I used to organize my entire life by taking notes in an actual notebook, pen to paper. That was, of course, a very messy way to keep track of my personal and work life. But I discovered that even when using a note-taking app, it's easy to become disorganized. Notes can pile up, ideas can get lost, and important information can slip through the cracks.
Fortunately, automation can turn that chaos into clarity, helping you manage your notes effortlessly and focus on what really matters. With just a few Zaps—our word for our automated workflows—you can turn notes into tasks in your project management tool, send meeting notes to your team, and more—automatically.
You'll need a Zapier account to use the workflows in this piece. If you don't have an account yet, it's free to get started.
Table of contents
To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.
Turn notes into tasks
I use a task management app to organize my to-do lists, but I've been guilty of jotting down a list in my notes app when I'm in a rush. If you have action items split between your note-taking and task management apps, you'll likely forget something.
These Zaps will create tasks from new notes, streamlining your to-do list in one place.
Create tasks in Todoist for each new link in Reflect
Create tasks in Google Tasks from new items in Notion databases
Create tasks in Asana for new action items in Fathom
Create meeting notes based on calendar events
Meetings are hectic enough without having to open a fresh Google doc or your notes app half-way through because you need to jot down something (important!) a team member says.
I can't count the times I've written notes down on an unofficial document only to lose it later. With these Zaps, you can automatically create a new note (or meeting agenda on a doc) according to calendar events or a recurring schedule.
Add new notes on Evernote for impending Google Calendar events
Create Mems in the Mem app for new or updated events in Google Calendar
Create new Google Docs before a Google Calendar event
You can create notes a few minutes, hours, or even days before your calendar event occurs. Learn how to adjust the date and time values in Zaps.
An even better way to create notes during your meetings is by using AI tools like Read AI or tl;dv. You just add them to your video calls and they'll automatically jot down notes in the background for you, so you can focus on the meeting at hand.
When you pair these tools with Zapier, you can also instantly fire off those notes to the rest of your team in Slack, send them via Gmail, or just add them to your meeting doc.
Send new Read AI meeting notes as private channel messages in Slack
Send direct messages in Slack whenever new notes are added in tl;dv
Send emails in Gmail for new meeting notes in Read AI
Create Google Docs documents from new tl;dv notes added
This works for customer meetings, too. If a member of your sales team takes a call with a client, they'll probably want to share those meeting notes in your CRM so the rest of your team have all the context for any future interactions. These Zaps will do the heavy lifting for you:
Save important notifications as notes
Ever receive important company messages in your team chat app? Team chat apps are notoriously noisy, and it's easy to lose important conversations in the mix.
If you don't always have time to read messages the moment they're sent, you can set up these Zaps to add them straight to your note-taking app.
That means that every time you star a message or label an incoming email, they'll be added as a note so you can process them later when it's good for you.
Push messages from Slack and append to a note in Evernote
Create OneNote notes for new channel messages in Microsoft Teams
Create mems in Mem from new pushed messages in Slack
Create AI content from your notes
If you're at all like me, then you probably create notes for all your important work content, from blog post ideas to creating briefs for other team members. It's basically where a lot of my content production process happens.
To speed up the idea-to-draft process, you can use these Zaps and get AI to do the heavy lifting for you. These workflows take your notes, add extra context, or even write a first draft for you, saving them in your notes app or content management tool.
On the other hand, if you want to summarize content and then save it to your notes, these Zaps are probably the ones for you. By using an AI tool like Jasper or ChatGPT, you can build Zaps that summarize documentation and append it to your notes app. This is especially handy if you're short on time and don't want to get bogged down by pages and pages of content.
Create a summary of important docs with Jasper and append to Evernotes
Collect resources in one place
Imagine this: You're doing research on-the-go for a presentation you're leading. You have 30 tabs on your smartphone browser, but you need to send that information to your work computer to build your presentation. You can either copy and paste each link into a new note or email, send each link to your work email, or use a handoff tool to open all 30 links in your computer browser.
But there's a better option: You can use a bookmarking app like Pocket to save ideas or research, and these automatic workflows will automatically add links to an existing note.
This doesn't just work for presentations, either. Whatever you're building, be that a blog post, a website, or a list of social media posts for research, you can save all your ideas on your notes for better safekeeping.
Append new Pocket tagged items to an Evernote note
Create links in Reflect for new articles in Feedly boards
Add new text notes to Evernote from a Google Chrome extension
Back up your notes elsewhere
The worst thing that can happen to copious note-takers is losing your notes, be that from a syncing override or an accidental deletion.
These automatic workflows will back up your notes to another cloud storage app, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. You'll be covered the next time tech goblins eat your notes.
Upload Dropbox files from new database items in Notion
Create new Google Drive files from newly added tl;dv notes
If you work with apps or software not included in this article, don't worry—Zapier works with thousands of apps. Head to our App Directory and search for the one you use, or browse to find the right solution for your needs. Plus, here are 5 things you can do in Zapier's App Directory.
Automate your note-taking apps
Note-taking is a powerful tool for capturing ideas, organizing tasks, and preserving key information—but it's easy for even the best systems to become cluttered.
By automating your note-taking apps with Zapier, you can transform scattered thoughts into actionable insights and ensure nothing important slips through the cracks.
Related reading
This article was originally published in November 2020, written by Krystina Martinez. It was most recently updated in December 2024 by Elena Alston.
