PIM Review: Journler

Note: This is the second in a series of posts that compares Journler, Together and Evernote in a PIM faceoff for Macs. The first post can be found here.

I’ve been using Journler since 2003. It’s been the one app without which I could not be successful in my work.

Phil Dow, developer of Journler, describes the app like this:

Journler is a daily notebook and entry based information manager. Scholars, teachers, students, professors, scientists, thinkers, the business minded and writers of every persuasion use it on a daily basis to connect the written word with the media most important to them.

In its native form, Journler is a date-based filing system. But it doesn’t take users very long to realize that you can use Journler just about any way you like. And that is what makes Journler so powerful: You can customize it to fit your needs, your workflow, your way of thinking.

This is Journler “out-of-the-box”, so to speak. It doesn’t inspire me, but it’s not ugly. But as I said above, Journler is highly customizable. Here’s what my Journler looks like:

As you can see, I stole a bit from Together because I like being able to see what kind of items I have in my Journler. (This was done by using smart folders. In fact, pretty much every folder you see is a smart folder. Nesting the smart folders makes it easy.)

Where Journler shines

Here’s some of Journler’s more powerful features:

1. Online community. Journler has a strong user community in its forum. Few questions go unanswered. Because Journler has such a strong fan-base, it’s not just the developer answering the questions. It’s users troubleshooting problems, relaying how they use Journler and idea sharing among other users.
2. AppleScript Support. Of any of the PIMs available, I would argue that Journler has the best ApppleScript support. And you can find a variety of scripts from the above-mentioned community.
3. Smart Folders. This is becoming more and more the norm among most PIMs, such as Together, but others still lack it, such as Evernote. (Evernote, which I’ll review later, uses Saved Searches instead of nested folders.) The best implementation — and earliest for a PIM — is by far Journler, in my opinion. Using tags and smart folders (not to mention customized icons), you can turn Journler into just about any kind of repository you so desire.
4. Content handling. Getting things into Journler is really no easier than Together and Evernote, but you have more options upon importing or creating notes to add tags, comments and categories in the initial step. Too, with Journler, you can choose if you want to store or link to items, which is not revolutionary compared to Together but superior to Evernote. Furthermore, you can store absolutely any kind of file in Journler, edit the file in its native application and then all changes be reflected. Both Evernote and Together offer similar functionality.
5. Lexicon and Search. The search capabilities for Journler are superb. But what sets it apart is the Lexicon, which allows you an “itemized” list of every word used in your notes. It’s a brilliant way to search.
6. iLife integration. Again, Journler was early to the game with iLife integration. Neither Evernote nor Together match Journler is this aspect.

Shortcomings of Journler

All in all, I’m pleased with Journler and have been happy with it as my PIM. But as my work evolves, and as Journler ages, I’m beginning to find a few troubling shortcomings. Here’s where I believe Journler falls short:

1. Syncing. Journler offers no native syncing across different machines. I’ve used DropBox as a workaround, but it gets tricky. You can have Journler open on only one machine at a time or you risk losing information.
2. Interface. While you can customize Journler in just about any way, limitations exist. For example, you can only get horizontal views of your Journal entry list (i.e. Mail.app). I prefer a vertical view so I’m not forced to open individual notes in separate windows or tabs.
3. iPhone app. There is no iPhone app and no plans for one on the horizon. Increasingly I’m needing the ability to add data or review data from my phone. While this is not a deal-breaker by any means, all things being equal I would prefer a PIM with an iPhone app.

Finally, what discourages me the most about Journler is that its programmer seems to be slowing down his development. A new release has been promised for some time, but Dow has given users no real idea of when it will hit.

Recapping the review

Journler is highly customizable, offering users the opportunity to craft a PIM that meets their demands and preferences instead of molding one’s workflow around the app itself.

Journler’s biggest limitation for some users is the inability to sync across multiple computers. And given the developer’s recent lack of work on the application, many will find it a risky choice if Journler is to be their repository for important information going forward.

Journler costs $34.95 for a single license, $19.95 for a student license and $99.95 for 5 licenses.

Tagged as: journler, organizer, pim