Get the 2024 Paperlike

Free Digital Journal

Capture your thoughts, dreams, and daily reflections with our Free Digital Journal. A versatile space for mindful expression and creative introspection.

DOWNLOAD NOW Go Pro

2 iPads with the display of the journal in light mode

iPad with digital journal in light mode for the month of january

FREE YOUR MIND

Why you should start digital journaling

Journaling is more than just putting pen to paper.

It's a profound act of self-care and introspection. Through the art of journaling, you provide a canvas for your thoughts and emotions, creating a personal sanctuary for reflection and self-discovery.

It's a powerful tool to navigate the complexities of life, gain clarity on your goals, and cultivate mindfulness.

Whether you're looking to document daily experiences, start new habits, or track your moods and mental wellness, our Digital Journal serves as a trusted companion on your path to personal growth.

iPad with digital journal in light mode with January 6th on display

IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

Track habits & become healthier

Enhance the quality of your life through the transformative power of daily journaling.

Paperlike’s Digital Journal contains the following formats and journal templates:

Yearly Page
Monthly Page
Weekly Page
Daily Page
Habit Tracker & Mood Tracker
Monthly Summary Page

Our journal provides the tools you need to capture your thoughts, track your daily mood and habits, and reflect on the past month so that you can learn and grow.

Plus, because Paperlike’s Free Digital Journal is built with a minimalist and flexible design in mind, it’s easier than ever to create your own bullet journal, add digital stickers, and more.

ALWAYS WITH YOU

Journal anywhere, anytime

In the hustle of everyday life, traditional journals might get lost, but a digital journal ensures that your thoughts are captured and organized at your fingertips.

Unlike paper journals, you can customize your digital journal with a variety of fonts and colors to liven up your journal entries.

With hyperlinked PDF files, you have the power to customize, search, and revisit moments effortlessly.

Use your favorite digital journaling app, like Goodnotes, to switch between your iPad, iPhone, and Mac or Windows. The best apps even offer password protection, so you can make sure that you’re the only one reading your private thoughts.

It’s fast, easy, and accessible anywhere, anytime.

3 iPads with the digital journal on display in light and dark mode

GO PRO

Get Paperlike’s Pro Journal

Creating a journaling habit can enhance the quality of your life, but it’s easier to do when you use a digital diary tailored to your needs and style.

That’s why we’ve created multiple digital journal templates and included each in the Pro Journal.

Included, you’ll find:

Blank background
Lined background
Dot background
Grid background

Prefer to create your own digital bullet journal? The dot background is perfect for BuJo. Need a work journal? Use the grid background to include grids and charts. Choose a lined or blank background for a more traditional journaling experience.

Each background is available in light or dark mode, so you can choose the one that’s easiest on your eyes.

Start your transformative journey today with any of these journal options.

How to use Paperlike’s Digital Journals

Upload your journal to Goodnotes or Notability

Whether you’ve chosen to get the Free Digital Journal or the Pro Journal, here’s how to get started:

Download the digital journal PDF file to your iOS or Android device.
Import the new document into your preferred notetaking app. On iOS, you’ll use the Share feature to export your PDF.
Start journaling.

We update the journal twice a year, and we’ll notify you when there's a new version.

Join over 50,000 subscribers and stay in the loop. We send a few emails per month with reviews, tips, and other free goodies to help you improve the way you write, draw, and work with your iPad.

*If you're already subscribed, fill out the form to verify your email, then refresh the page to see the download link. If you have any issues seeing the form above, try turning off your adblockers and ensure you have cookies enabled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is your journal template fully editable?

For the most part, yes. The pages you’ll receive as part of your download are in PDF format, and they are hyperlinked.

You can customize the layout of your journal as you see fit by adding inserts, pages, and additional journal templates without affecting how the digital journal pages interact with one another.

What does the Free Digital Journal include?

Our free journal contains the following formats and templates:

Yearly Page.
Monthly Page.
Weekly Page.
Daily Page.
Habit Tracker
Mood Tracker.
Monthly Summary.

All of the pages are linked together using hyperlinks, so navigation is fast, simple, and easy when using your favorite notetaking app.

What does Paperlike’s Pro Journal include?

Our Pro Journal contains eight different, user-friendly journals to cover all your needs, including:

Blank background.
Lined background.
Dot background.
Grid background.

Choose from light or dark mode on any of these journals, and find the one that suits your personal journaling style to get the most out of it.

What’s the difference between the Digital Journal and the Digital Planner?

Paperlike’s Digital Journal is meant for thoughtful reflection and acts as a sanctuary for thoughts, feelings, and memories. The daily pages feature a large space to fill out however you’d like and a panel along the bottom with your habit, mood, and weather trackers.

Paperlike’s Digital Planner was designed to help you organize your life. It features yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily planning pages so that you can map out your top priorities, task lists, big events, and more.

These productivity tools are the perfect complement to each other.

How does the Digital Planner complement the Digital Journal?

The Digital Planner seamlessly enhances your journaling experience by providing structured schedules, goal-setting tools, and task organization.

While the Digital Journal captures your thoughts and reflections, the Digital Planner empowers you to translate those insights into actionable plans.

Together, they create a harmonious synergy, ensuring a comprehensive approach to productivity, organization, and personal growth.

Can you add X thing (meal planner, digital stickers, planning templates, etc.)?

We have plans to continue expanding and evolving Paperlike’s Digital Journal over time, and newer versions may include these features.

However, we don’t have a clear timeline for the next release.

We do offer a Groovy Productivity Sticker Pack that you can download to use with your journal right here.

We also include extensive planning pages in our Free Digital Planner that you can use to fully map out and plan your year. It’s a great companion to our journal.

Depending on your notetaking app, you may even find some built-in stickers and templates that you can add to your journal. Each app offers something different, but they also offer extra features, like allowing you to set up notifications to remind you to journal.

Other than those few things, we’d recommend supplementing and customizing your journal with additional pages as you see fit. Simply insert them into the desired location to use with your planner.

Is Paperlike’s Digital Journal dated or undated?

We offer a digital journal with pre-formatted and pre-linked dates. With undated journals, you’d have to write in each date manually, so we’ve done the heavy lifting for you.

The big plus with undated journals is that you can reuse them over and over again — but, whether you choose our Free Digital Journal or the Pro Journal, our journals will be updated and emailed to you each year, so you’ll always have an up-to-date calendar to start your year off on the right track!

Does your journal work with any iPad?

Yes! You’ll receive a PDF file when you download the journal, and this file type is universally recognized by all iPad models and (most) notetaking apps.

Depending on the model (iPad Pro vs iPad Air/mini/etc.), the journal may not be a perfect fit for your screen dimensions, but it should function equally well across all devices.

Your digital journal PDF is even printable if you’d like to have a paper journal on hand as well.

Why should I use a digital journal instead of an app like Day One or Daylio?

Choosing a digital journal over dedicated apps like Day One or Daylio offers unparalleled flexibility and personalization.

Most standalone apps require you to type out your entries and many only have a few short prompts or questions for you to answer.

Our Digital Journal allows you to type or handwrite in a variety of colors and fonts/pen types, while also giving you the space you need to collect your thoughts and feelings.

Do you have a tutorial for your journal?

Yes! An instructional overview of each page and how your journal pages are connected is included as part of your journal download.

The links in the journal don’t work. What’s wrong?

Notetaking apps like Goodnotes and Notability have two modes: ‘View Mode’ and ‘Edit Mode.’

If you're trying to click a link to go to a specific day, week, or month, and it's not working, chances are you are in ‘Edit Mode.’

Switch to ‘View Mode’ to enable hyperlinks, then switch back when you're ready to write.

Learn more about daily journaling

Want to get started with daily journaling? We’ve collected some tips and resources to help you. Even if you’re a veteran journaler, you might find some of these assets useful!

Daily journaling prompts

Create your own five-minute journal, or get really in-depth using these prompts.

I am grateful for...
What would make today great?
Daily affirmations.
Highlights of the day.
What did I learn today?
What was the most challenging thing I faced today?
What surprised me today?

Habit tracking ideas

Try any of these new habits.

Meditation: Did you do it? How many minutes?
Sleep: What time did you go to bed? How long did you sleep?
Exercise: What did you do? For how long?
Quit smoking: Write how many cigarettes you had or how many days you’ve been smoke-free!
Water: How many cups did you drink?
Quit complaining: How many times did you complain?
Be more thankful: How many people did you say thank you to today?

Use books as journaling inspiration

Reading a book with daily meditations before writing your daily journal is a great way to meditate on subjects that you'd otherwise not think about in your day-to-day life.

For example, you could read The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, which will give you a daily subject to meditate on. There are many more such books with short daily meditations.

Here are a few:

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday.
The Word according to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Ming-Dao Deng.

You can also find mobile apps in the Apple App Store that can provide you with ideas or prompts.

Here are a few good ones:

Jan Sapper
Founder and CEO

How I use the journal

I hope you enjoy the daily practice of journaling, and I'm confident that by the end of one year of doing it yourself, you'll see how immensely valuable it is.

I do a yearly review after finishing the journal, so I can find habits that I need to improve or enjoyable things that I hadn't thought I appreciated that much.

If you haven't started journaling daily, this is your chance to get this great habit going.

‍‍Get your Free Digital Journal