How To Record Your Entire Life In Apple Notes | Journaling for Beginners

The only journal you'll need in your entire life, finally in Apple Notes.
To download the automation for free, follow this link: docs.google.co...

[@brixtonbanner2899]

I set up a version of this after watching your Forever diary video about four months back. However after seeing this video I started adding links. I did it a tad differently in that I have one main or Index note with links to 12 notes one for each month. Each month note has links to a note per day plus a link back to the index note. I put this at the top and bottom of the days of the month. It’s a long list. Each day has its own note with a link back to its month page and also the main index note. This is time consuming but I did three hours on two of my weekend days and it’s sorted now. I didn’t do links to the next and last days because I’m hopping in and out of this diary. So I find this tree structure better for my needs. But a big thank you for posting that original video which sparked in me the will to have a go.

[@Patrick-NP]

Cheers! and thanks for sharing your setup

[@nachthaar6318]

I like the idea of the "Forever Diary" you presented and I also adopted the idea of labeling each day with the line Year - Weekday - Location as a heading. However, I have changed the names of the notes so that the day is always displayed with two digits. This is how my shortcut for the homescreen works, which automatically opens the note entry for the current day based on the current date and I can then insert the heading directly from the clipboard with one click. I also added some weather Details from the weatherapp - think it would be nice after a few years. Many thanks for the great shortcut.

[@Patrick-NP]

Fantastic! I love the fact you tweaked it to suit your preferences/workflow. thanks for sharing!

[@NDW1955]

What an amazing concept. At the end of the video, I immediately started setting this up. I caught myself staring at the paused iPad screen, just imagining all the possibilities and uses of this practice. You have a unique, interesting channel.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks!! The best thing is that the more you write in it, the more you want to write. Happy journaling! :)

[@outandabout_oz]

thank you! Really appreciated everything about this video and the shortcut to roll it all out. Super star! Good luck with your channel, I know how much work you have to put in to get these upload, subscribed ✌🏻

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you! By the way there is now a second part to this video: Forever Diary Q&A, Ideas and Suggestions kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2KXq2WegLllfJo

[@RandallHarris142]

This is brilliant! It’s like the hard copy 5-year diaries, but on steroids. 😅

[@Patrick-NP]

indeed! :) thanks!

[@moviesbysteve]

I love this. I just set it up and made my first entry. I love how you focus on Apple Notes. This has been my go-to notes app for a couple years and I’m always looking to improve how I use it.

[@Patrick-NP]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@everevolvinglw]

Incredible idea. I never go back and read my previous journals, but I wish I did. This makes such an amazing way to do that without being overwhelmed.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks a lot. The more you write it, the better it becomes. And after a few years, it becomes invaluable. I hope you'll give it a go!

[@johnstjohn4705]

I've never been able to keep a diary or journal going. But I often think back to where I was and what I was doing at this time a year ago or ten years ago or.... Needless to say, my recollections are fuzzy and inaccurate. You have given me the perfect system. I'm starting to set it up today. I plan to backfill it as much as I can. Thank you for this brilliant idea.

[@Patrick-NP]

That's great!! Happy journaling!

[@alethacook1145]

This is perfect! I made an Apple Shortcut that opens today’s date everyday. It was much simpler to do this with only the dd MMMM format. I love using this now!

[@Patrick-NP]

Great! Happy journaling!

[@D33Arts]

I also have a shortcut that opens a list of all the days of the month, but it fails if I add the day of the month to go directly to that note, would your solution do this?

[@alethacook1145]

@@D33Arts I use the custom string on the Format Date so that it always opens today’s date. I left off the year of that custom string. Admittedly, the custom date format often breaks in iOS shortcuts and had to be repaired on Mac OS shortcuts. So, yes it fails when I switch between the OSs with this shortcut.

[@D33Arts]

@@alethacook1145 Thanks for your reply-I will give it a try and see how it goes.

[@vocal_jay]

This came RIGHT on time. I can't wait to put this into action! Thanks for sharing!

[@Patrick-NP]

That's great, enjoy your Forever Diary! 👍

[@traceysmith311]

I have been doing this since 2022 and Apple notes nicely organizes them for me by year. I do lock the pages since it's my private journal. I don't create all the pages in advance...just start a new note every day that I choose to journal as I don't have time to do it every single day.

[@Patrick-NP]

Great, thank you for sharing!

[@eymbaque3446]

Love this. Wanted a shortcut on my desktop that referenced a formatted date to open today’s note so any time I can just pop open the correct note without having to check the date then open folders to get to it. I am new to shortcuts and just couldnt figure out how to send the formatted-today variable to open my note. Can you create such a thing for us?

[@chrislyon2420]

What a brilliant idea well done and thank you for sharing

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you! 😊

[@ralphweeks7209]

I really like this idea. I don’t use Apple Notes so much but use an app called UpNote (as it is iOS and Windows capable) and am now implementing this method of yours into my diary system. I currently have over 4, 000 diary notes and will be converting them to 366 notes - love this idea - Thanks!

[@Patrick-NP]

thanks! it will take you a while to reorganise 4k notes, but once you do it, it'll be amazing!

[@brianmorroni8079]

This is an incredible idea! I love this. Thank you for sharing it

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you! 😊

[@GarryBurgess]

I just add the tag: #journal to every entry, and make a Smart Folder that finds them all. Then I just sort according to Date Created, and done. I don't limit myself to 1 entry every day, since Date Created will still sort them nicely and I can add other tags to try to find entries with different themes.

[@Patrick-NP]

Interesting. How do you manage situations where you add a note (today) about something that happened a few years ago?

[@GarryBurgess]

@@Patrick-NP I also use Day One which allows me to back date, but in the past, I'd just type the date at the top of every entry. So in Apple Notes, which I also use as a parallel journal, I add a date in the Title as part of the title. Years ago my journal was just one giant long file in Microsoft Word, which became a very long single file in Apple Pages. I cut out the entries and put them into Apple Journal App, but it was much too limited so I stopped using it, and I backdate entries in Day One. Most of the old entries are now in Day One, but for the future, I use Day One in parallel with Apple Notes. Apple Journal app is very weak on search and even my system of writing it all in Apple Pages was superior to finding things. Apple Notes is exciting because in Sept 2024, I'm hoping that with AI that transcription will be stronger because now it's full too many mistakes. Ultimately what I write is more important than how it's organized, and even a single file in a word processor is very powerful as a journal, fast and easy to find things. But I like Day One and Apple Notes now as my tools for this.

[@hoboesque_]

This is awesome . I’m doing something very similar in Anytype across all my devices

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! good luck with your setup!

[@hn29723]

thanks for sharing this interesting idea ... I will for sure give it a try

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! Have fun!

[@styrmis]

Such a great idea! Made all the better by how simple and flexible it is. Thanks for sharing!

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

[@enriquediaz7547]

That’s a Good & interesting idea/take on journaling. !

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks!!

[@robertstanislaus]

Genius bro! I'm going to try and start this for July. Thank you 😊

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! Have fun!

[@barrybazmorris]

I agree. This is a brilliant system.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you!

[@itsruiguerreiro]

This is brilliant! Thank you.

[@Patrick-NP]

thanks!

[@nicolem4291]

You talk about adding things from prior years. How do you handle entries that are not date specific? Or important events that you can’t remember the date?

[@Patrick-NP]

Excellent questions. Might deserve a follow up video! As a quick, on-the-spot suggestion: if you can't remember the date, you could either place those events into a generic note (eg. "undated events"), while you figure out where they should go; or (and that's my preferred solution) you can place them into whatever day/month/year makes sense, even if it's a wild guess, so that you can at least see those memories once a year. If in the meantime you have managed to figure out the correct date for them, you can move them. For events that are not date-specific (I guess you mean something that could span several weeks, like a long holiday, or a semester at school, or a Yoga course...did I get this right?) If so, I would probably put my note on the day the course started, and cover several days in a single entry. Hope this helps!

[@philippemuller9403]

Inspiring idea! Thank you.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you for stopping by! :)

[@skillsquadgirl]

Yea! Soo happy to see this video. Thanks!

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you! 😀

[@ByMillyCo]

This is an awesome idea! thanks!

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! ☺️

[@J.e.r.o.e.n]

Interesting solutions, thanks for sharing 👍

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks!

[@scomti7057]

Great idea! Will try it out!

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks, Have fun!

[@toddstarkey]

Unfortunately I am on iOS 18 beta and the shortcut won’t work. Too bad, I was excited to implement it! Guess I can recreate it manually. Not sure if anyone was able to get it to work on the beta.

[@Patrick-NP]

It definitely looks like there are some issues with the iOS18 beta. (to be fair, it's common to have bugs in a beta - let's just hope they're resolved before launch!)...

[@IversusAI]

This is such a great idea!

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks!!

[@MD_Alwaeli2]

Great Idea 💡❤

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks!

[@udojetschmanegg]

Nice idea 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@Patrick-NP]

Thank you! 😊

[@donklud]

This is so brilliant, that I cant make it work. I have downloaded both the zip and the shortcut. No matter how many times i run around the building the process stops at 25%. (Not the building - I mean the process stops)

[@Patrick-NP]

Hi, thanks for your message. If the shortcut stops at 25% it could be that things are happening too quickly for your phone. I’ve updated the shortcut to make it go slightly slower, please download it again from here: www.icloud.com/shortcuts/68ae87ce1d2949b0a38482590a67b9b4. Before running it, please make sure you delete all notes/folders created by the previous shortcut, so you avoid duplication. Please let me know how it goes 👍🏻

[@donklud]

@@Patrick-NP It's getting even more precise now. After some time its stuck at 24.999% I try with one Mac, two iPads and one iPhone. Probably just need to get my intelligence reversed. I cant make it work

[@donklud]

@@Patrick-NP Its still stück even with your new adjustment

[@sumei5901]

I'm thinking of splitting the forever into decades. Can I use the automation multiple times if I rename the Forever Dairy into e.g. Forever Dairy 2020s? Can't seem to make it work and I am not a tech person. Thanks for any help provided!

[@Patrick-NP]

Interesting, why do you prefer it split by decades? Anyway, the only workaround I can think of is this: when launching the shortcut, choose to add a prefix (such as the decade, i.e. “20s”) and let it run. It will create 12 folders for the months, and one called Forever Diary. Then move the 12 folders into the Forever Diary folder, and rename it as “Forever Diary 20s”. Then repeat the entire process with the next decade. This should work; let me know how you get on!

[@Mirr0rsEdge]

I didn’t know you could scan things using notes app until now.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! I'm glad I was able to show you something new!

[@mike_cluett]

Don’t know if it’s because I’m on an iOS Beta 2 for my phone but it locks up 25% thru setting up after staring it on shortcuts.

[@Patrick-NP]

That might be the case. maybe try the old "switch it off then back on again"?

[@mike_cluett]

@@Patrick-NP I installed the short cut on my iPad which is 17.5 and it worked great and I can now access it on both the phone and iPad perfectly. Thanks.

[@Patrick-NP]

That's great! Enjoy! :)

[@Praveen-or5ce]

Very good idea. The new collapsible headers on iOS 18 makes it much less cluttered as well. But folders are not collaborative right?

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! good point re: collapsible headers, they could be useful in case of very long notes. And yes you can share folders

[@Praveen-or5ce]

@@Patrick-NPYou’re correct. I just checked that. Then it’s perfect! Thanks for the idea.

[@barryporter6993]

good idea, but an iphone or ipad are way to distracting. I prefer a nice year long paper notebook and a decent pen. A pocket notebook takes up a lot less space and allows for 100% concentration on your writing.

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks. It is indeed a matter of personal preference!

[@anndunphy7264]

Just curious as to how long it takes to get the download? I subscribed earlier today. Thanks as I can’t wait to try this out. 😊😊

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! :) you should receive the email with the link almost immediately 🤔 if you haven't received by now let me know and I'll send it manually. Sorry!

[@anndunphy7264]

@@Patrick-NP just checked email again. Not in inbox or spam.

[@Patrick-NP]

I've sent it manually, you should get my email in a moment

[@TTisodi]

Genius...

[@Patrick-NP]

Thanks! :)

[@roychowdhury4762]

I have a problem about your diary organization, can you describe an example, eg for 2024. What would be the actual folder names

[@Patrick-NP]

Hi - the year is irrelevant in the folder structure, as it is based only on months and days, as shown below (MONTHS are in capitals, for clarity): Forever Diary - 01 JANUARY - 01 January - 02 January - 03 January - 04 January - ... (rest of the days in January) - 02 FEBRUARY - 03 MARCH - 04 APRIL - ... (rest of the months) The years are only mentioned inside the single notes.

[@jesse4689-o2l]

Will this increase the size of Apple Notes a lot?

[@Patrick-NP]

No, as it's mainly text based. If you start adding lots of photos it could be different, of course, depending on how much space you have left on you device.

[@stefanes2750]

Hi! I never got the download link.. can you send it to me directly? Thank you!

[@Patrick-NP]

Hi, of course. Sorry about that. The email should go out automatically, not sure why it didn't happen. Is it possible you inserted the email with a typo? To send it manually I need your email address, either here, or by registering again

[@stefanes2750]

@@Patrick-NP Hi Patrick, thank you! the mail came with a little delay 15 min ago, maybe there was a server overload or something - cant wait to use this amazing system!

[@Patrick-NP]

Perfect, thanks!

[@imhorsenaround]

Good grief - Nothing says that you have to create ALL of the days,months at one time - just do it as you go from one day to the next.

[@Patrick-NP]

Absolutely! You can create every note as and when it's needed. The automation just saves you time :)

[@BroBrown357]

How is this better than the Journal app?

[@Patrick-NP]

The key difference is that you see everything you did on a specific day, in a single place. I wouldn't say it's "better", of course, as that depends on your needs/preferences. I'm only interested in providing a different perspective on things :)

[@BroBrown357]

@@Patrick-NP Ok and I’ll have to watch your video again to see if it makes sense for me to try that or stick with Journal.

[@69cressyp]

The lack of the Journal App on iPad makes this even more appealing

[@pfarinella]

366??

[@Patrick-NP]

29th February :) which is actually one of the best notes, as you get to revisit those memories every 4 years