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Day One Templates Using Launch Center Pro

Update (2014-07-07): Coffee Post Followup

Day One is a great system for journaling and note-taking. One of things I use it for is to keep track of the different coffees I buy and brew. Since this is something I track regularly, I’ve developed a method to pre-populate a Day One entry with a standard structure for my coffee journal. Here’s what it looks like:

Coffee Log

Day One Templates

Using an action to launch Day One with some pre-populated text, combined with prompts and the new list prompts, makes for an easy way to enter some structured content in your journal. Let me explain. The structure for the entry is stored in a Launch Center Pro action. Here’s what that looks like:

dayone://post?entry=%23coffee%20%23log%0A%0A%7CCoffee%7C%7C%0A%7C%3A---%7C%3A---%7C%0A%7COrigin/Name%7C[prompt:Origin/Name]%7C%0A%7CBrew%20method%7C[list:Brew Method|AeroPress|Chemex|Drip|Espresso|French Press|Pour Over|Other]%7C%0A%7CBrewer%7C[prompt:Who brewed it?]%7C%0A%7CRating%7C[list:Rating|★☆☆|★★☆|★★★]%7C%0A%7CNotes%7C[prompt:Notes]%7C

Each field in the table is a prompt, so when I’m ready to log my coffee, I launch this action, answer brief survey, and voila!

Origin Entry Method List Brewer Rating Notes Raw Markup

You’ll notice for the brew method and rating, I’ve used a list prompt. This works well since the answers come from a limited set. And the final frame shows the raw markup, which renders as a tidy table in Day One. This concept can be applied for any type of entry you’re creating on a regular basis that has a defined structure. The new Launch Center Pro prompts afford a nice front-end for text input. You can extend this idea for other notes you want to put into your journal, using Launch Center Pro as the mechanism for polling and input. For example, I have another action which is scheduled to launch every evening that asks me what I had for each meal of the day.

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22 thoughts on “Day One Templates Using Launch Center Pro”

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  3. Rob says:

    This is a great use of the two apps together, thanks! I’m finding though the the current release of day one leaves me with a black screen on the iPad after launching and accepting the new entry.

    Reply

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  15. laurence z. says:

    Ben,

    I know this is a very late response, but I have been trying to figure out a way to make a template that asks me certain questions( this is based upon my cancer therapy I am going thru). I hope that I can figure this out and use it as part of my day one journaling.

    any how thank you for doing this. it goes with out saying I will be modifying this template and hopefully I won’t make a mess of it.

    be well

    laurence

    Reply
  16. Jonty says:

    I’ve created a great daily review template based on your instructions. Well done! How do you go about analyzing all your results at a later date when they’ve all been entered as separate entries.

    Reply

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