Gone are the days of using pen and paper to jot down everyday musings. In our present era, we have ample digital solutions to capture daily adventures and untangle the complexities of our minds. While there are dozens of journal apps out there, I prefer OneNote to keep my personal notes, thoughts, and digital journal in a single place. Although it’s not as feature-rich as dedicated journal apps, OneNote has more than sufficient tools and privacy options to create some digital diary magic.

In this post, I will go over step-by-step instructions to use Microsoft’s note-taking tool as a digital journal so that you can unleash your inner author and replicate the method in your OneNote account.

Create a separate notebook

I have created a separate notebook for my digital diary so that my personal thoughts remain separate from other notes. Here’s how to create one in your OneNote.

1. Open OneNote and glance over your notebooks on the left side. Select File at the top.
2. Click New, pick a location for your new notebook (select OneDrive to sync notes across devices), and select Create Notebook.
3. OneNote immediately creates a new notebook. You can view it in the sidebar.
4. Right-click on it to open notebook properties. You can change the color, display name, and glance over the current location in OneDrive.
5. You can also move your notebook up or down the list in your OneNote account.

Add sections and sub-sections

Now that you have created a notebook, it’s time to add sections and sub-sections to it. I have chosen to include years as sections, and have months as sub-sections, so that my daily entries remain organized. This way, I have a clear idea of where my daily notes are without thinking twice.

1. Head to your newly created notebook in OneNote.
2. Expand it and right-click on the default section. Select New Section Group. Rename it as 2024.
3. Select New Section and enter the name of a month. Repeat the same to add the other remaining months of 2024. You can right-click on any section to change its color.

Similarly, when we reach the end of 2024, you can create a new section for 2025 and enter the months as sub-sections. You can click the drop-down arrow to collapse all the sub-sections and create a simplified look on the sidebar.

Create pages for daily entries

Now you have successfully created a new notebook and added relevant sections and sub-sections to it. It’s time to fill them up with your daily entries next. By default, whenever you create a new note, OneNote automatically attaches today’s date and current time to your note. If you'd like, you can add the day name as the note title and get started.

OneNote editing toolbar

OneNote comes with a rich toolbar at the top to jot down the perfect daily note. You can change text type, size, color, and even use a highlighter tool to compose your notes. OneNote also offers a bunch of bullet styles, numbering library, and tags. Tags are an interesting option where you can add terms such as to-dos, important, question, highlight, address, idea, password, and other tags to your daily notes.

There is also an option to customize your tags and add new ones based on your preferences.

Handwriting tools

Do you prefer to jot down your daily notes with the convenience of a stylus? If you use OneNote on an iPad or a 2-in-1 device like the Surface Pro, use the steps below to compose hand-written notes.

1. Open OneNote and go to a relevant sub-section to create an entry.
2. Slide to the View menu and select your rule line and page color preference.
3. Move to the Draw tab and pick your preferred pen with color and thickness. You can also use a highlighter pen in your daily notes.
4. There is also an option to insert stickers into your daily notes.

Create templates for quick entries

Here is where OneNote truly shines over its rivals. You can create a custom template to reuse for your daily notes, and employ it to quickly jot down your thoughts. I have created a template where I have added several common questions about how my day went, and multiple check boxes to track my routine. You can add your own custom questions and save the page as a journal template.

1. Open OneNote and create a new note. Enter several headers, as shown in the screenshot below.
2. You can also add check boxes to track your daily habits.
3. Once your common note is ready, move to the Insert menu and open Page Templates.
4. Click Save current page as a template. Enter template name and select Save.
5. From now on, you can simply head to Insert > Page Templates menu and select your daily template to start writing a note.

You can check out our post below to find more useful OneNote templates.

Password-protect your personal diary

Your digital diary has personal notes, and they should be protected from prying eyes. Thankfully, there is an option to password-protect an entire section.

1. Launch OneNote and right-click on a sub-section that you want to lock.
2. Select Password Protect This Section.
3. Select Set Password.
4. Enter your password and confirm it. Select OK.

It is very important that you make sure to save your password to a password manager. Microsoft can’t help you if you forget your password.

Advantages of creating a zen digital journal in OneNote

Are you still of two minds about using OneNote as a digital journal? It comes with numerous benefits.

• Cross-platform availability: Unlike other apps like Apple Journal or Day One, OneNote is accessible on all the platforms. Whether you use Windows, Mac, iPhone, or Android, you can check and create your daily notes anytime and anywhere.
• Price: All OneNote features are free to use. You only need to pay for OneDrive storage when you hit the 5GB limit.
• Features: OneNote is packed with useful functions to craft any type of daily note.

From brain dump to beautiful journal

If you feel that your daily thoughts deserve a more beautiful home, explore OneNote as a digital journal. It’s surely an unsung hero of the Microsoft 365 suite, and its versatility never fails to amaze me. OneNote also offers robust collaboration tools so that you can share your digital diary with loved ones seamlessly.

If OneNote isn’t your cup of tea, there are sufficient OneNote alternatives to explore. Check out our separate guide to find the top modern note-taking alternatives to Microsoft OneNote.