Goal Journal User Guide for Android

How to use Goal Journal on Android phones and tablets. This is the same guide as Help in the app (⋮ → Help).

Get Goal Journal on Google Play. On iPhone, iPad, or Mac? See the Apple user guide.

Screenshots are from an Android phone with sample data.

Topics

Getting Started: The guided tour, the Home screen, and where your data lives.
Goals & Templates: Create, edit, complete, and reuse goals as templates.
Tasks & Due Dates: Statuses, due dates, reminders, notes, and moving tasks.
Task Review: See unfinished work across goals by due date.
Quick Notes: Capture a thought, then file it on a goal or task later.
Shopping Lists: Store lists with quantities, optional prices, share, and history.
Daily Journal: Log a daily note and 1–5 rating on a goal.
Reminders: Daily review and per-task alerts.
Widgets: Goal progress and due tasks on your Home screen.
Reports & Calendars: Overview stats, history, breakdown, calendars, and period summaries.
Goal Reports: Preview, copy, email, or print progress for one or more goals.
Settings & Export: Look, lock, categories, statuses, templates, Recycle Bin, and export.

Getting Started

The guided tour, the Home screen, and where your data lives.

Easiest way to start

Your journal starts with a Start Using Goal Journal goal. Open each task, try it, and mark it Completed.

Deleted it? New Goal → Templates → Start Using Goal Journal.

Home at a glance

Shortcut cards at the top, then category chips and your goals. Tap + for a new goal. ⋮ opens Reports, Reminders, Settings, Help, and About.

Your data

Everything stays on this device. There’s no account, no servers, and no sync between devices. Android backup may save a copy to your Google account.

Search, sort, and reorder

Find goals: Tap Search at the bottom of Home, or tap a category chip. All shows everything.
Order goals: ⋮ → Sort picks Custom, A to Z, Newest, or Oldest. With Custom, drag a goal’s handle to reorder.

Goals & Templates

Create, edit, complete, and reuse goals as templates.

Tap a goal on Home to open Goal Details. Edit the title, details, and target date; mark it completed; save it as a template; or open Share to preview and send a report (same options as Goal Reports).

Templates

Apply: On New Goal, choose a template or start blank.
Save: From Goal Details, Save as template stores title, details, category, and task titles.
Manage: Add or remove custom templates in Settings.

Templates do not copy task statuses, dates, or notes. The built-in Start Using Goal Journal template is always available and cannot be deleted.

Delete a Goal

From Goal Details, tap Delete and confirm. The goal and its tasks/entries move to Recycle Bin for 30 days (Settings → Recycle Bin).

Tasks & Due Dates

Statuses, due dates, reminders, notes, and moving tasks.

Add tasks from Goal Details. Each task can have a title, description, status, and optional due date. Drag the three-line handle to reorder; that order is saved on the goal.

Added a task to the wrong goal? Open the task and tap Move to another goal. Its status, dates, and progress notes move with it, and it goes to the bottom of the new goal’s list.

Statuses

Use statuses such as Not Started, In Progress, Thinking, Active, On Hold, or Completed. Only Completed counts toward progress. Add custom statuses in Settings.

Each status has an icon that shows on the goal’s task list and in reports. To pick a different one, open Settings → Task statuses and tap the status.

On a goal’s task list, tap a task’s icon to mark it Completed. Tap it again to set it back to Not Started.

To change several tasks at once, tap Change status above the task list, pick a status, check the tasks, then tap Apply.

Due Dates

Optional: Set or clear a task due date from the task editor.
Remind me: In the task editor, turn on Remind me and pick a date and time. Goal Journal sends a notification on this device then. Completing or deleting the task cancels it.
Task Review: Open tasks are grouped as Overdue, Due today, Upcoming, or No due date. Tap a chip to show just that group.

Task Review

See unfinished work across goals by due date.

Open Task Review from the orange shortcut card. Chips at the top filter the list: All, Overdue, Due today, Upcoming, and No due date (a chip only appears when it has tasks). Search filters by task or goal title.

Reorder: Drag the three-line handle within a section. Order is saved per goal.
Open a task: Tap a row to open Task Details.

Quick Notes

Capture a thought, then file it on a goal or task later.

Open Quick Notes from the teal shortcut card. Type a note and save it to the inbox. Later, open a note and file it onto a goal or task.

Unfiled: The home card shows how many notes are waiting.
Delete: Soft-delete sends a note to Recycle Bin.

Shopping Lists

Store lists with quantities, optional prices, share, and history.

Open Shopping Lists from the teal shortcut card. Create a list per store, add items, adjust quantities, and check them into the cart.

Track prices: Turn on Track prices for a list to enter unit prices and see trip totals.
Reorder: Drag the three-line handle on open items.
Finish trip: Moves the list to History. Shop again copies it to a new open list.
Share / print: Preview open items as Text, HTML, or PDF. For Gmail, Copy HTML then paste into the message body. Share opens email with an empty body so you can paste. Share PDF attaches a letter-sized file. Print is also available.
Rename store: Tap the pencil in the top bar to change the list name.

Daily Journal

Log a daily note and 1–5 rating on a goal.

On Goal Details, add today’s note and rating, then tap Add Entry. Entries appear under Journal on that goal and feed calendars and reports.

Reminders

Daily review and per-task alerts.

To save battery, Android may deliver an alert up to 10 minutes after the time you pick. For on-time alerts, tap “For on-time alerts, allow Alarms & reminders” (or open Android Settings → Apps → Goal Journal → Alarms & reminders) and turn it on. Reminders survive reboot. If Goal Journal’s notifications are turned off, Android won’t show them.

Daily Review: Open Reminders from ⋮. Enable the daily review, pick a time, and save. Android may ask for notification permission. Tap Send test notification to check that alerts are allowed.
On a task: Open the task, tap Edit task, turn on Remind me, and pick a date and time. It starts at 9:00 AM on the due date, or tomorrow if there isn’t one. Completing or deleting the task cancels the reminder.

These are local notifications on this device only — not Apple Reminders or iCloud.

Widgets

Goal progress and due tasks on your Home screen.

Widgets only show information. Tap one to open that goal or task.

1. Allow them: ⋮ → Settings → Allow widgets.
2. Add one: Touch and hold an empty spot on your Home screen, tap Widgets, and choose Goal Journal.
Goal Progress: One goal’s progress ring. Pick the goal when you add it. To change it later, touch and hold the widget and tap the pencil or Widget settings.
Tasks Due: Overdue and due-today tasks, then what’s coming up. Make it taller to see more.
Privacy: Turn off Show names in widgets in Settings to show only progress and counts.

Widgets update when your goals or tasks change. Hidden and completed goals never appear.

Reports & Calendars

Overview stats, history, breakdown, calendars, and period summaries.

Open Reports from the blue shortcut card or ⋮. Browse overview stats, focus lists, Goal History, Task Breakdown, Activity Calendar, Year Overview, and weekly/monthly summaries.

Goal Reports

Preview, copy, email, or print progress for one or more goals.

From Reports → Goal Reports, select one or more goals, then choose Text, HTML, PDF, or Print. A preview opens before you send anything. You can use the same share button on a single goal’s Goal Details screen.

Text: Structured plain text with section headers. Fine for Messages or a quick paste where formatting is not needed.
HTML (best for Gmail): Shows a formatted preview. Tap Copy HTML, then open email (share icon opens Gmail with an empty body) and paste into the message body. Pasting HTML keeps the layout better than sending HTML through Android share.
PDF: Same formatted preview. Share PDF attaches a letter-sized PDF with page breaks. Use this when you want a file attachment.
Print: Sends the formatted report to Android’s print sheet (including Save as PDF).

Android email apps do not keep rich HTML from the share sheet the way Apple Mail can. Copy HTML → paste is the workaround for a formatted Gmail body.

Settings & Export

Look, lock, categories, statuses, templates, Recycle Bin, and export.

Settings lets you rename the journal, choose appearance / accent (including custom #RRGGBB) / paper, enable app lock with PIN and optional biometrics, manage categories, statuses, and templates, export goals as JSON or CSV, and open Recycle Bin.

Forgot PIN: On the lock screen, tap Forgot PIN? and confirm with your phone’s screen lock (PIN, pattern, or password). Then set a new app PIN or turn App Lock off. Your journal is not affected.
Recycle Bin: Restore soft-deleted items within 30 days.
Export: Preview a JSON or CSV snapshot of your goal list, then share. This is not a restore file and does not sync devices.
Privacy: Your journal is stored on this device and never sent to the developer. Phone and tablet installs are separate. Android backup, if turned on, may keep a copy in your Google account for restoring on a new phone. Nothing syncs to Apple.

Still need help?

Email appsupport@ca3dworks.com. Please include your device, the app version (About in Settings), and what you need help with.

About Goal Journal and support · Privacy Policy