HOWTO: Journal in Evernote vs dedicated program

[Johnny McClung 10]

I've been thinking about starting a journal and I'm trying to decide whether to use Evernote or a program specifically made for writing a journal. I see a few options.

- pen and paper

- Evernote

- blogging

- program dedicated to writing a journal

Evernote is nice, but it is a jack-of-all-traits kind of software. I was thinking that another program might give me some more functions that would be nice to have in a electronic journal. Does anyone use Evernote? Another program?

Thank you.

[heather 604]

If you use iOS, there's this app that was an ETC submission last year build on our API:

http://www.handypads...com/wdfdays.php

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Evernote vs Dedicated Program for keeping a journal is really about flexibility vs tailored capability.

I started out with Evernote, then tried a few dedicated apps, like MacJournal.

I came back to Evernote because:

• I like having all my notes in one place
  
• Evernote is more flexible -- I can add photos, audio, text of any type
  
• Evernote syncs on all my devices
  

Most, if not all, of the journal/diary apps have a trial version.

I suggest that you try that to find out what you like best.

[gazumped 11,652]

I've also kept a journal in Evernote, alternating between two methods - one is to have a desktop shortcut (possible in both Windows and Android clients) leading to the same note, then using the date and time shortcut (windows only) to start a new day as a new paragraph/ section; the other is just to start a new note for each day and tag it 'journal'. The first is fine for short descriptions, the second better for adding files, images etc.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

i keep my journals in evernote for the reasons mentioned above by jm. dedicated software seems nice and all, but not my thing. one cool thing about evernote: you can use pen and paper, scan it into digital form (i recommend scansnap), and evernote will "read" it and make it searchable. the best of both worlds! and, it only takes a few extra seconds (assuming you have a scanner for the task).

[peterfmartin 221]

120420 journal

didn't post on evernote forums

120419 journal

didn't post on evernote forums

120418 journal

didn't post on evernote forums

...

[tardis 87]

There's an interesting thread on this topic here.

As others have said, I prefer to keep my journal/log in Evernote so when I write about projects I'm working on, those references are picked up when I run a search. I don't have to open up another piece of software to find any relevant information. Although I did use Day One (Mac) for several months and loved, loved, loved the menu bar input. Just click on the icon in the menu bar, fill in some text, and an automatically dated and timestamped entry is created. But, like I said, if I wanted to search for information I had to do it in two different apps. No good for me.

[GingerNinja 3]

I'm a fairly regular DayOne user as well. I've contacted the developers and asked whether they have considered adding a third option of Evernote sync to their existing Dropbox and iCloud options. It's possible that it won't be feasible but no harm in asking, eh?

[Kpritts 3]

As a district level school official I find Evernote to be key in my operations. I am very focused (for myself, my staff and my students) on anytime, anywhere access to my work and information.

I need to have a time and date stamped log of phone calls and conversations and be able to pull them up on my iPhone, my iPad or my Windows based Ultrabook.

The challenge for me was the steps in opening the software and getting to the notes phase. Here is how that was resolved....

-on the Ultrabook: Control Alt N brings up the note function ready to type. The only thing I need to do before exiting is to indicate where I want it (see the iOS apps below to indicate where I put the notes).

-on the iPhone and iPad I decided upon Journal for Evernote by Voyager Apps for Evernote. It is a $0.99 app. Hit the icon and start typing. When finished hit the top icon which sends it off to Evernote and close the program. The app automatically creates a journal folder and the year of the date stamp. All of your notes for the day are compiled inline on a single note and time stamped for each. You also have the option of having a Map link that will show where you were when you created the note. The integration with Evernote is seamless and it is fast.

Between the keyboard shortcut in Windows and the iOS app, I now can quickly keep track of notes from calls, etc., email those notes when desired, and access them from anywhere, at anytime. As in anything else your mileage may vary but for me THIS WORKS.

[tassiecelt 57]

I'm a fairly regular DayOne user as well. I've contacted the developers and asked whether they have considered adding a third option of Evernote sync to their existing Dropbox and iCloud options. It's possible that it won't be feasible but no harm in asking, eh?

I've decided that EN is not what I need for journalling, so I've moved to Day One. Now that photos can be added its worth a try. Currently I am laboriously copying and pasting 1500 entries from MacJournal to Day One.

[jfkaess 28]

Thank you Kpritts. Journal for Evernote is exactly what I have been looking for. The other app mentioned above by Heather looks nice, but it's an iPhone app and Journal for Evernote has the features I was looking for as well as being an iPad app.

[southernforge 69]

Hello,

This is an amazing thread. My goal has been to get my journaling and/or daily entries of what happened on any given day into Evernote, but there seemed to be no recognizable way...

For the past few months I have been using an app called iDoneThis on the iPhone or via web browser on the pc. But this seems to be clunky as I go to Evernote for almost everything.

Browsing the appstore showed an app called Journal for Evernote; I am wondering if it might be more effective to journal via another app that uses Evernote's API, or just manually create entries as so many of you have been doing.

Having had an iPhone for just a few months, I marvel at just how much I use the thing as a tool, and am amazed at how much more effective it is than my old franklin planner; but at least with that tool, going back to look at journal entries was pretty easy.

Thanks.

[jfkaess 28]

I just started using Journal for Evernote this week (because of this post) and I am very pleased with it. it does exactly what I wanted and is seamless in its integration. The only downside I've found is the inability to insert pictures into the Journal notes (though of course this can be done directly into the note once it is in Evernote itself).

[southernforge 69]

Thank you for the feedback. Its worth a buck, then, to at least give it a try. I have gone back into notes I created to insert photos that were forgotten the first time, or when a better photo relevant to the note is available. Thanks!

[megsaint 441]

If you want an app that will allow you to include photos, take a look at PostEver. It also puts all the entries from one day in a single note. It sounds like it has all the other features of Journal as well.

[tassiecelt 57]

Boy, Ive spent HOURS on this topic - seeking the best journalling app. Some suggestions here seem to be wanting. I guess I want it all in one app.

1. text and images in each entry
   
2. calendar search or add
   
3. Edit image within app.
   
4. quick entry of thoughts before i forget them.
   
5. add entry from iPhone or ipad photo
   
6. Mac, ipad and iphone app
   
7. iCloud sync
   
8. Full featured but without cluttering with little used features.
   

I still think the app that comes closest is Day One. However, there are some including me that would like to see links between EN and Day One. That would add the cream to the coffee.

[jfkaess 28]

For me, 2 critical shortcomings for Day One:

1) no integration to Evernote, hence not searchable in one place with my other data, and

2). No PC version.

[tassiecelt 57]

For me, 2 critical shortcomings for Day One:

1) no integration to Evernote, hence not searchable in one place with my other data, and

2). No PC version.

I agree with the first, the second is not an issue as I use only Macs. Not sure if they will bring out a windows version, MacJournal have I believe.

guess it depends on how you see a Journal and EN. I would love to have both in one, but don't mind having a Journal separate.

[luv2ride 3]

Great thread. I am currently using Day one. Here are my issues.

1.) I have a work issued ipad and they block icloud integration so I use dropbox

2.) I have all mac products, I like the app very much

3.) Among the other complaints listed, which are all vaild, Day one stores data in open text! Yes, you can open your data files in a text editor and read every single entry. I write my true feelings I dont want anyone reading them until I decide to share. Whats the sense in having a passwd? If someone were to get my dropbox passwd or perhaps open my dropbox folder on my computer? I have sent numerous messages to the developer to no avail, never received a response.

Hope this helps others make a clear decision.

[tassiecelt 57]

Great thread. I am currently using Day one. Here are my issues.

1.) I have a work issued ipad and they block icloud integration so I use dropbox

2.) I have all mac products, I like the app very much

3.) Among the other complaints listed, which are all vaild, Day one stores data in open text! Yes, you can open your data files in a text editor and read every single entry. I write my true feelings I dont want anyone reading them until I decide to share. Whats the sense in having a passwd? If someone were to get my dropbox passwd or perhaps open my dropbox folder on my computer? I have sent numerous messages to the developer to no avail, never received a response.

Hope this helps others make a clear decision.

I know this is an EN forum, but I would like to respond briefly.

Sorry to hear about iCloud blocked, I'm not fond of Dropbox for my private stuff either, DB say themselves that it may not be secure.

Re. Open text, well one reviewer on YouTube recently and wrongly complained that the data w locked up in a single file that only DO could read. So I guess you can't please everyone.

I've complained too about the lack of support. They have apologised to me twice for their slowness saying they are so busy developing the product they are getting behind.

Twitter seems the best way to reach support.

It's a work in progress with a few niggles but overall a great app to use. At least it is an app that is going places, like EN but unlike MacJournal which has frustrated users for years with the lack of development.

I did try Journal for Evernote, it's a nice way to use EN as a journal but I am wanting to enter hundred of past dates, Journal for EN will not even allow that, whereas DO make that very easy.

[Slavik 1]

I have just submitted a journal app for Evernote.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/journal-for-evernote/id540970052?mt=8

I hope it helps

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I have just submitted a journal app for Evernote.

http://itunes.apple....d540970052?mt=8

I hope it helps

Your iOS app looks nice, but I need something that also works on the Mac, where I spend most of my time.

Do you have any plans to create a Mac version?

[Benjamin Heitmann 1]

Hello there, this thread is quite old, but I am in a similar situation,

so I would like to add another possible solution which I just tested.

I was looking for a way to have a diary which I can sync between an iPhone and a desktop app.

(I dont have an iPad, and I am using a Mac for the desktop part.) Most importantly, I was looking for a way

to manage short notes with tags in a bi-directional way. And I think I just found a very nice solution for that, finally.

Awesome Note is an iOS app, which can sync with Evernote. It has a very nice interface, and the app just "feels"

very mature and well thought through. Its not very minimalistic, but thats just one more reason why it goes well with Evernote, I think.

Regarding the feature requirements which I listed above:

* it can sync with Evernote

* one can use the same tags in Evernote and in Awesome Note

* sync is two way: if you create a note in one of the Aweseome Notes folders via Evernote (e.g. on the desktop),

then it is synced back to Awesome Note on the iPhone.

* Aweseome Note provides a very nice way to filter by tag

Also of note, is that there is a free version which supportes all of these features, but is limited to 10 notes (thats what I just tried.) And there is a HD version optimised for the iPad.

Here it is on iTunes: https://itunes.apple...d558781019?mt=8

And here is the homepage: http://bridworks.com.../main/index.php

I hope that I can help somebody save a lot of time by posting this

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hello there, this thread is quite old, but I am in a similar situation,

so I would like to add another possible solution which I just tested.

I was looking for a way to have a diary which I can sync between an iPhone and a desktop app.

(I dont have an iPad, and I am using a Mac for the desktop part.) Most importantly, I was looking for a way

to manage short notes with tags in a bi-directional way. And I think I just found a very nice solution for that, finally.

Awesome Note is an iOS app, which can sync with Evernote. It has a very nice interface, and the app just "feels"

very mature and well thought through. Its not very minimalistic, but thats just one more reason why it goes well with Evernote, I think.

Regarding the feature requirements which I listed above:

* it can sync with Evernote

* one can use the same tags in Evernote and in Awesome Note

* sync is two way: if you create a note in one of the Aweseome Notes folders via Evernote (e.g. on the desktop),

then it is synced back to Awesome Note on the iPhone.

* Aweseome Note provides a very nice way to filter by tag

Also of note, is that there is a free version which supportes all of these features, but is limited to 10 notes (thats what I just tried.) And there is a HD version optimised for the iPad.

Here it is on iTunes: https://itunes.apple...d558781019?mt=8

And here is the homepage: http://bridworks.com.../main/index.php

I hope that I can help somebody save a lot of time by posting this

Thanks for posting! It has been a long time since I used Awesome Note, but I have heard great things about it, so I would also recommend that users check it out. It seems well suited to people who use visual cues instead of text to get stuff done.

[JonnyBoy 9]

I was trying out the various free and lite apps that work with Evernote and I stumbled on a gem. So I want to give you a heads up.

It's called Everlog and there is a free (lite) version of it to try out.

Basically, the app allows you to develop templates which then you can fill in later. This would be great for all of us that have been searching for a quick and clean way to journal. It is by far the best that I have come across so far.

The only problem so far is that there is very little documentation in English (probably due to the fact that the developer is Japanese). However, a youtube video gives you an idea of how to use the app and what it's capabilities are.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

GrumpyMonkey, I have just recently been trying to follow your advice about titles and journal entries. As a result I was hunting for an app that would stream line input for this method. Everlog has just about all I was looking for including adding a date stamp that you can predetermine in any way you want. Right now I have it set up with yyyy MM dd but you could just as easily use yyMMdd or any other. There are many other options (fairly comprehensive) so take a look.

By the way, I have no affiliation with the app developer and just discovered it today. This recommendation is only after about 30 minutes fiddling with the lite version and after a hour with the full upgrade. So there might be problems and bugs that I haven't encountered yet.

[JonnyBoy 9]

I am a little bit behind the curve as I just discovered KustomNotes. After tinkering around with it, I discovered some of the strengths and weaknesses of this app and Everlog which I mention above.

Advantageous of KustomNotes:

1. The option to connect to Google Calendar and Contacts

2. The option to set up reminders.

3. Web version

These are not an option yet in Everlog.

However, I do prefer Everlog as

1. It is smaller and more discrete (KustomNotes are big and loud, at least, in my opinion).

2. You can determine the size of photos that will be added in the template. This saves a lot of space and as well as makes it easier not needing to manually shrink the size of one's photos before importing.

3. Everlog doesn't list the field in the EN note if the field is left empty in the template. This is great if I want to make multiple appends to my journal entry (see below).

4. You can also append information to the same note throughout the day, week or year if you want (Maybe you can do that in KustomNotes but I haven't discovered it). This is great for journaling or wanting to quickly record events for a particular contact or quickly take notes on a book.

5. It is available on the iphone and ipad.

6. It is quick. No lags and so far I haven't had any crashes. (KustomNotes seems a little clunky and slow at times).

So far no web or desktop version for Everlog which is a minus. But I am hoping that they will come out with one soon.

Anybody try out Everlog yet?

edited: 20121020 17:19 +2:00

[psionmark 73]

Another thumbs up for Day One. I like the auto-added location and weather and the ability to add a photo is nice. Yeah, you can do all of this with EN but, given my recent problems with the iOS versions of EN, Day One is a better solution for me for now.

Yes, didn't like the complete lack of security when using Dropbox, so using the iCloud sync, which probably isn't much safer to be honest. But it's a lovely app.

[JonnyBoy 9]

Another thumbs up for Day One. I like the auto-added location and weather and the ability to add a photo is nice. Yeah, you can do all of this with EN but, given my recent problems with the iOS versions of EN, Day One is a better solution for me for now.

Everlog has the option of adding icons for weather, emotions and ratings as well as automatic location, tags and date stamps. And of course, the icons used can be connected with certain tags.

I haven't tried out DayOne yet. My guess is that it is much more pretty of an option than Evernote and at the same time, can sync with Evernote. Everlog doesn't have a viewer separate from Evernote for the notes it creates. I prefer this but I understand the pain recently for ios users (of which I am one). I can't wait till they fix the most recent bugs.

BTW, It would be great to see the ios apps updated in general. The android version is so much better than the ios. This I say as one who just switched to iphone from android and am feeling the pain.

[psionmark 73]

Another thumbs up for Day One. I like the auto-added location and weather and the ability to add a photo is nice. Yeah, you can do all of this with EN but, given my recent problems with the iOS versions of EN, Day One is a better solution for me for now.

Everlog has the option of adding icons for weather, emotions and ratings as well as automatic location, tags and date stamps. And of course, the icons used can be connected with certain tags.

I haven't tried out DayOne yet. My guess is that it is much more pretty of an option than Evernote and at the same time, can sync with Evernote. Everlog doesn't have a viewer separate from Evernote for the notes it creates. I prefer this but I understand the pain recently for ios users (of which I am one). I can't wait till they fix the most recent bugs.

BTW, It would be great to see the ios apps updated in general. The android version is so much better than the ios. This I say as one who just switched to iphone from android and am feeling the pain.

Yep, the Android apps are a world apart - almost good enough to make me want to switch from my iPad to my Nexus 7 full time.

Almost.

[tassiecelt 57]

Another vote for Day One, I've been using this for months now and spent hours on it. I don't think a journaling app could be better, especially with iOS6.

I think EN tried to be "all things to all men", while EN does a great job of most tasks, journaling is another matter, and even with add on apps, nothing comes close to Day One.

One of the essential features for me is easily adding images and automatically having the image resized to the page and then being able to find entries by photo search. Events are more quickly remembered and found by images than plain text.

[jefito 5,589]

I think EN tried to be "all things to all men"

Not sure how you figure that -- Evernote has -- explicitly -- stayed away from being, for example, a To-do list manager or a word processor. What it's good at -- information collecting from many sources, light note-taking, flexible organization, availability wherever you have connectivity -- these are what I tend to use it for. Push it too far in the direction of the various specialized application domains, and it pretty much fails. Not because Evernote couldn't implement that stuff if they wanted to, rather it's because they are trying to do something different.

[southernforge 69]

I know the thread is dated now, but after trying Journal for Evernote for a few months now, must confess to having a problem, and will appreciate anyone's solution to it.

Sometimes I forget to record an entry for a given day, and want to record it the following day. With an app such as IDoneThis, it's a very easy thing, just choose the day I want the note associated with, and start typing...

Journal for Evernote seems to be limited in that you can only make entries for the current day, and no previous days... is that a correct reading of things?

Workaround? (other than me always recording things the day they happen, heh.)

Thanks in advance!

[gatorbrit 70]

Borrowing from some of the suggestions on this forum, I've switched from Day One to EN.  I created a monthly page of links with all my journal notes.   This is actually super easy to do.  

1. Create new note "February 2013"

2. Open this note outside of EN - so it has its own window.

3. Select all of the journal entries for February (sort them first how you want them)

4. Drag them all to the body of the first note.

5. You end up with a nice "master" note with links to all the entries that you made in the month.  Simple.

 

I also like being able to drag photos in to entries as I mess with them.

I've been using Vjournal on my iphone and ipad also, but on my mac or PC, just typing straight into EN is easy.

[cwb 225]

I have to toss my votes to both Awesome Note and EverLog.

I like most of Awesome note, and enjoying being in the app more than Everlog.

But there are a few bidirectional rich text quirks for me in Awesome note, and for what I do, EverLog tends to be my daily driver.

I like the multiple custom templates to preset tags, auto-title conventions, and structured entry.

 

Plus with the addition of Prowl and Launch+ or LauncherPro you can trigger specific templates to launch, manually, on a schedule via notification center, or based on hardware or email events with Prowl.

[Austin Barry 0]

I've used a wide variety of programs for keeping a diary, and have settled on Evernote.   A few compelling reasons..

 

1) Windows, Mac, iPad, web, and email-in access.  on the iPad I use Evernote app, FastEver (a "write only" app which starts instantly and works offline), and aNote (though not as much).  The great thing is that any note created on any of these is accessible everywhere (though aNote can only see it's folders).  This also means that my diary is backed up on at least two machines and architectures (I save archives regularly) and in the cloud.

 

2) A bulk import process (not just the ability to import from a few services which I have never used).  Although it required a little programming, I was able to convert other digital diaries to Evernote by producing enex exports.  In the past I've used yeah write (a vintage 2007 plain text document management system that exports to pidgin-HTML), TreePad, Notetab (divided plain text),  loose HTML, text, word, and pages files, emails to myself, and of course paper.  

 

3) An export process.  Although the cloud is great, I miss the security of having data on a flash drive or DVD kept in a safe place.  Also, the export format is documented so that I'd have a chance of converting it to some other tool if I decide to.

 

3) web clipping and screenshots.  It's the easiest way of capturing screenshots that I know of.

 

4) simple editing with text and pictures.  I'm not producing stuff for publications so I don't care about image resizing, having to draw frames around images, deciding how text flows around images, and all the other stuff you sometimes have to do with word processors.

 

5) ability to attach files, and have PDFs visible in the body of a note.

 

The one downside is handling of dates.  Windows has the best interface for setting dates, and the web has no capability of setting dates.  Since I mostly use .enex files for importing old entries, the main need for me to set dates is for future entries (reminders),  late entries, and emails forwarded from my 2006-present collection of emails.

 

 

[llbean 8]

2 cents:

 

I've been using Day One as my exclusive personal travel journal. In fact I have pulled all of my Evernote Food notes out to put in Day One. 

 

I'm a heavy Evernote user but using Day One is just a much more enjoyable experience, especially on iOS. Very very beautiful. Kinda like eating a meal with a nice set of silverware versus their trusty pocket knife. Also, unlike Evernote, it supports Markdown and Textexpander. While I like the couple recent updates to Mac/iOS, Evernote is still to me a really functional utility program, not someplace I want to keep my most treasured memories.

[MrTR909 0]

Hey there,

 

I'm looking to record some task, especially for studies. At work, I use the Journal function in Outlook, which is quite nice as u write the topic, press record, if u do a break or finish the task u record u just stop it.

 

I'm looking for something similar for EN preferable an app which is available for both, OSX and iOS.

 

I found an app called vJournal for EN, will this app contain the functionalities I looking for or do u have any other ideas?

 

thx

[nardhelain 12]

Hi MrTR909,

 

I've been playing around with journaling options and methods that tie in to Evernote.  I tried DayOne, and I really like its interface, but I'm not a habitual daily journaler.  I keep forgetting to record stuff in the moment, and writing things down days later just jumbles the chronology.  So, I cobbled together a partially automated solution that lets me add information to a daily "captain's log" from a variety of sources.  The original inspiration for this method came from here.  There's a bit of a time and effort (and a little cash) investment up front, but once you have the system in place, it practically runs itself.  For this particular solution to work, you will need the following:

• An iOS device
• An Evernote account
• An IFTTT account
• An iCloud account
• IFTTT app (on your iOS device)
• Drafts by AgileTortoise (for your iOS device), optional

Here's how you set it up:

1. Make a new notebook in your Evernote account in which you will store your Captain's Logs.  Decide on a base title for your daily log notes.  For example, I keep mine in a notebook called Personal Logs, and the note title starts out as simply "Captain's Log."
2. Set up these recipes in your IFTTT account.  Note that the iOS Reminders recipe can't be set up in your browser; you'll have to do it from your iDevice.  I have IFTTT set to pull content from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Reminders, and the daily weather forecast.  You can easily remove recipes that aren't relevant for you and add others to record your typical daily content.
   1. ​Very Important:  In all your Captain's Log recipes, make sure the destination notebook and note title are identical (case sensitive, punctuation, etc.)  This is to make sure that your information is all appended to the same note.
   2. I have my daily log set to be generated by importing the day's weather forecast at the same time every morning.  This import always creates a new note, rather than appending to an existing log.  If you choose not to add the weather forecast to your log, I recommend choosing something that IFTTT can go and fetch at the same time every day.  However, if you prefer a single log note that goes on forever, omit this note creation step and simply append to your existing log.
3. For content that I add to my Log independent of the services I have hooked into IFTTT, I typically generate the text in Drafts on my phone or tablet.  Drafts lets me then push that text out to a number of destinations, including blogs, Evernote, and others.  I added an Evernote action to Drafts that appends the Draft content to my Captain's Log for random thoughts, blog posts, and the like.  If you do not use a centralized text editor like Drafts, it would be just as easy to plug your blog or Tumblr into IFTTT and pull your posts in that way,
4. Should you wish to add an entry to your Log without going through any of your connected services, you can always edit the Log directly in the Evernote client, which is available on any platform.

There is one critical log maintenance operation that I haven't yet figured out how to automate.  If you prefer a daily log note as opposed to single log that goes on forever, you will have to go into Evernote at the end of every day (or early the next morning) and manually change your log note title so that the next day's items are appended to a new log.  For example, I change "Captain's Log" to "Captain's Log, 12/22/13".   

 

Finally, remember that the sky's the limit with IFTTT.  You can plug in your Google Calendar to record events that you attend, your UP fitness tracker to add your physical activity or food log, your iOS contacts so you can remember when you met recent business contacts, archive your sent email messages, etc., etc.  

 

One more tip:  Leave IFTTT running in the background on your iOS device when you're ticking off completed tasks.  The Reminders app tie-in won't flag IFTTT with new completed tasks until the iOS app updates, which it doesn't do very often if it isn't actually running.  I hope this helps.

[ApplianceJunk 23]

Thank you Kpritts. Journal for Evernote is exactly what I have been looking for too.

[megsaint 441]

@nardhelain Sounds pretty cool. You've certainly used some of my favorite tools (Drafts, IFTTT). I've mostly just been using PostEver. It starts a new note every day and everything gets time/date and location stamped. However, your system is much more comprehensive. I'm going to have to give it a closer look.

Best of luck.

[megsaint 441]

• For content that I add to my Log independent of the services I have hooked into IFTTT, I typically generate the text in Drafts on my phone or tablet.  Drafts lets me then push that text out to a number of destinations, including blogs, Evernote, and others.  I added an Evernote action to Drafts that appends the Draft content to my Captain's Log for random thoughts, blog posts, and the like.  If you do not use a centralized text editor like Drafts, it would be just as easy to plug your blog or Tumblr into IFTTT and pull your posts in that way,

Can you give a little bit more information on setting up an Evernote action in Drafts? Much as I love Drafts and use it multiple times a day, I've never explored actions.

Thanks!

[cwb 225]

I was trying out the various free and lite apps that work with Evernote and I stumbled on a gem. So I want to give you a heads up.

It's called Everlog and there is a free (lite) version of it to try out.

 

 

+1 for this.  I've been using it a long while now.

I really like being able to setup my own templates for capturing any number of different items into Evernote in a structured manner.

The algorithmic control over the Title is great.

And each template can have it's own URL scheme shortcut.  So using a launcher like "Launch" or "Launch+" you have one tap to bring up a specific form.

A journal entry can capture the bits you want, put it in the correct notebook, add tags, and the title can automatically be constructed from your custom mix of an amazingly complex option of date, time, place, and tons more.

 

So with one tap it creates a specific date formatted note if one doesn't already exist for today's date.

Subsequent entries, append to the existing note (with date/time/location stamp), unless I choose to uncheck a box and create a new note for some reason.

 

And again with a URL scheme launcher, you can set it to pop up an alert in the Notification Center, and remind you to journal what you've been working on in the last hour.

 

Love, love, love everything about this app other than the skeuomorphic wood border.

[megsaint 441]

I've been using Everlog for a while. My one problem with it is that it's just so aesthetically unappealing. It's also frequently not very clear how certain features work. I agree it's effective. I just hate using it. I keep defaulting back to the much simpler but more pleasing PostEver. Fortunately, I don't have much need for templates.

[cwb 225]

I hear you.

The templates are what has me stuck.

In a hurry I'll be terrible at adding tags and structure. With one drop down I can select different automated structure depending on it being a work or personal item, capturing an idea to a thoughts list, adding something to a buy list, whatever.

But yup, the aesthetics...

Comforted that I'm in and out so quickly. Vs aesthetics I like in Evernote, but the unstructured nature is such a time suck.

[nardhelain 12]

Can you give a little bit more information on setting up an Evernote action in Drafts? Much as I love Drafts and use it multiple times a day, I've never explored actions.

Thanks!

 

 

Sure!  Forgive the lack of visual aids here, but I'll explain it out as best I can.  Start by opening Drafts on your device, and tap the "share" button (the little square with the arrow coming out of it).  From there, tap the gear to open your settings panel.

 

Scroll down to the "Custom Actions" section.  You'll see there options to work with Email, Message, Dropbox, Evernote, and URL Actions, in addition to a link to the Drafts Action Directory.  The Directory is a website maintained by Drafts' developer that will allow you to install some fairly specialized actions into your list.  For example, I like the one that lets me take my Drafts text and search for it on Goodreads.

 

But for now, have a look at the "Evernote Actions" panel, which is probably blank if you've not played with it before.  Tap the little + in the upper right corner.  I'll walk you through the example of creating an action to append your Draft to a Captain's Log note.

 

1. In the "Name" field, enter some descriptive title for your action.  e.g. Add to captain's log
2. In the "Title" field, enter the title of the note which you want to modify.  The default starting value in this field is [[time]], which creates or modifies a note in your Evernote account with Drafts' timestamp as its title.  For my captain's log example, the title of the note I wished to modify was fixed, so I entered Captain's Log in the "Title" field.  If you are in the habit of making the first line of your Draft something that would be appropriate as a note title, you can use [[title]] here to have the app always pull the first line of text for your EN note title.  (Note the "Tag Help" button at the bottom of the panel - there's a reference of coded elements you can use in your actions.)
3. The "Notebook" field is pretty self-explanatory; here you tell Drafts which EN notebook you want to host your text.  Leave it blank to use your default notebook.
4. The "Tags" field is also self-explanatory.
5. The "Write" selector tells Drafts what you want to do with the contents of your Draft.  You can "Create" a new note, "Prepend" or stick your text at the beginning of an existing note, or "Append" or stick your text at the end of an existing note.  For my captain's log, I selected "Append" to send my text to the end of an already-existing log.
6. If you don't write your text in Markdown format, leave the Markdown HTML switch alone.  If you do use Markdown when you write, Drafts will compile it before sending the text to Evernote if you enable this option.
7. The "Template" field is where you format the content you send to Evernote.  In my log example, the template is structured as follows:

   [[draft]]

   [[time]]

   - - - - -

   This sends the entire contents of my Draft to my captain's log, puts a timestamp on it, and provides a divider of dashes to separate my current text from whatever next lands in my log.  Another useful element is [[body]], which sends the contents of your Draft minus the first line (which you might have used earlier as the note title and would therefore not need to duplicate).

8. Tap "Save" in the upper right corner when you're done, and Drafts adds your newly crafted action to your list.  I believe it defaults to putting your action on the first page, but it's easy enough to move around after if you so choose.

 

And that's it!  I have custom Evernote actions that post to postach.io, that add my Draft to a "Writing" notebook, that add my Draft to a "Shopping Lists" notebook, and the like.  You can even have Drafts tell Evernote that you'd like to put a reminder on the text you're sending over.  This requires an Email action (not an Evernote action), and you'll have to manually set the date and time afterwards.  It's a decent workaround, though.  I hope this helps introduce you to custom actions - they're among the best features of Drafts! 

[megsaint 441]

Thanks for the thorough explanation. I pretty much got it working in the interim but I will make a note of your post as it makes more sense to me than Draft's own help files.

By the way, I'm just loving your whole set up. I expanded upon it by adding a recipe for sending all of my camera roll pictures to the log. I use the camera on my phone for taking pictures of notes, product IDs on things I need to re-order, issues I have to contact facilities to arrange for repairs. Having the pictures organized and annotate-able is extremely helpful.

Thanks so much!

[tassiecelt 57]

 

I think EN tried to be "all things to all men"

Not sure how you figure that -- Evernote has -- explicitly -- stayed away from being, for example, a To-do list manager or a word processor. What it's good at -- information collecting from many sources, light note-taking, flexible organization, availability wherever you have connectivity -- these are what I tend to use it for. Push it too far in the direction of the various specialized application domains, and it pretty much fails. Not because Evernote couldn't implement that stuff if they wanted to, rather it's because they are trying to do something different.

 

I may not have worded that well, what I mean is that EN goes to great lengths to show how it can be used to capture and record absolutely everything. I believe EN does most tasks better than anything else. EN has taken over a few apps I formerly used and has really improved my business.

 

but....as a daily journal I think DayOne does it better, much better. For example, for many reasons I wish one could resize photos and wrap text around the photo in a note. Granted, DayOne cannot do that either, but its simple format doesn't  need that function so much. i.e. EN would have to have something really compelling to convince me to use it as a journal. At the very least, an importer to bring thousands of entries seamlessly over.

 

I don't think that will happen any time soon.

[megsaint 441]

I love Day One. I'd say it's my "real" journal app. If they incorporated twitter and Instagram as they've indicated they're considering, I'd be extremely happy. However, I, like some others, like to keep a log of more than just my journal entries. I like having a record of where I've been, what I've done and what I've taken pictures of without having to also enter it in DayOne. I'm very fond of EveryDay and Narrato but neither offer a really good way to export.

Fortunately, with Drafts, I can send the same text to both my Daily Log in Evernote and to Day One.

[tassiecelt 57]

I love Day One. I'd say it's my "real" journal app. If they incorporated twitter and Instagram as they've indicated they're considering, I'd be extremely happy. However, I, like some others, like to keep a log of more than just my journal entries. I like having a record of where I've been, what I've done and what I've taken pictures of without having to also enter it in DayOne. I'm very fond of EveryDay and Narrato but neither offer a really good way to export.

Fortunately, with Drafts, I can send the same text to both my Daily Log in Evernote and to Day One.

Drafts and DayOne are a great pair of apps. They work well together.

[greginfla 10]

this is a great app (everlog)  thanks for sharing.  The interface is off.... by the content is great.  The only think I can't figure out is there an ability to take pictures within the app or attach a picture to an entry. 

[cwb 225]

Yes, taking a photo or selecting an existing one from Photos is one of the widgets you can add to a template.

Plus the free form drawing widget, or audio note.  Any form you need to capture something pretty much...

[goldfilm 19]

I'm a heavy Evernote user for ALL (photos, web clipping, to do's, etc.). I just checked Day One and I like the idea of using it, I feel I'm putting too much in Evernote (around 2,000 notes) and some notes are updated several times a day without tracking changes. I wonder what's the use of Day One and why I would like it complementing Evernote... anybody using both? Why Day One and not Evernote and viceversa?

[megsaint 441]

I use both DayOne and Evernote. To me, other than the fact that I sometimes put the same information in both, there is very little overlap. DayOne is a journal app. I consider what pictures, what chunks of text I add to it. It's the curated view of my life. Evernote is the giant file cabinet. Everything gets tossed into it. I'm not going to put into DayOne a picture of a post it on which I made a note of a trouble ticket number for the copier repair request. I will put that in Evernote because I've been having an ongoing dispute with our copier contractor and I need to document all of my interactions. Anything I write on paper in a hurry, I later dump into Evernote and tag appropriately. 

 

Day one has my musings about my life, descriptions of my day, pictures I've taken that I will want to look back on. It doesn't have my list of roofing contractors, my web clippings or the pdf owner's manual for my new running watch. 

 

I just don't see the two programs as filling remotely the same roles in my life. It's not an either/or thing for me. And I'd consider myself only a somewhat heavy user of Evernote. I only have 17,000 notes. 

[goldfilm 19]

DayOne is a journal app. I consider what pictures, what chunks of text I add to it. It's the curated view of my life. 

 

 

Thanks so much, that concept definitely clarifies it.

 

If you wouldn't have DayOne, would you create one or two notebooks in Evernote called "Curated Journal" or XXX and use it like you would use DayOne, or for some feature I don't know, DayOne is irreplaceable? 

 

Also, what would you suggest to start sending notes to DayOne? Any specific technique to put old stuff there?

 

Last but not least, do you have to buy both the desktop and the iPhone app? $15 seems too much to start playing around when the amazing Evernote is free...

 

thanks!

[megsaint 441]

I do have a notebook called "Journal" though it doesn't necessarily have the same stuff in in as DayOne. Again, big file cabinet. Prior to DayOne, I mostly used a Word/Pages doc. I could go back to that if I needed to. 

 

I would probably just copy and paste old information. I've done that for things I wrote before I started using DayOne. 

 

I have both the MacOS and iOS versions of DayOne. I don't use the MacOS version nearly as much. Asking whether it makes sense to pay for the Mac version when Evernote is free, is, to me, like asking why I should pay $20,000 for a car when I can get a washing machine for $500. Well, that's a little over the top, perhaps. 

 

If, for some reason, I was required to chose only one of the two apps, yes, I'd pick Evernote. But again, I just don't see the two apps as having much overlapping functionality. Evernote doesn't make nice pdfs of my journal. DayOne isn't useful for storing all the webclips of things I may want to read later. 

 

Best of luck. 

[goldfilm 19]

Thanks, no more questions, now is up to me. But to be honest, driving a washing machine is a lot of fun.

[ApplianceJunk 23]

That made me

[ikukuru 0]

I installed the IFTTT action for Captain's log, but when I say "add to captain's log" siri just searches the web for captain's log.

 

What am I missing?

[megsaint 441]

I installed the IFTTT action for Captain's log, but when I say "add to captain's log" siri just searches the web for captain's log.

 

What am I missing?

I don't believe that you can use Siri to access a Drafts action. From within Drafts, you can use speech-to-text to dictate your entry, though.

[nardhelain 12]

I installed the IFTTT action for Captain's log, but when I say "add to captain's log" siri just searches the web for captain's log.

 

What am I missing?

 

I rarely ever use Siri for anything, mostly because I think I look ridiculous arguing with my phone, but I'll hazard a guess that anything not specifically coded into that system is going to default to a web search.  If Siri will allow you to add or append to a note in Evernote, then the Captain's Log should be no different.  However, if such functionality isn't baked in, then I don't expect Siri to know what to do with it.

[cwb 225]

Let's remember (as Meg does) that any Siri capable device also has a microphone button beside the keyboard space bar. That's not using any Siri interpretation or info fetching. It's just voice dictation into whatever text field the cursor is in.

In fact unless my memory fails me, even a few devices old enough that apple elected not to bless with the Siri functionality, have that voice to text mic button if running iOS 7 (and maybe 6.x). I don't have an iOS 7 iPhone 4 right beside me but that may be one example. But there was a window where my iPad had the voice dictation without Siri, before iOS 7 added the Siri functionality.

[nardhelain 12]

Hi folks.  For any interested parties, I've updated my suite of Captain's Log IFTTT recipes (about which I originally posted here).  It's auto-journaling for the lazy and/or forgetful journaler, with some nice features for the more dedicated journaler, as well.  

 

Changes:

• Shifted the daily log note creation recipe from fetching the weather forecast to a simple time-triggered text note creation.  My fetch-the-weather log creation recipe has been unreliable of late for unknown reasons, so I made this change in hopes of avoiding this problem.  I left both recipes intact on my profile so the user may choose whichever they prefer
• Added an append-the-weather-forecast recipe for those who use the time-triggered log creation recipe.  If the weather forecast exists to be fetched, it can still be included in the Captain's Log.
• Added a recipe that will append Google Calendar events as tasks to the Captain's log.  This recipe is a workaround for the spottily-reliable iOS Reminders IFTTT hook, and it works best if you maintain some or all of your regular tasks as calendar events.  For example, I have a dedicated "to-do" calendar in my Google account where I keep things like my weekly "take out the trash" reminder.  This recipe will add scheduled events from this calendar to the Captain's Log with a checkbox to tick when the task is done.  Unlike the iOS Reminders recipe, this version has the added benefit of being cross-platform.  Again, I left both recipes intact so that the user can choose their favorite.

Enjoy.  

[mwrob 7]

This looks like an old thread, but I'd like to plug Momonote. It's got an iPhone, iPad, and web version, all sync with each other. You can change the dates on the entries if you want to make an entry several days after the fact. You can insert photos and tags. Good search functionality and easy to use.

[DutchPete 247]

4 pages of posts & all related to iOS/Mac apps, not one related to Windows apps. Is that because there aren't any or because for Windows people EN itself is the superior prgram to use for journalling?

[mwrob 7]

4 pages of posts & all related to iOS/Mac apps, not one related to Windows apps. Is that because there aren't any or because for Windows people EN itself is the superior prgram to use for journalling?

 

Momonote is browser based, so it works in either.

[DutchPete 247]

Momonote is geared towards iPhone/iPad. No Windows desktop client is mentioned here.

[charlieedstrom 31]

I know this discussion is getting stale but I thought I would add to it, for those searching. Here's my method for keeping a daily journal. I was looking for a solution that would be available across multiple platforms, like EN. i thought about EN but I wanted to automate it more for consistency. 

 

I finally settle on WordPress. I created a private blog that only I see. I can used it from my desktop or from my phone to create new blogs. I then setup IFTTT to watch for new entries in my private blog and then copy it to my EN using set tags and notebooks. This gave me consistency on my blogs in EN.

 

Word press allows me to add notes, photos, and a few others features, while capturing it to my EN. Using my phone, I can us the speech-to-text feature for convenience of entering my thoughts.

 

The only difficult part is maintaining a daily habit of adding to my journal.

 

I imagine that this same method could be applied to other services using IFTTT to capture to EN for anybody.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

For those iOS users, vJournal has a pretty decent solution. It appends all your entries for the day to one note within a notebook for the current year... within the "My Journal" Stack. It allows you to append photos, as well as include an elegant time/ location stamp strip to the Evernote note after each entry. 

 

 

 

 

I use it as a journal... but on occasion, I share a notebook with my wife... and she with me... so we can share photos and info back and forth of whatever experience we want to share. For example... last year she had to take a trip to Holland alone... It was her first trip there, so was rather exciting for her. I set up a shared notebook on my side and vice versa... She shared photos and thoughts about Holland, and I popped in stuff especially with our daughter. What would be awesome, though, is if one could include audio from within the app too... but I had to go and manually do that from within that Evernote note. 

 

They have  a free version... so it's easy to tinker with. 

[Jeffrey Cox 0]

There are several solutions:

 

• I am a Progoff Journal users and have place the files in Evernote. You can place files, handwriting, photos, and the like.
• I have used Day One. Outside of the weather information and immediate geotagging, Evernote has the same capacity.
• I am an Evernote Premium user.

I think that either solution really works. I also can import DayOne files into Evernote as well.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

There are several solutions:

 

• I am a Progoff Journal users and have place the files in Evernote. You can place files, handwriting, photos, and the like.
• I have used Day One. Outside of the weather information and immediate geotagging, Evernote has the same capacity.
• I am an Evernote Premium user.

I think that either solution really works. I also can import DayOne files into Evernote as well.

 

How is being an Evernote Premium user a solution when it comes to journaling?

[aspiring to keep a journal 0]

I don't have anything to reply...

I just want to know the best way to start documenting family history and then my own nonsense, and maybe not make it available to other family members until I've passed. any idea?  longevity of the company is obviously key

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I don't have anything to reply...

I just want to know the best way to start documenting family history and then my own nonsense, and maybe not make it available to other family members until I've passed. any idea?  longevity of the company is obviously key

 

I think this has already been said, but there are a number of apps and online services that are dedicated to identifying and documenting family history that are most likely far superior to what can be done in Evernote.  IMO, it is definitely worth your time to research, and maybe test, some of these so that you at least know what is available, and what features/tools are available to help you.

 

Having said that, I have found Evernote to be a good tool to record a lot of my family history, mostly from scanning old family photos and documents, and to add my notes/comments about those items.  It could be that a dedicated app/web site combined with Evernote is the best overall solution.

 

If you choose to use Evernote, spend some time deciding what Tags you want to use, and what naming convention you want to use with Note Titles.

Start slow with Evernote, and do some test searches to confirm your approach is working as you expect.  You will probably need to make some adjustments.

 

Good luck, and please share your selected approach, and how it is working for you.

[gazumped 11,652]

I don't have anything to reply...

I just want to know the best way to start documenting family history and then my own nonsense, and maybe not make it available to other family members until I've passed. any idea?  longevity of the company is obviously key

 

"not making it available until I've passed" is a whole other kettle of fish - memorial websites are a new fashion,  and I'd imagine that this is the sort of feature that they might offer - but it's a little specialised for Evernote to have any specific features that would apply.  The obvious first hurdle would be the password and maybe 2-factor protections on the account.  To whom do you entrust your access codes?  And how would you remove any encryption on the contents?

[ZenSurfer 2]

found this and it looks like it has potential. Just sharing

 

https://productivityist.com/journaling-with-evernote/