19 June 2013

Printing Your Own Diary Inserts

I frequently see our diary inserts in use on blog posts and it is great to see them in use. However, there are a still a few people that struggle to print them for one reason or another.

To be able to give people step by step instructions covering every possible printer/computer combination with all the different versions of Word and all the different types of printer is just not practically possible. So I hope to be able give you enough hints and tips to help you identify the problems you have when printing the files out.

Paper
First of all we are going to discuss printing on A4/A5 paper, this covers the majority of the inserts available.

If you are in North America ISO standard size paper (A4/A5) is not readily available you generally use Letter size paper which is not the same as A4.

Lime Tree did an excellent post on printing inserts which she fully explains the differences in size of A4 and Letter size paper. If you don't have A4/A5 paper, I urge you to go and read that post now. When you have come back and continue from here!

If you are changing your computer/printer set up from printing on Letter size paper to A4/A5 paper you will need to adjust the settings on your printer and your computer so it knows you are printing on A4/A5 size paper, if you don't tell it you will get some odd printed results because of the physical different in the paper size in both width and length. Making these changes is going to vary from one operating system (Windows, Mac OS) to another. Try looking at the Help pages in Word and for your Printer on how to change these settings. 

Printing for A4/A5 organisers. 

If you are printing inserts for your A4/A5 Filofax personal organiser then it is relatively straight forward. A4 will just print straight on A4 paper, no scaling required, set it to print double sided and all should be fine.

With A5 on A4 paper you will be using booklet printing this setting isn't available on all printers. Your printer will need a duplexer fitted to it, so it can automatically flip the paper to print the other side of the page.

This what a typical set up window looks like for booklet printing:



Because Page One is a 'right hand page' as shown above, if there is a blank page at the beginning of the file you are printing, it's essential to 'print' that first blank page because the diary will then be in sync with the page turning with pages 2 and 3 facing each other. All even pages being 'left hand' pages and all odd numbered pages being 'right hand' pages



This is page one of the diary insert:


Then pages 2 and 3


Hopefully now you will see why it is essential to print that blank page 1..

If your printer doesn't have a duplexer fitted (to automate double side printing) then you will have to turn the pages over manually. The easiest way to do this is to print all the 'Odd numbered' pages first, then turn the pages over, and print the 'Even number' pages.

Note: Printing Word or PDF files

When printing either the Word or the PDF files, it is essential that you set the paper size correct in the application and in any printer dialogue boxes on your PC/Mac. If you are printing on A4 paper, then you need to set the paper size to A4 not Letter or any other size.

If you don't set the paper size correctly then the files will be resized according to the paper size you have selected, despite having A4 paper loaded in the printer.

Printing PDF Files

When you print your PDF file, it prints out smaller on paper than the Word or other file it was created from.

When you print from Adobe Acrobat Reader, you will see this dialogue:



You will see that 'Print Scaling' setting is by default set to 'Shrink to Printable Area? That's the one that's shrinking your PDF when you print it.

Change the setting to 'None':


Now, when you print the PDF it will print at the right size.

Printing Personal Size inserts on Personal Paper
Assuming your printer can handle paper as narrow as Personal Size pages (95 mm x 171 mm) then it is relatively easy to print on to Personal Paper. Filofax sell the plain paper in value packs of their white paper or reasonable quantity cotton cream paper.

The following instructions will help you with both creating your own personal size inserts on personal size paper and printing existing files formatted for personal size paper.

Step 1: Set up your paper size in the programme you are using.
In the example below we are using MS Word, but it works the same way in whatever application you use.

1.1 Firstly, select the Page Layout Tab, and click on the Size icon in the toolbar.


1.2 Scroll down the drop down menu and click on 'More Paper Sizes'

1.3 In the following options window click on the drop down menu arrow for paper size and select Custom Size



1.4 Enter the following dimensions in to the relevant boxes.
Height = 17.1 cm (171 mm)
Width = 9.5 cm (95 mm)
Depending on your printer this box is also asking you were the paper will be coming from for the first page and other pages. It's important to make them the same source. And if your printer has 'manual feed' tray or 'envelope' feed, then select that. Alternatively put the default tray if your printer only has the one feed.


1.5 Finally click OK to confirm the set up of the new paper size.  We now need to set up the margins for the page layout. So select Margins from the Page Layout Tab.


Set each margin to 1cm, the left hand margin needs to at least 1 cm to account for the punched holes. Diary inserts will already have 'mirrored' margins to account for these on each page with the margins swapping automatically.


1.6 Click OK and you are now ready to create your personal size page and then print it on to Personal Sized Paper.

Step 2: Printing

2.1 With your document loaded, select Print and your print box should appear. Select Properties:


2.2 Each printer will be slightly different, so you will have to search through the tabs to find the following settings.

Firstly look for Printer Paper Size, select this and then look for 'Custom'


Then enter the paper size:


2.3 The next thing to do as mentioned in the previous section is to tell the printer where the paper is placed in the printer (Envelope feed, Manual Tray, Default tray)

On some printers you can then save these settings with their own name to make it easier next time.


2.4 Load the paper. Again this is printer dependent. You need to load the paper so it is printed on the correct side first. On our own laser printer the manual tray has this symbol on it:


This indicates that it prints with the upper side of the paper first.   Now our ink-jet printer has the following symbol.


This indicates that the paper is printed face down, so you have to put the paper in the other way up on this one.

So here is the paper loaded in to the tray of the laser printer, ready to print face up, note the position of the punched holes.


The paper is already punched so before you print the pages, fan the paper to ensure the paper isn't 'joined' where the holes have been punched through the pages, otherwise the printer will drag through more than one page at a time!

If you are printing more than one page, select your document to print first the Odd Numbered Pages, then put the paper back in again but reversed to suit your printer, and then print the Even Numbered Pages

Having got this far.... you are now ready to hit print and hopefully your pages will come out correctly!

And here's some I made earlier...


If you have any questions after that rather marathon session, please fire away in the comments.

52 comments:

  1. Omg, thank you soooo much for this!

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  2. How timely. I just reprinted the whole 2013 pages ( dailies, weeklies, monthlies etc ) due to a fling with A5- map sized binder ( I couldn´t fit all of my home binder (= brain. It truly is an organizer!) in one binder so I figured to re-punch the lot to a map. Well, it worked like magic but it was just very ugly. Ring issues or not, a Malden is very beautiful paired with a Balmoral on my desk. They even match the decor and receive tons of compliments ( my office area is part of our library & livingroom ). The plastic binder only scored "oh poor you! So much to do!" However right about the so much to do, it still wasn´t a visual treat)
    I´ve never experienced any issues with printing but I figured, it´s only appropriate to come and thank you again for having wiggled all of these printables for common use!

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  3. Thank you so much for this Steve!! You are awesome!!

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  4. I'm just starting to make my own inserts, and would prefer to use ready-punched sheets of the relevant sizes (personal, pocket) so your tutorial is timely and very useful to me. Thank you so much!

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  5. This is a great post! I might have a go at doing my own diary pages for next year!

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  6. Thanks for the detailed explanation. When I am ready for 2014, I will come back and use this as a guide.

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  7. I love this thank you... I'm printing this out...

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  8. Is there a way, other than doing one page at a time, to make the printer slow down so that it isn't trying to suck in more than one page at a time? It is driving me crazy!

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    Replies
    1. You need to fan the paper before you load it into the printer

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  9. I just jumped on the filofax team and I was so excited to find so much information available on setting up my filofax. I bought a ream of A5 paper to print my own diaries but hit a snag. I couldn't get them to print correctly. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. After reading this post I now have the last two months of 2013 printed and I am working on 2014 diary. You saved me.

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  10. I am wanting to scan a print 8x10 inches and shrink it to the size of the personal planner fly leaf. Is this possible? I am wanting to pretty up my planner.

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    Replies
    1. You could try, but the proportions of the height x width are different so it will either be too short or too high too fit personal size. (171x95mm)

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  11. Hi how do we print personal sized inserts but on A4 paper? I know I'd probably have to cut them but theyre just not printing correctly and/or the sizes are not right! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Can you please be more specific about 'not printing correctly and/or the sizes are not right!'

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  12. Thanks for the advice. Is there any way to print pocket size onto pocket size paper please? Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Only if your printer can print/ feed paper that small. If it can then the principles are the same as printing on to personal size paper. Check the specification of the printer in terms of paper handling or media handling to see if it can or not... Retrieving scrunched up paper from the depths of some printers is not easy!

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  13. Thanks. My printer is fine seems to cope ok and I have the papers cut as suggested but the downloads are only for A4 sizes for the pocket size, or personal on personal size. Is there any way to reduce them somehow?

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    Replies
    1. The problem is that the height and width proportions are similar to A4/A5 etc but those designs are not going to work on paper that small, plus all the fonts are going to be tiny is you scale them down! It's best to start with the source files and create your own for that size.

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  14. hello,

    I'm printing the 2015 inserts - personal on A4 week on two pages, but january 15' starts with the date number five - all the beginning of that month seems to be missing (and some parts of december 2014)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi
      Can you please confirm exactly which of the Week on two pages files you are trying to print there are several versions on the diary inserts page

      Delete
    2. This is the link: http://philofaxy.com/inserts/Personal%20week%20to%20view%20CC/2015mergedPersonal%20Enhanced%20CC%20Week%20View.pdf

      I think the start of january has ben labelled as december.

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    3. No that is correct they always over lap the previous year by a few days. You have to look at these slightly different in that they are two pages per sheet and when printed back to back and then cut and punched the pages will come in to sync. So this one stars with a right hand page (Thursday) which on the reverse side a left hand page will be the Monday etc.

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    4. Yes but january first dosen't exist, it has been labelled under december 2014 instead of january 2015. I think it might be the headline that's just wrong. That's what i see when printing - first entry with january is the 5th.

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    5. File up dated Please try now.

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  15. First time insert adapter here. I've inserted a month to view page before each month on the week on two pages vertical file. The odd thing is when I print in booklet as per your instructions the printer/computer seems to insert another blank page at page4 which then messes up the week to view on two pages as they are then back to back. Any suggestions? Many thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is the blank page appearing on the screen in your new Word file?

      It might be better to use the Month to View plus notes and print it on it's own as well as the Week on two pages also printed on it's own. That way you can just collate the pages after printing them.

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  16. thank you for these instructions. i'm not sure if this is the right place to be asking but- can anybody please recommend a printer for printing out planner inserts? i'm currently on the look out for one and have been doing research but I just wanted to know if there's a specific brand or type of printer that planner users lean more towards when printing out inserts? Recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

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    Replies
    1. As you are looking to print inserts.... then read on.

      I think most HP printers support wireless connection, useful if you have any Apple devices or a tablet. But check.

      The important thing for printing inserts and dividers etc is to look at what paper (media) the printer can handle, in terms of size and weight. I would make sure that the printer can load A4, A5, A6 and Personal size paper at least. In terms of paper (media) weight if needs to be able to handle a weight range from about 60gsm - 140gsm

      To find out this information I have often found it easier to download the manual to look at the specifications on the printer, often the sales literature will not tell you this information.

      A duplex printer is useful but not essential as it will only duplex on A4 normally, for A5 and below you have to manually reload the paper.

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  17. This is great! Thanks for the detailed explanation.

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  18. I have a very standard HP printer that doesn't have the option for smaller documents only the standard letter size. Is there anyway to do this or do I have to buy a new printer :P I tried just printing the image, reversing and printing again, but that leaves a 0.2 mm gap that is really noticeable.

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  19. Hi, thanks very much for the tutorial - I'm just a little worried that the filofax own paper would be too thin to print on. Do you know if this is the case? This is the pack I'm looking at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filofax-Personal-White-Plain-Notepaper/dp/B0013NFSLY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430903008&sr=8-1&keywords=filofax+personal+plain

    Thanks very much for your help

    Pearl

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    Replies
    1. Hi Pearl
      Yes you can print on that ok. If you are using a laser printer, that will heat the paper up, which makes the paper curl a little. What I do is once I've printed the first side, stack the paper up neatly and put it under a couple of heavy books on a table for a couple of hours.
      Then print the other side and again put it under a couple of reference books for a few hours to flatten it out again.
      Over time the paper does become perfectly flat again as the paper absorbs moisture in the atmosphere and it comes back in to balance.
      Steve

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    2. I forgot to say if you are using an inkjet printer, you don't need to worry about the paper curling it will be fine.

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    3. Thank you so much - that's most appreciated!

      Pearl

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  20. I am so excited to be able to print my own Filofax insert pages, because I am huge fountain pen fan and want to have better quality paper in my organizer. However, I am having difficulties because I am very technically challenged. I am trying to print Personal on Personal #5 (week on two pages) and when I look at the file, it only shows half of the weeks for 2016, every other week is missing. Also, I did print out some pages but they didn't line up correctly; for instance, Nov. 28-30 has Dec. 8-11 on the back. Please help!

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    Replies
    1. Hi,
      Please download fresh copies of the merged files and try again I think I've fixed it.
      Steve

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    2. Looks like the .docx version is good, but not the pdf version? Still looks like every other week is missing.

      Delete
  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. Hello, I tried to print personal size on personal paper, but my printer doesn't allow to put the paper in the center like the photo.

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    Replies
    1. Have you tried putting paper in even offset, it works on my inkjet printer. The photos are of my laser printer.

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  23. I'm trying to print the month on two pages 2016 insert from the word file. My printer does duplex and do booklet, however, for some reason the file is inserting an extra blank page after the end of January, which is throwing everything off. The weird thing is when I just look at the word document it's not there, but when I tell it to print, it shows up in the print preview. I finally figured out that it has to be something with the code because if you view the pdf file for the month on two pages it shows up there too. I'm not adept enough to figure out how that's happening in the source files, can you help? Am I wrong and it's something I"m doing?

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    Replies
    1. What paper size is the printer set to print on?

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    2. I have it set to A4 and I'm using A4 paper.

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    3. And which of the month on 2 pages is it?

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    4. Steve - I have to apologize, there is no problem with the file. I finally figured out the printer setting I had wrong based on an incorrect assumption I made. I'm sorry if you wasted time looking at this.

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  24. #21 on the A4/A5 list, just labeled "Month on two pages". If you look at the pdf file you'll see the extra blank page after January, but in Word it doesn't show up until print preview, so I can't edit it out in Word.

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  25. Hey! I was wondering if you had printer suggestions. I have had no problem printing duplex pages down to personal size with my inkjet but recently decided to switch to laser to save money after my inkjet broke. I purchased a brother laser printer and the paper tray doesnt support personal size. It does fit A5. however, it seems to only print 8.5x11 as duplex! I feel defeated!

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  26. Hi Are there any templates for to do list for personal filofax, on a4 paper (can fit 2 or 3 on page, horizontally. I saw your great templates, for a4 papers, but non for to do list, for a4 paper.
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. On the Files Page: http://philofaxy.com/files/persA4todo.docx

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  27. Thanks Steve thats great, printed. Is there also one with the todo and notes? And I suppose non with 3 on a page?

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    Replies
    1. The problem with 3 per page is that some printers chop off one edge of the printing, hence going for 2 per page.

      Edit the file to do To Do and Notes...

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  28. Hi.

    I will give it a try and update here again.

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