# Can you recommend a free "daily journal" software for Windows?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 21, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619 "2009-10-21T16:07:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/1 "2009-10-21T16:07:27Z")
I am having some health issues (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.) I have decided to try to track my daily ups and downs to see how well treatment is working and to see if any patterns exist that may help my doctor and me continue treatment. (Yesterday was good, and I didn’t need my optional meds, today I needed something, but feel good now.)
I started to write a quick little app to do this, but then I thought that maybe there is already something out there, and why reinvent the wheel?
If you are using something and like it, please recommend it.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/2 "2009-10-21T16:25:57Z")
What features do you want that aren’t readily available in Notepad or whatever wordprocessing software (such as Word) that you already have? You could easily create a doc and link to it from your desktop and just add to the doc every day.
Not trying to be snarky, just let us know what features you want. Do you need an app to remind you to write every day? Do you need it to have a calendar to act like an index? Do you need to be able to have some sort of icon and/or color-coding system so you can quickly see ups and downs?
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/3 "2009-10-21T17:45:17Z")
You might try a tiddlywiki. It’s simple to use and easy to customize. There’s a lot of plug-ins and such for it to get it exactly how you want.
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/4 "2009-10-21T20:59:54Z")
I use OneNote. I love it and highly recommend it but it’s not free.
You might consider Evernote -
> **[Best Note Taking App - Organize Your Notes with Evernote](https://evernote.com/)**
>
> Our note taking app helps you capture and prioritize ideas, projects and to-do lists, so nothing falls through the cracks. Start your free trial today!
It’s an online journal/note taking site. It’s free and very easy to use.
Another option might be to set up a Spark people profile. Spark is about dieting and wellness, really, but they let you keep blogs and journal notes. Since this is a health journal you’re looking for, it might be good to tie it in with a food & exercise tracker?
[http://www.sparkpeople.com](http://www.sparkpeople.com)
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2009, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/5 "2009-10-23T10:36:38Z")
Great suggestions guys - thank you for taking the time to make them.
In the end I wrote something for myself. That way, as I decide on new requirements I can just implement them as needed.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-free-daily-journal-software-for-windows/514619/6 "2009-10-24T07:31:20Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> Great suggestions guys - thank you for taking the time to make them.
>
> In the end I wrote something for myself. That way, as I decide on new requirements I can just implement them as needed.
If you can handle it. I think that’s always the better choice.