Journals

A journal is a notebook inside a project: numbered, dotted A5 pages that you write on with Apple Pencil. Use it for a project diary, meeting notes or drafts. You create and write journals on iPad; Mac and iPhone show them read-only.

Create a journal (iPad)

1. In a project, choose New › New Journal…. You can also tap New Journal… under Journals in the sidebar, or the New Journal tile in the project overview.
2. Enter a name and choose Create.

The journal opens in full screen at page 1. To rename or delete it, use its context menu in the sidebar (Rename…, Delete Journal).

Write and turn pages

Only Apple Pencil writes. Your finger turns pages and never leaves marks.

• Landscape: you see a double page. As in a real book, page 1 is a right-hand page; on the left is the inside cover with the title and the index.
• Portrait: you see one page at a time. Turning the iPad keeps your page.
• Swipe sideways with your finger to turn pages, or use the arrows next to the page number in the toolbar.
• To add a page, swipe past the last page, or tap New Page on the empty right half of the last double page. Insert › New Page in the toolbar adds one too, and outside full screen so does New › New Page.

The toolbar floats over the pages and hides when you start writing. Tap the small handle at the top to bring it back. See Full Screen and Windows.

Pens, erasers and undo

• Pens: Fineliner, Fountain Pen, Pencil and Highlighter, each in three widths.
• Colors: black, blue, red, green and gray, plus any color from the color picker.
• Stroke Eraser removes whole strokes; Pixel Eraser removes only what it touches.
• Undo and Redo work per page.
• Your Apple Pencil squeeze and double-tap settings apply here too (see Sketches).

Select, make room, draw straight

• Select (the lasso at the left of the toolbar): draw around ink to select it, then move it or use the menu that appears. Choose a pen to go back to writing.
• Insert › Insert Space: then drag downward on the page from where you need room. Everything below moves down. One undo takes it back. Tap the highlighted button in the toolbar to go back to your pen.
• Ruler: shows a ruler for straight lines.

From handwriting to a card

1. Tap Selection to Card in the toolbar. iKanban takes the ink on the page and recognizes the handwriting.
2. Check the suggested title, edit it if needed and choose a list.
3. Choose Create Card. Nothing is created before that.

The card’s notes say which journal and page it came from, for example “Journal: Ideas, page 3”.

Page to Assistant (the sparkles button) sends the whole page to the Assistant, which can suggest several cards at once.

Page overview, titles and index

Pinch with two fingers as if zooming out, or tap Pages, to see all pages as thumbnails. Tap one to jump to it, or type a number in Go to.

On iPad, the context menu of a thumbnail offers Title & Bookmark…, Move Up, Move Down, Duplicate and Delete Page. Undo in the overview reverses these steps. Page numbers stay continuous.

Pages with a title or a bookmark appear in the index on the inside cover. Tap an entry to go to that page.

Export and share

The share button in the toolbar offers Export PDF… (all pages, with dots and page numbers) and Export Page as PNG… (the current page). On Mac you choose where to save the file. On iPad and iPhone, choose an export, then open the menu again and tap Share….

On Mac and iPhone

The Journals section appears only when the project has journals. You can turn pages (arrow buttons or swipe; on Mac also the arrow keys), open the page overview, export, and send a page to the Assistant, but you can’t write. A wide Mac window shows double pages; iPhone shows one page at a time.