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Journal

by Leen Zhu
productivity
Install Plugin

Description

A simple journal. Create or open a note for today, or any selected date.

Additional Information

Links:
Maintainers: leenzhu
Version:2.7.0
Minimum app version:2.7
Downloads: This version:377
Last updated:2026-05-29T12:23:48Z

Joplin Plugin - Journal

Create or open a note for today, or for another date selected from a date picker. The plugin can build a notebook hierarchy from a template, insert template content into journal notes, and add links between notes.

joplin-plugin-journal-screen-shot joplin-plugin-journal-screen-shot

Features

  • Open or create today's journal note.
  • Open or create a note for any date from a date picker.
  • Apply an offset to "today" so the journal day can end before or after midnight.
  • Create notes under the currently selected notebook.
  • Insert links to today's note or another day's note.
  • Insert links labeled Today.
  • Insert note template content automatically or manually.
  • Expand template variables in both note names and inserted note content.
  • Match notes by exact generated title, or optionally by generated-title prefix to allow custom title suffixes.
  • Add tags automatically to newly created journal notes.
  • Highlight dates with existing notes in the date picker.
  • Add mobile toolbar entries for selected journal actions.

Usage

Journal Menu

Open the plugin from Tools -> Journal.

Available actions:

  • Open Today's Note
  • Open Today's Note Under Selected Folder
  • Open Today's Note (with Offset)
  • Open Another day's Note
  • Open Another day's Note Under Selected Folder
  • Insert link to Today's Note
  • Insert link to Today's Note (with Offset)
  • Insert link to Another day's Note
  • Insert link to Today's Note with Label
  • Insert link to Today's Note with Label (with Offset)
  • Insert Default Template

If the target note does not exist yet, Journal creates it automatically.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Default desktop shortcuts:

  • Ctrl+Alt+D: Open Today's Note
  • Ctrl+Alt+O: Open Another day's Note
  • Ctrl+Alt+L: Insert link to Today's Note
  • Ctrl+Alt+T: Insert link to Another day's Note
  • Ctrl+Alt+I: Insert link to Today's Note with Label
  • Ctrl+Shift+Alt+D: Open Today's Note (with Offset)
  • Ctrl+Shift+Alt+L: Insert link to Today's Note (with Offset)
  • Ctrl+Shift+Alt+I: Insert link to Today's Note with Label (with Offset)

You can customize shortcuts via Tools -> Options -> Keyboard Shortcuts. Search for journal to filter the commands.

Note Creation Behavior

  • Journal generates the note path from Note Name Template.
  • A / in the template creates a notebook hierarchy.
  • If the note already exists, Journal reopens it instead of creating a duplicate.
  • If Allow custom title suffix is enabled, Journal first looks for an exact title match, then falls back to notes whose titles start with the generated title. If multiple prefixed matches exist, the earliest created one is used.

Template Content

  • Note Template ID points to a note whose body is used as the content template.
  • Template variables are expanded in the inserted content.
  • If Insert template every time note is opened is disabled, the template is inserted only when the note body is empty.
  • Insert Default Template manually inserts the configured template into the current note.

Mobile

On mobile, Journal can add selected "open note" actions to the note toolbar through settings:

  • Add Open Today's Note option to menu
  • Add Open Today's Note (with Offset) option to menu
  • Add Open Another day's Note option to menu

Link insertion actions are also added to the mobile editor toolbar.

Settings

Core Settings

  • Note Name Template: Defines the generated notebook path and note title.
  • Offset for end of Today: Shifts the boundary used by offset-based commands.
  • Open Today's Note when Joplin is started: Automatically opens today's note at startup.
  • Allow custom title suffix: Lets Journal match notes whose titles start with the generated title.

Template Settings

  • Note Template ID: The source note used as the content template.
  • Insert template every time note is opened: Reinserts the template every time the note is opened.

Naming and Formatting Settings

  • Month Style
  • Day Style
  • Weekday Style
  • WeekNum Style
  • Month Name
  • Weekday Name
  • Quarter Name

These settings control how numeric and named template variables are rendered.

Calendar Settings

  • Weeks start on Monday
  • Time Format
  • Theme Selection
  • Enable week numbers
  • Enable Calendar Highlights

Tag Settings

  • Enable AutoTag
  • Tag Names

When auto-tagging is enabled, Journal adds the configured tags to newly created notes.

Template Variables

Journal templates can be used in two places:

  • Note Name Template: controls the generated journal note path and title.
  • Note Template ID: points to a note whose body will be inserted as the journal note content template.

Template variables are expanded in both the note name template and the inserted note content template.

Supported Variables

Variable Description Example
{{year}} Four-digit year. 2026
{{decade}} Decade label derived from the year. 2020s
{{date}} Date in YYYY-MM-DD format. 2026-05-29
{{time}} Time in HH:mm format. 14:35
{{datetime}} Date and time in YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm format. 2026-05-29 14:35
{{month}} Month number. The exact format depends on Month Style. 05 or 5
{{monthName}} Month label from the Month Name setting. 05-May
{{quarter}} Quarter number. 2
{{quarterName}} Quarter label from the Quarter Name setting. Q2
{{day}} Day of month. The exact format depends on Day Style. 09 or 9
{{hour}} Hour in 24-hour format. 14
{{hour12}} Hour in 12-hour format. 02
{{ampm}} Uppercase meridiem marker. PM
{{min}} Minutes. 35
{{weekday}} Weekday number. The exact format depends on Weekday Style. 05 or 5
{{weekdayName}} Weekday label from the Weekday Name setting. Thu
{{weekNum}} Week number based on the plugin's current week-number calculation. 22

Formatting Notes

  • A / in Note Name Template creates a notebook hierarchy.
  • Month Name, Weekday Name, and Quarter Name are user-configurable lists, so the rendered text depends on your settings.
  • Month Style, Day Style, Weekday Style, and WeekNum Style control whether numeric values are zero-padded or plain numbers.
  • Variables are expanded in both note names and inserted note content.

Default Note Name Template

The default note name template is:

Journal/{{year}}/{{monthName}}/{{year}}-{{month}}-{{day}}

Examples

Example note name template:

Journal/{{year}}/{{monthName}}/{{date}}

Example inserted note content template:

# {{date}}

Created at {{time}}
Week {{weekNum}}, {{weekdayName}}

Known issues

If you create the same note (a note with the same title and in the same folder) too quickly, a duplicate note will be created with the same name.

When using the default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+D to create today's note, you should wait more than 10 seconds before using the shortcut again, or it will create a duplicate note. This is because Joplin needs around 10 seconds to build the note's index - it should be found after about 10 seconds.

Source

You can get the source code here: https://github.com/leenzhu/joplin-plugin-journal