The OneNote Daily Journal PowerToy permits a user to quickly jump to date-organized pages in OneNote, creating them as needed.

Motivation
Many people like to keep a daily work log, journal, or "Daily Record of Events" (in FranklinCovey parlance).  With its powerful note features, a hierarchical binder metaphor, search capabilities, note flags, and ink support on Tablet PCs, OneNote is ideal for this task in many ways.  However, navigation to a designated journal page can require several mouse clicks, particularly if you have previously navigated to other folders and sections within OneNote.  The Daily Journal PowerToy makes access to a journal page for the current day as effortless as the creation of a new Side Note.

Functionality
The OneNote Daily Journal PowerToy facilitates creation and navigation of date-organized pages in OneNote.  When the feature is invoked, it creates (if necessary) and displays a page in OneNote corresponding to today's date.  The first time that the Daily Journal is run on a given date, a new page will be created and displayed; on subsequent invocations on that same date, the previously-created page will be displayed.

For example, if on August 4, 2005 you press Windows+J on the keyboard, or click the icon in the notification area of the task bar and select Daily Journal, then OneNote will display the corresponding page for that day, e.g.:

The pages are created at {Notebook path}\Journal\2005\August\2005-08-04; that is, in the OneNote notebook path, there is a root folder (e.g. "Journal"), containing a subfolder named by year (e.g. "2005"), containing a section named by month (e.g. "August.one"), containing a page named by the date (e.g. "2005-08-04").  Since the pages for a month are grouped into a single file, and the files for a year are grouped into a folder, individual months and years can be archived easily as desired. User options are provided for specifying the root folder in which journal pages are created, and naming sections and pages (e.g. user-specified text with date format strings).

User Interface

1. Application Shortcut. The installer for the PowerToy creates an icon for setting the PowerToy options in the Programs menu.  After installing, click this shortcut to launch the PowerToy and set the options.
    
2. Hot key. The Daily Journal PowerToy can be launched with a keyboard hot key; this is selectable between Windows+J and Ctrl+Alt+J in the Options dialog box.  The hot key can be used on a system-wide basis, regardless of the current application; it resembles the Windows+N (to create a new Side Note) and Windows+S (to create a screen clipping) hot keys currently offered by OneNote.  If you do not wish to use this hot key, uncheck the "Use Windows+J hot key to invoke" in the Options dialog box. Additional key bindings can be created using third party application launchers and the command line parameters listed below.
    
3. Task bar. The PowerToy can optionally sit as an icon in the notification area of the Windows task bar, where it can be controlled with the mouse (double click or right click).  When the icon is double-clicked, the Daily Journal feature is run.  When the icon is right clicked, a context menu is displayed with the following options:

   

   • Daily Journal runs the Daily Journal feature for today's date.
   • Journal for Date… displays a monthly calendar, bolding the dates for which there are corresponding Daily Journal pages.  Clicking a date will navigate OneNote to the Daily Journal for that date.
   • Options... displays a dialog box for setting the PowerToy's options.
   • Exit quits the application.
4. Command line. The Daily Journal function can be launched via the command line, so they can be invoked by scripts and shortcuts (e.g. ActiveWords, OrangeGuava, AutoHotKeys). Usage:
   
   OneNoteDailyJournal

   Launch silently and place an icon in the Windows Task Bar notification area.

   OneNoteDailyJournal /t

   Navigate OneNote to today's Daily Journal page.

   OneNoteDailyJournal /o

   Launch and display the options dialog box.

   OneNoteDailyJournal /d Date

   Navigate OneNote to the Daily Journal for a specified date.

5. GUI. If the OneNote Daily Journal PowerToy is launched with the /o command line parameter, or if the Options… menu item is selected from the application's context menu, an Options dialog box is displayed. The options are as follows:

   

   • Notebook folder name. Daily Journal sections and pages will be created in this folder, as described above. By default, this is a folder named "Journal" in the notebook root.
   • Name month sections and Name daily pages. These allow you to customize how month sections and daily pages are named. These use standard date "format strings" for the date and time settings for the computer.  Examples of these are:
     • M: the numeric value of the month (e.g. "8")
     • MM: the two-digit numeric value of the month, with a leading zero if needed (e.g. "08")
     • MMM: an abbreviation of the month name (e.g. "Aug")
     • MMMM: the full month name (e.g. "August")
     • d: the numeric value of the day (e.g. "1")
     • dd: the two-digit numeric value of the month, with a leading zero if needed (e.g. "01")
     • ddd: an abbreviation of the day of the week (e.g. "Mon")
     • dddd: the full name of the day of the week (e.g. "Monday")
     • yy: the two-digit year (e.g. "05")
     • yyyy: the four-digit year (e.g. "2005")

     The default for the month section is MMMM (the full month name), and the default for the daily pages is yyyy-MM-dd (the four digit year, followed by a dash, followed by the two-digit month, followed by a dash, followed by the two-digit day).

   • Use hot key to invoke. If checked, then a hot key will be enabled for launching the Daily Journal feature.  This is checked by default. The hot key is selectable between Windows+J and Ctrl+Alt+J.
   • Start with Windows. If checked, the OneNote Favorites PowerToy will automatically start when Windows starts.  This is checked by default.
   • Place icon in notification area of taskbar. If checked, the icon will be displayed in the notification area of the Windows taskbar, as described above.  This is checked by default.

License
The OneNote Daily Journal PowerToy is released as freeware. There's no formal support, but we'll do our best via email and the TabletDev forums. No warranties expressed or implied, etc.

Download
Download the application here:

OneNote Daily Journal PowerToy v1.1 (MSI, 363KB)

Feedback
Please give us your feedback about this PowerToy: comment in the forums, or drop us an email at . Enjoy!

Revision History

v1.1 (2008-01-08): Rebuilt for compatibility with OneNote 2007.

v1.0.1 (2005-11-08): Minor updates:

• Changed the icon to launch the journal page on a single click, instead of a double click.
• Added option for a Ctrl+Alt+J hotkey, instead of a Windows+J hotkey.
• Fixed minor bugs: removed from Alt+Tab application list, fixed spurious gray rectangle on desktop.

v1.0.0 (2005-11-04): Initial release.