Recently I began using the Daily Note feature in Craft as my journaling app instead of Day One, which I’d been using for several years. Craft had all the features that I was using in Day One, and had some additional benefits that made it worthwhile for me to switch apps.
Benefits to Journaling in Craft
I was initially attracted to Craft because of the beauty of its user interface, and because it makes it easy for me to create very attractive documents. I’m now using it as my notes app, and I am learning how to implement a Building A Second Brain process using Craft.
There are several benefits to using Craft:
1. Journaling in Craft allows me to link with my other notes. This is a major benefit for me. If I write about a topic or a person in my journal, I can easily link to other documents or notes in my Second Brain PKM in Craft.
That saves me having to copy the relevant material in Day One, switch to Craft, find or create a note, and paste it into the appropriate note. To link a note in Craft, all I have to do is insert the “@“ character in front of text (or select the text and select the @ option) and a link is created. If there’s not already a note with that word or phrase, Craft will create it and link to it.
I have a question in my custom template, “What am I grateful for?” The word “grateful” is already linked to a “Grateful” note or document in my file system in Craft. So my grateful section each day is automatically linked to the grateful note. I can go to that note and see links that show what I was grateful for every day I did a journal entry. It’s a nice way to periodically remind myself of all the positive things in my life.
I’m also regularly using linking when I mention a person’s name, a project, or a topic. Each note I link to shows the link to my journal entry block at the bottom of the note.
2. Journaling in Craft provides me with a much more enjoyable and pleasant experience. Beauty and aesthetics in my digital working world are important to me. For the same reason I want the room I work in to be pleasantly decorated and comfortable, I also want my digital “room” to be equally inspiring.
It was easy in Craft (no digital app design skills needed) to quickly design a custom template for Journaling that is beautiful and functional. I look forward to using it and working in that visual environment. It helps me to feel comfortable, relaxed, and happy to be there. Plain text didn’t do that for me. It was functional, but that’s about it.
3. By journaling in Craft, my journal notes are in the same location as my other notes. I don’t have to switch apps to access my journal notes.
Using multiple apps is not a problem for me. I’m not one who feels compelled to try to do everything in the same app. Rather, I seek what is for me the “best in class” app.
That being said, I find that the “best in class” to meet my needs is to keep my journal notes in Craft. Having my journal notes in the same app as my other notes, project folders, resources folders, and archive folders is convenient. And, as I noted above, this also allows me to take advantage of Craft’s linking abilities and link all of these together.
4. All of my journal notes are automatically and almost instantaneously synced between all of my devices, with no additional cost. Day One also synced between all of my devices. But syncing on Day One required me to subscribe to the premium version of the app at $34.99 a year.
My Craft subscription already includes syncing to all my devices. Moving my journaling to Craft saves me a hefty subscription fee to Day One.
Craft has a great user interface on the iPad and iPhone, as well as the Mac. I regularly do my journaling on my iPad, often using Apple dictation to record my thoughts in the “What’s on My Mind Today” section of the journaling template. When I open Craft on my Mac, my journal entry is there.
How to Journal in Craft
It’s easy to journal in Craft. Craft automatically generates the option for a new “daily note” each day. To access it, click on the calendar icon located in the upper left-hand on the Craft main interface.
This shows a calendar, and below it are listed days and dates with an “+ Create Daily Note” option. Click on this, and a new document opens with the date as the document title.
Click below the date and start writing or dictating if you want to write on an open page. If you wish to use a custom journal template, first create a template and move it to the “My Templates” folder listed in the Craft sidebar. Here’s a link to my Journal Template in Craft. You are welcome to use or modify it to fit you. (Note: several of my journal questions were borrowed from David Sparks)
To use a template in a daily note:
- Click on the line below the date and type “/t” and an option will appear to “Insert from Template.”
- Select this, and it takes you to the template folder, where you select your Journal Template in the “My Templates” section.
- When you select the Journal Template, you’re taken back to the daily note with the template inserted, and you can start writing.
Making the Switch From Day One to Craft
Day One is a great dedicated journaling app. It has many more features than Craft does for journaling. However, I didn’t use those features in Day One. There are features in Craft (linking, beautiful environment) that are valuable to me. I don’t miss the multiple features in Day One that I didn’t use.
For me, it’s been a great move. I find myself looking forward to working in the much more beautiful and inspiring Craft journaling template. The photo and visual layout set an emotional and motivational tone I benefit from. Also, I’m regularly linking blocks in my journal notes to other notes in Craft.
I’d encourage you to consider using Craft as your journaling app. However, if you’re using Day One and value features that don’t exist in Craft, you’ll probably want to stay with Day One. Whatever works for you is what is best.