Chapter 3 · The Day
Finding your way around Awaken Journal: the sidebar, the modules and the buttons up top
The short answer: everything in Awaken Journal starts from two places. The sidebar, opened with the ☰ button at the top left, lists your modules: To-Do, Journal and Finance, plus Reviews. The top bar on today's page has four buttons: the menu, the date (tap it for the calendar), Weekly Review and Print. This post walks through both, says what each module opens, and shows where Notes and Settings live.
The 30-second version: the sidebar opens like a hallway with four doors, Notes wait behind the Journal door, and the four buttons up top each do one thing.
The last post was about why most pages stay still. This one is a map of where everything is.
1 · The sidebar: one list of your modules
Tap ☰ at the top left of today's page and the sidebar slides in. From top to bottom, it holds:
- To-Do, Journal and Finance: your modules, one card each.
- Reviews: your weekly review.
- Share Feedback: opens the feedback page, so you can tell us what's working and what isn't.
- Your name and the gear: the gear opens Global Settings. On Android there's also a sun or moon button beside it, which switches between light and dark.
Tap anywhere outside the sidebar to close it.
That's everything the sidebar holds. It isn't also a notifications list, a shortcuts panel or a list of recent pages, so it looks the same every time you open it. If you switch To-Do or Finance off, its card leaves the sidebar, and switching it back on brings it back. Turning modules on and off is the next post in this chapter.
2 · What each card opens
- To-Do opens the To-Do page: your productivity for the week, and cards for the rest of To-Do, like the Weekly Task Manager.
- Journal opens the Journal page. Its cards include Awaken Notes (your notes and folders), Journal Sections (add, hide or reorder the sections of your daily page) and Printables (print any day on one A4 sheet).
- Finance opens the Finance page: Ledger (your daily income and expenses), Accounts, Statistics and Categories.
- Reviews opens your weekly review: this week's review, your previous weeks, and the sections your review asks about.
Your writing itself isn't behind any card. It's on today's page, the Day View, which is where the app opens every time.
3 · The four buttons in the top bar
On today's page, the top bar has four buttons:
- ☰ Menu (left): opens the sidebar.
- The date (middle): tap it to open the calendar and jump to any day. On today's date there's a small ▾ beside it.
- Weekly Review (the rising line, right): opens the same weekly review as Reviews in the sidebar.
- Print (the printer, far right): prints the day you're looking at, on one A4 sheet.
4 · The top bar inside a module
Open any card and the top bar changes to fit that page: ‹ Back on the left and the page's name in the middle. A few pages add one button on the right that only works on that page, like the pencil in Global Settings → Modules that lets you rearrange your modules.
Back takes you one step back at a time, so you can't get lost. Keep tapping it and you end up on today's page.
Where Notes and Settings are
These are the two things people look for first:
- Notes live inside Journal: sidebar → Journal → Awaken Notes.
- Settings is the gear at the bottom of the sidebar. It opens Global Settings: Modules, App Settings, Customisation, Backup and Restore, Notifications, Feedback, and the full in-app Guide, The Philosophy of Awaken Journal.
Check it yourself
- Tap ☰ at the top left. You'll see your modules, Reviews, Share Feedback, and your name with the gear.
- Tap Journal, then Awaken Notes. That's where your notes are.
- Tap ‹ Back until you're on today's page, then tap the date in the top bar. The calendar opens.
Quick answers
Where are my notes?
Inside Journal. Open the sidebar, tap Journal, then Awaken Notes.
Where are the settings?
The gear at the bottom of the sidebar, next to your name. It opens Global Settings.
Why isn't To-Do or Finance in my sidebar?
It's switched off. Turn it back on in Global Settings → Modules. Switching a module off never deletes what's in it.
What does the rising-line button do?
It opens your weekly review, the same page as Reviews in the sidebar.
Is it the same on Android and iPhone?
The Android app has the same sidebar and top bar, plus a light and dark button beside the gear. The iPhone app is being built to the same layout.
Where to go next
Next in Chapter 3: turning modules on and off, and putting them in the order you want.