01 · Journal overview
Your journal at a glance
Start a thought, narrow the journal to what you need, or revisit an entry. Search, dates, entry types, source filters, public links, and letters can all work together. Your selected layout stays with you.
The journal keeps writing controls close and older thoughts easy to scan.
- Start a new entry
- Filter or search your journal
- Open an entry and its actions
Search and dates
Search titles, writing, quotes, and letter text, then narrow the result to a date range.
Entry and source filters
Show journal writing, imported sources, a particular entry type, active public links, or letters.
Three layouts
Cards are spacious, timeline groups writing by day, and compact makes a large journal faster to scan.
02 · Writing
Capture the thought first
Choose the kind of entry, add a title and as much—or as little—detail as you want. Photos and links can live beside the writing without making the editor feel crowded.
The editor uses the same focused flow on a desk or a phone.
- Choose the kind of entry
- Write in plain text or Markdown
- Add a photo or use the phone camera
- Save when the thought is ready
ReflectionLonger thoughts and journal writing
NoteSomething useful to remember
MomentAn event or memory worth keeping
PrayerA prayer, intention, or spiritual reflection
BookmarkA link with your own notes beside it
Quote / VerseA quotation or Scripture passage with your reflection
03 · Writing
Format with Markdown
Plain text works as-is. Markdown adds structure when you want emphasis, a list, a quotation, or a link. Normal line breaks are kept, and a blank line starts a new paragraph.
What you write
## What I noticed
**Gratitude** changes the shape of a day.
- Call Mom
- Send the photograph
> Pay attention to the ordinary.
[Read more](https://example.com)What appears
What I noticed
Gratitude changes the shape of a day.
- Call Mom
- Send the photograph
Pay attention to the ordinary.Read more
**bold**Bold
*italic*Italic
~~text~~Strikethrough
## HeadingHeading
- itemBulleted list
1. itemNumbered list
> quoteQuotation
[label](url)Link
04 · Reading
Scripture references become readable
References such as John 3:16 and Romans 8:28–30 are recognized in titles, paragraphs, headings, lists, and quotations. They become highlighted controls when the entry is displayed.
Click or tap
Open the passage in a focused overlay without leaving the journal. The built-in reading view displays the King James Version.
Right-click or press and hold
Open a menu of external Bible services and translations for that reference.
Choose your Bible links
In Account settings, select YouVersion, Blue Letter Bible, or BibleGateway and the translations you prefer.
05 · Private sharing
Send an entry as a letter
A letter privately shares one journal entry with specific people. It does not reveal the rest of your journal. The author may allow controlled forwarding, but a recipient can never turn a received or forwarded letter into a public link.
Choose the share button, then Send as private letter to address the entry to specific people.
- Open the private-letter workflow
- WriteStart with any journal entry.
- AddressOpen Share, choose Send as private letter, then select people or groups.
- Freeze and sendRecipients get one permanent snapshot of that entry.
Open On this letter to understand who shares the correspondence and ask for permission to write back.
- Recognize the sender and your private person tag
- Ask permission before sending your own letters
The sent version stays still
You can continue editing your own journal entry, but the recipient keeps the original frozen wording and photos. New recipients added later also receive that original version.
History is protected
Removing a sent entry deletes every undelivered copy, while copies already delivered remain in their recipients’ journals. If nobody received it, the frozen letter is deleted completely. Recipients can remove their own copy without affecting anyone else. Photos in a delivered frozen copy remain part of that copy, and the sender can compare a later edit with the version that was sent.
Forwarding stays private
The author can prohibit forwarding, allow it with their display name, or allow an anonymous forward. A forward becomes a new frozen version with an optional personal note and its own conversation. Every version stays together under one journal item—even if the chain eventually comes back to you. Comments, reactions, private tags, and saved personal details from the original do not follow it.
Know who is on the letter
Open On this letter to see the sender and the other recipients; your own name is omitted. People already in your address book use your private names and person tags. You can choose Ask to write beside someone when you need their permission to send them letters.
06 · Permission
People choose who may write to them
Adding a person alone sends nothing. When you are ready, ask for permission from their row on the People page, from a letter’s participant list, or by addressing your first letter to them. The request contains no letter content.
The People page keeps each directional writing permission visible without attaching it to a letter.
- Follow permission from To · invite through acceptance
- Ask when you are ready to write
- Ask to write
- Choose Ask on the People page or Ask to write in a letter’s participant list. The People row changes from To · invite to To · waiting.
- Accept
- The requester can send future letters. Any letters already waiting behind the request appear in the recipient’s journal.
- Decline
- The request is declined and its waiting letters remain unavailable.
- Stop letters
- Open the green From · ✓ badge on that person’s row to prevent new letters while keeping the existing correspondence. The relationship can be allowed again later.
- Block sender
- Open the From badge to prevent new letters and new access requests until you explicitly unblock the sender.
Use Can write to you above the People list to show only people whose incoming writing permission is currently allowed. Select a person’s row to edit their private details or delete them.
Permission is directional. Accepting someone’s request lets that person write to you; it does not silently approve the reverse direction.
When an account or verified email matches someone already in your People list, Letter Journal updates that private person instead of creating a duplicate. Account emails you did not enter are not revealed.
Stopping or blocking never removes letters that were already accepted.
Deleting a person erases the private name, nickname, email, person tags, and group memberships you stored. Letters already delivered remain available.
07 · Public sharing
Share one entry with a public link
The share menu can create a view-only page for a single entry. A visitor with the URL can read that page without signing in, but cannot browse your journal. Received and forwarded letters are never eligible for public links.
The connected-dots share button opens clearly labeled private-letter and public-link actions. It stays filled while a public link is active.
- Open public sharing
- Share with your device’s standard options
- Manage the active link
Private letter
For known recipients
- Requires an accepted sender relationship
- Appears inside the recipient’s journal
- Supports comments and reactions
- Preserves a permanent frozen copy
Public link
For anyone with the URL
- Opens without a Letter Journal account
- Shows only the shared entry
- Uses your device’s standard share options when available
- Can expire or be revoked
- Choose the share icon on your entry.
- Choose Public link for anyone to create or share the view-only link.
- When a public link is active, open Share and choose Manage public links to copy it, add an expiration date, or revoke it.
08 · Conversation
Keep the conversation with the letter
Letter participants can respond without moving the exchange to social media. Comments, threaded replies, and reactions stay attached to the frozen letter and are never copied into a forward.
This reminded me of the afternoon we talked on the porch.
ReplyI remember it too. Thank you for keeping this.
Comments and replies
Open the comments area below a letter, add a comment, or reply directly to someone. Notification links can highlight new replies and move between them.
Emoji reactions
Choose a reaction for a quick acknowledgment. Counts are grouped by emoji, and choosing your reaction again removes it.
09 · Updates
Know when something needs you
The bell in the journal header collects writing-permission requests, new letters, comments, replies, and reactions. Each person’s read state is tracked separately.
In-app notifications
Always available. Writing-permission notices lead to the exact relationship, while conversation notices return to the relevant letter and new activity. Dismiss all clears the bell’s current list without removing anything from the full notifications page.
Email preferences
Eligible accounts can enable email for new letters and for comments or replies in Account settings. The initial permission-request email remains an account-access message.
10 · Appearance
Make the page feel like yours
Switch between light and dark themes, choose how entries are arranged, and change the paper treatment. Your choices are remembered on this device.
Appearance controls are tucked away until you want them.
- Match the system or choose a theme
- Choose cards, timeline, or compact
- Select a paper treatment
- Make journal and guide text smaller or larger
11 · Taking your writing with you
Export without giving up privacy
Export the journal view you have assembled. Search, tags, source, entry-type, public-only, and letters-only filters carry into the PDF, and an optional date range uses whole days in your local timezone.
Choose the contents
Include photos by default, then independently choose whether threaded comments and grouped reactions belong in the document.
Choose the page
Classic produces a restrained reading layout. Handwritten uses Caveat lettering on warm, lined paper. A private preview shows up to four pages first.
Download privately
The complete PDF is generated as a private background job. Finished downloads expire after seven days.
Your journal stays scoped to you
Entries and private photos require your signed-in session. A letter exposes only its frozen copy to approved participants; a public link exposes only its one entry.
12 · Your phone
Keep Letter Journal on your Home Screen
Install Letter Journal from your browser for an app-like window and a familiar icon on your phone. There is no app store download, and your same account and journal are waiting when you open it.
Choose the kind of phone you want to use.
- Open Letter Journal in Safari
If you are in another browser, copy this page’s address and open it in Safari.
- Choose Share
Tap Safari’s Share button—the square with an upward arrow. Depending on your tab layout, it may be in the toolbar or inside the More menu.
- Choose Add to Home Screen
Scroll down in the Share sheet. If it is missing, choose Edit Actions and add it.
- Turn on Open as Web App, then tap Add
Letter Journal appears on your Home Screen and opens without Safari’s usual address bar.