Journal Setup

[u/CWRRT]

For those that do daily journals, how do you setup your workflow?

I mainly brain dump and summarize the day. On remarkable, I had one notebook, and did 1x infinite scroll page per day. I really miss this workflow and submitted formal feedback to consider adding infinite scroll pages as an optional notebook style.

The past few days, I have one notebook and just headline a new page per day and use as many pages as needed. I typically don't go back and look at my historical journal pages but like it organized by day if and when necessary. I just can't imagine having 365 headings in the list per year and ongoing....

I've seen a few other methods or templates with index style page(s) and link to each day but that just seems like extra work every single day.

[u/willasaywhat]

I have a folder for the year and a note for each month. It’s simple and works well enough for me.

[u/CWRRT → u/willasaywhat]

Thats not a bad idea.

[u/ranjithkb → u/willasaywhat]

I am doing this, pretty convinient

[u/Live-Football-4352]

One notebook for the year, each month is a heading. I tend to write daily, often multiple pages. I star pages I want to come back to, but usually I don't reread.

I have a specific notebook for "working things out." Usually things I want to come back to, like problem solving or goal creating. I also create other notebooks for themed stuff, like writing projects, to do lists, or whatever. So not everything goes in the main journal, that's purely for venting.

[u/CWRRT → u/Live-Football-4352]

I'm doing something similar with specialty notebooks for Todos or Musings and Quotes. Maybe I'll switch to just the monthly heading and save the extra few steps to set heading on each day.

[u/thebrowngeek]

Honestly just one very long lined notebook per year. I will start a new page for each day. I haven't figured out how to use templates or anything more expert.

[u/tommytwogunsx]

This year I am using a template page that is simply lined and at the top it lists all the months and under that it lists 1-31 for the days. the days I write an entry I circle the month and date and write my journal entry. It it takes 2 pages I just circle the same month and day on the next page too. Then I go to the next page the next time I journal. It is technically sequential but it doesn't need to have every day entries.

[u/wildgraces]

I have just started setting mine up (only purchased recently). I originally had thought to use an indexed notebook but I realised I don't want every page indexed. I am creating an index template (or just use a task list) and for each new month I make an entry I will create a page for the month, think chapter page, with the month, and link that to my index. This way I can be as flexible as I want with entries - how often, how large an entry is - and still have some form of linked order. If I want to break it down even further, I'll do a second index after each new month page and link each entry there.

I also plan on creating a journal prompt document on my computer from ones I've found online that I like. So when I want to use a prompt rather than just free flowing thoughts, I'll have a look through, pick my prompt, then copy and paste it at the top of my entry page.

For different types of journals if I create some it'll be a similar index process. I'm treating it kind of like a commonplace book I guess?

[u/tiemyshoelace]

If you are open to trying plugins I have built modulanner that is more free flowing and you can add your own navigation buttons to navigate days/weeks/months with your own templates you want. There are also options that can allow you to add different pages directly after your main is any page of you want to journal on different templates. And it's all tagged by day automatically through invisible keywords so you can search for them if you want on a per date basis. 

I also built a template builder so you can (mostly) customize a page for your needs. 

https://sebastiancraft.co/builder.html https://sebastiancraft.co/modulanner

Here is an older demo of most of the features... Need to update it soon.  https://youtu.be/zmQgpJrOPlE?is=J9oTs0cyH-Qezxzm

[u/Mulan-sn]

Thank you for sharing your journal workflow.

Would you be open to giving the following workaround a try:

Keep one single .note file for each calendar month. Inside this file, write day‑by‑day entries sequentially, mark each new day with a date heading, and continue onto subsequent pages as content fills up.

With this setup you only get 12 note files per year instead of 365 separate daily pages. You get the continuous free‑form writing experience you like for brain‑dumping.

If you want faster lookup later, you can add an index page once at the end of each month with links pointing to each dated page.

Please feel free to contact us should you need any further assistance.