The ubiquitous Daily Journal

iOS
1

I’ve been slowly migrating back to the core Apple apps for much of my work, due in large part to how easy they are to access anywhere. I am also trying to cut down on the large number of subscriptions that seem to have built up over time. In any case, I’ve been very impressed with Apple Notes of late and have started using it as my personal knowledge repository (i.e. the place everything lands). With the improved Spotlight in IOS 14, it makes more sense than ever.

The shortcut below is one I whipped up to allow me to easily update a daily journal in notes. The shortcut checks to see if an entry for today exists in the “Journal” folder and if not creates one along with the first TimeStamp. If the note already does exist, it appends the TimeStamp and shows me the note to edit. Nothing fancy, but it seems to be working quite smoothly.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/3cc12599324641ef9c7b801b775abb4a

As a bonus, there are times when I want to update and I’m on my phone. In those cases I have the same essential shortcut but with a dictate step up front. I could combine these into one, but if it ain’t broken don’t fix it. Seriously I have both on my home screen and am setting up Siri automations to get to them as well.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/748eefae75ef4bb6bf17b5c4800272f2

Enjoy!

2

Txt:Data
12:24… 25:33:38:01

3

I wonder if there is any way you could help me with this? It is exactly what I’m looking for both for a daily journal and a second type of daily record. I’ve spent about five hours installing it, trying to tweak it, reinstalling it, but I’m new to shortcuts and frankly keep getting in a mess.

The problems I have, not all at the same time and I haven’t identified which variant causes which glitch include…

a)If I make a folder called journal it doesn’t use it. If it just made one long entry for all days in the main Notes folder I could live that but it makes a separate notes file each time it’s run.

b) I create a folder called Journal and alter some entries. Eventually I get it to use that folder but it doesn’t a new date.

I’d like to have a separate folder and a single Note that is continuous, just adding a heading for each new day.

I’d like to have a duplicate similar shortcut that I can call timesheet or whatever to record other daily stuff.

I don’t use Siri. I like to just have an icon on the homescreen for each shortcut and use that on both iPhone (11 pro) and iPad Air.