Getting started · Chapter 3

A tour of nexdiary

nexdiary has only a few menu items. On a computer they sit in a bar on the left, on a phone at the bottom. This tour says what lies behind each one and where to find everything you can set.

Today

“Today” is the screen you open every day. At the top there is a greeting to suit the time of day and your streak with its little flame, with a shield beside it if you have one. From Monday to Wednesday a strip shows last week as small covers, and from the 1st to the 3rd of a month it shows last month.

Below that come the field for your notes, the “Question of the day” and, if you take part, the “Family question”. Then “Noted today” with your notes and their times, “Photos of today”, “How was your day?” for your values, the “Tags” and finally the card “Write the day up”, where the page comes about in the evening.

Today

How “Today” is laid out is up to you, under “My account”, “Look” tab, on the card “Layout of "Today"”. “Day page” shows everything one below the other. “Two columns” suits a large screen, with writing on the left and the day on the right. With “Like a chat” your notes look like messages to yourself, with the field at the bottom as in a messenger.

The other menu items

• Journal. Every day you have written a page for, as a blog or a timeline, with search, tags and, at the top, the shelf with a volume for each year. More in the chapter Journal.
• Photos. All your photos in one place, under the heading “My photos”. The item only appears once you have your first photo.
• Statistics. Your streak, a calendar of the last half year, how your values develop, and the looks back at weeks and months. Nobody else sees this page. More in the chapter Looking back.
• Time capsules. Letters that open only on a certain day, to yourself or to others. More on the Time capsules page.
• Shared. The days others have shared with you and the ones you have shared. A number on the item shows what is new. More in the chapter Sharing.

The round account button

The round button with your picture or your initial sits at the bottom left on a computer and at the top right on a phone. It opens a small menu with “My account”, “Settings”, “About nexdiary” and “Sign out”. Only the operator sees “Settings”. On a phone it also holds “Photos”, once you have photos.

My account

Everything that concerns only you is under “My account”, spread over seven tabs. The details are in the chapter Account.

• “Profile” with your picture, “Display name” and “Language”. On your first visit nexdiary takes the language from the browser. It applies to your account, and the others choose their own.
• “Security” with password, second factor, passkeys and the devices you are signed in on.
• “Look” with five colours, each light and dark, the start on the phone and the layout of “Today” and of the journal.
• “Writing” with your writing goal, “My values”, “Writing prompts”, “Templates” and the “Family question”.
• “Reminders” with the devices that get notifications and when nexdiary should remind you.
• “AI” with the switch for whether the AI works for you and, if you like, the draft in the morning.
• “Connections” with your Immich and the API tokens for programs.

Settings

“Settings” belong to the operator and concern the whole server. There are ten tabs, “Accounts”, “Sign-in”, “Mail”, “AI”, “Immich”, “Web Push”, “Backup”, “Languages”, “Log” and “API”. What anybody writes appears in none of them. The chapter Operator goes through them.

On a phone

On a phone and in narrow windows the bar moves to the bottom and has five items, “Today”, “Journal”, “Statistics”, “Time capsules” and “Shared”. At the top right sit the pen for “Quick note” and your account button.

While you write, the bottom bar disappears so that “Save” has room above the keyboard. What else the phone can do is in the chapter On your phone.