How-to guides

Step by step, for the desktop, mobile and web apps.

Enter observations on a computer How to add an entry and record the observations in it, using the input screen on Windows, Mac and the web app.
Add photos How to attach photos to an entry or to an individual observation, and what Bird Journal does with them once they are in.
Filter your records The filter bar sits above every list, graph, map and report, and narrows all of them the same way. Here is what each filter does.
Create a checklist What a checklist is, how it differs from a taxonomy, and how to build one of your own for a patch or a trip.
Delete a location How to remove a location you no longer want, and what to do when Bird Journal tells you it is still in use.
Delete an observation How to remove a single species from an entry, on a phone or tablet and on a computer.
Import How to bring records you already hold in a spreadsheet or another program into Bird Journal, and how the matching step works.
Import from AviSys Bird Journal reads AviSys records directly. How to get them out of AviSys, how to bring them in, and what to do about location codes that will not match.
Export How to get your records back out of Bird Journal — as a file for eBird or BirdTrack, as a species list, or as a report.
Export from Wildlife Recorder How to get your records out of Wildlife Recorder in the format Bird Journal reads.
Export from eBird How to download a single checklist or your whole eBird history, ready to import into Bird Journal.
Export from BirdTrack How to pull your records out of BirdTrack as a spreadsheet, ready to import into Bird Journal.
Taxonomy updates How to install a taxonomy update, see exactly what changed in the parts of the taxonomy you use, and work through the few species that need a decision from you.
Back up your journal Your records are backed up to our systems as you make them. If you would like a copy of your own as well, here is how to download one.