Penjo: Pencil-first Journal & Planner

Yes. Penjo’s “List Mode” turns any journal into a notebook-style experience: navigation skips empty days, so you see one continuous flow of entries instead of calendar gaps. The dates still exist as a chronological index, but they stay out of your way. See “How does List Mode work and how do I enable it?” below for setup.

Sure, all functionality is available without Apple Pencil too. When Apple Pencil is unavailable and “Draw with Finger” is enabled on the Tool Picker, all tap actions are performed with a two-finger tap (e.g. two-finger tap to insert text, an image, a shape or a map card, or to select and move items) while single-finger actions are used to draw. If “Draw with Finger” is disabled, you cannot draw but can still add or edit boxes (text, image, shape and map card).

Drawing on Mac is on the roadmap. Enable notifications to hear when it ships.

On the free plan, you can have up to 14 non-empty day sheets. In other words, you can have items on 14 different days. Once you reach the limit, you will be asked to switch to a paid plan. If you delete the contents of one of those days, that day sheet frees up and you can use another.

The free plan lets you create up to 5 pages per day. Penjo checks whether there is any item (drawing, text, or image) on the last 20% of the last page. If so, it will display the purchase dialog. You can remove the item at that portion of the last page.

No. Your data stays on your device. Paid features may become unavailable until you renew, but renewing restores access to everything you had.

Family Sharing is available on the monthly subscription plan. The lifetime plan does not support Family Sharing.

No. You need to cancel your subscription after you purchase the Penjo Unlimited Lifetime option.

Just after drawing a rough line, place a small crossing strike around the center of the line and watch Penjo straighten it. Lines also snap to 0° and 90°. You can zoom in to make it work for short lines too.

You can convert handwritten notes to text by selecting them and using the “Copy as Text” feature. Here’s how:

1. Tap the rectangular selection tool (the dashed-rectangle icon).
2. Draw a rectangle around the handwritten note with your finger to select it.
3. Tap “Done” to finalize your selection.
4. Tap the selected note to open the context menu.
5. Choose “Copy as Text”. You can now paste the converted text into Penjo or any other app.

List Mode gives you a notebook feel inside a dated journal. Here’s how it behaves:

1. Continuous Flow: Your journal opens directly to the list of entries rather than a specific calendar date.
2. Navigation: Navigation buttons and edge swipes automatically skip empty days and take you to the next non-empty entry.
3. Ordering Index: The dates act as a chronological index so you can focus on content without seeing gaps between entries.

You can set List Mode in any of three places:

1. When creating a journal: enable “List Mode” in the Add Journal dialog.
2. For an existing journal: open the journal’s Customize settings and toggle “List Mode”.
3. On the fly: tap the Settings icon (three dots) on the journal cover and select “List Mode” (or “Day Mode” to revert).

Pro tip: to further categorize your notebook entries, use Color Bookmarks. You can then use the List View filter (the page icon in the top-left corner of Day View) to view only notes matching a specific category or topic.

Penjo checks whether there is any item in the bottom 40% of the page. If so, it adds a new page. Similarly, if no item is left, it removes the page automatically.

Shift Canvas is an important feature of Penjo to keep your day sheets clean and tidy. When you select “Shift Canvas” a shifter bar appears. Drag it up or down to create or remove space. This way you can insert items in between, or remove the space left behind when you delete an item.

Collapse Space is particularly useful if you delete some item (say, a completed to-do item). You can use this option to remove the void after moving or deleting an item.

The selection tool works for images, shapes, text boxes, calendar event boxes, and drawings. You can also use the lasso select tool in the Pencil Tool Picker to select a drawing. After selecting a drawing using the rectangular selection tool, press the “Done” button. Once selected, tapping on the selection area will display options. You can also drag the selection to move to another location on the same day sheet.

Customization of the tool picker is available on iOS/iPadOS 18 and up. You can switch between default and favorite tool pickers from the accessory item button (the pen-in-a-circle icon).

When in the default tool picker, you can select “Add tool” to add the selected tool to the favorite tool picker. The new tool is placed before the eraser tool and the picker is switched to the favorite one.

When in the favorite tool picker, you can move the selected tool left or right, remove it, or duplicate it to give it different color, width, or opacity settings. Your settings are automatically saved. You can also change the theme to dark or light using “Change Theme”.

You can use the copy/move menu in a sheet’s settings, located in the top-right corner of the screen (the icon with three dots in a circle).

In addition, with the copy below/above option that appears when you tap on an empty part of a sheet, you can copy the part above or below that point. Then, in another day sheet or journal you can tap “Paste” to paste into that sheet. If you tap on the top part of the sheet and select “Copy Below” it will copy the whole sheet.

1. Tap the journal settings on the journal card in journal List View (the three-dots icon on the journal card).
2. Tap “Export”.
3. Select a date range or enable “Export Whole Journal”. Enable export options as you wish and tap “Export as PDF”.
4. Similar to exporting a single day, a share screen appears when processing completes.

Deleting a journal is a two-step process to prevent accidental removal of journals. To delete a journal:

1. Tap on the journal settings (the three-dots-in-a-circle icon on the journal card in the journal List View).
2. Choose “Archive”. This will archive the journal: it will be invisible but not deleted.
3. Go to main settings (the gear icon on the top-right edge) and enable “Show Archived Journals”.
4. Find your journal and tap on the journal settings again.
5. Choose “Delete”. Confirm the dialog and the journal is deleted.

It occurs when working on iPad and “Draw with Finger” is enabled on the Pencil Tool Picker. The app tries to draw instead of tapping. When “Draw with Finger” is enabled, all tap actions can be performed using a two-finger tap.

In addition, we recommend disabling “Draw with Finger” if you are using Apple Pencil. This way, you can use tap with your finger.