Laugh away my friends but I am going to start journaling daily. Honestly wish I would have done this years ago.
I am looking for a program that will run on a Mac laptop. I do not want anything stored in the cloud I want the file saved on the HD of my computer and be able to be transferred to a flash drive.

I would like to be able to add pictures and videos to the day. I would also like it to be searchable by date, and keywords.

One reason I want to do this is I did a lot of cool stuff as a kid and as a family but no real record of it. Have some photos but nothing like what is available today. Want to have something for my kids to show their kids.
I need to do a better job of keeping up with kids activities and which team, game, tournament, swim meet times, etc.
I really think keeping a nice journal would be helpful.

I think I'm as tech savvy as the average person. All my records are digitized except for my journal. I use a "large" journal notebook (less than 8 1/2" x 11") from Gallery leather of Bar Harbor, Maine. I use a fountain pen to journal and it puts me in a contemplative mood. I started doing daily entries but have been more consistent when I switched to weekly. The weekly process allows me look back on the week that just happened and pull out what was noteworthy and gives me time to look ahead at the next week.

YMMV.

I have used Day One on Apple Products (including a MacBook) for years, and been pleased with it. It has the features you are looking for. Caveats - I do pay for a premium version, about $35/annually. I know there is a free version, but not sure about what features you lose. I also sync mine with the cloud so it's available across multiple devices, but I assume it could be used locally if you turn off any sync/cloud features. Might be worth a look for you.

Day One.

Not perfect but useful.

We RV'd full-time for 13 years and I kept a journal in a word processing document. I dated each entry and then indented the text. It was in chronological order so easy to search by date and I can search by key words through the whole document.

I could also add pictures and web links and if the document got too large, I could start a new document (RV Journal 2, 3, etc.).

Another vote for Day One. I use it (irregularly) on my iPad.


I looked at several apps, none seemed as polished or simple to use.

I’m curious. What benefits are offered by a specific app (Day One, for instance) that make it better than simply using Word or the like?

I keep a diary. I use my text editor (emacs). Each entry begins with a date (yyyy/mm/dd). Very efficient storage, and emacs has powerful search capabilities for words or phrases.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I’m curious. What benefits are offered by a specific app (Day One, for instance) that make it better than simply using Word or the like?

Oh my gosh…the app or the web provides much needed journal organization, from colors to type. It easily links to photo library. It time and date stamps.

Basic formatting is available. There remain some oddities between app and web, particularly with web and photos to be added. There are unusual results with copy paste, that I think are caused by the unseen text formatting instructions from one program to the day one.

I have several journals. Business, Wife, Introspection, Where Is It, Analysis And Decisions, etc. So much better than Word.

Thank you, 4mul8r. I may have a look at Day One over the weekend.

Seriously consider a bound book hard copy journal. For future generations, having something physical to touch will be priceless, especially if your entries or at least the photo captions are handwritten by you.

Luckily I have numerous letters and other documents from my family going back over 100 years. I did scan them and put together a professionally printed archival quality book for my siblings and cousins, but the originals are very satisfying to have.

But really the biggest reason is that whatever technology or software you use today will be totally obsolete in just a few years. Handing down electronic copies of photos or your typed words is not likely to work.

I've made a ton of mistakes ,wrong choices and bad calls in my life but regret making a journal on a regular basis.

Good for you making an effort to record your life.

More suggestion in this thread:

“Do you keep a diary?”
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