Folders work well for the documents you deal with every day and one single file, or stickies, is all you really need for the quick notes you take down. However, if you try the same approach to do something such as keeping a log, things start getting messy, fast. You need a specialized tool, something that combines files and folders, with date stamps and keywords and links to other entries. It doesn't matter if you are keeping a diary, or keeping track of meeting for various projects and what was discussed in them, a specialized program will make the task much easier. Fortunately, such programs are not hard to find and there are a lot of choices out there, but none is as comprehensive as MacJournal.

What it does
MacJournal is a dedicate journaling application. It lets you create, edit and manage journals with a very long list of features and options that range from the mundane to the highly specialized. Whether you use it for keeping a diary and blog entries, or for keeping a detailed account of your activity, MacJournal has everything you need.

Working with it
At the most basic level, MacJournal works with Journals and Entries. Journals are similar to Finder folders, in that they house entries and entries are similar to documents that contain whatever you want to place in them. Using these two basic elements, you can keep a very complex record, structured into categories and subcategories each housing hundreds of entries that are time stamped.

While Journals are quite plain, being little more than a name and a color label, entries can contain pretty much everything. Besides text, which will most likely make up the bulk of your entries, you can also add images, tables, lists and even sounds. In fact, the program comes with a built in sounds recorder so that you can record voice entries to add to any entry whatsoever. Beside what the entry itself can hold, you can also link to external resources. These can be truly external, such as web links and e-mail address links, or simply other entries, through a wiki-like system.

The date is also very important and every entry is automatically linked to a date, letting you keep a very precise chronological record without ever even trying. You can easily see entries in a chronological order, or see all the entries that were created on a certain day.

Everything is connected
Besides letting you keep a great journal inside the confines of its window, MacJournal will also help you when it comes to getting it to the world. Whether you need to backup, blog, podcast, mail, or print from your journal, this program makes it as easy as it can be.

Besides making backups, MacJournal also lets you sync your journal to your .Mac account so that it is safe and easily accessible. Furthermore, you can export both journals and entries in a variety of formats so that they may be used in other applications. It doesn't just export the core of your entries; it also exports things such as keywords, topics and annotations and can create one file per entry for easier management.

Next up, each journal can be associated with a blog, and from that point on, entries become very easy to publish, directly from the program into said blog. The entry will automatically be formatted accordingly and any additional information will be sent along. Should you happen to prefer sound to text, MacJournal not only lets you record sound directly into entries, but also lets you publish it easily. With the same program you get to easily manage both your activity but also your blog and your podcast.

Last but not least, MacJournal lets you easily send the information across e-mail.

Extras
MacJournal is packed full of little options that don't do much by themselves but really do add up. These little options range from insert functions that let you quickly place things like dates, links and the name of the song you are currently listening to, clean-up functions that let you remove mail quotes, HTML tags, as well as change the case of an entire block of text in one go and statistics that show you the numbers related to your entries and journals as well as the most commonly used words, to the Taco that gives you humorous quotes on demand.

MacJournal is so full of options and features that you probably won't ever get to use them all.

The Good
Packed full of everything you need in order to keep a journal, easily export to your blog or podcast and everything else in between.

The Bad
When your journal grows and especially when you add a lot of non-text content, things start getting a bit slower. Other than that, everything is simply great.

The Truth
MacJournal is simply great. It has everything you could possibly need from this kind of application.

Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge: