Journal Software on a Mac?

September 23, 2009 7:51 PM

What software exists that I can use to replace Journler so I can take tagged notes on my Mac?

As of today Journler has been abandoned by its creator. As a user of Journler I had come to enjoy and appreciate the following features: dropbox, tagged entires, the ability to utilize almost any file type, iPod syncing, blog syncing, and a MacMail like interface.

I am going to miss those features all together.

I'm looking for a replacement. I am currently exploring MacJournal (which looks to be the closest fit at first glance), Memoires (which I found via a previous AskMe post), EverNote, one of the Omni products (not a good fit), and DevonNote.

So far I have a critique about EverNote. You can use the software provided you are ok with having adspace on your actual window. I haven't tried to disconnect from my network to see what happens to that adspace yet. If you don't want the adspace there is the possibility of purchasing a "premium" account that is either a monthly or a yearly subscription. Other than booting the adspace, the subscription buys you better access to your online account hosted on EverNotes webspace. I want none of this. I just want a piece of software, not webpresence for this software. I don't want to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to use the software without ads on a service (webpresence) that I will never use. If you couldn't tell requiring me to buy in to a web account for a piece of software is a huge turnoff for me.

So, what other options are out there? I haven't found a comprehensive list anywhere that gives me a good idea of the strengths of each, hence why I'm asking the hivemind.

posted by Severian to technology (9 comments total)

I'll add to my own thread the following links from lifehacker

Five Best Journaling Tools, unfortunately assumes a non-mac computer or an interest in using web-based solutions.

or

Gmail as a Journal which is nice, since I have IMAP set up on MacMail, but I've already got a ridiculous number of folders in my gmail account. The option of creating a NEW gmail account is not exactly stellar.
posted by Severian at 8:12 PM on September 23

I use the Evernote software on Mac and iphone, neither of which shows ads. There is a web version as well, which syncs up automatically, but you don't have to use it. I see it as an online backup.

Evernote has excellent tagging features and seems to handle all common file types.

They have PC software as well. Maybe check it out again?
posted by kdern at 8:14 PM on September 23

Why not just continue using Journier? I mean, the software is not going to disappear into this air now that development stopped.
posted by special-k at 8:17 PM on September 23

Also, you can easily export Journier entries if some day you find a better replacement.
posted by special-k at 8:18 PM on September 23

kdern,

I didn't find an option to remove the adspace on Evernote. The nail in the coffin of Evernote was, oddly, not entirely the adspace but more the fact that I couldn't directly import my old journler entries. I don't want to do that by hand.

special-k,

the reason I don't want to continue using journler is that there are significant known bugs in the program that eliminate, for me, the possibility of long-term use.
posted by Severian at 8:38 PM on September 23

Like you, I gave up on Journler when it became clear that the developer had done the same long ago (and what a shame...I'll never understand why he didn't at least sell the app to someone else who could give it the care and support it deserves).

I looked at Devon Think, Mac Journal, Evernote and Yojimbo. Personally I found Devon Think was needlessly complicated. Evernote is fine until you decide you want to take your data elsewhere...you'd almost think that they purposely hobbled the app's exporting abilities to keep you from going elsewhere. Mac Journal wasn't too bad, but still a little rough around the edges. So in the end, I picked Yojimbo because it hits all the right notes for me: the focus is on keeping things simple, the database remains on your Mac and is easy to copy into a DropBox folder for syncing between two Macs.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism at 8:45 PM on September 23

I used Yojimbo for a few years, and it's a really nice piece of software. Its MAJOR drawback, however, is that it has no sync/remote support. A third-party piece of software called Webjimbo provides a web (desktop and iphone-specific) interface to your data, and is an extra $30 on top of Yojimbo's $40 price.

Also potentially annoying is that there's no remote offline access, and you need to open up your desktop to the internet as a web server. Don't have a static IP? OK, now you have to run dynamic DNS. Want to actually sync data across, say, your laptop and desktop Forget it.

$70 is, in my opinion, too much to spend for a cobbled-together solution that still isn't using the latest tech. BareBones is also not a company known for continuously updating their software. I moved to Evernote last year and haven't looked back. Their iPhone app is outstanding. The ads on the desktop client are innocuous and a completely worthwhile tradeoff for a free, feature-rich service.
posted by mkultra at 8:17 AM on September 24

I switched to MacJournal. It imports Journler very nicely; you need to export from Journler first, but MacJournal's import abilities are quite good. It's a pretty stable app; I have it open most of the time. I know what you mean about the three-pane UI, but actually I've found a two-pane approach works better. You do have the choice. MacJournal does tagging. I also like that I can lock/encrypt specific journals. I don't think Journler did that. MacJournal will post blog entries. It's pretty OS X aware, so things like the Media browser work as they are supposed to. If you look at the preferences, you can get a feel for the maturity and level of customizability the program has. I did try DevonThink but it is just too overwrought and needlessly complicated for me. Yojimbo seems lightweight and underpowered compared to MacJournal. The support forum is fairly active, the developer participates in it, and there is a beta iPhone app being tested.
posted by conrad53 at 9:09 PM on September 24

I can't vouch at all for MacJournal, but MacUpdate is currently running a 25% off promo today for it.
posted by mkultra at 10:09 AM on September 25