Settings

Settings

1. Open the settings (CTRL+SHIFT+P and enter "User Settings" or go through the menu)

2. Search for journal

Default settings

  // (Mandatatory) The base directory for your notes.
  "journal.base": "",

  // The default extension of your notes.
  "journal.ext": ".md",

  // The template string for your daily journal pages.
  "journal.tpl-page": "# {content}\n\n",

  // The template string for your notes.
  "journal.tpl-note": "# {content}\n\n",

  // The template string for new memos (new lines).
  "journal.tpl-memo": "- MEMO: {content}",

  // Where to place new memos. (Default is empty, which means after the header)
  "journal.tpl-memo-after": "",

  // The template string for new tasks.
  "journal.tpl-task": "- [ ] TASK: {content}",

  // Where to place the tasks. (Default is empty, which means after the header)
  "journal.tpl-task-after": "",

  // Template for the link to notes
  "journal.tpl-files": "- NOTE: [{label}]({link})",

  // Where to place the file links to notes and more. (Default is empty, which means after the header)
  "journal.tpl-files-after": "",

  // The locale to use (required for the date format).
  "journal.locale": "",

  // If enabled, the features in development will be activated (other features might be broken!!)
  "journal.dev": "false",

Just copy the settings you want to adapt into your user settings (right side). Don’t forget to restart vscode (see this issue)

You have to set the base folder for notes folder structure before you start. Open your settings, search for 'journal' and copy the journal.base line into your personal settings. Adjust the value, for example: "journal.base": "C:/Users/FooBar/Documents/Journal" (use forward slash!)

The default file format is Markdown (using md as extension), which is natively supported by Visual Studio Code. I was using Asciidoc for a while for my notes (with .adoc as extension), in this case you should also install an Asciidoc Syntax extension. Note that the journal extension works for any extension, as long as vscode can edit it.

Example: My Settings

"journal.base": "C:/Users/pajoma/Synced/Journal",
"journal.locale": "de-DE",
"journal.tpl-page": "# {content}\n\n*Tasks*\n\n*Time*\n\n*Notes*\n",
"journal.tpl-memo": "- {content}\n",
"journal.tpl-task-after": "*Tasks*",
"journal.tpl-files-after": "*Notes*",
"journal.ext": ".md",
"files.autoSave": "onWindowChange",

Enabling autosave is suggest (in this case notes are automatically saved when I switch between windows, see the comment for valid values.