Can I download my Dreamwidth journal?

Yes. You can download your Dreamwidth Journal month by month with the Export Journal tool. "Export Journal" will create a file containing only your entries but not the comments made to it. You can download your entries using either XML or CSV format.

CSV stands for "Comma Separated Values", which means your journal entries will be downloaded as a solid block of text with all hard returns replaced by commas. You may find the CSV format useful for some things, but it may not download the entire contents of your selected month.

If you use the CSV format, the Exporter will automatically ask if you want to save the file or open it with your system's text editor.

If you use the XML format, you will be able to download a month of your journal with some of the line-breaks preserved. The breaks between entries and your entry title will be preserved, but there won't be any line-breaks within the body of the text. Any HTML coding you've placed into your entry will appear as raw code, not formatted text.

To begin your export, fill out the information in the fields inside the shaded box on the "Export Journal" page. Select the format and encoding your export will use. Windows users can select "Western European (Windows)". Mac and Linux users can select "Western European (ISO)". If your journal contains non-Western-European characters, select the appropriate coding set to make it display properly.

In the "Fields" section of the Exporter, you may choose what information from your journal to export by checking or unchecking boxes. YOU MUST SELECT "EVENT" FROM THIS LIST OR YOU WILL NOT DOWNLOAD ANY ENTRIES. When you've set up the Exporter to your satisfaction, press "Proceed".

If you've chosen CSV, you'll have the option to "Save" or to "Open" the file: if you choose "Open", your text editor will open the file in another window.

If you've chosen XML, your saved text will now appear as a web page in the same window or tab of your browser you opened the Exporter in. At the top of the page you'll see the words "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below." in a grey box. This is a known bug: just ignore it.

Choose "Save Page As" from your browser menu. Doing this will save the file to your computer.

Go to the folder where your downloaded file is located. Select the filename and show file options.

You should now see a drop-down window with a variety of choices. Choose "Open With". There should be a submenu off "Open With" offering you a number of programs you can use to open the file. Your word processing program should be one of the choices displayed.

Once you have opened your document with your word processor, you can choose to save it as a text document instead of as an XML file. Save the file to your chosen directory in your chosen format, and you're done.