The Journal by DavidRM is a fantastic bit of software. I’ve been using it for years to sort and sift through this great journey of life.

This is an AutoHotKey script to launch and close The Journal. It also gives a cool little “Loading…” overlay while it’s opening.

This is only useful for people with passwords on their journal. Otherwise you’ll need to modify line 22.

Win + J opens The Journal

Win + Shift + J closes it

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

; --------------------
; The Journal launcher
; --------------------

#j::
	; If it's already open then switch to it
	If WinExist("ahk_exe Journal7.exe")
		WinActivate ahk_exe Journal7.exe
	else
	; If it's not already open, then launch a copy and give me a cool loading bar
	{
		Progress, B zh0 w300 cw000000 ctFFFFFF fs20, Launching journal..., , JournalLoading
		WinSet, Transparent, 200, JournalLoading ; level of transparency - 255 is opaque
		Run "C:\Program Files (x86)\DavidRM Software\The Journal 7\Journal7.exe"
		; Sometimes it starts up without the login form active, so my password goes into whatever
		; app I had open previously. This makes sure the login form is active.
		WinWait ahk_class TJFLoginForm
		Progress, Off ; Get rid of the loading bar
		WinActivate ahk_class TJFLoginForm
	}
return
#+j::
	If WinExist("ahk_exe Journal7.exe")
		PostMessage, 0x112, 0xF060,,, ahk_exe Journal7.exe ; Close The Journal if it's active (friendly close message - see https://autohotkey.com/docs/commands/WinClose.htm)
return