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(+1)

The customization instructions could be a lot clearer, but it's a good  app.

The notifications are a must for me, so they're a pretty cool feature (although I find it odd that the app must be on the System Tray for them to work, but since I'm not a developer I also don't know how I'd change it).

I noticed some people were having a bit of trouble navigating through/customizing the app files, here's the way I customized mine:

  1. Right-click the app icon, open file location.
  2. Open config.json with a text editor (Notepad works, though I used VSCode myself).
  3. Changed the notification settings to my liking (the CloseToTray settings must say "true"). Pic related.
  4. If you dislike the notifications and don't like that the app is on the System Tray all the time, just change the CloseToTray settings to "false".
  5. Additionally, once you close the app's window and want to reopen it you'll have to open it via the System Tray (it'll most likely be visible when you click on the up arrow icon). The CloseToTray settings are related to this.

Additionally, I came across some visual bugs regarding the pop-out box for the text formatting, but they're nothing that breaks the app and they aren't even that annoying.

Anyways, that's it. Good app, but takes a bit of work to get it to work the way you'd like, and I think buyers should be aware of that. Figured I'd write a guide, since I saw some other people have some trouble with it.



girl help how do i do any of the setup :sobs: the thing is really fun but i cant find the config file??? 7:30p really does not work as a notification time? clearer instructions would be great!

(+1)

I'm not Blarfnip but, my config file is in the folder where jrnl installed itself. Seems like by default, it is (Drive:)\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Programs\jrnl; the file itself is config.json. You can also take its shortcut and Open File Location

Notifications also don't work for me no matter what time I set tbh, so I just have an alarm on my phone for it

(+2)

I would have liked this more, but apparently writing too late into the night and checking a previous day's entry afterward causes you to lose at least both or more. I already checked to make sure it's not just a visual bug, exporting the year's journal shows the app thinks the lost entries in question never existed.

(+2)

This is a really cute tool to use! But I have an issue trying to find the config file to be able to customize it further. Upon downloading, I only got a single application and no folder with other files. 

(+2)

Not a fan of how I downloaded it to my E drive and it auto installed itself onto my C drive which i try to reserve space on. pretty unfortunate. 

(+1)

I downloaded JRNL as part of the Palestine bundle and it looks great. Unfortunately, I can't get it to run! I read through the comments on itch and saw that someone else had a similar issue and you recommended three steps. I've tried those three steps (completely shutting down JRNL, a restart of the PC, and a fresh install of JRNL) and coming across the same blank screen. Any ideas?

(+2)

I absolutely love this, it's exactly what I need in a journal application. I mentioned an autosave in response to another comment below, but I'd also like to add a save when you switch days would also be nice if an autosave isn't something that could happen for whatever reason. I swapped days after midnight last night and lost a bunch of stuff since I hadn't minimized before switching. 


Thanks.

press ctrl + s and that should work (found in the jrnl manual pdf thing that you can download on this page)

(+5)

any plans for a macOS version?

(+2)

Hi! This is a very nice writing program and even though it's simple, there's a lot I like about it!

Unfortunately, my eyesight is not getting better and the small font size combined with the small laptop screen makes it difficult to see what's going on. I'd like to second the call for a way to change font size. Even if it's just in the config file it would be great to be able to bump it up easily.

Thanks again for making this available!

(+3)

Actually, for anyone interested, I have just discovered how to change font size. You can do it with the themes in %config.js.

Every theme in %config.js has a base section. You need to add a new setting to it. Here's what mine looks like now:

"base": {
    "background-color": "#214c80",
    "color": "#e6f0fc",
    "font-size": "18pt"
}, 

This gives me a nice comfortable reading size on my laptop. The "pt" means that the size is specified in points, but since this seems to work using web styles, you can probably also set pixels ("px") and so forth. This also means you can probably style other things about the text using web styles (CSS) too...

Note that if you want to have the same font size in all themes, you will have to copy that line to all of them.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much for this!

(+6)

I was only expecting this to be good for organizing. But the overall experience of writing text is great. My dream operating system would actually include this as a stock app. To me this it's better than the almighty Microsoft Word in tons of different ways. It actually reminds me of when I used to use Wordperfect and Word and actually liked them, before I started using plaintext editors instead. There's a whole philosophy behind this that's just incredible and VERY needed in today's computer world. 

Below, I have attached light and dark "gruvbox" themes. The default black theme is a bit too high contrast for my tastes. The light one turned out basically identical to theme 2 lol, but maybe it will just right for somebody out there.

The only two suggestions I have for what would make this THE perfect journaling program for me:

1. To be able to set the default font size in the config. It's just a teensy tiny bit small for my eyes sometimes. But it's actually fine, it would just be nice.

2. Autosave after 5-10 seconds of inactivity. I lost yesterday's entry because I never minimize windows. I just open more stuff in front of them, so it never triggered the save. I ended up not being able to get back to it, and when the date rolled over it was gone. 

Those are two things I can totally live without though, this is otherwise one of the most perfect programs I have on my computer right now.

Gruvbox low contrast light and dark
{
"base": {
"background-color": "#282828",
"color": "#ebdbb2"
},
"emptyDate": {
"background-color": "#d5c4a1"
},
"selectedEntry": {
"background-color": "#98971a"
},
"unselectedEntry": {
"background-color": "#458588"
}
},
{
"base": {
"background-color": "#fbf1c7",
"color": "#3c3836"
},
"emptyDate": {
"background-color": "#928374"
},
"selectedEntry": {
"background-color": "#98971a"
},
"unselectedEntry": {
"background-color": "#458588"
}
}
(+2)

Definitely agreed on the autosave! Lost something myself yesterday sadly.

I love it but I am encountering an issue: JRNL seems to be impossible to close for me, unless I bruteforcibly close it with the ctrl+alt+canc. I am aware that it gets minimized in the taskbar, but right clicking on the taskbar icon does nothing for me, and double-clicking the taskbar icon has no result either. I'm running Windows 10, dunno if there is some weird bug?

(1 edit)

Ok nevermind, now it fixed itself (?). But I've noticed that the game insists on reinstalling itself even when closed properly. Upon further tests, it seems that the Itch launcher opens the installation exe instead of the actual software, because when I try to open JRNL from the Itch launcher it installs again resetting my config file, but if I open the exe from the game folder (which for me is C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Programs\jrnl ) it doesn't reinstall.

Maybe you should find a way to avoid that or talk with Itch customer (?) service to get the proper directory linked?

(+1)

Hi, great idea. Can I make more than one daily reminder?

(+2)

Hello! This is a very cute little program, I hope it will finally encourage me to start journaling again. :) Love the themes and the simplicity.

Would you consider making an option in the config to change the folder the files are saved to? I would like to put them in a Dropbox or Google Drive folder to make sure I don't lose them in case my laptop crashes or something like that.

(+2)

I absolutely love this. Writing journals has always helped me but i could never organize them and thank god this does that for me so i can just write. Honestly super happy this was in the bundle.

Where does it install to? I'm trying to find its files but can't figure out where it ended up. This looks really nice, I'm looking forward to trying it!

(+2)

Try %localappdata%/Programs/jrnl

This program is super cute, and hopefully pushes me to journal. I usually just forget about it. Thanks!

I really like this, I find it useful, but it doesn't open unless I let it "install" every time I try to use it. Is there any way to fix this?

(+2)

It doesn't actually exit the program when you close it, so if you try reopening it nothing seems to happen. Check your tray on the bottom right (if you're using Win10) there should be a little JRNL icon, you might have to press the ^ arrow icon to find it.

Hope this helps!

(+1)

This helps a lot, thank you so much!

(+1)

For anyone having a problem opening the program after closing it the first time, this is the answer. You can either leave it in the tray, or change the "CloseToTray" variable in the config if you don't like this functionality. Took me a while going through the comments to find this and a bit longer to find out how to stop it from going to the tray.

Can we get the notifications on our mobile?

(+2)

Hey! this might be a silly question but id really like to use this software but there's a few things i want to change in the config and i cant seem to find the config.json anywhere.
ive checked in the jrnl-updater folder and the jrnl install folder but i cant seem to find it, is there something ive missed?

thanks in advance!

(+2)

I just dealt with this. I just searched for config.json in my APPDATA folder and it popped up. Dunno why I can't seem to actually find it even with hidden files shown otherwise, but it worked for me!

(+1)

Hi! Can i ask what framework did you use for developing this app? Btw, app looks good and color schemes are great. 

Thanks! 

(+2)

Hey there!

JRNL was developed using Electron (which I love for making small standalone apps). Additionally, the text editor uses Summernote

I hope that clarifies things, and I'm glad you're enjoying JRNL!
-Saul

(2 edits) (+3)

Any possibility to get an export for mac/linux? Almost got it working with wine, it doesn't crash (icon.ico was corrupted), but I only see the arrows, and all the icons, so no text.

Edit: Somehow, it works now! I think it's because I installed the font in the app.asar. An export would be nice tho.
Edit2: It seems that I need to maximize the screen before it works. Weird, but whatever

(+2)

I'm glad you've gotten it working!

Unfortunately the Mac version I was planning on making required some larger changes to the codebase than I thought, and my mac VM which I use for development is on my old computer. With the huge influx of owners from the new bundle, I might look into it again, but I'm not going to promise anything yet.

Hope that clarifies things,
-Saul

(+1)

Yes it does, thank you!
What about linux?

(+1)

Linux would be in the same boat as a Mac version. As far as I know, it should be possible to make. However, since each platform requires some additional changes, it's not something I can quickly get done. Since I haven't even looked into the specifics of Linux's quirks with regards to what JRNL needs, it would be developed after a Mac version was built. 

And to reiterate, the Mac version is still very much up in the air as of right now. 

-Saul

(+1)

Id love to buy this but my country doesn't have paypal! Could i send you money through patreon or would you consider opening the credit card option on itch.io?

or launch it on steam

(+2)

Hey there!

I could be wrong, but right now you can purchase JRNL in the Palestine Aid bundle found here: https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid. I'm pretty sure that the bundle accepts credit card payments. It's $5 which is the same price as what JRNL usually is. Plus you get hundreds of additional games, and donate to a good cause!

-Saul

(+3)

Hello~ I'm sorry for kind of a silly question, I was just wondering if there are any assurances that can be made about the security of JRNL? Where are the entries stored? Is there any way for another person to remotely access this information? Does any of the information (even stuff like usage data or whatever) get sent to you? Again sorry for the silly questions, I am enjoying the app a lot, and I'm not sure what kind of answer I'm expecting. I am just hesitating to write certain things, like personal/medical stuff, and maybe that's just stuff I'll have to exclude from the journal to feel at ease using it, and that's OK. Thanks again for making JRNL and for your support.

(+6)

Hi! That's a great question. 

JRNL was designed to save entries in a plaintext markdown language. All Entries are saved within a folder called "JRNL Entries" within your documents folder. While the files have the ".jrnl" extension, they are no different from ".html" or ".md" files. This allows them to be readable by the user even after they choose not to use JRNL (in another viewer like https://markdownlivepreview.com/). 

That design, as well as my lack of knowledge on encryption, mean that your entries are only as secure as any other text file in your documents folder. 

When it comes to online data, there are no metrics or data that I receive. While I honestly would love to have analytics data from users, the application never sends your information to me. I also use a number of code libraries to assist with development and I trust those packages to also not collect user data, but I am not 100% confident to explicitly state that they won't.

I hope that clarifies things,
- Saul

(+4)

Thanks a bunch, Saul! I really appreciate the thorough and transparent answer.

(+2)

You should be able to encrypt the folder where entries are stored with something like Veracrypt and have it prompt for a password when you turn your computer on. 

Hi! I'm currently having trouble getting it to work, can you help me?

It only shows the year and won't take any input (no key nor clicks seem to register)...

(+1)

Oh no! There's a few things you can try that are general fixes that you might have already done: 

  1. Restarting JRNL completely. (Quitting it from the task bar or ending the task in task manager)
  2. Restarting your computer (If the above doesn't work, this probably wont, but it's worth a shot)
  3. Uninstalling JRNL from your computer, and reinstalling it

If none of those work, I'll send you a debug version of the application so that we can see if JRNL is logging any errors.

Thank you for your patience,
- Saul

(+1)

Hi! Thank you for the response!

I'm happy to say that I managed to get it to work! Though I can't say I know how I got it to work... (First few tries with the 3 steps were the same...)

Should I be worried that it might stop working again in the future?

(+1)

Amazing! I'm glad it worked out in the end. 

Unfortunately, without knowing what caused the problem, I can't say for sure whether or not it will return. 

That being said, your JRNL entries should remain on your hard drive even after uninstalling. So in the case of future mishaps or updates, the files should be untouched. 

(+1)

Does this support markdown input or just text formatting via the pop-out box?

(+1)

Hi there! Currently, text formatting within JRNL is only done through the pop-up box. But, I'll take your comments into consideration and In a future update, I'll look into providing user access to the "code-editor".

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