Silent Sunday

 

Journal pages - thank you to Daniel

Web Finds - Saturday 30 December 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Web Finds - Saturday 23 December 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. Merry Philofaxy Christmas
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 673
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 27 December 2023
6. Christmas Crossword Puzzle
7. Free For All Friday - No. 790 by Anita

Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. Looking for a5 college ruled (6mm) unpunched paper - Filofax
2. Discovering & Creating Inner Peace - FranklinPlanner Talk
3. GILLIO MEETUP 2023 - what you missed - Gillio
4. Part of my 2024 set up in a Filofax Personal, the gnomes are my daughter and me - Filofax
5. 8 Steps To Set Yourself Up For Success in 2024 Planning - Blog – Day Designer
6. Planner Quote: December 25, 2023 - FranklinPlanner Talk
7. Advice Please - Filofax
8. Episode #239: Slice of GTD Life with Becky DeWaters - Getting Things Done
9. The Franklin Five: January 2024 - FranklinPlanner Talk
10. New Year, New Planner: FREE 2024 Dated Daily Inserts for Compact Planners - Planner Fun
11. Manipulating covers to lie flat? - Filofax 
12. Link Love: Three Weeks of Content (so get a cup of tea) - The Well-Appointed Desk
13. Web Finds – 27 December 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
14. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit

Answers to the Christmas Crossword Puzzle:

Across

2 A Palace or a much loved Filofax - Kensington

7 100 years - Centenary

8 A5 Van der Spek - Manager

12 Lord of the.... - Rings

13 Similar to Filofax A5 but with 7 rings - Classic (Franklin Covey)

16 The measure of how an organiser stays open - Flatability

17 A square in London and a Filofax - Cavendish

18 Two part Gillio - MiaCara

Down

1 What most Sundays are.. - Silent

3 Posh school west of London and a luxury Filofax - Eton

4 The number of rings in a Deskfax - Nine

5 Makers of the best rings - Krause

6 It has two poppers on its clasp - Belmont

8 The smallest - Mini

9 Government HQ and Two Part Filofax - Westminster

10 Smaller than Personal - Pocket

11 Longest standing contributor on Philofaxy - Nan

14 The colour of most rings - Silver

15 One of the first Malden colours - Crimson

Enjoy

Free For All Friday - No. 790 by Anita

When I used to work for larger organisations, there was a yearly appraisal process, but I haven't had a formal appraisal since working for smaller companies for many years now. However, I normally take a moment at the end of the year to jot down a couple of notes to consider what has gone well during the year, and what could have been improved. I've been on annual leave this week and like normal, I've done my yearly maintenance and tidy up, so I guess I consider this my Filofax appraisal!

What has worked well for me in 2023:

• Selling binders that weren't in use or I didn't really get on with - I'm back down to owning two which suits me well (another post to come about this).
• Giving away supplies and inserts that I haven't been using. 
  
• Returning to my GTD based setup - I've been looking to complete more small projects this year, so having a separate projects section has been very helpful.
• Keeping my Filofax on my desk next to me with my phone on top of it - I used to leave it in more random places, so it wasn't close by for when I wanted to jot down a note (such a simple change, but oh so effective). 
• Opening it every day - this used to be a bit random in comparison, but I make sure that I have a look each day now.
• Starting to track some habits - I've kinda done this before, but my record keeping wasn't regular, so it wasn't very effective (another post to come on this).

What could have been improved:

• After doing my tidy up this week, it's very clear to me that I haven't been doing a review on a regular enough basis. When I'm more busy or low on energy, it can be easy to skip these and then all of a sudden things can feel a bit out of control.
• I regularly have ideas for writing a Philofaxy post, but fairly often forget to write them down... So, I now have a Philofaxy sheet under P in my A to Z section for making notes like this. I promise that you will be seeing more of my posts here in 2024.
• I admit that I've forgotten to write some of my Free For All Fridays and Silent Sunday posts (sorry, Steve) - so have now added a FFAF list and reminder about which Sunday posts I've already done, which are now behind my Philofaxy post ideas sheet.  

What has worked well for you with your Filofax this year?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend & wishing you a happy New Year.

Christmas Crossword Puzzle

Here is a crossword puzzle for you to test out your Filofax knowledge. Enjoy

Clues

Across

2 A Palace or a much loved Filofax

7 100 years

8 A5 Van der Spek

12 Lord of the....

13 Similar to Filofax A5 but with 7 rings

16 The measure of how an organiser stays open

17 A square in London and a Filofax

18 Two part Gillio

Down

1 What most Sundays are..

3 Posh school west of London and a luxury Filofax

4 The number of rings in a Deskfax

5 Makers of the best rings

6 It has two poppers on its clasp

8 The smallest

9 Government HQ and Two Part Filofax

10 Smaller than Personal

11 Longest standing contributor on Philofaxy

14 The colour of most rings

15 One of the first Malden colours

The answers will be published on Saturday in Web Finds....

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 27 December 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

Now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. Franklin Covey Compact 2024 Setup - Sandra Dahl
2. Cloth & Paper Unboxing | Personal Size 3 Ring Planner - Vienna Ortiz
3. VDS Van Der Spek Personal Wide Unboxing - 6208 Cuoio with Poussiere Stitching - Amybeth Plans
4. End of the Year Flip and Updates | LV GM Agenda - dr_alvaplans
5. My 2024 Planner Lineup | Planmas Vlogmas Final Video | VDS Custom Standard Personal Rings Gillio FCC - MaineMamaPlans
6. A5 Weekly Meal Planner ft. Simply Gilded washi tape & Tombow markers - Plan With April
7. DIY Sub Section Tabbed Dividers for my Planner | Vellum and Simple Stories - BuySellPlan
8. Getting my rings ready for 2024 | techo kaigi, migration prep, and planner setup - lindseyscribbles
9. Adding a Second Planner | 2023 Planners That Did & Did Not Work - dr_alvaplans
10. Closing out 2023 || Gillio Compagna || Passport Midori - Kerri Pouliot
11. A5 Meal planner setting up week 1! Using Simply Gilded washi tape! - Plan With April
12. Gillio Meetup 2023 - the aftermovie - Gillio Firenze
13. My 2023 Favorite Planner Accessories - dr_alvaplans
14. Ring Planer/ Filofax Personal - Setup/ Winter 2023 - allesaufpapier
15. Health Planner Setup | Filofax Original Stone | 7 Days of Planner Setups | Day 2 - Planner Lex
16. End-of-Year Planner Flip Through | Filofax | 12 Days of Planning | Day 10 - kristina summer
17. 2024 Pocket Planner Setup | Temu, Cloth and Paper and Filofax Inserts - Clean Beauty Nation
18. [2024 journal lineup] hobonichi, field notes, filofax - kou昴
19. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 673

What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

It is Tuesday after all, so fire away with any questions and comments.

Merry Philofaxy Christmas

Christmas Day might be a day you don't think about using your Filofax, but it can be quite an intensive day if you are entertaining members of your family. 

What ever you are doing today have a great day and all of us here at Philofaxy would like to wish you all a  Merry Christmas. 

Have a great day. 

With best wishes from Anita, Laurie, Nan and Steve. 

Silent Sunday

 

Web Finds - Saturday 23 December 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Web Finds - Saturday 16 December 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. PlannerFest 2024
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 672
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 20 December 2023
6. Time Blocking
7. Free For All Friday - No 789 by Steve

Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. Amazon ran out of the personal size of binders I use to archive. Any alternatives? - Filofax
2. It isn’t 2024 but… - Pam Alison Knits
3. Planning by category rather than by day (weekly spread with icon planner stickers) - All About Planners
4. A 'One day on a page diary' insert in a Mini - Filofax 
5. Assess and Reflect - FranklinPlanner Talk
6. Out of office - Sam Alderson
7. Advent Calendars 2023 – Days 13 – 18 - Just Eclectically
8. Right side cover notepad page curl? - Filofax 
9. Episode #238: GTD and Japanese Master Crafts - Getting Things Done
10. How To Create a Cleaning Routine You Can Stick To - Decorator's Voice
11. A new page-a-day design for 2024 - This Bug's Life
12. Where can I get filofax inserts printed / hole punched? - Filofax 
13. Web Finds – 20 December 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
14. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit

Enjoy

Free For All Friday - No 789 by Steve

2024 is going to start as the perfect year. With 1 January 2024 being a Monday there will not be that awkward overlap between one year and another in my diary inserts. 

It will be a nice clean break, I will be archiving my 2023 pages and getting in to 2024 without any duplication of days. 

Naturally it is Friday, so please feel free to discuss anything related to ring bound organisers. 

Time Blocking

It is a common practice to 'Time Block' your day, so you reserve segments of time for different tasks. You have to be quite strict to follow this type of regime. 

This type of practice is useful if you find yourself flitting from one thing to another all day long and you feel like you are being 'controlled' by your notifications or you find you are easily diverted.  

I discovered the following posts that help to explain this idea without me repeating them here!

• 3 time blocking methods to boost productivity
• Time Blocking
• How to boost your productivity with time blocking

A lot of articles will recommend the use of their own respective apps to regiment your day/week, but I'm sure you can adapt the methods to a paper planner easily without any additional cost. 

Try not to over book yourself like a 'retired person' does... You have an event for 40-60 minutes, so you block out the whole day. Or a day long event, you block out the whole week. You are thinking of going away for a week, so nothing else can happen for the whole month!  You mean like you Steve? Guilty! 

Have you tried 'Time Blocking' ?

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 20 December 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

Now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. 10 reasons to use a Filofax - Flatability
2. 2024 A5 Planner Setup - Aya Plans
3. Personal Rings - Fun Planner Project #moterm - Moniki Plans
4. Planmas- Flipthrough of my Personal Filofax rings - mrs Planahead
5. A5 Filofax Malden in Ochre Flip - My Holiday 2023 Setup - Amy Allen
6. December Personal Rings Flip Through- Filofax Original - Michelle Mayhemm
7. 2024 VDS Planner Setup | Wellness | The Planner Aisle - The Planner Aisle
8. VDS Van Der Spek Personal Wide Unboxing - 6208 Cuoio with Poussiere Stitching - Amy Allen
9. Planner Vlogmas | Day 7 - Reviewing my 2023 Planner Lineup VDS Gillio Franklin Covey A6 vs Personal - MaineMamaPlans
10. 2023 End of Year Planner Flip (Personal) - Gillio Medium Compagana in Undyed - mywrittengallery
11. 2024 | Planner line up | Hobonichi Weeks, Hobonichi Cousin, Filofax Personal Rings - Paperieplanning
12. December Weekly Setup in My A5 6-Ring Filofax Planner | 12 Days of Planning | Day 5 - kristina summer
13. Plan With Me: December Week 3 Reset | Filofax Personal Planner - Brittany Vasquez
14. Filofax planner - Essential Organize Notbook
15. Cloth and Paper 2024 Planner Haul | Switching to A5 Rings | New Foundations Planner Cover + Inserts - Aya Plans
16. 2024 Lineup - Journals & Planners - Girl and Quill
17. LV PLANNER SETUP 2024 * MM Medium Size Ring Agenda Cover * Louis Vuitton - That's Her Language
18. UNBOXING | 2024 Louis Vuitton Large Agenda Refill (A5 size) - The Monochromatic Planner
19. Techo Kaigi 2024 | My Simple, Streamlined Planner System | 2024 Planners - Lise Plans and Journals
20. My December Flip Thru Of My Personal Ring Planner - Courtnee Rae
21. 2024 Planner Setup + Flip-through | LV Agenda | The Planner Aisle - The Planner Aisle
22. MY NEW A5 Moterm Planner Flip Through | Business & Academia Planner - MyWildRawLife
23. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 672

What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

It is Tuesday after all, so fire away with any questions and comments.

PlannerFest 2024

PlannerFest: A Different Event For Planner, Journal And Stationery Lovers

Saturday 29th June, 2024

Manchester Central, Manchester, UK

2024 tickets go on sale at 8pm on 14/12/23!

Book Your 2024 Ticket Now!

About PlannerFest:

If you are obsessed with planning, stationery or journalling, PlannerFest is not to be missed - a great opportunity to connect with like-minded planner lovers.

PlannerFest celebrates our shared love of planners and stationery, all with a festival vibe.

We are working super hard on the next edition of PlannerFest! Sign up to the newsletter and follow us on social media for updates about the 2024 event, taking place on Saturday 29th June in Manchester!

The Location of 2024

PlannerFest 2024 will take place in the North West of the UK, easily accessible by road, rail and air!

Manchester Central is the fantastic, award-winning venue for the event. Located in the city centre, this world-class conference and exhibition centre is the perfect location to bring our vision to life!

The venue is fully accessible.

What to expect:

• Amazing Shopping 
• Unique Content
• A Festival Vibe
• Connections that really matter
• A warm welcome for everyone
• Professional event planners. 

Find the full details on the PlannerFest Website today: https://plannerfest.co.uk/

With thanks to Bex @PlannerFest for permission to use her content in this post. 

Silent Sunday

 

Dark aqua Original A5

Web Finds - Saturday 16 December 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Web Finds - Saturday 9 December 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. The Golden Rules of How to Use the Philofaxy Diary...
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 671
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 13 December 2023
6. Diary Inserts 2024
7. Free for All Friday No. 788 by Nan

Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. ID Request - Old 80’s Filofax Personal - Reddit Filofax
2. Free Christmas Tags - Planner Fun
3. Get Worked Up – 5 Tricks to Instantly Boost Your Energy - FranklinPlanner Talk
4. Original Filofax is the best - Reddit Filofax
5. Are we there yet? Or how to make this year count! - Lime Tree Fruits
6. Reflecting on Your 2023 Goals with PLOTTER USA - PLOTTER USA
7. Advent Calendars 2023 – Days 8 – 12 - Just Eclectically
8. What size paper is this? - Reddit Filofax
9. looking back to planners used in 2023 - Sunny Planner - StickersSwissMade
10. Gillio-ho-ho-ho: holiday promotions! - Gillio
11. Plotter Your Way: Using Plotter as a Goal Tracker - PLOTTER USA
12. Amazon ran out of the personal size of binders I use to archive. Any alternatives? - Reddit Filofax
13. Episode #237: Slice of GTD Life with Josh Mitchell - Getting Things Done
14. Web Finds – 13 December 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
15. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit

Enjoy

Free for All Friday No. 788 by Nan

 How do you punch? I'm not talking about fighting! How do you use your hole punch? 

For example, I like to punch ring holes in a pretty greeting card or postcard that I've received and keep it in my organizer as a nice reminder. 

When I get my new printer for Christmas, I plan to print some photos that are currently hidden deep within my smartphone and use them the same way. What good is a picture if you never see it?

As always on Friday, feel free to discuss anything related to your ring-bound organizer! 

Diary Inserts 2024

There is still plenty of time to get your diary inserts printed for 2024. Making sure you have paper and ink/toner for your printer of course. 

Take a look at our diary inserts page, you will find plenty of designs to choose from there.  

We also have diary inserts available for 2025 and 2026 on our 'Future Years' page.

Of course all the older files with their source files remain available if you wish to adapt or use them for any year. Just scroll further down the page to discover those. 

Printing any downloaded or created file can be a headache for anyone! It's difficult to give generic instructions because of differences between printers etc. 

If you aren't able to use booklet printing, I discovered recently that you can still use Booklet Printing from Adobe Acrobat (PDF files). 

As mentioned in an earlier post this week, if you get completely stuck, contact me and I will try to find a solution for you. 

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 13 December 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

Now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. Personal Filofax Set Up - Lethbridge Paper
2. Recap 2023 and Set Goals for 2024 with Me! - BuySellPlan
3. Pocket Rings Inspiration - Moniki Plans
4. Planmas Day Five! || Dec. 5, 2023 || Daily Planning for December 2023 - Sandra Dahl
5. A Double planner flip through... pocket rings vs passport TN | what's the best small planner?  - MomYePlans
6. Day 6 of the stationeryadvent by @AngelaSmile - keri_plans
7. daily log diaries | a day in my personal rings and planning routine - lindseyscribbles 
8. This week s releases & restocks week of December 11th, 2023 - Gillio Firenze
9. Flatability Test - vintage Filofax E199 - Flatability
10. Plan With Me! Week of December 11th in my Pink Vintage Aurora | Functional Planning - BuySellPlan
11. Planmas Day 10! || Dec. 10, 2023 || Sunday Planning - Sandra Dahl
12. Sticker haul- new planner kits! feat StrawberryLimeDesigns, Prairie Planner, HappyStickerDesigns - lizzuplans
13. PaperTess 2024 Weekly | Gillio Medium Compagna Personal Rings | Plan With Me - Nessie Plans
14. Dec 6, 2023 Updated Gillio Flip - crystalplans
15. VLOGMAS 2023 Day 4 / Planner Collection // Pink Planner Girl - Nicola PinkPlannerGirl
16. Planner Haul | Filofax Personal Original Patent Rose Unboxing! | Planmas Day 6 - Ana JoleneAna Jolene
17. Plan With Me: December Week 1 Reset | Filofax Personal Planner - Brittany Vasquez
18. Filofax Planner Setup Cherry Croc December personal rings - kti. plans
19. Let's Chat + Fun Packages: Filofax, Yoseka, Fable, New Twsbi | Vlogmas 2023 - Charmaine Dulak
20. Ultimatives Filofax Setup: Organisiere dein Leben mit Stil! - AlenaPlans
21. Filofax Wochendeko KW 49 #filofaxing - Heartsfailing
22. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 671

What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

It is Tuesday after all, so fire away with any questions and comments.

The Golden Rules of How to Use the Philofaxy Diary Inserts

There are some simple basic rules to using the Philofaxy diary inserts. Follow the rules and you should be able to produce your own inserts successfully.

If in doubt or if you are still having issues then contact Steve by email steve at philofaxy dot com.

1. Make sure you have downloaded the correct files. We offer 'pre-merged' versions in Word and PDF versions.

The Word ones tend to be less trouble to print than the PDF files. The 'Pre-Merged' versions are the ones that are ready to print, fresh out of the box, you can modify them, but you will have a lot of work to do!.

Also read the notes on printing below, which apply to pre-merged and modified files.

2. If you want to modify one of our inserts, may be to add some colour, or to change the fonts (within reason) then you need to download the source files, this is a Word File and an Excel file. The Word file will only be 1, 2, or 4 pages in length. (hint!) The Excel file contains all the date information.

There aren't different Excel files for different years, you just change the date in Cell A2 and save the file and then you will have a file to create a new 12 months worth of inserts. In the post 2020 Revamped series you just change the Year in the Year sheet. 

So you can do any 12 month span from this file. We are traditional in doing Jan-December, but if you wanted to do an Academic Year then just set the start date in the Excel file (Cell A2) to your term start date.

3. After doing your mail merge on a source file there are a couple of things you need to do on the new file it creates.

1. Firstly you need to remove the section breaks from the whole file. To do this the easy/quick way. Do a Find and Replace, in Edit, select Find, Replace. Set Find to ^B (Section Break) and leave the replace blank. It should report finding the number of section breaks depending on the type of insert. 52 in the case of a Week per View insert. 
2. In the case of a 'Per View' e.g. Week per View (Week on two pages) Month per view, type insert, you need to insert a blank page at the start of the file. So put your cursor at the start of the file and 'Insert' 'Page Break'  

You need to remove the section breaks so that the page margins are correct as they are 'mirrored' margins so the pages will appear to go 'left, right, left' as you scroll down through the file. This is to allow for the binding/ring margin. 

The extra blank page is required to make sure that the pages when printed are 'in sync', without that page the first page of your  Week per View would be on one side of the paper, and the second page on the reverse side of the same sheet, not very easy to use. 

4. If your modifications didn't work out, just go back to your source file make some modifications and try again. Limit printing to say the first 4 or 8 pages, so you don't waste paper. 

5. When printing your files always print in 'Normal' order ie page 1 first, not in Reverse or Collated order. The actual terminology will vary depending on the make/model of your printer and the way in which the sheets are printed, so it is not possible to give any concrete information on what to look for. 

Do a test print and note which page gets printed first, if it is page 1, then page 2 etc you are in business. Printing in the reverse order will often end up with your pages out of sync (not facing each other correctly) 

6. You must not use our files in their downloaded state or modified state for commercial reasons, so please do not sell them. Share them for free of course, but please do not try to profit from our hard work. 

Those are the main rules, but there are several other things that pop up frequently that I will address here. In no particular order. 

Q1. Why don't the files include Week Numbers? 

A1. There are three standards for Week Numbering used in the World. USA uses one standard that isn't the ISO standard for Week Numbering that the majority of the world uses. Given that Microsoft is in the USA, therefore you have to 'break' Excel with macros to get it to produce Week Numbers to the ISO standard!! 

Also we wanted to make our files available to as wide an audience as possible without there being any issues of differences in location. 

Q2. Why do you use Monday to start the week and not Sunday? 

A2. Again this varies depending on your location. The ISO standard for Weeks sets Monday as the start of the week, and the USA, Canada and Japan don't follow the ISO standard. 

That said you are welcome to modify our files to do Sunday start if you really can't live with Monday start. Some examples have been shared previously. See here and for monthly here.

Q3. 'I can't get A4 paper where I live, where can I get it from?'

A3. Take a look on Amazon USA it is available outside of Europe and the rest of the world that uses ISO page sizes. 

Q4. 'All of your files are A4 not A5?'

A4. Yes that is correct they have to be if you are going to use the booklet printing facility on some printers. 

If you are going to print straight on to A5 paper, then scale to fit A5 or by a percentage of 71%

Q5. 'My pages aren't printing correctly, can you please check the file'

A5. Make sure you are printing the file from page 1 not the last page. It is possible we have forgotten to add a blank page to the front of the file, we are human after all! 

Q6. 'The margins are coming out all wrong when I print your files'

A6.  Make sure you are printing on the correct size of paper for the file A4, A5 or Letter size paper. A4 is not the same as Letter Size paper. 

If you have created your own file from our source files, make sure you have removed the section breaks as mentioned in Golden Rule 3 above. 

Q7. "Will you do me an insert with x days and y days missing, etc etc?"

A7. We get a few odd requests. Weeks without weekends (Work Week), Weeks that start on a Thursday and bigger space for certain days and not others. You name it, we have been asked it over the last few years. 

If I'm not busy then I will often create a set of files for you from one of our existing files if it isn't too much of a time suck. But I will often point people in the direction of trying to do the edit themselves so they have full control over the final product. As long as they realise they can't sell it. (see 6 above). 

Of course if you get stuck I am happy to help. 

Q8. 'Can you help me with x on y insert?'

A8. Yes of course I've even done things remote on peoples PC's whilst talking to them on Skype, because obviously I can't see what has come out of the printer! But again subject to time allowing we can try to solve any issue. 

I hope this post helps you use our inserts. Learning how to use our files and making your own version and getting them printed can be a steep learning curve, but one worth doing if you want to have an insert that is perfect for you that isn't going to go out of stock, or be discontinued.

Silent Sunday

Journal pages - thank you to Daniel

 

Web Finds - Saturday 9 December 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Web Finds - Saturday 2 December 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. Highlights for November 2023
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 670
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 6 December 2023
6. Pens
7. Free For All Friday No 787 by Laurie

Here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. Super rare A5 organiser cut from 18th century Russian Reindeer Hides - This Bug's Life
2. I've got the Mini, and am thinking about getting the Day on a Page diary. - Filofax
3. PLOTTER Holiday Gift Guide - PLOTTER USA
4. Vlogmas of Productivity 2023 | Day One - Strange & Charmed
5. Introducing: Gillio Toscana - Gillio
6. Planning: Filofax (05) - almalauha – blog
7. Handmade Filofax Personal 30 mm rings (using tarpaulin)! - Filofax
8. The Gift of Time - FranklinPlanner Talk
9. Episode #236: The Art of Balancing Predefined Work - Getting Things Done
10. 7 Tips for creating rainbow themed spreads in your planner or bullet journal - All About Planners
11. Link Love: Inkvent is Upon Us! - The Well-Appointed Desk
12. Web Finds – 6 December 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
13. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. 
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Enjoy

Free For All Friday No 787 by Laurie

I'm currently reading The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. I'm really enjoying learning about the origins of the paper notebook, and different ways people have used them over the centuries. 

The majority of the book is dedicated to undated notebooks, but there is a chapter acknowledging dated diary products, their origin (Letts) and how they quickly grew in popularity. At the end of that chapter, there is a footnote about Filofax organisers. 

The footnote gives a very brief summary of the origin of Filofax organisers, and their popularity in the 80's and 90's as "a classic yuppie accessory." The short paragraph ends saying:

"Its core market of professionals, inevitably, transitioned to digital devices, but the Filofax has found a new audience among a generation of journal-keepers who treat it more like a scrapbook."

At first I took mild offense to what seemed to me minimising the role of Filofax among its current users. I can understand why he would write that, since many of the images on social media are of Filofax rings bursting with pages of photos, inspirational quotes, notes and memory-keeping.

But I think Filofax organisers are much more than any one thing, as they always have been. I think it is a testament to users' love of ring organisers for their flexibility and creative potential that Filofax survived the digital age and the downturn in the use of paper planners about 14 or so years ago. 

At that time there was talk about the dying out of paper planners. They have come back, maybe not entirely in the simple role of planning meetings and appointments, but certainly as a way for us to organise our lives however we see fit.

As always on Fridays, feel free to ask and/ or discuss anything ring-binder organiser related!