What's the best Journal (Diary) software?

[superboyac]

I was maybe thinking of keeping a diary, and I looked around for the best software for this.  There are various issues with this...for one thing, a journal might not be too different from a notetaking program, so you can very well use one of those programs for it.  I think as far as a journal goes, Evernote would be the clear choice among the general notetaking software because it organizes things by date by default.  And it's easy to navigate and search.

But being the kind of person that I am, I believe that it's better to find a piece of software specifically designed for the intent of journals.  There's a software called "The Journal" that seems to have a lot of features specifically designed for this kind of thing.  I was wondering if anyone here had experience with journals/diary software.  Please chime in!

[Grorgy]

Im trialling a thing called Ideamason ( http://www.ideamason.com/ ) which at a quick look has a lot of the features of the Journal, but then i want it specifically for essay writing and research of that type, and much prefer a single organized place for things rather than a separate program for everything, so long as it does it well. (unlike everything else in my life which seems to be totally disorganized lol)


Edit  Ideamason is somewhat more expensive at $79 for a single user licence  $69 for students

[Armando]

But being the kind of person that I am, I believe that it's better to find a piece of software specifically designed for the intent of journals.

Being the type of person you are, you also probably want something that's "indexable" with a desktop search program (X1, copernic, archivarius...) 

[Armando]

I've tried different software and I came back to Word and Ultraedit (or even jedit) (it could of course be any word-text processor)... When I write a journal, I don't want to be bothered or distracted with a thousand new fancy options. I just want to be able to insert the date and time, write, change fonts, etc., and insert various objects (pictures, graphs...). There's one thing that I'd eventually like to do though : to "mindmap" inside word, and to be able to draw quick sketches. I might buy a Wacom pad for that.

I tried OneNote at some point -- fun but I disliked the fact that none of the desktop search applications I was using could index my documents' content. I'm getting a bit tired of all these different proprietary file formats on my computer. I 'm looking more and more for cross platform file formats, if possible.


(edit : added the "ultraedit, jedit" part...)

[patteo]

I tried OneNote at some point -- fun but I disliked the fact that none of the desktop search applications I was using could index my documents' content. I'm getting a bit tired of all these different proprietary file formats on my computer. I 'm looking more and more for cross platform file formats, if possible.

I think if I'm not mistaken, Windows Desktop Search does index Onenote files.

[tinjaw]

I was looking for something to keep a daily journal of the stuff I do at work. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I did find DiaryOne which looks nice.

[attachthumb=#1]

[superboyac]

Im trialling a thing called Ideamason ( http://www.ideamason.com/ ) which at a quick look has a lot of the features of the Journal, but then i want it specifically for essay writing and research of that type, and much prefer a single organized place for things rather than a separate program for everything, so long as it does it well. (unlike everything else in my life which seems to be totally disorganized lol)

Ideamason is a bit much for just a simple journal.  However, as far as notetaking, it seems very interesting.  I just finished watching the screenshot tour of it and it looks like it's a mature program with many research-oriented options.  I need to look at it a little more for the notetaking thread.

Being the type of person you are, you also probably want something that's "indexable" with a desktop search program (X1, copernic, archivarius...) 

I don't know, I don't think I need to be able to index it with another program.  After all, it is "private" so I don't want to be as accessible as all my other normal documents.  The search options in the Journal are pretty extensive, so I shouldn't have a hard time finding anything.  If people are going to snoop around in my journal, at least make them work for it!

[Armando]

I think if I'm not mistaken, Windows Desktop Search does index Onenote files.

True. I just don't like Windows Desktop Search very much. But, Yes, it's good to mention it does actually index OneNote files!

(I didn't specify it but I mainly use X1 and Copernic, which I find superior... And I don't want to have 3 DS programs to run at the same time.)

Edit : actually, there are many pages on the web analysing some of the problems that preoccupy me : Long-term Accessibility of files, "easiness of search", etc. `. Here's one that's pretty representatives of my anxieties  :
http://pigpog.com/node/1001

There are many others, of course...

(edit : added the web page link)

[Armando]

I don't know, I don't think I need to be able to index it with another program.  After all, it is "private" so I don't want to be as accessible as all my other normal documents.  The search options in the Journal are pretty extensive, so I shouldn't have a hard time finding anything.  If people are going to snoop around in my journal, at least make them work for it!

I guess you're right. My personal journals are encrypted...  But I have many other "journals" on different subjects, less intimate, and I love the fact that everything is indexed. Anyhow : If the search options in the journal software are good, well...

I wonder : what kind of stuff one might really need in a journal that's not already in a word processor (or that's not possible to create with macros, AHK, etc.) ? i'm not saying it would be useless or anything, I just wonder...

(edit : oups, mistake)

[J-Mac]

I use "The Journal" available at http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/.  Definitely worth a look - they have a full-featured 45 day trial you can download.

I was looking for such a program for quite a while but was really limiting myself by requiring that the application have both a desktop PC and Pocket PC version available. But I finally gave up on that and started looking for simply the best PC journal software I could find - and The Journal fit the bill.  Excellent developer support with a very active Yahoo group (though I don't really like Yahoo groups!). This one gives me all that I need, plus has a lot of additional features that I am not presently using, but I hope to use someday.

It's not inexpensive, but it satisfies all of my requirements, and has some extras that are really great.

Oops - I just noticed that superboyac did mention this software in his initial post -- and he is correct in that this application is not really interactive with other applications, though you can link a number of other document types to it, as well as embed them in your journal pages.

[Armando]

I use "The Journal" available at http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/.  Definitely worth a look - they have a full-featured 45 day trial you can download.

I was looking for such a program for quite a while but was really limiting myself by requiring that the application have both a desktop PC and Pocket PC version available. But I finally gave up on that and started looking for simply the best PC journal software I could find - and The Journal fit the bill.  Excellent developer support with a very active Yahoo group (though I don't really like Yahoo groups!). This one gives me all that I need, plus has a lot of additional features that I am not presently using, but I hope to use someday.

It's not inexpensive, but it satisfies all of my requirements, and has some extras that are really great.

Oops - I just noticed that superboyac did mention this software in his initial post -- and he is correct in that this application is not really interactive with other applications, though you can link a number of other document types to it, as well as embed them in your journal pages.

I checked the features and compared them to EverNote. Interesting to see that the <b>free</b> version of EverNote seems to give the user almost <b>all</b> the same features. Doesn't it?

Some aspects of EverNote (like the searching capability, the tagging system, the Multiple Note Formats, The universal clipper, the support for various pen devices, etc.)actually seem even more powerful. But I'll see after trying The Journal.

Right now, I actually use EverNote in conjunction with a Word Document -- as I suggested before. But I guess I fcould rely exclusively on since it's got probably most of the features one might want for a journal (like : very very easy to see everything <b>chronologically AND sorted through the different categories</b>).

I guess I just love EverNote. 
Simple, free, yet very powerful.

[rjbull]

There's a free add-on program for Treepad Lite, that makes a file with a node ready-named with the date for each day of a year.

[J-Mac]

Well, using that logic, I guess you could make the claim that you could use Evernote in place of Word, Notepad, or really any application that is note/text editing related. But I think that most do not wish to do so, or the other journal/text editing/note-taking programs would be out of business! 

The features that many look for are one's more specific to their needs, rather than taking generic applications and force-fitting them to do all.

Just my opinion.

I checked the features and compared them to EverNote. Interesting to see that the <b>free</b> version of EverNote seems to give the user almost <b>all</b> the same features. Doesn't it?

Some aspects of EverNote (like the searching capability, the tagging system, the Multiple Note Formats, The universal clipper, the support for various pen devices, etc.)actually seem even more powerful. But I'll see after trying The Journal.

Right now, I actually use EverNote in conjunction with a Word Document -- as I suggested before. But I guess I fcould rely exclusively on since it's got probably most of the features one might want for a journal (like : very very easy to see everything <b>chronologically AND sorted through the different categories</b>).

I guess I just love EverNote. 
Simple, free, yet very powerful.

[Armando]

Well, using that logic, I guess you could make the claim that you could use Evernote in place of Word, Notepad, or really any application that is note/text editing related. But I think that most do not wish to do so, or the other journal/text editing/note-taking programs would be out of business!   

The features that many look for are one's more specific to their needs, rather than taking generic applications and force-fitting them to do all.

Just my opinion.

I agree (at least... partly) with you.

But I'm not really comparing EverNote or The journal to MS word (even though I might have given that impression earlier).
And I'm comparing EverNote to the Journal because it actually does everything I want for a Journal.

Like said earlier, I like the fact that my text can be indexed with the Desktop Search software I use. This is the main reason why I brought MS Word in the picture (put it could be OpenOffice, or WordPad, or Even OneNote : if it's indexable...).

Also, too many apps for different, yet not that different, tasks, makes my life much more complicated: different formats, data scattered in different places, etc. Using the GTD approach, I try to centralize the way I gather data as  much as  I can.

But I can see why one would do that, and I totally respect that. I'm just too absent minded -- which is not very convenient when you're trying to write a thesis (don't worry, I'm not writing it in English!).

[Darwin]

Armando wrote:

I guess I just love EverNote. 
Simple, free, yet very powerful.

and:

Also, too many apps for different, yet not that different, tasks, makes my life much more complicated

Here, here on both points quoted. I love Evernote as well. It's one of those apps that I barely think about anymore, and I see that as a good thing because it means that it fits so seamlessly into my Windows/Office installations and workflow that I don't notice that it's there. Every so often I go looking for something and am blown away at how easy it is...

WRT the second point about needless duplication: I am a software addict. I have five applications for every task that you can imagine. My brain tells me that this is counter-productive (and every once in a blue moon this leads me to uninstall on the order of 100 applications) but my heart yearns for choice and variety (and leads me to gradually re-install the bulk of those apps over time, along with "new finds")! We need a 12 step programme:

My name is Mike and I am a software addict.

[Armando]

We need a 12 step programme:

My name is Mike and I am a software addict.

I try to have a set of essential software. But since I've got that pathology of always looking for better ways of doing what I'm already doing well (that's what they tell me -- perfectionism?), I tend to get into duplication nightmare every now and then. Anyway, I'm getting a bit better, but I still dream of that perfect system where all my data is easily accessible and where nothing is wasted.  . I know...
I OCR lots and lots of stuff (I despise paper...  It’s heavy and dusty), and I use a rigorous tagging system (a bit archaic though -- but haven't found a better way or software to insert "textual" tags easily in my documents ; tags I can read with any Desktop Search tool -- whether it's X1 or Beagle in Linux...)

[egreene]

I've been using LifeJournal (www.lifejournal.com) for years and I'm totally hooked. (This is LifeJournal, NOT LiVeJournal.) It's one program I can't live without. It's wide range of features let you start up with the most simple of features --title, date, time. And then as I've gotten to know the program I see the richness and depth of the software. Initially I started to use it for random thoughts and feelings of the day.  Over time I use it for just about everything: business ideas, personal everyday stuff, writing about past memories/stories that appear randomly,  letters to myself. It's unique--encouraging to help you write often--see the Daily Pulse ( a quick and simple rating system.  You create up to 10 different parameters that you want to keep track of.)  This info is seamlessly integrated into the journal entries and you can see the graph of these Daily Pulse values--and open journal entries from the graph (very clever!).  What I find most helpful about the program is that you can begin to make sense of things--see trends and make changes--that I might not have seen if I didn't go back and look at my writings.  The search feature is easy to use. The program is generally really well laid out.

I'm not a compulsive journal writer, rather I write when I feel like it, but I must say that LifeJournal makes it easy for me to write and write consistently. There's a demo you can try out so you can try before you buy--something I insist on before buying software.

[turgutcaliskan]

I use a software named KeyNote ( http://keynote.prv.pl ) May I have your opinions about this software?

[Armando]

Keynote was (and still is, in some respect) great but it's not supported anymore and the developement has stopped.

If you want info about notetaking softwares, you should have a look at superboyac Notetaking Software Roundup #1 :
http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/NoteTakers1/

and donationcoder's biggest thread :

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=2362.0

Have fun!

[digitalzen]

I'm a professional writer.  I used to use OpenOffice, but now I do nearly all my writing in Google Docs and Spreadsheets.  I tried literally more than a dozen journaling apps, but kept going back to Wordpad and an encrypted file. 

Now I use a <a href="http://www.moleskine.com/eng/_interni/catalogo/default.htm">Moleskine</a>; and Mont Blanc.  Much more satisfying.

[Darwin]

Moleskine and Mont Blanc. Nice! What version of each is your tool of choice (MS 146 Medium - although I also heavily favour my PFM I and my Vanishing Point - and the lined Pocket Journal for me...)?

[Catkintails]

As a mere female, not particularly computer literate, my favourites are:
iDailyDiary http://www.splinterware.com/ for journaling. Love it. By far the best after testing quite a few others;
ReadyNotes which is fantastic for writing- I use it for writing poetry as you have endless (literally) pages and categories, Derring Technologies, and
Evernote, which is great for when you are surfing.
I also us Ywriter and Chrysanth for other writing projects.

[rjbull]

kept going back to Wordpad and an encrypted file. 

Wordpad?  Rather than a good editor?

Now I use a <a href="http://www.moleskine.com/eng/_interni/catalogo/default.htm">Moleskine</a>; and Mont Blanc.  Much more satisfying.

Quote from Cult Pens What's New May 2007

Pelikan make some of the world's finest fountain pens. Forget M*nt Bl*nc - if you're looking for peerless build quality and precision engineering you'll find it in our Pelikan Souveran and Toledo ranges. .

[Darwin]

A Pelikan is high on my list of pens to own. However, I am very happy with my M-Bs, and my Pilots, Parkers and Sheaffers. There's room in my world for more than one brand of pen or watch or car... I *hate* this about western culture/values: there's always someone trying to tell you that X is better than Y, or worse, that Z is the best period and you've missed the boat if you settle for anything less. What really sticks in my craw is university rankings. How the hell is it possible to come up with a consistent, quanitifiable, and most importantly reliable/meaningful set of criteria for what makes University X better than Y? Why is it meaningful that such and such a university is ranked 67th in the world and the one that I acutally went to ranked 134th (I made those numbers up out of thin air)? Says who? So what? It (and by extension it's alumni) are better because someone else says so? What a load of bunk. Sort of analgous to people who *have* to drive a Hummer but never leave the city, never leave paved roads, never drive in the snow...

Sorry. Rant over.

[blessed1202]

I agree with Catkintails.  I've had iDailyDiary for years.  It can include pictures in your daily writing.  Hope you find what you're looking for!