MacJournal 5.2.7

Get it here.

This is a small bug-fix release for 5.2.6 to fix some of the issues discovered in that release and provide parity with the Mac App Store release. There are very few changes over the last beta. Thanks to everyone that tested the betas!

MacJournal 5.2.7b2

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This is the second beta of 5.2.7. There are some fixes for iOS device syncing, especially in the case of "Keep Both" conflict resolution. Also, any deleted entries on the Mac will be placed in the Trash instead of deleted immediately. There are a few other assorted fixes, including ones for dragging journals between documents, and display of the word count field and search options buttons in extreme situations.

Please let me know of any issues via email by using the Report Issue item in the Help menu. Thanks for testing MacJournal!

MacJournal 5.2.7b1

Get it here.

This is a small round of betas aimed at syncing up a release with an imminent Mac App Store release. There are a few fixes, including one for uploading movies to a blog and tag suggestions. Please let me know if you have any trouble with it.

MacJournal 5.2.6

Another release; more syncing fixes. On that front, the "system clocks are too different" warning has been modified to show up only with a 60 second difference or more. Even if it shows, you can also still continue with the sync. An issue preventing the Mac from showing up in the device list should also be fixed. There were some other sync issues that are fixed as well.

But it's not all syncing! There are fixes for Magic Mouse users, blog servers with self-signed HTTPS certificates, smart journals, and more.

Use "Check for Update" in MacJournal to get the new release and let me know of any issues you run in to.

MacJournal 5.2.6b2

Get it here.

There is an important fix in this beta: a fix for iOS devices that don't show a Mac you want to sync with on certain networks. The issue was in MacJournal, but it only presented itself on certain network configurations, so you may not have seen it. But if you were in a situation where the Mac didn't show up on your iPhone or iPad even though you're sure the two devices are on the same network, this could be the fix for you.

There are also some other fixes for rare crashes, blogging to servers with a self-signed HTTPS certificate, and others. Please let me know of any issues.

MacJournal 5.2.6b1

Get it here.

Another day, another series of betas. There are a few minor fixes in there, but if you're having trouble with the new "your clocks are too different" check with touch device syncing, this beta for you.

A word about this check: I had a conversation with a user a few weeks ago that was seeing consistent data loss—entries were getting deleted every time he synced. We traced this down to a difference in clocks between the two devices. MacJournal uses the modification dates of the entries compared to the date of the last sync to decide what to sync. If one machine thinks it's really 30 or 40 seconds later or earlier than it really is, the syncing can go awry because it might decide something should be deleted that really shouldn't. The check was meant to prevent issues like that. The threshold is set at 25 seconds in 5.2.5. This release extends it to 60 seconds and also allows you to continue syncing after seeing the warning. It's still important to keep your system clocks as close as possible (since there really is only one correct time and all of your computers should be as close as possible to that), but since so many people were syncing successfully even with incorrect system clocks, it seems like a good idea to re-enable that. Please give it a try and let me know if you're having problems syncing.

MacJournal 5.2.5b1

Get it here.

5.2.5 will be a smaller release than 5.2.4 and meant to address some issues in that release and some issues discovered with syncing the recent mobile releases. To that end, there is a fix for an error that can occur during syncing that some people with PDFs were seeing. There’s also a fix for blogging with PDFs. VoiceOver support is improved in the calendar and tab bar, as well as better international support. I also reverted behavior for the “shaded” days in the calendar to include just the entries in the current journal until I can work out a better way to accomplish what I was going for in 5.2.4.

Please let me know of any problems using the “Report an Issue” item in the Help menu. If everything looks okay here and no more mobile support is required, this should be reaching public release status soon.

MacJournal 5.2.4

As is my custom, I forgot about posting something about the final release. However, 5.2.4 came out a week or two ago. Going forward, there will likely be a 5.2.5 at some point soon, but as a much smaller release than 5.2.4. I will likely post a beta of it soon once I get fixes finalized, so stay tuned if you are interested. Please let me know if you have any problems with 5.2.4. Email or the Support Forums are the best route to get in touch. Thanks everyone for your help with 5.2.4!

MacJournal 5.2.4b6

Get it here.

“Synchronize” is now available when syncing with iOS devices for the first time. What happens is that if the data sets are completely distinct (as in created separately), they can be safely merged. If there is some overlap and some other issue causes the system to think the two devices have never synced before, a Replace sync will be necessary to restore good working order as before.

As a historical footnote, upgrading data from MacJournal 2.1 and before is supported once again.

MacJournal 5.2.4b5

Get it here.

Here is the next beta of MacJournal 5.2.4. This is an unofficial final candidate build. That is, I'm not expecting to have to change anything before the final public release. In terms of what has changed in this beta, a few bug fixes and a few syncing changes. Starting a sync with an iPhone will do a backup first (just like with MobileMe). The automatic sync behavior is on by default now, but you can disable it. MacJournal entry URLs are now created with their IDs instead of topics, making for greater stability if you rename the entries. Also, you can sort search results in the entries list and that sorting will be remembered separately.

Please let me know of any problems you have by emailing me.

Macjournal 5.2.4b4

Get it here.

It's another beta! This beta adds an explicit "Import from Journler" menu item in the File menu that does a much better job than dragging a specific folder into the sidebar ever could. It also fixes a regression in an earlier beta with creating links to entries and showing the status sheet for the daily backup. Holding down the Option key when clicking the back or forward buttons in the calendar will now jump a year in that direction. The "magnify" gesture to change text zoom is now off by default since it seem it got more accidental use than intentional. There are other changes, so check out the Version History when you get it and let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.2.4b3

Get it here.

This beta has some tweaks to blogging to support some new kinds of MetaWeblog servers. It will also allow you to specify how many entries to download from Blogger. There also some fixes for searching, syncing, and international calendars. Please let me know of any issues you have.

MacJournal 5.2.4b2

Get it here.

There are a few bug fixes and regressions fixed in this beta. There are also a few new (very minor) things included here. "More" tags for blogs will be automatically recognized and let through to the server, even if you have "Escape > and <" turned on. If you hold the Option key when connecting a touch device, you can choose to which document you'd like it to sync. I added a new debugging tool in the Help menu: a network log for seeing what is happening during blogging. There are also some improvements regarding touch device syncing: large syncs should do better now.

Please let me know of any problems, specifically regarding touch syncing. Please let me know if that got better or worse for you.

Macjournal 5.2.4b1

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This is the first beta of 5.2.4. It has more changes than seem evident in the UI, but there are a few changes that might help you. Line endings with Blogger are improved yet again. The right text margins when you have text zoom set to greater than 100% should also be fixed. There are some changes to wiki links, internationalization, and Services as well. Please try it out and let me know of any problems.

The best ways to report problems are with the Report a Bug menu item in the Help menu or the MacJournal Support Forums. Make sure to include what version of MacJournal you are using.

MacJournal 5.2.3

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My apologies for the rapid-fire release but a bug was discovered for dealing with line breaks and I wanted to keep that working for all users and I'll be away from email for a few days so it was now or a while from now. One or two other bugs were fixed, including one with editing the top-level entry template in the Inspector.

MacJournal 5.2.2

Get it here.

This is a small bug-fix release for 5.2.1 to fix some issues with iPhone syncing and Tiger compatibility. There are also improvements to blog downloading, entry linking, and image scaling.

MacJournal 5.2.2b2

Get it here.

This beta has improvements for iPhone syncing and blogging. Please try it out and let me know of any problems before the final release.

MacJournal 5.2.2b1

Get it here.

This is a small bug-fix release for 5.2.1 to fix some of the issues discovered in that release. There are fixes for syncing with iPhones as well as a fix for launching on Tiger. There are fixes in a lot of different places, so check out the version history and let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.2.1

Get it here.

Note for Tiger users: after the release, an issue was found that prevents launching on most Tiger machines. 10.4 users should continue to use 5.2 until a fix is released.

This was actually released about a week ago, but I neglected to do a post here. Please check it out and let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.2.1b6

Get it here.

At this point, I think all the issues that are going to be fixed in this release have been fixed so far. This beta is to get some of those fixes since the last beta out there for a little while before the final release, which should hopefully be this week. Since the last beta, there have been fixes for mobile syncing, aliases and smart journals, and improvements to the Quick Note window. Please let me know of any problems via email, the "Report a Bug" menu item in MacJournal, or the Support Forums.

MacJournal 5.2.1b5

Get it here.

This will likely be the last beta release for 5.2.1. This includes a fix for an issue where crash logs for MacJournal for iPhone would show up in the crash reporter each time you launch MacJournal, no matter what you chose to do last time. There are some other fixes for syncing with the mobile version, as well as some fixes for smart journals and entries with tables. Please let me know of any issues.

MacJournal 5.2.1b4

Get it here.

After this week's release of MacJournal for iPhone, an issue arose with getting the initial sync between the phone and the Mac set up. It varied based on network conditions, but some users saw it consistently. This beta should fix that issue. Please let me know if you see any problems getting syncing started using this beta.

MacJournal 5.2.1b3

Get it here.

This build fixes some small issues with smart journals, improves support for Boolean operators while searching, and a few small other UI issues.

MacJournal 5.2.1b2

Get it here.

This build fixes some issues people were seeing with templates disappearing. It also changes tabs behavior a bit to reduce confusion: selecting an entry that already is a tab somewhere won't switch to that tab anymore. There are also improvements for export, AppleScript, link detection, separate editing windows, and more. Check it out and let me know of any issues.

MacJournal 5.2.1b1

5.2 came out a little over a week ago and 5.2.1 fixes a few small bugs found in that release. Download it now. Among the useful changes, PNG images will upload to blog servers and look better. Configuring new Picasa settings should work better now. Spell checking should work better in Full Screen. There are a few other small changes, which you can check out in the Version History item in the Help menu.

If you have any issues in this release, please email me as soon as possible as this release will hopefully have a much shorter cycle than 5.2.

MacJournal 5.2

It's finally here! Use the Check for Update item in MacJournal or head to Mariner to get the final release. The major new features with 5.2 are support for the iPhone version, downloads of more than 50 entries for LiveJournal, automatic backups for non-main documents, better UI for setting default font and color, fixes for Quick Note with Spaces, improved compatibility with non-Blogger Atom servers, and, as always, fixes for MobileMe syncing.

If you have a question or an issue, please consider visiting the support forum or using the "Report an issue" item in the Help menu in MacJournal. Thanks!

MacJournal 5.2b13

Get it here.

This beta encapsulates some changes I made that I wanted to get out before the final release. I will likely finalize the final release Tuesday night or Wednesday, so please let me know if you have any issues sooner rather than later. There are some tweaks to HTML export, the first-launch experience is fixed, and the "Save As" menu item will now worked more as expected when used on the main document. There is also a workaround for a crash in the OS with URL caching. Please let me know of any troubles.

MacJournal 5.2b12

Get it here.

Mostly assorted small updates in this one. There's a "Reveal in Finder" button in the Advanced Preferences to show the current main data file in the Finder (which will help me with support). For Leopard or Snow Leopard users, the behavior of smart quotes in tricky situations should be much better. A few crashes are fixed, HTML formatting should be improved for links with smart quotes in them, the entries list should hide correctly after a search, and so forth. Let me know of any problems as this will likely be released sometime this month.

MacJournal 5.2b11

Get it here.

This fixes a regression in Quick Note and MobileMe syncing that could cause a crash. It also improves MobileMe upload and resizing images for uploading to WordPress.

MacJournal 5.2b10

Get it here.

An assorted collection of minor enhancements and bug fixes. Recorded video should play back correctly now. Accessibility and VoiceOver support has been improved. Uploading to MobileMe via the Share menu should work better. When both the sidebar and vertical entries list are on the screen, only one set of Add and Action buttons will be visible. If you open the File menu and hold the Control, you'll see a new item to add a journal at the top level, no matter what is selected. There's more, so check out the Version History in the release if you want, and, as always, let me know of any issues.

MacJournal 5.2b9

Get it here.

This beta has as few fixes here and there. Really, the release is closing down at this point (hopefully). Emailing non-textual entries (such as PDFs) should work now. You can specify a translucent (or completely clear) background color for Full Screen if you want to see your desktop. There are small fixes for MobileMe HTML upload, back/forward history navigation, maintaining selection while deleting items, and configuring attachment servers. The one note that is worth mentioning by itself is the iWeb functionality: it's never worked very well due to a very limited interface made available by Apple. An interface they have chosen to remove entirely, it seems. So, for now, the corresponding functionality has been removed from MacJournal while I investigate another solution.

MacJournal 5.2b8

Get it here.

This beta has some syncing fixes and some other unrelated upgrades. The old simultaneous-use warning that was added in 5.1 is gone, in favor of watching the file system for changes and updating automatically. There's a fix for tabs, and for time zone switches in the calendar. The recording devices in the pref pane should update more consistently now, and page setup information is now included with files dragged out. So perhaps there's something there for everyone, but let me know of any problems.

UPDATE: There was a regression with rich text entries with attachments in beta 8. I've updated the link above to point to a fixed release, 5.2b8.1. If you downloaded 5.2b8, you should see it offer the update.

MacJournal 5.2b7

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Search is now entirely done in the background, making large data sets and/or lots of smart journals a lot faster. There was also a bug introduced in one of the betas that could cause an issue if you edit an entry in a smart journal but this has been fixed here. The file naming scheme for attachments in HTML file has been changed to reduce duplicates on the server. There are a few smaller fixes, such as the appearance of MacJournal in the Spotlight menu on non-English systems, typing styles between entries, a weird tab bar one, and others. Check it out and let me know of any issues. And to my US-based audience: Happy Thanksgiving.

MacJournal 5.2b6

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There's a fix for searching so it won't rebuild the index during searching in a certain case and a few small UI tweaks. There are a lot of under the hood changes for new syncing features, so please let me know if you experience any issues with this release.

MacJournal 5.2b5

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This is a somewhat smaller beta release, but there are some fixes that I wanted to get in people's hands. There was a case when trying to save checkboxes in a template that would go awry and a case where the search index would need to be rebuilt incorrectly (which can take a while depending on your data).

MacJournal 5.2b4

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This beta fixes support for posting to Atom blogs (Blogger not included; that has worked just fine). There is also a fix to restore 10.4 compatibility and another regression from 5.1.4 when moving entries between journals. You may not see save prompts at quit anymore, but worry not: everything is being saved anyway. Let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.2b3

Get it here.

This beta fixes a few key bugs: a crash while searching, a crash while customizing the toolbar on Leopard, a problem with dates when switching back and forth between these betas and 5.1.4, and a rare issue with losing entry text. Please let me know of any problems that you see.

MacJournal 5.2b2

Get it here.

Nothing too exciting, but there are some fixes you'll want if you are using beta 1. There's an important fix for Tiger. There's a few small usability improvements, like being able to highlight sections of text in a separate editing window. There's also a few fixes for small regressions since 5.1.4. Check out the full details in the version history if you are interested.

MacJournal 5.2b1

Get it here.

This is a larger release than 5.1.4, but smaller than 5.1. It's largely to support a future iPhone client, but there are some features in there for desktop users as well. For example, LiveJournal users can download more than 50 entries. Also, non-main documents are backed up. Quick Note works better on Snow Leopard as well. However, this release is already feature complete, so nothing else will be added except for bug fixes.

There are a fair amount of under-the-covers changes as well, particularly in blogging, so please try it out and let me know if anything breaks.

9/22 Update: I fixed the beta expiration date for non-US users. If you were seeing a problem, please re-download 5.2b1. There are no other changes in the fixed build.

MacJournal 5.1.4

Snow Leopard is on the Prowl! The Cat is out of the bag! More tortured cat metaphors!

Yes, Snow Leopard is out and so is MacJournal 5.1.4. If you use the former, you'll want the latter as well. There was only one cosmetic issue that I found in 5.1.3 (as well as a rare crash), but that is fixed in 5.1.4, along with some other things. It's a benefit to all three OSes on which it is supported. Download it at Mariner now or get it from the Check For Updates in a previous version of 5.x.

MacJournal 5.1.4b4

You can get it here, however please try to update MacJournal from within the application by using the MacJournal or Help menu to Check for Updates.

This beta is pretty small. I decided to do it to test a new version of Sparkle in the last update and some build environment changes in this release. There is also a long-in-the-making data loss fix that is also in this release. I expect the final release to have no additional changes and be out some time next week.

MacJournal 5.1.4b3

Get it here.

This beta has a few fixes here and there as well as some updates to third-party components that MacJournal uses, like Sparkle. Some rare crashes are fixed, such as one opening the Inspector and editing links on Snow Leopard. A bug where the crash reporter would show up each launch is fixed as well. Tiger users will note that searches from the toolbar will no longer highlight text within the PDF as that was causing a reproducible crash. The issue is not present in Leopard and is still available there.

Call for Beta Testers

Interested folks will want to check out the Mariner MacJournal support forum where there is a post asking for beta testers for a mobile version of MacJournal. Find it here. If you haven't been there before, you can use this forum to discuss other MacJournal issues/suggestions as well (or search past discussions).

MacJournal 5.1.4b2

Get it here.

This beta fixes a few rare crashers and some weird window resizing behavior, among other things. It is hopefully the last beta and the final will be out sometime in the next few weeks. Let me know of any problems with it.

MacJournal 5.1.4b1

Get it here.

This release fixes a few bugs in 5.1.3. There are fixes for Blogger, AppleScript, and MobileMe settings. There are also a fix for a display issue in Snow Leopard. Tags will be searched case-insensitively. This release also fixes a bug with the Backup progress sheet.

MacJournal 5.1.3

Get the final release at Mariner or from the Check for Updates item in the Help menu. It's pretty similar to the final beta with a few minor changes. Stay tuned for future plans.

MacJournal 5.1.3b7

Get it here.

This is the release candidate; there will be little to no changes for the release. This beta fixes a bug in backups and updates the Google framework.

MacJournal 5.1.3b6

Get it here.

This beta adds some fixes for some rare crashes. There are several improvements in searching: the selections will be easier to see during a search, multiple search terms show up in PDF documents, and fixed behavior when searching only for text. Some new AppleScript commands were added to deal with plain versus rich text. There's also a fix for the live word count accuracy.

MacJournal 5.1.3b5

Get it here.

This beta adds three localizations: Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese (the latter two are still incomplete). Please let me know of any problems with these new localizations besides some missing strings in the Chinese ones. Backup behavior and resiliency has been improved. If you were seeing backup errors before, they should go away and backups should be happening (they were likely not happening at all on your machine, even on 5.1.2). The style of journals in the sidebar has changed a bit. There are also new versions of the Media Browser and the Google code, and some fixes for interacting with iWeb.

MacJournal 5.1.3b4

Get it now.

It's a modest list of improvements, but then again, it is a modest release overall. A few minor UI fixes, some new hidden prefs, and a fix for Japanese blogging servers round up the list of changes. This release has been a bit slow because I've been working on future releases at the same time, but expect the final release soon.

MacJournal 5.1.3b3

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I intended for this to be the final release, but it's going to have to be a beta for now. I don't expect anything to change between now and then, and "then" is hopefully next week. There's not much in this build either: an AppleScript fix, and import fix for RTFDs with attachments stored externally, a entry deletion fix for WordPress, a fix for Full Screen key equivalents in the F1-4 range, and better error reporting for backup issues. That's about it. Let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.3b2

Get it here.

This release should fix LiveJournal interactions with a few other tweaks. This should hopefully be the last beta, but let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.3b1

Get it here.

This is the first beta of 5.1.3. This is intended to be a very small and quick release, hopefully out this month while I work on some other things in tandem. This release contains all the fixes that I want to do already, so I suspect there will only be a handful of changes between now and the final releases.

There are fixes for some bugs in the UI, blogging, and searching.

MacJournal 5.1.2

MacJournal 5.1.2 is out now! Get it here now, or from the Help menu's Update item. There are a lot of improvements over 5.1.1 in the areas of text editing, blogging, syncing and more. Over the last beta, there are fixes relating to blogging, some improvements in UI layout, and improvements to the Dutch localization.

MacJournal 5.1.2b6

Get it here.

This release fixes a pasting bug introduced in the last beta and improves the reliability of "Send to iWeb". It also improves the layout of the Info bar and adds a "Save a Copy As" menu item (for English users right now, everyone else when they get updated again).

There is also a new logging facility to collect information about file operations that take place, e.g. importing and exporting entries, saving entries, etc. You can turn this on in the Hidden Preferences in the last tab as "Log document file actions". If you are seeing a problem where your data file gets inordinately large (several GB), please let me know as this will be useful.

MacJournal 5.1.2b5

Get it here.

This beta fixes a crash or two, improves creating an entry in iCal, improves entry templates, and improves printing. My hope is to get the final release out next week, if all goes well.

MacJournal 5.1.2b4

Get it here.

Another round of syncing changes accompanies a few changes for smart journals, discovering links, and recovering entries.

If you are having trouble syncing and a normal reset from the System Preferences does not work, use these steps to perform a complete reset of syncing on your machine:

1. Close all applications.


2. Trash the Library/Application Support/SyncServices folder.


3. Restart your machine.


4. Open MobileMe system preference pane.


5. Re-enable syncing. You will have to pull everything down from the server again.

Please let me know if those that were having trouble have any more success with this release.

MacJournal 5.1.2b3

Get it here.

This beta has a few fixes for editing, importing, and syncing. It also adds back the floating calendar window. Let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.2b2

Get it here.

This beta has some syncing changes and a crash fix or two. Check it out and let me know if you have any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.2b1

Get it here.

5.1.2 is expected to have a fairly short release cycle (I hope). It's got a few bug fixes for blog posting, data syncing, text editing, and a few other things. Try it out and let me know if you have any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.1

The final version is out. Download it from Mariner. The in-application updates will be updated tomorrow to start offering it there as well if you want to wait for that. There aren't many differences versus the last beta, but there are a few bug fixes, a new Danish localization, and no expiration date.

I'll post more on future plans in the coming days.

MacJournal 5.1.1b5

Get it here.

Beta 4 contained some good bug fixes but it also contained some regressions that caused problems. So, enter beta 5 to fix the regressions. If this works out, this will be the last beta and we will release 5.1.1 to the general public. Let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.1b4

Get it here.

Here comes beta four of 5.1.1. It has a fix for a bug that I've been chasing for a while, so I hope to get the final 5.1.1 out soon to get the collected bug fixes available to everyone as soon as possible. Let me know of any problems.

MacJournal 5.1.1b3

Get it here.

This is the third beta release of 5.1.1. It's got several fixes in different places, including blogging, syncing, and general app usage. Let me know if you have any issues with it.

MacJournal 5.1.1b2

Download it here.

This release has a few fixes for blogging, Tiger issues, and other assorted problems. There is also some syncing experimentation for Leopard users. If you are on Leopard and use MobileMe syncing, please let me know how it works for you. As this is intended to be a fairly short beta cycle, I hope to get the final release out soon.

MacJournal 5.1.1b1

Download it here.

This release is to fix a few problems that popped up after the release of 5.1. It has a crash fix, a few localization tweaks, and Blogger download improvements. The goal is a fairly short release cycle for this one. If you have any problems with this release, please let me know.

MacJournal 5.1 is here

Download it here.

This is the final release of MacJournal 5.1. If you've been following the betas all along, not much will be new. But if you're coming from 5.0.4, there are some nice new things. I think the three biggest things are the "three-pane view", editable entry windows, and Karelia's Media Browser window. Let me know of any problems you find. I will update the in-application update mechanism soon as well if you just want to wait for that.

Note: If you saw it posted yesterday and downloaded it then, it may have been the incorrect build. A bad disk image was posted yesterday but has been corrected now. It was just beta 9, expiration date and all. Re-download using the link above to get the real 5.1.

MacJournal 5.1b9

Get it now.

While we prepare the final release of 5.1, here is a new beta to extend the expiration date. There are a few bug fixes in this release over beta 8 and it should be very similar to the final release soon.

MacJournal 5.1b8

Get it here.

This is the eighth beta. This contains various bug fixes, localization tweaks (including a new Italian localization), and one UI change in particular: .Mac is now MobileMe. Search is fixed, as are some issues with MetaWeblog servers. There is a fix for a crash when synchronizing Palm devices. There are some various other fixes as well that are detailed in the Version History. There aren't any new features as 5.1 is feature complete already. Providing more localizations is also a goal for this release. Please let me know if you have any problems with this beta.

MacJournal 5.1b7

Get it here.

Here comes the seventh beta, now with French and Spanish localizations. Not all the localizations are complete, but we hope to get things wrapped up soon. There are also more syncing fixes, and a few other fixes in various places.

I haven't mentioned it in a while, but here is the page that lists the current and recent releases, in case you should need them: http://danschimpf.com/dev.html.

MacJournal 5.1b6

Download it here.

Watch out: here comes beta six. This beta has two new localizations: Japanese and Dutch. It also adds some AppleScript properties and a Services menu in the contextual menu. It also fixes a long-standing bug in .Mac syncing regarding resetting data, so that should work better. We're getting late in the process here, but remember: this is still a beta, so remember to back up your data and let me know of any bugs you find.

MacJournal 5.1b5

Download it now.

It's mostly bug fixes, but fixes that will be helpful to most people. There's also a new German localization (more to follow). Let me know how it works out for you.

MacJournal 5.1b4

Get it now.

This is the fourth beta. There are various fixes in a lot of areas. There are some text editing fixes and some fixes for smart journals. There is now native support for importing OPML (outline) files. There are some various other fixes as well that are detailed in the Version History. There aren't any new features as 5.1 is feature complete already. Providing localizations is also a goal for this release, although none are included yet. Please let me know if you have any problems with this beta.

MacJournal 5.1b3

Download it now.

More bug fixes! This fixes some incompatibilities with Tiger, so issues editing text in the separate windows and with new entries, and a few small issues with the sidebar. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.

MacJournal 5.1b2

Download it here.

This fixes a few problems with editing entries in other windows, as well as a few other problems here and there. Please try it out and let me know how it works.

MacJournal 5.1b1 is here

This is the first beta of 5.1. The goal of this release is to provide a few larger features, a few smaller features, and provide localizations. We are currently working on the localizations so there are none in this release, but we will use this as a reference point and update what we have. This release is feature complete, which means I don't plan on adding any new features, largely because of the localization issue.

The big new features in this release is an option to have the entries list display vertically on either side of the entry text, enhancements to the calendar to support non-Gregorian calendars and display more than one month at a time, and editable entry windows. I also added Karelia's Media browser to see pictures and so forth from iLife applications and drag them in easily. There are a few other improvements and bug fixes, so I encourage you to read the Release Notes and the Version History for this release. You can go back and forth between this release and the last public release, 5.0.4, without any trouble. As with anything, it's a good idea to make backups before changing just about anything on your computer though.

Get MacJournal 5.1b1.

MacJournal 5.0.3 and 5.0.4

As most of you already know, MacJournal 5.0.3 is now out. However, due to a silly mistake at the last minute, there was a problem preventing it from launching on Tiger. So, enter 5.0.4 with the fix to that problem. Early reports are good, so it's on to a small feature release with localizations (finally) included. It will have one or two small new features and will be a free update. More on that as it comes. I'll probably wait until it is feature complete to post a beta to avoid the endless stream of betas that 5.0.3 had.

MacJournal 5.0.3b8

Get it here.

This is the eighth, and hopefully final beta of MacJournal 5.0.3. It is intended to fix a long-standing crash on Tiger with the sidebar. There is also a syncing fix, and new check at launch for the minimum required version of QuickTime (7.3.1), a fix f or entry tabs, and a Batch Change fix.

Check out the included Version History for the full details.

MacJournal 5.0.3b7

Get it here.

This is the seventh beta of MacJournal 5.0.3. It should fix a crash on Tiger with expanding journals, as well as improve Picasa support, fix importing podcasts, fix saving Word files, fix the Batch Change sheet, improve support for other calendar types in the Change Date sheet, fix auto backups in some circumstances, and add badges to the entries list.

MacJournal 5.0.3b6

Download it here.

This is the sixth, and likely final beta for 5.0.3. There are fixes in a lot of areas of the application: services, document saving, calendar, blogging, printing on Tiger, custom-sized images, and the separate entry window.

MacJournal 5.0.3b5

Download it here.

This is the fifth beta of MacJournal 5.0.3. There are more fixes to be had, as expected. There are fixes for the smart journal configuration, LiveJournal blogging, SFTP uploading, image uploading in general, and image resizing. Documents open at quit will now be restored when you launch again. And there's some more, smaller things as well. Happy March.

Check out the included Version History for the full details.

MacJournal 5.0.3b4

Get it here.

This is the fourth beta of MacJournal 5.0.3. There are fixes in lots of places, including a few crashers. Printing information should be saved better, downloading entries from blogs should work in more circumstances, image resizing should work better, and the Change Tags sheet should behave more logically when dealing with multiple entries. The entries list should go away after a search more reliably. Fixed some display issues with the sidebar as well.

Check out the included Version History for the full details.

MacJournal 5.0.3b3

Click here to download.

Here comes the third beta of 5.0.3. This includes changes for the backup dilemma that I posed earlier. Daily backups will now wait until the application has been idle for a minute before starting the backup. It also won't cause any disturbances should that happen in the background. This should improve that situation. There are a few other fixes, including a workaround for a crash on Tiger. Let me know of any problems that you have.

On automatic backup vs. annoyances

In MacJournal 5.0.2, I turned on automatic daily backups by default. New in version 5 is the ability to cull the automatic backups older than a certain date so it wouldn't consume unlimited disk space, so I felt it was useful at that point to make it the default. While I don't think anyone would argue that backups are generally good things, the way MacJournal currently handles it could be improved. If you have auto-saving turned on, this will trip the backup mechanism if you haven't saved yet that day, which could force you to pause mid-sentence for a minute while it backs up. That's annoying. Also, if you have MacJournal in the background and it decides to back up then, it will bounce in the dock and jump onscreen to show the sheet. That's annoying. The second item is the default behavior for showing a sheet on a non-visible window, but I'm working to get around that for 5.0.3. I'm also thinking about ways to tackle the first point.

Waiting until quit to do the backup is out because some people (such as myself) never quit MacJournal, instead just closing the window and leaving it open in the background. Disabling the automatic backup and having a "Backup" option in the UI somewhere is also not favorable because remembering to back up is not always successful. This could still be added, but it is outside of the automatic backup issue.

Viable option #1 for me is to wait until the system is sufficiently idle to start the backup. Perhaps after 5 minutes of no activity in the application, it would do the backup. The same mechanism is already used to determine when to lock journals automatically after an idle period. Option #2 is to wait until you switch entries before starting the backup since that could represent a mental break anyway. I'm currently wrestling between these two options for 5.0.3. The hybrid option #3 is to just do both option #1 and option #2 and do the backup for whichever event comes first.

Leave a comment if you have any strong feelings one way or the other. It should also be noted that this progress sheet only comes up when the backup takes more than a trivial amount of time, so some users won't see it at all.

MacJournal 5.0.3b2

It's the second beta of 5.0.3 and you can download it here. It's got some more various fixes over beta one in blogging, printing, and a few other areas. Let me know of any problems.

I'm getting down to the end of my email backlog. I will try to get the rest out by the end of the weekend.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

MacJournal 5.0.3b1

The first beta of 5.0.3 is out now. You can download it here. It's got fixes for syncing, sending to blogs, adding tags, automatic lists, and a few UI-related areas. There are plenty of small fixes across the app. Let me know of any problems you have with this build.

Please note that this is a beta build, not a final release. Beta builds have an expiration date to make sure they aren't used forever, while final builds do not have such an expiration date.

MacJournal 5.0.2 is out!

Today brings the release of 5.0.2. This release contains several critical fixes for users of 5.0 and 5.0.1. You can get it at Mariner's site, from the Help menu's Update item inside MacJournal, or direct download here. There are several fixes over the last beta as well, so be sure to update.

This release is still English-only, but I'm going to start the localization process soon and hopefully get some more languages released soon.

This version has a tweaked application icon as well. It's a cross between the icon from 5.0 and the original blue MacJournal icon.

I'll be working on my other website, http://danschimpf.com/, over the next few days to update it for 5.0, in case you have been wondering what is the deal with that. I'm also going to really attack my backlogged email now that 5.0.2 is out. I suspect that will be the answer for most of the questions I have received.

MacJournal 5.0.2b5

Hot off the heels of beta 4 comes beta 5, available here for download. It has some fixes for recording and .mac syncing. It should hopefully unblock people that were having trouble in those areas. The final release should be out next week, so let me know of any problems as soon as possible.

MacJournal 5.0.2b4

Download it here or use the Help menu's Update item in 5.0.2b2 or later to get it automatically.

Here comes the fourth beta to 5.0.2. This will probably be the last beta for this release as I want to get fixes for some of the problems of 5.0.1 out there with as little delay as possible. The two problems areas are still .mac syncing and recording. If you're having trouble with the audio recording, please try trashing your preferences and then make sure the audio devices are set up in the System Preferences' Sound pane (not the one in MacJournal). I've had success doing that when it was giving me trouble. I'm going to work on the MJ prefs a bit in that area to work more like QuickTime Player's (when you have the Pro mode enabled) to make this easier.

Here's the full list of changes:

• Fixed a case where the font color would be used as the background color when formatting HTML.
  


• Fixed a problem where a bad blog from MJ4 could cause the MJ5 data not to load.
  


• When creating a journal with a journal selected, the new journal will be placed inside that journal.
  


• Opening a separate viewer window for non-text entries will no longer show jibberish.
  


• Add UUID properties to entries and journals in AppleScript.
  


• When sending an image that has been resized to a blog, the custom size will be honored.
  


• Fixed a problem exporting a journal to PDF with one file per entry.
  


• Fixed the Status searching from smart journals.
  


• Fixed a problem with launching could show an entry from a locked journal.
  


• Fixed individual files backup.
  


• Fixed a crash right-clicking at the end of the text.
  


• Fixed an error when editing lists on Leopard.
  


• Added the "add tag" AppleScript command.
  


• Now correctly encrypting the entry template along with the journal.
  

MacJournal 5.0.2b3

Here comes the third beta of 5.0.2. It's got some crash fixes, .mac uploading fixes, a few behavioral fixes, and a new addition to the Info bar. Download it here:

MacJournal 5.0.2b3

Let me know of any problems that you have.

MacJournal 5.0.2b2

Here's the second beta of 5.0.2. It's got a number of fixes in a lot of different areas. There are exporting fixes, Full Screen changes, .mac syncing fixes, crash fixes, and more. Download it here:

MacJournal 5.0.2b2.

Unfortunately, you won't see an in-app update this time. I'm still getting a handle on the new system (the third-party open source Sparkle system) so the first beta or any 5.0.1 release won't get notified automatically. This shouldn't be a problem in the future.

Please download it and let me know how it works for you. I'm still very behind on all the email that has come in since the release, so apologies in advance if I don't get back to you in a timely manner. But I have read your mail and hopefully this build helps.

MacJournal 5.0.2b1

Well, Macworld is over, 5.0.1 is out, and now the first beta of 5.0.2 is out. 5.0.2 will fix a lot of problems here in there in the 5.0 release and should hopefully get those that were having trouble up and running with MacJournal 5. Here is the download:

MacJournal 5.0.2b1

This should fix issues with migrating locked journals from MacJournal 4, exporting entire journals to one file, scrolling problems, editing in Full Screen, and several crashes. Check out the included version history to see the full list of changes. The goal is to get this release out by the end of the month. If you've emailed me in the past few days and haven't received a response yet, I'm working through a lot of email right now and will try to get a lot out today. Please let me know if 5.0.2b1 solves your problem.

The cat is out of the bag

Earlier today, we posted a public beta of MacJournal 5. This is the biggest update since probably ever for MacJournal and I'm really excited about it. I'll have more about it later, but if you want to check it out, you can get it here:

http://www.marinersoftware.com/MacJournal.dmg

I expect to have a new beta out tonight to fix a crash some people have been seeing. If you install the linked build, you should see the update automatically.

Here are some of the high-level new features:

• All new interface, built for Mac OS X Leopard.


• Add any kind of content, not just text. Drag PDFs, QuickTime movies, images, and more into the Sidebar to create an entry with anything on your computer.


• Open more than one MacJournal document at a time and save them wherever you want, or just use the default document and never worry about saving.


• Create Smart Journals from searches you perform.


• Create aliases to entries that you can store in other journals.


• Assign each entry a rating, status, and priority, and sort any journal by those values.


• Record video from your iSight and attach it to any entry.


• Performance enhancements for working with large amounts of entries.

MacJournal 4.1.3b9

Download it.

The aforementioned crash is fixed! Beta 9 is here and should resolve all known issues. Please give it a try and let me know if you find any problems as soon as possible. Thanks everyone!

(MacJournal vs. Tiger) vs. Leopard

I reverted some launch behavior in beta 8 of 4.1.3 that I had introduced around beta 5 to try to combat a crash on launch. This new behavior made launch go a lot slower in all cases and I was hoping to avoid using it. But, as things go, now some people are seeing the crash again. However, I have narrowed the circumstances of the crash down some more, so hopefully we can avoid making launch slow in all cases. It seems to happen when you have a table in an entry that was saved on Tiger. This is because Tiger had a bug in its table-saving code that MacJournal was trying to work around, which in turn is now crashing on Leopard due to something else that Apple changed in that release. OS compatibility issues are fun! So the goal is now to have our cake and eat it too: correct table saving and loading on both Tiger and Leopard, as well as not crashing, as well as not slowing down launch unless it absolutely has to for a certain case. If you're seeing the crash, I'd recommend using b7 for now. You can get it back at . I'll work on this now and hope to have something to try after the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States.

MacJournal 4.1.3b8

Get it here.

This is meant to be the last beta for 4.1.3. Ideally, 4.1.3 will be virtually unchanged from this release, but please send me any problems you have with this build and we can get the final release out as soon as possible. This release fixes a few various issues, but nothing too notable. Thanks for trying it out!

Leopard Update: 4.1.3b7

Another update for 4.1.3 is available. I made my own word counting scheme to replace the one provided by Apple that is seemingly non-functional in Leopard. Tiger users will continue to use the system counter. The plan is to release 4.1.3 in a week or so, so please try this out and send me any problems you have as quickly as possible.

MacJournal vs. Leopard

Another new beta is out to address Leopard issues. The word count issue is one that still mystifies me. I've reduced it down to a very simple application that launches and tries to count words in a very large text file and it fails every time. I've submitted that in a bug report to Apple and we will see what they say. I may have to fall back to a homespun word-counting scheme for now, which would be unfortunate. But in 4.1.3b6 there are some other Leopard fixes that should get a few people that were experiencing crashing up and running and hopefully restore Panther compatibility.

MacJournal 4.1.3b5

Get it here.

This beta has a few fixes over b4, but it's primary goal is Leopard fixes. I'm still investigating a problem with word counts on Leopard. I've had a few reports of incorrect word counts, but I haven't been able to reproduce it myself. It's mystifying so far but I hope to get a fix in time for 4.1.3 if it is a problem with MacJournal and not just system configuration. Leopard users, please let me know of any problems with this build.

MacJournal 4.1.3b4

Get it here.

This release is intended to improve support for Blogger.com and fix a few bugs. This fourth beta has assorted small bug fixes.

⁃ Fixed the "Other" menu item in the Labels toolbar item.
⁃ Added Dutch localization
⁃ Downloads from LiveJournal will retain the security information.
⁃ mailto: links encoded by SpamSieve should pass through to the blog unmolested by MacJournal.

There are a few other fixes, so check out the Version History. As with any beta release, please let me know if it works for you if you had problems in these areas.

Compatibility Note: Some system enhancements that use Application Enhancer have been known to conflict with MacJournal. If you experience crashing or unexpected behavior, try disabling Application Enhancer before doing anything else.

Reporting Bugs

If you see any problems in this release please let me know about it by using the "Report a Bug" menu item in the "Help" menu to send me an email.