Work Journal

Transform How You Track Your Workday

Work Journal helps you document your workday, track time accurately, and maintain a searchable record of everything you accomplish — without the bloat of enterprise software.

Core Features

Why You’ll Love It

Perfect For

• IT professionals tracking tickets and troubleshooting
• Consultants who bill by the hour
• Remote workers maintaining accountability
• Anyone who needs work documentation for reviews or audits

Technical Details

Get Started

1. Download WorkJournal.zip
2. Extract to the folder where you want your data stored
3. Double-click to run
4. Enter your name and company (first launch only)
5. Start tracking

No installation. No setup wizard. Just run and go.

Licensing

Work Journal is provided as-is for personal or professional use. CHNS is not responsible for support of this product — use at your own risk.

Release Notes

v1.1 — Feb 13, 2026

Additions

• Lunch Timer: Now when starting lunch, it pops up a countdown timer showing how much lunch you have left
• Break Timer: Track your break time with the new “Start Break” button. Countdown timer with estimated end time adjustment if you go over
• Standup tab: Similar to the Meetings tab, here you can document what you plan to work on that day. Also tracks the location you are working that day and adds a journal entry when saved
• When you save a new meeting for the first time, it now adds a journal entry with the Meeting Name and Start Time
• On the Meetings tab, added a meeting “Type” dropdown to filter just those types of meetings
• “Default From Date” for the Achievements tab (“Month to date”, “Quarter to date”, “Year to date”)
• “Default From Date” for the Meetings tab (“Month to date”, “Quarter to date”, “Year to date”)
• EnsureDefaults method: this method populates the UserSettings.xml file with any default settings if they are missing on launch. This makes upgrading an existing UserSettings.xml file possible

Fixes

• Changed the order of the tabs so Meetings comes before Time Card
• On Time Card tab, swapped the “Load Time Card” and “Current Pay Period” buttons
• On Meetings tab, swapped the “Load Meetings” and “New Meeting” buttons
• When clicking “End Day”, Backup would fail due to a variable out of scope
• Replaced all “| Out-Null” with “[void]” and “> $null” to increase performance and follow best practices
• Added Type Declarations to All Functions to follow best practices
• Changed all assignments from “$PSScriptRoot” to “$script:ScriptRoot”
• Renamed all variables with unapproved verbs to follow best practices
• Renamed two variables to avoid conflicts with automatic variables
• Removed three “$result” variables that weren’t used
• Rearranged the Settings tab
• Renamed “Pay Period” settings to “Time Card”
• Changed expected lunch duration to minutes instead of time
• Removed End Lunch button from Today tab

v1.0 — Feb 5, 2026

Core Journaling

• Submit journal entries with timestamps (Ctrl+Enter shortcut)
• Mark entries as achievements with checkbox
• Ticket number tracking with configurable URL templates
• Real-time entry statistics (total entries, achievements, work duration, estimated end time)

Time Tracking

• Start/End Day buttons with automatic time stamping
• Lunch break tracking (Start Lunch / End Lunch)
• Off-hours work tracking with separate session logging
• Automatic start time detection (optional)
• Work duration calculation (excludes lunch time)
• Estimated end time based on expected hours

Journal Tab

• View all entries for any selected date
• Entry count and achievement statistics
• Export journal to HTML
• Email journal entries with custom recipients

Achievements Tab

• Filter achievements by date range
• Search achievements by text or ticket number
• Statistics: Total, This Week, This Month
• Export achievements to HTML
• Email achievements report

Time Card Tab

• Daily breakdown table (date, times, hours, notes)
• Separate regular hours and off-hours tracking
• Pay period support (Monthly or Bi-Weekly)
• “Current Pay Period” quick-load button
• Export time card to HTML
• Email time card report
• In-progress day indicator

Meetings Tab

• Create/edit meeting notes with structured format
• Meeting metadata: Title, Date/Time, Attendees, Type
• Four content sections: Agenda, Notes, Action Items, Decisions
• Markdown storage with YAML frontmatter
• Filter meetings by date range
• Search meetings by title, attendees, or content
• Preview cards with quick access
• Export meetings to HTML
• Email meetings report
• “Save & Email” option

Email Features

• End-of-day summary emails with work statistics
• Off-hours session summary emails (automatic)
• Custom recipient selection per email (To/CC override)
• Default email settings with optional override
• HTML-formatted emails with user/company headers
• Clickable ticket links in emails

Settings & Configuration

• User name and company name
• Work start time and expected duration
• Expected lunch duration
• Automatic start time (optional)
• Email configuration (To, CC, From, SMTP Server)
• Summary email toggle
• Backup retention (keep last N backups)
• Ticket system URL template
• Pay period type (Monthly day or Bi-Weekly cycle)
• Customizable meeting types (comma-separated)

Data Management

• CSV storage with monthly files
• Automatic daily backups on end-of-day
• Configurable backup pruning
• Markdown storage for meetings
• Entry caching for performance (2-second cache)

User Experience

• Multi-tab interface (Today, Journal, Achievements, Time Card, Meetings, Settings)
• User info prompt on first launch
• Real-time statistics updates (30-second refresh)
• Search functionality with clear buttons
• Date range pickers with intelligent defaults
• Export to HTML with optional file open
• STA mode enforcement for WPF compatibility