Good, but…sync is a kluge and a step backwards

Simply as a journaling app this is probably the best out there. That said, I’m going to need to pile on with others who are frustrated with their new, home-grown sync process. If sync’ing across devices and Macs is not something you need then you can ignore my comments. But a primary reason for me using Day One in the first place was that I could use either of my two Macs as well as my iPad and iPhone to capture thoughts, events, whatever. Now every other multi-platform syncing app that I use (and I have a bunch) automatically syncs when I open it if not in the background. Day One Classic did this just fine - it was great. Apparently not with Day One 2 for Mac. With Day One 2 for Mac, every time you start the app on your Mac you (apparently) need to go into preferences and sign in again. And this isn’t only across reboots of your Mac. Every time I close and then re-open Day One 2 on my Mac I need to go into Preferences and sign in - again. If I don’t forget to do this then any entries I make will not be sync’d until at some later point I remember to reopen the app and re-sync. So let’s imagine that it is first thing in the morning I am sitting at my personal Mac at home and I have a brainstorm of a new idea for work. I quickly open Day One 2 and capture my thoughts/ideas. Then I head off to work where I open my Mac at work or my iPad where I expect to find all the ideas I captured that morning. Oh no. I forgot to go into the Preferences dialogue and Sign In so it didn’t sync. Really?! Apps that use iCloud sync. automatically. Dropbox syncs automatically. OneNote syncs automatically. Evernote syncs automatically. 2DO syncs automatically. And just to be sure, each of these had a manual sync button readily avaiable should you feel the need to be sure something sync’d. IF syncing matters to use, this is a real pain and, IMHO, something that the Day One folks messed up. They had something that worked well. They added the ability to do multiple journals which is great and the only reason I have giving them stars. But they took a major step backwards with their sync stuff. Boo.

Dan in Denver about Day One