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FAQ - Journal Entries

» How do I update my journal using the Rich Text editor?

The Rich Text editor is a feature of the Update Journal page (http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml) that allows easy creation of various HTML styles and links.

To enter the Rich Text editor, click on the link below the editing area. To leave the Rich Text editor, you will have to re-enter the Update Journal page by clicking on a link to it. Switching between the Rich Text editor and the ordinary Update Journal page will cause you to lose anything you have entered into the editing area.

By clicking on the appropriate buttons on the editor, you can:

* Make text bold, italic, or underlined
* Change text size
* Change text color
* Link to other websites
* Add an image
* Link to another LiveJournal user
* Cut part of the text using the lj-cut tag
* Undo and redo any changes you make

Note that you cannot mix HTML created using the Rich Text editor and manual entry of HTML tags; this will cause any HTML you enter by hand to appear as un-rendered HTML in your entries.

The Rich Text interface requires that your web browser is up to date and has JavaScript enabled. You may wish to ensure that JavaScript is enabled on your web browser, and that you have the latest version of your web browser by visiting the browser manufacturer's web site and checking for available browser upgrades. If upgrading your web browser still does not allow you to use the editor, you may wish to try using a different web browser to access the Rich Text interface.


USING A DOWNLOADABLE CLIENT

Many clients available for download include many of the same features as the Rich Text interface. For more information on your preferred client, consult its documentation or its menu options.


FURTHER READING

How do I alter the appearance of my text? How do I make text bold, italic or centered?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=72

Change the Size, Color, and Font of Certain Words (Using Font and Span)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/howto/24298.html

How do I add a link to another journal or another web site in my entry?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=67

How do I add images to my journal entries or user bio?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=6

How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I alter the appearance of my text? How do I make text bold, italic or centered?

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is a standardized language for presenting information in a browser. A web server sends text to your browser in response to a request (clicking on a link or entering an address in your browser), and your browser then interprets the HTML markup in that document, presenting it in a human-readable form with links, images, and text embellishments.


GENERAL GUIDELINES

A basic HTML tag will look something like <tag>. In many cases, it is necessary to also have a closing tag, </tag>, which tells your browser to stop doing what the opening tag told it to do. A large number of HTML tags instruct your browser to apply a certain effect -- such as bold, italics, underlining, color, or font size -- to the text between the opening tag and the closing tag.

There are a small number of tags that do not need a closing tag; one example of this is the <img> tag, which inserts an image into the document. These tags generally insert an object, rather than applying to the following text. Tags which do not need a closing tag can be indicated by inserting a space and a forward slash before the last angle bracket, thus: <tag />.

More complex HTML tags include pairs of attributes and values, which define various aspects of the tag. (For example, the different attributes of a <font> tag can specify size, color, font face, and so on.) These pairs will always be of the form attribute="value", there are spaces between the tag name and the attribute="value" pairs, and between different pairs:

<tag attribute1="value1" attribute2="value2">

When you have a tag with attribute="value" pairs, the closing tag will still only contain the tag name; it will not contain any of the attributes:

<tag attribute1="value1">text being affected</tag>


HTML ON LIVEJOURNAL

You can use any of the following HTML tags, and some others that are not mentioned here, within a LiveJournal entry:

<a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br> <center> <cite> <code> <dd> <div> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <form> <h1> <h2> <h3> <hr> <i> <img> <input> <li> <marquee> <nobr> <ol> <option> <p> <pre> <s> <select> <small> <span> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul> <xmp>

Comments allow all of the tags shown above except form tags such as <form> and <input>. The subjects of journal entries, as well as the current mood/music fields, allow only the tags <a> <b> <i> <u> <em> <strong> <cite>.

Neither entries nor comments allow scripts, applets, or objects.

There are many useful tags there that can bring your text to life, but we're only going to cover a few of the basics here. If you want to learn more about these tags, you can search for a HTML tutorial using your favorite search engine.

There are also a small number of LiveJournal-specific tags, which are not standard HTML. These tags will only work on LiveJournal; however, they follow the same format as standard HTML (consisting of either <tag> or <tag attribute="value">.)

LiveJournal uses an HTML cleaner on all entries, comments, and journal styles, which looks for invalid or harmful HTML. If there is a problem with your HTML (for example, if you type <tag="value"> instead of <tag attribute="value">), you will receive an error, and will need to find and fix the problem in your HTML code.


COMMON TEXT EFFECTS

There are many useful tags there that can bring your text to life, but we're only going to cover a few of the basics here. If you want to learn more about these tags, or other HTML tags not covered here, you can search for a HTML tutorial using your favorite search engine.

* Bold: To make text bold, surround it with <b> and </b> tags. You can place as much text between the beginning <b> and ending </b> tags as you want, and all of it will be bold, even if there are spaces and punctuation included.
Example: <b>This text is in bold.</b>

* Italics: To italicize text, surround it with <i> and </i> tags. As with the bold tag, you can place as much text between the <i> and </i> tags as you want.

* Underline: To underline text, surround it with <u> and </u> tags. Again, you can place as much text between these tags as you want, and it will all appear with an underline.

* Center: To center a line of text, use <center> and </center>. These tags work very much like the tags described above, but you must start the text you would like to center on a separate line.

* Marquee: To have a segment of text appear to scroll across the screen, use <marquee> and </marquee>. This tag will only work correctly on Internet Explorer for Windows; it can even cause some browsers to crash or not display the rest of the page properly. You should enclose marquees in the LiveJournal-specific <lj-cut> tag pair to hide text in a marquee tag.
Example: <lj-cut><marquee>This text is scrolling across the page.</marquee></lj-cut>

* Pre-formatted text: HTML treats multiple spaces as a single space, to allow formatting in the source code that doesn't need to apply to the page you see in the browser. Because of this, if you type multiple spaces into one part of an entry, it will appear as though you had only typed one. Enclosing text in <pre> and </pre> tags will tell the browser to display it as it was entered, including multiple spaces.

It is possible to apply multiple HTML tags to the same text: <b><i><u>This text</u></i></b> will appear simultaneously bold, italic, and underlined. When you do this, the closing tags should be in reverse order to the opening tags, so that the first closing tag applies to the last opening tag, and so on.


PREVIEW

There is a Preview button available for both entries and comments, so if you choose to use HTML, you can use this to preview your work as it would appear when someone views it.

Once you preview your entry or comment, you can either submit it as is, or you can edit it in the box provided.


RICH TEXT EDITOR

LiveJournal provides a Rich Text editor, which allows you to use many of the features of HTML, without entering the code manually. If you enter HTML code in the Rich Text Editor, it will appear as the code itself; <b> will appear in your entry as <b>, and will not make the following text bold. The Rich Text editor is only available when composing a new entry; it is not available for editing existing entries or for writing comments.


USING A DOWNLOADABLE CLIENT

Most clients available for download include the ability to add markup to your text, and some allow you to preview that markup before you post it. Some clients also have WYSIWYG editors, similar to LiveJournal's Rich Text interface, which can allow you to format your entry without entering the code manually. For more information on your preferred client, consult its documentation or its menu options.


FURTHER READING

Change the Size, Color, and Font of Certain Words (Using Font and Span):
http://www.livejournal.com/users/howto/24298.html

How do I update my journal using the Rich Text editor?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=204

How do I add a link to another journal or another web site in my entry?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=67

How do I add images to my journal entries or user bio?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=6

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

Why am I getting an "irreparable invalid markup in entry" error?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=189

Why does my journal or Friends page suddenly display incorrectly or require me to scroll?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=40

Last Updated:
rahaeli, 2004-12-27

» How do I add images to my journal entries or user bio?

Any image you wish to use must first be uploaded to a webspace provider that allows remote loading to LiveJournal. It is not possible to upload or copy and paste a picture from your hard disk directly into an entry. In order to add an image to your entry, you must first locate a Web server that you can upload the image to. This is necessary because other users need to have access to the image in order to display it and do not have access to the hard disk in your computer. Please see http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=130 for information on image loading requirements.

To add an image to your journal entry or user bio, use an <img> tag where you want the image to appear:

                <img src="http://www.example.com/image.jpg" alt="title or description" />

Within the code, "http://www.example.com/image.jpg" must be replaced by the actual URL of the image, and "title or description" can be changed to give the image a title or description of your choice.

You can also tell the browser how tall and wide the image is. In order to do this, use the code shown below, and replace "y" with the height of the image, in pixels, from top to bottom, and "x" with the width of the image in pixels from right to left:

                <img src="http://www.example.com/image.jpg" alt="title or description" height="y" width="x" />
  
When you add an image to a journal entry, you may also want to use the LiveJournal-specific <lj-cut> tag to hide the image behind a link as this can reduce problems caused by badly formed HTML or large images.

You can also use the rich text feature to include images in journal entries without using HTML. Note that the image you use will still need to be uploaded to a webspace provider that allows remote loading to LiveJournal.

FURTHER READING

How do I add a link to another journal or another web site in my entry? (including information on making images into links)
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=67

How do I update my journal using the Rich Text editor?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=204

How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

Why does my journal or Friends page suddenly display incorrectly or require me to scroll?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=40

Last Updated:
rho, 2004-09-27

» How do I add a link to another journal or another web site in my entry?

There are several ways to link to a web site or another journal in an entry.

You can insert URLs (Internet addresses) directly into your entries and they will automatically become links. For this to work, the URL must begin with "http://" or "https://". You can turn off this behavior with the "Text Formatting" option when posting an entry.

Another way to insert a link is to use HTML tags. For example:

        <a href="http://www.example.com/">My Homepage</a>

This will create a link with the text "My Homepage" which, upon being clicked, will lead to http://www.example.com/. In order to use this tag, you must replace the link and text with your own link and text.

This technique can be used to link to the journal of another user:

        <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/">This is an account specifically reserved for FAQ and Support examples!</a>

This will create a link to the journal of the user "exampleusername", and the link will have the text shown between the opening tag (<a>) and the closing tag (</a>).

You can also use these tags to make an image into a link, by putting the code for the image between the opening and closing tags. For example:

        <a href="http://www.example.com"><img src="http://www.example.com/image.jpg" alt="title or description" border="0" /></a>

If you would like a border the color of a link to appear around the image you are using as a link, you may change "0" to a positive number.

Note that any images you would like to use as links must be uploaded to a webspace provider that allows remote loading.

You can also use an <lj user> tag to link to user and community journals. There are also special LiveJournal-specific URL forms you can use to make links to different LiveJournal pages.

You can also use the Rich Text feature to create links in journal entries without using HTML.


FURTHER READING

How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

How do I add images to my journal entries or user bio?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=6

Why are my images not displaying? What is remote loading?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=130

How do I update my journal using the Rich Text editor?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=204

What does the "Text Formatting" option do?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=26

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I add my current mood and current music to my journal entries?

In order to add your current mood or current music to a journal entry, you can use the web update client (http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml). The web update client shows fields for "Mood" and "Music" at the bottom of the page.

To enter your current mood, you can select an option from the dropdown list next to "Mood", or you can leave the selection blank and type your mood into the text box provided to the right.

To enter your current music, type it into the text box provided next to "Music".

Many downloadable clients also support the ability to add this data to your entries. Some clients can even "auto-detect" the music playing in your preferred music player, so that you don't have to type it in. Consult your preferred client's documentation and menu options for details.

If you would like any moods that you select from the dropdown list to appear with a small icon to accompany them, you can select a mood theme for your journal. Visit http://www.livejournal.com/modify.bml while logged in and scroll down to the section labeled "Mood Icons". Here, you can select a theme from the dropdown list. To preview the available themes, click the (preview) link next to the dropdown list, or visit http://www.livejournal.com/moodlist.bml. Select the theme you want to use from the list, and save your changes.

If you type in a mood yourself that corresponds exactly to a mood from the dropdown list, it may display with the correct mood icon. However, not all clients support this functionality. If you are using the web update client, you may also combine a choice from the drop-down list with a mood that you enter yourself. This will cause the icon corresponding to the preset mood to display along with the text that you enter, allowing you to show appropriate icons for your own custom moods. If you have a Paid Account, you have the ability to create your very own custom mood theme.


FURTHER READING

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

How do I create a custom mood theme?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=64

What are the Paid Account benefits?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=131

Log In Page
http://www.livejournal.com/login.bml

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?

There are 4 LiveJournal-specific markup tags and several LiveJournal-specific URL forms, as listed and explained below. These tags and URL forms will only work within journal entries, comments, and the Bio section of the User Info page. Some are further restricted to only journal entries, as explained below.


LJ-CUT

<lj-cut> ... </lj-cut>

This can be used in a journal entry to hide all or part of an entry. When the entry appears in your journal or on someone's Friends page, everything after an <lj-cut> tag and before a closing </lj-cut> tag will be replaced by a link to the Read Comments page. The Read Comments page always displays the entire entry and any comments made on it. When the <lj-cut> is closed with </lj-cut>, any text placed after the closing </lj-cut> tag will also display on the journal, instead of just on the Read Comments page.

By default, the link will say "Read more...", but if you want it to say something else like "Cut off here", you can write the tag as <lj-cut text="Cut off here">

It is possible to disable lj-cuts. For information about this, please see the appropriate section below.


LJ USER

<lj user="exampleusername">

Replace exampleusername with the username of any LiveJournal account. This is displayed as a bold link to the journal. Depending on the type of the account -- user, community, news journal, or syndicated account -- the icon that appears next to the journal name will change. The icon will link to the account's User Information page, while the journal name will link to its Recent Entries page.


LJ-POLL

<lj-poll> ... </lj-poll>

This tag can be used by users with Paid or Permanent Accounts to include a poll in a journal entry. For more information on polls see http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=69.


LJ-RAW

<lj-raw> ... </lj-raw>

This disables the auto-insertion of line breaks on sections of your post. This provides the same functionality as choosing "None" for "Text Formatting" when posting an entry, but can be used to stop text formatting on only a section of your post instead of the entire post.


USING THE RICH TEXT EDITOR

The rich text editor allows you to use <lj-cut> and <lj user> tags without entering the code manually.


USING A DOWNLOADABLE CLIENT

Many clients available for download also contain simple ways to use LiveJournal-specific tags. For information on a specific client, consult its documentation or menu options.


DISABLING LJ-CUTS

It is possible to disable <lj-cut> tags, so that you always see the full text of entries on Friends or Recent Entries pages.

To disable <lj-cut> tags on the Recent Entries pages of all of the journals that you view (including your own), go to the Admin Console (http://www.livejournal.com/admin/console/) and type the following:

set opt_ljcut_disable_lastn 1

To disable <lj-cut> tags on the Friends pages of all of the journals that you view (including your own), go to the Admin Console and type the following:

set opt_ljcut_disable_friends 1

To undo these choices, go to the Admin Console and type:

set opt_ljcut_disable_lastn 0

or

set opt_ljcut_disable_friends 0


URL FORMS

There are also several LiveJournal-specific URL forms that will only work on LiveJournal:

* <a href="lj://user/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName</a> will make a link to exampleusername's journal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/). Note that "user" is used in this URL, while "users" is used in the usual URL. You can also extend the journal's URL to make a link to other pages in the journal. For example, <a href="lj://user/exampleusername/friends/">ExampleUserName's Friends</a> will make a link to exampleusername's Friends page (http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/friends/).

* <a href="lj://user/exampleusername/profile/">ExampleUserName's User Info</a> or <a href="lj://userinfo/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName's User Info</a> will make a link to exampleusername's User Info page (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=exampleusername).

* <a href="lj://userpics/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName's user pictures</a> will make a link to exampleusername's user pictures page (http://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=exampleusername).

* <a href="lj://memories/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName's Memories</a> will make a link to exampleusername's Memories page (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=exampleusername).

* <a href="lj://todo/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName's to-do list</a> will make a link to exampleusername's to-do list (http://www.livejournal.com/todo/?user=exampleusername).

* <a href="lj://pubkey/exampleusername/">ExampleUserName's Public Key</a> will make a link to exampleusername's public key (http://www.livejournal.com/pubkey.bml?user=exampleusername).

* <a href="lj://support/3777/">Support Request #3777</a> will make a link to the 3777th support request (http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=3777). <a href="lj://support/">Support</a> without a number will make a link to the main Support page (http://www.livejournal.com/support/).

* <a href="lj://faq/75/">FAQ #75</a> will make a link to the FAQ Question #75 (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75). <a href="lj://faq/">FAQ</a> without a number will make a link to the main FAQ page (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq.bml).

* <a href="lj://">LiveJournal</a> with no information after "lj://" will make a link to the LiveJournal homepage (http://www.livejournal.com/).

In each of these URL forms, the double-slash (//) may be eliminated without affecting the location of the link. These URLs can only be used in links made by using the anchor (<a>) tag.


FURTHER READING

What does the "Text Formatting" option do?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=26

How do I update my journal using the Rich Text editor?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=204

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

Last Updated:
rho, 2004-12-14

» What is the "Entry is backdated" option? How do I use it?

The "Entry is backdated" option is available for each journal entry in an individual journal. It is found on the Update Journal page (http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml), and it can also be modified later by editing an entry.

Setting the "Entry is backdated" option ensures that the entry will appear only on pages where its placement is based on the date and time you specify, specifically the Recent, Calendar, and Day views, but not the Friends view or in data feeds (such as RSS or Atom feeds). You cannot backdate entries to communities, because a community is usually a forum for recent news or events in which backdating is unnecessary.

The date and time of a backdated entry do not have to be in the past. You should also use this option if you would like to make an entry with a future date or time. If you give an entry a future date or time without selecting the "Entry is backdated" option, and subsequently try to make a post dated earlier than your future-dated post, you will encounter an error and LiveJournal will not accept the entry.

On someone's Friends page or in your data feeds, the placement of your journal entries is based on when you actually posted them, not on the dates and times you entered. Checking the "Entry is backdated" box prevents your entry from appearing in these locations.

The option doesn't have any effect on your own Recent Entries pages, because sorting of the entries there is always based on the date and time you specify, and you can always find an entry through the Calendar view.


FURTHER READING

How do I edit or delete a journal entry I wrote?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=2

How does my Calendar work?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=70

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» What does the "Text Formatting" option do?

The "Text Formatting" option on the update journal page (http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml) controls whether auto-formatting is enabled or disabled. By default auto-formatting is enabled. Auto-formatting does the following:

* Automatically inserts breaks between lines for you. If you hit enter to move down to the next line, that is how the post will appear on your journal.

* When linking to a site, some HTML will be created for you. For example, if you type http://www.livejournal.com/ in an entry, it automatically becomes a link.

If you prefer to format your entries manually (for example, using <br /> to create a line break), then you should select "None" for the "Text Formatting" option. If you don't know what you want, you probably want to leave it as "Auto".

Alternatively, you can disable auto-formatting using the LiveJournal-specific tag <lj-raw>. This is particularly useful if you want to disable it for only part of an entry.


FURTHER READING

How do I use an lj-cut? What are the other LiveJournal-specific tags?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I edit or delete a journal entry I wrote?

Remember that once you edit or delete an entry, there is no way to reverse this. If you delete an entry, any comments left on it will also be made inaccessible. If you think you might change your mind, you should save the text elsewhere before making the change.


USING THE WEB INTERFACE

Go to the "Post Comments" or "Read Comments" page for the entry you want to edit. You can get to these pages by clicking on the entry's comment links if comments are enabled, or by using your Calendar view. Click on the Edit Entry button (a blue pencil icon) on the small blue toolbar near the top of the page. This will take you to the Edit Journal Entry page.

You can also get to the Edit Journal Entry page by using http://www.livejournal.com/editjournal.bml. This page allows you to choose an entry to edit either from your most recent entries or from a specific date.

From there you can make the changes you want. To edit an entry, make the changes to the text and then click "Save Entry" to save your changes. You may preview your changes by clicking the "Preview" button, or spell check your entry by clicking the "Spell check" button.

To delete an entry, click the "Delete Entry" button. You can also delete the entry by deleting all the text from the body of the entry and clicking "Save Entry."


USING A DOWNLOADABLE CLIENT

Many clients available for download can edit and delete journal entries. For information on a specific client, consult its documentation or its menu options.


ERROR MESSAGES

While editing or deleting entries, if you receive the error message "Client error: Invalid text encoding: Cannot display non-Unicode posts unless default encoding has been selected", see http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=133.


FURTHER READING

How do I edit or delete an entry in a community?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=119

How does my Calendar work?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=70

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» Does LiveJournal delete old journal entries?

No. Your journal entries are kept forever unless you choose to delete them. By default, only your last 20 journal entries or so are displayed on your main journal page, but you can change that. You can always access all your old journal entries from the Calendar page.

To lighten the load on LiveJournal's servers, only the last 75 entries can be displayed using your Recent Events view. If you wish to read older entries, you can access them through the Calendar page.


FURTHER READING

How does my Calendar work?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=70

How do I edit or delete a journal entry I wrote?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=2

How do I change the number of journal entries per page?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=13

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I search my journal? How can I find a particular entry or comment?

LiveJournal does not have a way of searching entries in a journal. However, the month view of a journal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/yyyy/mm/) will display all entries made in that journal in that month, listing them by date/time and by the subject line of the entry. (For community entries, it will also display the username of the person who posted the entry.) If you remember the subject line used for the entry you are searching for, you can use this method to find the entry.

If you remember the approximate date of the entry you are looking for, you can use the Day view of the journal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/yyyy/mm/dd/) to view all entries made on that day. Most styles provide a way of going to the next or previous day.

Both of these views can also be accessed through the Calendar or Archive for that journal.


FEEDSTER

It is possible to search public entries in a journal by using Feedster. This is an external service that is not affiliated with LiveJournal, but as a convenience, LiveJournal uses Feedster to provide an interface for searching a journal. This interface can be accessed at http://www.livejournal.com/tools/search.bml?journal=exampleusername, or by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on that user's User Information page (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=exampleusername). (Feedster will only search through public entries, and so will not find information in a private or protected entry.)

Before you can use Feedster to search through a journal, that journal's RSS feed (http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/data/rss) may need to be added to Feedster. For further details, please refer to the documentation and support available on the Feedster website (http://www.feedster.com).

Please note that Feedster is not affiliated with LiveJournal, and so LiveJournal is not responsible for the resulting content or for any changes in availability that may occur. LiveJournal Support is unable to offer assistance in the use of this external service.


FINDING COMMENTS

When you are logged in, your Recent Comments page (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/recent_comments.bml) will display the most recent comments that you have received and posted. (Please note that the comments received will only include comments that were posted to your journal, and will not include comments you receive to community entries, or responses to comments you have left in other journals. The comments posted will include comments you have posted in any journal or community.) The number of comments displayed on this page depends on your account type.

Aside from this page, LiveJournal does not provide any method of displaying comments that you have received, or of searching through a journal to find a particular comment. If you remember what entry it was a comment to, you can use the instructions above to locate the entry in question, and then view the Read Comments page for that entry. You can also navigate through entries. (Please note that if comments have been disabled on the journal or on that specific entry, existing comments will not display.)

If you have chosen to receive comment notification e-mails (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=62), and you save the e-mails that you receive, you may be able to find a particular comment by using your mail client to search through these e-mails. For information on whether or not your mail client allows you to search through messages, please consult your client's documentation. Please note that LiveJournal cannot provide instructions for doing this, or guarantee that this method will work.


FURTHER READING

How does my calendar work?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=70

Where can I get an RSS or Atom feed for my journal?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=149

Last Updated:
jayo, 2004-12-06

» How do I download all of my journal entries?

LiveJournal provides a journal export tool at http://www.livejournal.com/export.bml. This tool allows you to download one month of your journal at a time, and save it in either CSV (comma separated values) or XML (extensible markup language) format. While these formats are useful for archiving your entries, they are not designed to be easily readable by humans. You will need to save the file within your web browser and then open it with a third-party program. Many spreadsheet and database programs can read CSV files, for example.

The export tool does not download comments that are posted on your entries, and the files it creates cannot be used to import your entries into another LiveJournal account. If you wish to move entries between accounts, you will need to repost them individually.

Alternatively, some downloadable clients offer a download or backup feature for archiving your entries. To see if a specific client offers this feature, you will need to consult its documentation or menu options.

It is also possible to download or print individual entries by navigating through your Calendar view to the entries you want to save. This method allows you to save easily readable files and to download comments you have received. However, it is also more time consuming than using the export tool or a client program. For instructions on how to save or print web pages, you will need to consult the documentation for your web browser.

When printing entries, you may wish to use the "Lynx" site scheme. This scheme is simpler and contains fewer images, so it will take less time and printer resources to print the entries.


FURTHER READING

How do I import my entries from another journaling site to my LiveJournal?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=195

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

How does my Calendar work?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=70

How do I change the appearance of the main LiveJournal pages?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=186

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» How do I import my entries from another journaling site to my LiveJournal?

LiveJournal does not provide any way to add a large number of entries from another site to your LiveJournal simultaneously. It is also not possible for your entries or their comments on another site to be transferred to your LiveJournal for you, even if the other site is running LiveJournal code. There is no way for entries that have been downloaded from another LiveJournal or from a journal on another site to be uploaded to a LiveJournal.

The only way to add an external entry to your LiveJournal is to copy and paste the entry's text into the Update Journal form. When doing this, you can set the appropriate date and time for the entry by changing the values in the "Date" fields on the Update page. Adding an entry in this way will cause it to appear in your journal as though it were originally posted there on the date you specified. If you choose to do this, you may need to backdate these entries; this will also prevent your friends' Friends pages from being flooded with the new entries.

If you add external entries to your journal using this method, there is no way for comments posted on another site to be added to this entry for you. You can, however, include a link to the original entry and its comments on the external site in the update.

If you want to use the above method to copy a large number of entries from another journal to your LiveJournal, you may wish to use a downloadable client to add the individual entries to your journal, which would eliminate the wait for pages to load.


FURTHER READING

How do I download all of my journal entries?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=8

Update Journal page
http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml

What is the "Entry is backdated" option? How do I use it?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=91

How do I add a link to another journal or another web site in my entry?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=67

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

Last Updated:
rho, 2004-12-13

» How do I delete all my entries without deleting my account?

It is possible to delete all your journal entries without deleting your account. However, LiveJournal does not provide any means to delete all of the entries from your journal with one command. To delete all your entries, you must delete each entry individually.

If you want to delete a large number of entries, this can be done more quickly using a downloadable client because using a client avoids the need to wait for pages to load. For more information on your preferred client, consult its documentation or menu options.


FURTHER READING

How do I edit or delete a journal entry I wrote?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=2

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25

» Can I link my journals together? How do I update another journal without logging out?

While there is no way to link two or more journals together under a single username, there are several options for updating other journals without logging out of the current journal.

First, if you update via the web interface, you can use the "To post as another user, click here" link above the date and time fields to specify a different journal to post in. This will allow you to specify an alternate username and password as the destination for your entry, while you remain logged in to the current account. This alternate login page is directly accessible at http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml?altlogin=1.

A second option is to use a downloadable client that allows you to log in as multiple users simultaneously. However, not all clients support this functionality. You will need to consult each client's documentation to determine whether this feature is available.

Finally, you have the option of converting a secondary journal to a closed community and then granting only your primary account posting access. This allows you to post directly to the closed community from your primary account. However, please note that a journal being converted to a community must not contain any entries. If you have existing entries in your alternate journal(s), this is probably not the best option. Also, once a journal is converted to a community, it can no longer post entries to itself.


FURTHER READING

Update Journal page
http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml

What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158

How do I create a community?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=78

Last Updated:
janinedog, 2004-10-25


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