Journals
A journal is a blog or newsletter kept as one project: each document in it is a post. Choose File > New Project… and choose Journal. Keep each blog you write as its own journal; to group several in the Library, put them in a series.
Posts
New posts go at the top of the list, newest first, and start as drafts. Folders are optional, for years or topics.
The Library's Home shows the journal's posts by status, the post published last and the next to go: the soonest scheduled post, else the draft nearest the top. Choose a title to open it in Write.
A post's Status runs Idea, Draft, Scheduled, Published. The first time a post is scheduled or published, it takes the next post number: one more than the highest in the journal. Numbers never change when posts are moved or deleted. A published post without a publish date gets today's.
If you're carrying on a blog you started elsewhere, set where the numbering starts: in Publish ▸ Post, the Numbering row says which number is next; choose it and enter the number your next post should take, such as 141. Posts already numbered keep their numbers.
To change one post's number, type it in the post's Post number field (in the Scene drawer's All details, or the outliner). A higher number carries on from there.
Tags and Label are there for sorting posts; a collection shows every post with a tag.
Bringing in a Substack blog
Choose File > Import > Substack Publication… on the Mac, or Substack Publication… in the Import menu on iPad and iPhone. Type the publication's address (yourname.substack.com), give the journal a name and, if you like, a series, then choose Import.
Each post becomes a document in a new journal: published on its date, numbered in date order, with its tags, and its subtitle as the synopsis. Links stay links; pictures go into the post's attachments, with their captions in its notes. Embedded videos, polls and other posts are listed in the notes instead. The opening every post shares starts empty, as your Substack posts have none.
The address gives every post anyone can read. Drafts aren't there, and paid posts stop at the paywall. For those, export your publication: in Substack, open Settings > Exports, choose Create new export and download the .zip, then choose Substack Export and the file. Only the posts are read; the subscriber list in the export is left alone.
To bring in posts you've published on Substack since, import the same address again. Only new posts are added, at the top with the next numbers. A post changed on Substack is updated unless you've changed it here; if you have, yours is kept. A post you wrote here and pasted into Substack is recognised by its title and linked, not added twice. A "Before importing from Substack" checkpoint is recorded first.
Opening and sign-off
Every post in a journal opens and closes with the same text. Write it in Publishing ▸ Opening & Sign-off (choose Publishing from the tile above the contents), or choose Edit the opening… or Edit the sign-off… in Publish ▸ Post:
- Opening comes before every post. It starts as Monday Muse No. {number}.
- Sign-off comes after every post. It's left out while it's empty.
These placeholders are filled in for each post:
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
| {number} | The post's number |
| {title} | The post's title |
| {date} | Its publish date |
| {journal} | The journal's name |
| {author} | Your name, or the journal's pen name |
| {year}, {tags} | The publish year, and the post's tags |
A post that isn't scheduled or published yet shows the next number. Publish says so.
The opening and sign-off never count towards a post's words.
Merge tags
Placeholders your mailing platform fills in for each reader, such as [FIRSTNAME], are kept exactly as you type them. They're drawn in the accent colour and aren't marked as spelling mistakes. Statistics and the checks leave them out, and Read Aloud says them as "first name".
A journal recognises [FIRSTNAME]-style tags. For other platforms' styles, such as {{first_name}} or *|FNAME|*, choose them in Publish ▸ Post ▸ Merge tags.
Share a post
Choose Share Post… in the File menu (on iPad and iPhone, in the ⋯ or + menu), or choose Post in Publish. Choose the post and a version (Web page (HTML), Word, Markdown or Plain text), then Prepare post.
- Copy for Substack copies the post, with its opening and sign-off, as formatted text. Paste it into Substack's editor, or any other. The title is left out, because Substack has its own field for it.
- Share… sends the file to whoever publishes it, by Mail or Messages for example.
- Save… keeps the file.
Each post you prepare is recorded as a checkpoint, "Shared “…”", so History shows what was sent.
The journal as a book
In Publish, Journal as ebook and Journal as paperback make a book of every post, oldest first. Each post is a chapter under its own title, with the journal's Front Matter and Back Matter. The opening and sign-off aren't repeated in the book. All posts, Markdown, under More formats, keeps the journal's order and includes them.