blog about it

Last month, I got a comment from Ruth Folit. On my post 5 benefits of keeping a personal journal, she told me about her journal software. I mentioned that I was skeptical of online journals, and her solution was the best thing I’ve tried in a while.

I had a bit of trouble downloading Life Journal 2.0 and Ruth Folit emailed me the solution post-haste, (can you still say that?). Anyway, I downloaded and started using it easily. And I have to say it’s really great.

What got My Attention

If you’re like me, you may be saying I can just keep a word processing files. That was my solution for keeping computer journals. I didn’t know how limited I was by only using WordPerfect® to keep my journals. It’s on your computer, not on the internet, which is a huge point for me.

Life Journal has preset categories for storing journal entries. But it’s just a starter set. You can customize them to fit your needs. The typing area is just as versatile as other word processing applications with all the basic formatting capabilities.

You can have separate journals in one place just like keeping a folder in WordPerfect®, or several notebooks for each work area. Life Journal keeps your files organized easily. The filtering capabilities give it more of a database/spreadsheet feel. I keep my dreams log and my future plans in separate files, and they can be cross-referenced by the categories.

There’s a lot of functionality–easily much more than I’ve used so far. Still, just the basic features I’ve worked with make it worth the time invested in learning the application. I’ll be taking advantage of more of its capabilities over the next month, since I’ve decide August 2009 is going to be a very interesting and busy month.

Try it Out

The program is Life Journal 2.0; you can find it at the LifeJournal website. The best way to find out if you like it, is to download and try it for yourself. You can use it at no cost, indefinitely. There’s no expiration on the free version. And, the limitations on the free version don’t keep you from getting a good feel for its benefits. You may also want to check out their other versions: for writers, Christians and educators.

If you’re in the market for such an application, this is a good one to try. And at no charge, it’s difficult to pass on just trying it.  Come back and let me know. I’d really like to hear what you think about the software and how you made use of it.