A few months ago, I started meditation using an app called Headspace. One trick I learned there was the process of filtering thoughts based on importance and priority. Then came the act of concentrating on positive thoughts and moods instead of negative events in life. Journaling is a great way to note all these thoughts and life’s events. With these thoughts in mind, let’s take a look at some journaling apps for the Windows platform.
1. Journey
Journey is a light-weight journal app that is available on every platform along with Windows. You begin by creating entries for each day. Adding photos, audios, and videos is easy, but only one at a time. Journey uses Google Drive to backup data and sync it across platforms. The app will automatically add weather and location to your entries. You can also add smileys to note how you were feeling on that day, or about that moment. I like the timeline and calendar feature that allows me to go back in time and find or rediscover and relive all those moments easily. While Android and iOS apps are free, Windows app will cost you $19.99. There is also a cloud plan priced at $2.49. That will unlock dark theme, daily inspiration quotes, unlimited entries via email, Zapier integration, and more ways to customize entries. Download Journey
2. Journalist
Journalist is a Windows-only journaling app that comes with a drawing tool. People who like to draw or sketch their emotions and feelings on paper will love it. What’s more? You can join up to 4 papers to create a scrolling video of sorts. It supports various video and GIF formats. Adding text, images, audio, and videos are easy. Data is backed up to OneDrive. Journalist acts as a scrapbook of sorts which adds new ways to maintain a diary and log your life. The ability to draw and sketch using a variety of pens and colors gives more freedom to be expressive. However, it also makes the process equally time-consuming. It’s definitely more suitable for artists. You can also record voice to narrate your life’s story which is pretty cool. On the flip side, it lacks advanced features like calendar, timeline, and auto geo-tagging. Maybe in a future version? Fingers crossed. Download Journalist
3. Glimpses
Glimpses is a free journaling app for Windows that’s packed with features. You can add tags to your entries for easily categorizing them by events or places. You can also mark certain entries as favorite which makes them easy to search. The calendar and timeline features makes reliving old memories fun and easy. There are a few interesting writing modes available that I haven’t seen in other journaling apps. Typewriter mode arrives with a custom font and makes clicking noises with each keystroke as if you were using a real typewriter. Then there is the dark and distraction-free mode. On the downside, no reminders and you can’t add audio files as of now, and they are still working on Android and iOS apps. Well, it’s free, so you can’t complain much. Download Glimpses
4. Evernote
Evernote is probably one of the best note-taking apps, but that’s not all it can do. A lot of fans are using it as a journaling app too. How? Evernote supports images, audio, video files, PDF, and more. You can also record audio or take images directly with it. How to begin? You create a heading called journal and then create one notebook for each year. Now create one note for each day. You can then tag them for further sanity. Evernote works on all platforms, integrates with third-party apps like Google Calendar (birthday events?), Zapier, IFTTT, much more. If you are already using Evernote for taking notes and whatnot, using it as a journaling app for Windows makes a lot of sense. One less app to worry about. Download Evernote
5. Diarium
Diarium takes a different approach. The app integrates with Windows’ system calendar, and for each day, you can create an entry. Text, images, audio, video, files, or drawings; anything goes. You can also import entries from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Google Fit. That means everything you do, that app will log it automatically. You can view all of that on a map. Available on both Android and iOS, Diarium is probably the only journal app that doesn’t have a subscription model in place. Instead, you can buy individual apps for a one-time fee of $19.99 (often available for less during a sale). Download Diarium
Dear Diary
Journaling is a great way to note important dates and events. They are also useful for jotting down ideas. That flashing moment when you have a stroke of genius. That one idea that could possibly change your world and your life. If you carry a laptop with you at all times, one of the above Windows journaling apps will prove helpful. Next up: Do you also use an iPhone? Click on the link below to learn more about 4 journaling apps for iOS platform.
