Parchi stems from the Microsoft Garage, the division in the company that gives employees the resources they need to make an idea reality. The app was built in just five months, adhering to the concept of completing things quickly that its users will experience when taking notes with it.
Parchi’s interface is bright, clean and minimalist, using Google’s Material Design to display notes in cards. The content in notes is kept simple with just text, photos, basic hashtags and reminders available to customise. Microsoft says the app should be used to store things “small, quick and non-complicated.”
Notes can be searched for by tag or marked as a favourite to make them easier to find later on. New memos can be created directly from the phone’s lock-screen and important lists pinned for quick access.
Neowin notes the app appears to have been renamed during its development as its link on the Google Play Store refers to it as “Microsoft Bites.” The company seems to have been toying with the idea of it being used specifically for bite-sized notes before settling on the Hindi word Parchi. Microsoft explains that it translates to small pieces of paper used for making quick notes on.
The team behind Parchi is led by Salil Das. He said “We wanted to build something that we would use every day ourselves.” A description of the app’s backstory on the Microsoft Garage website lists the aims of the project as creating something quick, “super easy to use” and capable of adapting to the user.
Parchi takes a very different stance to note-taking than Microsoft’s established OneNote, widely regarded as one of the leaders in its class. Whereas OneNote is capable of long-term storage of much longer notes, Parchi is intended to keep a hold on the little things that may not conveniently fit into a OneNote section but could be forgotten if saved mentally. The bright and bold presentation keeps things memorable while still providing users with access to tags, reminders and search facilities.
As with other recent Microsoft Garage projects, Parchi is currently exclusive to Android. There is no word on whether it will be made available as a Universal Windows app in the future. Microsoft is continuing to release high-quality apps to the Google Play Store despite Google currently offering none of their key services in the Windows Store. Android users can download Parchi now, although the app is not available in all regions.
