Hi, would anyone care to share their workflow for journaling in DEVONthink? I want to try this out and I am curious about the best way to do this with the least friction. And now that the new DTTG is in beta and using Apple Dictation in DEVONthink became a possibility, I think has become an interesting option for many. I want to use it as a group in my personal database, so I can easily link to material I have gathered there already. Maybe we can get a fruitful conversation going.
My journal notes are stored/organized in a Devonthink database
There are two daily records; a planner note (morning) and a review note (evening)
plus any random notes I create during the day
For the daily planner/review notes, I use the Apple Pages editor
and save in .pdf format
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Do you start the notes in Pages then, and are you using templates?
Confirmed, the notes start from templates
A reminders script auto-generates the two daily notes in the Global Inbox
the evening before
Screenshot of the daily planner template at Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Thereās quite an interesting thread here concentrating on a photo-centred journal but it covers quite a wide range of journalling ideas.
Stephen
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Thanks for the reply, but that is a long shot from the simple md-file I aim for.
I use an app called Drafts to capture my journaling. I have a drafts action that creates a markdown note in an iCloud folder with the date and day as the name and titled with the date and day. Through the day I can capture more notes in Drafts (on Mac, iPad and iPhone). If a note for that day already exists, it appends to the end.
As the ācombinedā note is a text file on iCloud, I can edit it with IA Writer or any other editor and even DT as the iCloud folder is indexed into DT. At the end of the day I tidy the note up, which doesnāt take long.
At the end of the year, I import the iCloud folder into DT and put it in my Archive database in a group for that year.
I am sure that rather than using Drafts, you could use DT entirely with a journal template, an apple script on MacOS to open and add, and a shortcut on IOS to also add entries in DTTG. As Drafts is so easy, I have not investigated this.
The key is to make the process frictionless or you wonāt bother! 
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Donāt know how I missed that thread. But I donāt want to add photoās. Just open an MD file, get it automatically named by date and filed in the right place. Should work on all platforms and include, in a perfect scenario, audio files turned into plain/md text.
Agree, frictionlessness is prime on my mind. Thought about Drafts, but I am really curious if there is an easy way to accomplish this with DT alone, including audio notes transcribed into md files. But thanks!
I prefer tags for organization,
but I do bundle the days notes into a group named Journal [
dddd] yyyy-mm-dd
The emojii is an indicator of how the day was, ranging between 
Ah that is a great idea to add such a visual mood indicator! I suffer from migraine al lot and it would be great to get easy overviews of up- and downdays! How do you implement this?
Do you use DT exclusively for note-taking?
I use DT exclusively for the storage/organization of my notes/documents/files
DT has integrated note editor/formats, but also supports external editors
I use the DT editors for simple notes, and external editors for more complex stuff
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Why donāt you say this from the start? Please show a little consideration for your interlocutors.
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As I posted, a reminders script creates the daily notes from templates
It also creates the day group, and generates the names/title with the date
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My method is a bit of a hodgepodge that Iāve formed over time. Back in the day I used to use the Franklin system and my journal notes would be mixed in with my work to-dos, meeting pointers, and stuff throughout my day. I wasnāt able to use a Mac and dictation while working due to work constraints but now am able to since āretiringā. I started a zettelkasten experiment a couple of years ago and got into Obsidian and using Devonthink together more as well. I discovered that Iād take āfleeting notesā that I never really processed as much as I should and I wasnāt doing any journaling. Even when processing them with the ZK way as best I could figure out, Iād treat them as throwaway once processed into my system of reference notes and permanent notes which is what the ZK method suggests. Then I discovered Voice Memos and began taking them as I did my long walks and transcribing later. Eventually I ended up with what I have currently that I continue to polish but am happy where it is now:
- I have an automatic daily note in obsidian generated with title and other things I want standardized as soon as I open Obsidian for the day. It has a numerical index of items and a checkbox begun as the first entry.
- As I walk, I dictate in items. They range from tasks, to new ideas or thoughts on subjects, to personal things Iād consider ājournalingā, passages I dictate of writing pieces Iām working on, etc.
- Devonthink indexes all of my obsidian vault.
- Later, I use the AI in DT to āclean upā my dictation with a script due to my ramblings, dictation errors, etc. which creates a pretty nice Today note, and also helps with subject summary and tags for the note. Since itās indexed into my Obsidian vault, the DT changes appear in Obsidian automatically. Since I donāt want AI to āwriteā something for me that I might reuse accidentally, the script is pretty simple on what Iāll allow it to do.
- As I process the items more deeply into Obsidian reference notes, permanent notes, Kanban tasks, etc. I update with links in the today note to those items, other DEVONthink links, etc., and check the item off. Personal journaling items are just checked as I review it.
- In this way, I use the daily note with dictation for both my āfleeting notesā and tasks I capture. I donāt mind having them mixed, although you could separate them if you wanted to. Itās also now the āsourceā that I capture of anything originating there as a backlink in other notes elsewhere. I like having a chronological record of everything (like the old Franklin days) including my fleeting thoughts rather than throwing them away. I can quickly search for any items that werenāt processed to address them. I find I am actually journaling regularly as a by-product since itās so simple. If it wasnāt I doubt Iād do so. Very rarely have I inserted photos but thatās easy too. I doubt Iāll ever even try to use a Journaling app.
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I donāt see the need for this reaction. Other people here might very well be interested in your exact solution, Iām just aiming for a gathering of ideas I might (partly) adopt. So I personally appreciate all suggestions, even though I might not adopt them, including yours. That said, next time Iāll try to describe my needs more exactly, no intention to waste anybodyās precious time.
Hereās how I read it: you write a very open-ended OP. Then you immediately dismiss contributions that donāt meet requirements you didnāt bother specifying in the first place.
I do find that a bit inconsiderate. I tried to tell you so in a polite way. Since english is not my first language, I might have come across less polite than I intended. Itās also entirely possible that I got the wrong impression or was a bit touchy. If so, I apologize.
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No problem, thanks for the apology and as I already said, I will try to be more specific in the future.
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