MyJournal.Notebook Add-In for OneNote: Journaling Made Easy

Art Trenton — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:10:00 +0000

Why should I keep a journal?

I have a two word answer to that question: "information overload." Keeping an electronic journal helps you fulfill Bill Gates' promise of "Information At Your Fingertips".

Yeah, I know, you may say this is ancient history but developing good habits never goes out of style.

As an IT professional, I replaced my paper journal with Microsoft OneNote. To me, the main benefit I found was it's searchable. This helped me quickly locate important technical information.

Taking the time to document your day-to-day activities pays big dividends in helping to keep you better organized.

How does the MyJournal.Notebook add-in for OneNote work?

OneNote uses a hierarchical structure to organize its notebooks:

1) Notebook
2) Section Group
3) Section
4) Page

The add-in automates the creation of this structure with one button click.

1) Notebook

Name: My Journal
Type: Directory
Location: Documents » OneNote Notebooks » My Journal

2) Section Group

Name: Year (4-digit YYYY format)
Type: Directory
Location: Documents » OneNote Notebooks » My Journal » YYYY

3) Section

Name: Month (MMMM format; OneNote revision store .one file)
Type: File
Location: Documents » OneNote Notebooks » My Journal » YYYY » MMMM.one

4) Page

User configurable settings for the notebook page:
- Color: Sixteen background color selections from the OneNote page color palette
- Title: Nine different date format styles to provide either a business or personal look and feel
- Rule Lines: Four rule line styles
- Template: Four page template styles
  - Default (business)
  - Bullet (business)
  - OrdinalDay (personal — see example below)
  - HappyDay (personal)

Where can I find the MyJournal.Notebook add-in?

Check out my GitHub Repo:

atrenton / MyJournal.Notebook

My Journal Add-In for Microsoft OneNote

Postscript: What if I have an Office 365 subscription or Office 2019, but don't have OneNote 2016?

Check out this Microsoft FAQ for more information: Frequently Asked Questions about OneNote and Office 2019