Why Digital Journal?
Personally, I love physical journaling and there are many pros to that method, some of which have been scientifically proven. However, there are also a few cons:
- Cumbersome if you ever need to transport it
- Can be lost
- Hard to remember where information is across journals
Digital journaling eliminates these possibilities. Most applications store information in the cloud making entries accessible on any device, which means you can access your journal anywhere you have internet. This also means that you don't have to worry about losing your journal; it's forever stored in the cloud. Finally, you can utlize features such as search to easily find previous entries.
I created a digital archive as a backup for my physical journal. While sometimes, I use it first (usually when I'm traveling or too tired to use the physical journal), I use this method more as an archive. This post is to elaborate more on the Youtube video I created to discuss my digital journal archive.
Notion
There are many options for what you can use for digital journaling, and if you plan to put senstive or private information in your journal, I would recommend using an application that uses end-to-end encryption to secure your data. I am using Notion, which allows users to control privacy settings to share or keep private your pages, but it does not use end-to-end encryption. This difference means if Notion's server were to be hacked, the hacker could read the data I stored. Because a hack is unlikely and my journals don't contain anything I'm particularly concerned about being seen, I have chosen to use it anyway.
Terminology
If you're familiar with databases and/or Notion, this section probably isn't necessary for you. However, if you're new to the tool or to databases in general, there may be some terms I use throughout the article that are unfamiliar. Let's define those upfront.
- Database - a collection of documents
- Property - a field used to define information about a document; all documents in a database have the same properties, though the properties may have different values. Examples of properities include dates (such as a start or completion date), status (such as in progress or done), etc.
- Linked (or Relation) Properties - a document in database A can be linked to a document (or multiple documents) in database B through linked properties. For mine I have set them to be two way (this allows me to set a relation in database A to database B, and also view the realtion in database B)
- View - Notion allows you to view your database in a variety of ways: table, list, gallery, etc. I use list and gallery views the most
- Gallery View - shows each document as a box consisting of an image (you can set this image) and a select number of properties (you can choose the properites that are shown)
- List View - a simple list consisting of the title of each document and a select number of properties (you choose which properities are shown)
- Filter - you can use a filter to limit the documents you see in the database using the properties. For example you can filter on documents that fall into a specific date range using a date property, or show only completed documents using a status property
My Setup
Databases
My digital journal space utilizes 3 databases:
- Journal Collection - a collection of separate journals
- Entries - a collection of typed entries or content from journals
- Physical Pages - a collection of photos representing the physical pages in the journal
Journal Collection
The journal collection database has a document or page for each journal I have created. This is the main page, or home page, for my journaling set up. You can think of it as a bookshelf; it allows me to see all my journals at a glance and select the one that I am interested in viewing or updating. Each page has properties that help me sort, search, and other wise categorize that particular journal.
| Property | Description | Example | Notion Property Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | The title of the journal | The True Vine | Text |
| Start Date | The date I began keeping the journal | January 1, 2026 | Date |
| End Date | The date I stopped adding entries in the journal | December 31, 2026 | Date |
| Description | A short description of the purpose and content of the journal | Daily devotion journal for 2026 that goes through the harmonization of the Gospels. An in depth study has been crafted to cover the Gospels in chronological order over the course of the year and reflect on the teaches of Messiah. | Text |
| Tags | How I would categorize the type of journal (e.g, Bible Study, Bullet Journal, Daily Devotional, etc.) | Daily Devotional | Multi Select |
| Status | The current status of the journal: not started, in progress, or completed | In Progress | Status |
| Pages Available | The number of physical pages present in the journal | 240 | Number |
| Pages Completed | The number of physical pages I have written on | 11 | Number |
| Percent Complete | The number of physical pages I have written on | 4.58% | Number |
| Transcriptions | Whether or not I included typed entries in addition to pictures of the physical pages | Checked | Checkbox |
| Primary Location | Where was I for most of the time I spent journaling (I keep this general, particularly since I share my journals publically, but how general you want to make it is up to you) | North Carolina | Location |
| Paper Weight | The thickness of the paper used in the journal (e.g., 120 gsm) | 180 GSM | Number |
| Paper Type | The type of paper used in the journal (e.g., dot grid, lined, or blank | Dot-grid | Select |
| Brand | The brand of the journal used (e.g., Scribbles That Matter or self-made) | Self-Made | Select |
| Size | The size of the journal (e.g., B5, A5, Letter, etc.) | B5 | Select |
| Cover Type | What kind of cover does the journal have (e.g., laminated, vinyl, cloth, etc.) | Vinyl | Select |
| Style | The style that the journal is, (eg., hard cover or spiral bound) | Hard Cover | Select |
The other two databases (Entries and Physical Pages) are used as linked properties. This allows each page to have two tabs: one with a list of entries corresponding to the journal the page represents and one with a gallery view of physical pages corresponding to the journal.
Entries
The entries database contains documents representing entries in the journal. Each document contains a transcript of the text found in the journal along with a tab allowing me to view the physical pages of the entry. Metadata for these entries contain information that make it easier to search the database for information.
| Property | Description | Example | Notion Property Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | The title of the entry | Matthew's Genealogy | Text |
| Journal Title | Reference to the journal containing the entry | The True Vine | Relation |
| Entry Daye | The date the entry was written | January 3, 2026 | Date |
| Summary | Meant to contain a summary of the entry (AI based, but I haven't paid for the AI feature) | - | AI Text |
| Page Type | Type of entry (e.g., Bible Study, Person Study, Word Study, Sermon Notes, etc.) | Bible Study | Single Select |
| Topics Covered | Topics covered in the entry (e.g., salvation, forgiveness, parables, etc.) | Genealogy | Multi Select |
| People Discussed | People discussed in the entry (I use this for Bible-related studies, you could use it for a book journal potentially, but probably wouldn't be useful otherwise | Abraham, Messiah, David, Ruth, Boaz, Solomon | Multi Select |
| Bible Chapters Discussed | Books and chapters discussed in the entry, which can be used for filtering (e.g. "Matthew 1") | Matthew 1 | Multi Select |
| Places Discussed | Places discussed in the entry (e.g. Israel, Egypt, etc.) | - | Multi Select |
| Places Discussed | Places discussed in the entry (e.g. Israel, Egypt, etc.) | - | Multi Select |
| Mood | (OPTIONAL) The mood I was in when I wrote the entry | - | Text |
| Location | (OPTIONAL) Where I was when I wrote it (I don't usually use this, but when I do, I keep in general, not specific location since my entries are public) | - | Location |
| Weather | (OPTIONAL) The weather at the time of writing the entry | - | Text |
| Page Number | Page number for the first page of the entry | 9 | Number |
| Number of pages | The number of pages in the entry | 2 | Number |
| Volume | Sometimes my physical journal requires multiple journals, which I refer to in sequence (Volume 1, Volume 2, etc.); this property is for that information | 1 | Number |
Physical Pages
This database is meant to house images of each page in a the journal. Each page is linked to both the journal and the entry it corresponds to. These pages are meant to preserve any art or fonts on the pages. Since they are linked to entries which contain metadata, only minimal properties are needed.
| Property | Description | Example | Notion Property Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal | Linked property containing a reference the journal this page is found in | The True Vine | Relation |
| Entry | Linked property containing a reference to the entry this page is part of | Matthew's Genealogy | Relation |
| Page Number | The page number of the page in the physical journal (used for sorting) | 9 | Number |
| Uploaded Date | The date the image was uploaded to the database (optional) | January 2, 2026 | Date |
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