Ask HN: What do you use to keep a personal journal?

6 points by manmukh 11 years ago | 5 comments

I've been using Day One for a while because I like the interface of both the Mac and iOS app. I find the passcode protection on the app to be very misleading though.

Installing the app on a new device will have the passcode disabled by default but still load all previous journal entries. I share my Apple account with family members and installing Day One on one of their devices would gives them access to all my journals without requiring a passcode. I've switched to Dropbox for syncing to prevent this but I'm still bothered by the fact that journal entries are stored in plain text and extremely easy to access if someone has access to my computer and goes through my Dropbox folder.

I'm thinking about using OneNote with a password protected section since it has a decent iOS and Mac app, but I'm curious if there are better options. Those of you who keep personal journals with sensitive information, what do you use?

dmfdmf 11 years ago |

I've been writing a journal since 1992 and it is probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I've used a Franklin Planner from the same year which is how that got started so my journal is handwritten on paper in my day-planner. I think in 2013 I tried to convert to an online journal but I went back to the paper because I missed the "look and feel" of the paper journal which was too integrated in the process for me to change -- old dog, new tricks issue.

I tried to use a Zoho online wiki that was set to private and I also used a Wordpress blog set to private. I liked both methods but found the WP blog was really a good format for a journal. If I was a young dog learning new tricks this is the route I would go but too late for me. I really liked the ability to put links in my journal to public info I wanted to think about or back links to prior journal entries where I could then discuss what I thought about this or that (standard journal stuff). Another advantage is access via any of my devices Macbook, iPad, Windows PC, etc was (almost) seamless or at least not seamfull enough to bother me. I didn't really have an issue with privacy concerns but be sure to check all the settings because the default assumption is that a wiki or blog is to share. There are journal hosting sites but after I found WP blog I didn't really investigate those in too much detail so that might be another option.

Good luck and write every day.

bewe42 11 years ago |

I've been keeping a daily journal for almost ten years now. I think it is important to keep a long term perspective and for that nothing beats plain text. In the beginning I used a note keeping software. After an application crash I lost data. I would not want to have any dependence to a proprietary data format. So now I use plain text + Markdown + local file search . Same goes for knowledge management.

isuraed 11 years ago | |

Seconded. Text is king for all the reasons you mentioned. I have tried OneNote, Evernote, Google Keep. Nothing matches plain text (with light markdown). I have a text editor open all the time. It's really natural to just start a new file or make a note within my normal workflow.

bonobo3000 11 years ago |

I use evernote to journal - the mac and iOS apps are good and I know it has tons of extra functionality if I ever need it. It also supports encrypting text in a note, although there is no way to encrypt/decrypt entire notebooks which might be inconvenient.

brudgers 11 years ago |

Moleskine ISBN: 978-88-8370-100-9. Tul needle point, medium blue.