I’m curious if anyone who has installed the macOS 26 preview has explored the mac version of Journal. I’ve been using Day One for a while, and there are things I like and things I don’t like which make me open to new apps. (I’ve looked at a lot. A lot. And I’ve also “rolled my own” with Obsidian and Devonthink.)
I’ve briefly looked at it to test its syncing with my iPhone. Because it sees where I’ve been to, the iPhone app always gave good suggestions, but I don’'t like the iPhone as a writing device. Looks like I can start a Journal entry on the iPhone and then actually write on the Mac. Of course I could use the IPhone Mirroring and just use the iPhone app on the Mac. Decisions, decisions.
Of course the real question is do I want to do journaling, and if so, do I want to use a proprietary system.
You can export the Journal:
@tomalmy : Hello, as you have installed the new MacOS, had you also a look at the Mail? Are there some significant changes or improvements?
I searched for MacOS 26 and Mail but I could not find some more details.
Thank you.
The Journal seems to be saved in iCloud, however that is not technically a backup. On the Mac (where you can actually look at the complete file system) I have not been able to locate where the Journal entries are actually stored. If they are in iCloud (which they functionally seem to be) I can’t locate them in the file system. To me, it looks like a disaster just waiting to happen.
I normally don’t use Mail on this, my beta testing, Mac. But I just fired it up to take a look. The only thing I see different is the Summarize button has become colorful.
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I am specifically talking about exporting your Journal entries & phiotes. From the linked Apple Support document:
Export journal entries
When you export a copy of your journal entries, photos, locations, and other media you added to each entry are included in the exported file. The exported entries are collected into a single ZIP file.
- Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Apps.
- Scroll down, then tap Journal.
- Scroll down, then tap Export All Journal Entries. You might be asked to enter your device’s passcode.
- Tap Export. This might take a moment or two. Stay on this screen until the process completes.
- When your journal entries are ready, the Files app will open to iCloud Drive by default, and you can choose where to save them.
- Tap Save when you’re ready. This might take a little while to complete.
After you export your journal entries, you can find a ZIP file called “AppleJournalEntries” in the Files app on your device. You can move the ZIP file anywhere you want so you can access the Journal entries outside of the Journal app.
My issue is that I want a backup. If something gets messed up then I can restore from the backup to get the entries back. While there is an export, there is no corresponding import function, so exporting is not a suitable backup technique. And as far as I know, there is no way to selectively restore the journal without restoring everything else with the provided backup mechanism.