The Journal Newsletter
Introduction
Welcome to August 2010!
For those of you interested in anniversaries: 10 years ago this month I sent out the first newsletter for The Journal. You can check out that first issue here:
The Journal Newsletter – August 2000
According to the “How I Use The Journal” article that I wrote back then, I had 29 total categories, 11 of those active. Today, I have 97 total categories, 61 of them active. Which seems like a lot all of a sudden.
I was pleased to see that the first Tip in that first newsletter (“Faster Daily Entry Browsing”) is still valid, even though I was writing for The Journal 2 at that time. How to change the default category font, though, is different (easier) today than it was then (click on the “Category” menu and choose “Change Default Font for <category name>…”).
In that spirit, this month’s Tip updates the old tip “Adjusting the Security Level of The Journal” for The Journal 5.
Thank you for using The Journal!
Tips & Tricks
TIP: Adjusting the Security Level of The Journal
The Journal includes a number of security features to protect your entries, including password locking and encryption. However, like most other features of The Journal, there are several ways these can be set and adjusted.
User Password
- You can change your password by clicking on the “User” menu, and selecting “Change User Password…”
- Don’t want a password? You can have a “blank” password simply by not entering anything into the “New Password” and “Confirm New Password” fields. With a blank password, you can simply hit ENTER at the login prompt and you’re in.
- Don’t want The Journal to prompt you at all? On the “User” menu, select “Auto-Login”. After confirming your password, The Journal will automatically log you in when you start it. You can turn this option off by un-checking “Auto-Login” on the “User” menu again.
NOTE: Setting “Auto-Login” automatically clears the “Lock on Minimize/Hide” option (see below).
Category Passwords
- You can set a separate password for a particular category. Right-click on the category tab and choose “Category Properties…” You can set the category’s password on the “Security” tab.
- The category password can be prompted either once per session, or every time the user clicks on the category’s tab to bring it up.
Locking/Hiding
- You can “hide” The Journal quickly by pressing Ctrl+J. If you someone walks up while you’re typing, you can use Ctrl+J to hide The Journal, without having to use your mouse to click the “Minimize” button. You can bring The Journal back just as quickly with the global hot-key Ctrl+Alt+J.
- You can have The Journal lock itself when you hide it, prompting you for the password before you’re allowed to open it again. Click on the “User” menu, choose “User Preferences”, and check out the options on the “Security” tab. “Lock on Minimize/Hide” locks The Journal if you minimize or hide it, or if The Journal “idles” past a certain length of time (see below).
- The Journal can also “idle out” if you want it to. For instance, if you walk away from your PC and forget to minimize The Journal, it will automatically minimize, hiding your entries, after so many minutes of nothing happening. It’s similar to how a screensaver works. On the “Global” tab of “User Preferences”, check the “Auto-Minimize if Idle for” option, then set the number of minutes.
- Finally, you can set The Journal automatically minimize when it loses keyboard focus (like when you switch to another application). In “User Preferences”, on the “Global” tab, check the option: “Minimize when The Journal loses focus”
Compression & Encryption
By default, The Journal compresses and encrypts the bodies of your entries. If you don’t require this level of security, and you want The Journal to be a bit more snappy when saving and loading entries, you can turn off one or both.
- Click on the “User” menu and choose “User Preferences”. Bring up the “Security” tab. Under “Entry Security”, select (or un-select) “Compress Entries” or “Encrypt Entries”.
NOTE: Changing these settings only affects new or updated entries. Existing entries are not automatically updated.
Submission Information
If you would like to contribute to the “How I Use The Journal”, “Writing Exercises”, or “Tips & Tricks” sections, or would like to submit an article about journaling, writing, or another The Journal-related topic, we would love to hear from you.
Submissions for the newsletter should be sent to: support@davidrm.com
If you are submitting for a particular section, please indicate which one. Try to limit your submissions to 500-1000 words. Submissions may be edited for length and content.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, please state this in the email. Otherwise your name (but not your email) will be used in the article heading.
As always, if you have any suggestions for, or bug reports about, The Journal, please feel free to email them. Both are always welcome.