Day One / Uses

This is an ongoing archive of the many use cases we’ve found for ourselves and that have been reported by our users. We hope this will inspire you to think of new ways you can incorporate Day One into your workflow and daily routine.

Uses I (@paulmayne) personally have for Day One:

Movie Log

Day One Tag: Movie I post the movie name as the first line, my (optional) review and description of who I was with, then I give the movie a rating from 1-10 on its own line. If at a theater, I select the Foursquare Place, and I typically attach a photo. Tag the entry “Movie” and I have a great log of all the films I’ve watched.

Food / Meal Log

I don’t log every single meal I eat, but anything that’s out of the ordinary, new or at a restaurant, I typically compose a basic description, photo and tag with #breakfast #lunch or #dinner. This can be especially interesting and useful when revisiting a restaurant and trying to remember the last time you were there and what you liked / disliked.

Travel Log

Day One Tag: TravelEach trip I take I tag all entries with a specific tag such as “Trip: Cancun 2013″ (we actually plan to add support for “Events” which will be special tags that can contain additional meta data such as a date range, location and more, but for now this solution works fine).

Word Processor

Since we added the printing / PDF support, I’ve been composing and producing all my regular formatted documents in Day One. I even produce all legal documents for new hires in Day One as I’ve found it to be the best editor for Markdown, my preferred format for writing and storing my documents.

Idea Log

This recent blog post, How to not get weighed down by ideas talks about how we have limited space reserved for everything we do or think up or imagine. The solution is to get the ideas out of your head by writing them down. I use Day One to get any idea out of my head quickly, tagged with “Idea”. I review these often, expand upon the details, but my mind is not clouded with trying to keep up with a new idea. I know it’s stored for me and available when I’m ready to think deeper about it. It allows me to focus.

Composing Email

If I’m writing a significant email, I often feel like it’s a relevant part of my day, my life and what I’m doing. Therefore I want it stored in my journal to help tell the full story of my life without the need to filter through a massive archive of my Gmail Archive. I also prefer to compose in Day One and using Markdown, so this is a natural place for my writings.
I also like the fact that I can start an email on one device and continue on another or on my desktop at any time, then send when its ready.

Location Log / Foursquare Check-in

Rather than check in with the official Foursquare app, I use Day One to retain my own data in my journal, while still having the benefit of sharing public (or private) location / place checkins. I can even include a photo if I like.

Work Journal

I log every phone call, meeting and major decision that’s made regarding my business (Day One) in Day One. This log has proven very useful to recall dates, times and the results of meetings.

Day One uses reported and blogged about by our users:

Fly Fishing Journal

How I use @dayoneapp and @TextExpander to create a FlyFishing journal – a bit of fishy, geeky loveliness!
— http://t.co/J89qj8Gpkm

Baby Book

The introduction of Printing / PDF has made this use case even more compelling.

So glad I stared using the @dayoneapp when Alwyn was born. Making #projectlife catch up much easier!
— http://instagram.com/p/RaB097Ssuj/

Goals

Photo Log / Instagram Replacement

For Everything

Kids and the whole family

My two older boys have iPod Touch devices and an iMac, and they enjoy logging significant events and happenings in their own Day One. And they love to show Dad. Often I will type for them as they tell me what to write.

“New house rule: The kids have to write in @dayoneapp before playing Minecraft.”
— Bart Whiteley (@bwhiteley) January 19, 2013

Twitter Replacement

Morning / Daily Routine

Evaluation / Life Perspective

Entire Life History

Medical / Medicine Tracking

Workouts / Dieting

Venting Frustrations

Private Projects

Prayer Journal

Various Blog posts and Tweets on Uses: