dave47549 Removed pointless guff 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 Thanks chaps. 1 hour ago, ejstubbs said: By the way, in what way did copying a notepad (.txt) file to the Android phone via USB "not play ball"? In other words: what actually didn't work, or happen the way you expected it to? Gosh, I can't remember exactly what, but I think it said it was "unable to" transfer the file. 1 hour ago, PenrithBeacon said: My android phone has a notepad function built-in, I use it all the time for shopping lists for groceries, model railways etc. Cheers What's it called, please? 54 minutes ago, Dave47549 said: Knock your list(s) up via your favourite WP package on your laptop, save it as a pdf, transfer the pdf via USB to your 'phone. Now why didn't I think of that??!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted February 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, spikey said: Thanks chaps. Gosh, I can't remember exactly what, but I think it said it was "unable to" transfer the file. I've had a couple of Android devices where the default for USB is "charging only" and you have to turn on usb transfer in the settings. You may have to do it each time as my Motorola phone defaults back to charging only. You can get Libre Office (which is free) and install it on the PC and there is also a free "lite" version for Android (Google store) so you can transfer files in many formats: pdf,doc,txt,xls etc. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 Brilliant! Thanks Keith. I hadn't realised that mine defaults to usb transfer too. And I had no idea that there's a "lite" version of Libre Office, which I've been using on the laptop for years now. I do believe that's me sorted, gentlemen. Thank you one and all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 1 hour ago, spikey said: ... What's it called, please? ... Notepad (!) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 08221 Posted February 1, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 1, 2020 Simplenote is really good - and free! I have it on my iPad, Android phone and Windows Laptop and it syncs perfectly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted February 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 1, 2020 5 hours ago, spikey said: Brilliant! Thanks Keith. I hadn't realised that mine defaults to usb transfer too. And I had no idea that there's a "lite" version of Libre Office, which I've been using on the laptop for years now. I do believe that's me sorted, gentlemen. Thank you one and all. Looks like it's been pulled for the time being as it's not currently available: "LibreOffice Viewer for Android Our community is working on a LibreOffice Viewer app for Android devices. It is currently in beta status and not available for end users, but more information is available on this wiki page. If you have some technical knowledge and want to help us test and improve it, you can download the plain apk and sideload it on your device." I downloaded it to my phone from the Google Play store last year! This shows it was available: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2018/07/05/libreoffice-viewer-for-android-help-us-fight-for-digital-freedom/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, spikey said: Gosh, I can't remember exactly what, but I think it said it was "unable to" transfer the file. In that case it would probably be unable to transfer a pdf file as well, until you've sussed out what's stopping USB file transfer from working. Which could indeed be because the phone is set to charge only be default. My phone displays a pop-up asking you if you want to do file transfer when you connect it to a computer via USB but maybe not all do (or maybe you just missed it?) I don't know what tool you're using to do the file transfer (the Google Android File Transfer tool is singularly clunky in my experience, and declines to work for many, varied and usually unjustified and unhelpful reasons). You may find that you're not allowed to file transfer to the phone's SD card, only to its internal memory. Or you may need to grant permission to write to the SD card. Edited February 2, 2020 by ejstubbs 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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