Making Filofax Personal Size Your Everyday Organiser

A lot of people use Filofax Personal Size, most probably more than any other size in the range of sizes available. 

If you are not using Personal Size here are some things to consider that might get you to change your mind about using it or changing to it.  

• It has been available for the longest period of time of all sizes, so there are plenty of organiser designs and styles available. 
• Ring sizes from as small as 10/11mm to a whopping 30mm. The smaller sizes being slim enough to fit in to a jacket pocket or take up very little space in your handbag/purse
• A large range of inserts are available including pre-printed ones from a large range of suppliers. 
• Price range of organisers is vast, from a few £ € $ to hundreds, but you don't have to spend a lot of money to get an organiser that is perfectly functional. 
• Vintage organisers.... true vintage as well are available.

As with all sizes, you should test out the page size with just some sheets of paper (95x171mm) to see if your typical week in your own hand writing is going to work or not. Also this will help with what sort of diary insert you are going to need. 

The most common size of rings is between 23-26mm, in those sizes you will find a vast range of organisers to choose from both in clasp closure and zip closure. Mostly they will only have one pen loop, some have two pen loops. 

The larger 30mm ring organisers in Personal Size if you fill them up can become quite bulky. With the Gillio Mia Cara with 25mm or in the case of Moterm Versa 30mm rings you can have a two part organiser, with an outer 'jacket' and a separate inner organiser. These can carry a lot of supplementary paper work, but they are much bigger and heavier, but they both still use Personal Size pages. These are not the sort of organiser you can easily put in your pocket!

Gillio Mia Cara (Medium/Personal Size)

If you have been using an A5 or larger organiser, adapting to the smaller page size might take a while, but don't give up, give it some time, a week or two at least. 

One disadvantage for me is that Personal Size pages aren't in the same height/width proportions as the regular ISO sizes (A4, A5, A6 etc) this means that a Personal Size page has to be specifically designed for that size, not just simply scaled down from a larger size. Also printing Personal Size pages on that size paper can be tricky if your printer is a little fussy about the smaller size pages. 

Have you considered changing to or back to Personal Size? 

Prototype Inserts for Personal and Pocket Size.

Following the release of a new insert recently for A5 organisers. I had a couple of people request something similar for Personal and Pocket Size. 

Given that we already have similar inserts in those sizes (2.5.1 and 3.4.1) I realised already that there wasn't a lot we could do in those sizes apart from reverse the pages, so with the tasks on the left and appointments on the right. 

Personal Size

Pocket Size

It would be possible to redesign the tasks page and divide it up differently, but I suspect everyones requirements are going to be different. Therefore as usual we are making the source files available so you can 'have a go' yourself! 

These like the original files are printed on to A4 paper, then you can cut out the pages and punch them accordingly. 

I've also created a set of files for 2024 as well. 

These inserts aren't going to be added to the diaries page just yet because I don't think there will be a huge demand for them? 

The 2024 files ready to print are available here:

• 2.5.1R Personal size - .docx .pdf
• 3.4.1R Pocket size - .docx .pdf

The source files are here for both sizes. You will need both the Word and Excel files. 

• 2.5.1R Personal size - Word Excel
• 3.4.1R Pocket size - Word Excel

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.Please download, adapt, use, share, but do not charge or use commercially.

 

Personal Size

A question was during the Skype Round-Table/Meet Up on Sunday. 

Where did Personal Size come from? 

The page size as you will all know is 95mm by 171mm, this translates in inches to. 3.75 by 6.75 

We have to remember that the size originated in the early 1900's in the USA, so it wouldn't have been measured in metric millimetres back then! 

I started to think that may be the original Lefax pages from the 1900's where a slightly different size, but as you will see, this original 1928-1929 calendar page is exactly 95x171 mm in size.

Normally paper sizes tend to be related to each other rather than existing on their own. I have been trying to find what size Personal Size is related too. 

Here is a table of all the common US sizes and I've included the Filofax Personal size and ISO A4 and A5 for comparison. 

I have studied the sizes and not found any obvious relationship between Filofax Personal Size and the common US paper sizes.

Looking at how Personal Size relates to ISO A4 size shown below in blue, you can fit three Personal Size pages on the one sheet (green, orange and red) This as you can see leaves you with two waste areas at the side and the top, but when printing the thin strip on the right is in fact the bottom of the page so that will be ok for the paper feed on most printers. 

I went on a hunt for a related size to Filofax/Lefax Personal Size, but sadly I've failed this challenge. I even looked at old English paper sizes (there are many) but none of them seemed to be related to Personal Size. 

For now this mystery will have to remain as it is, just that a mystery. Unless someone out there knows different? 

Moterm Versa Personal - Review

The Moterm brand is a relatively new name to us in the planner community, but it is a brand that has an ever growing fan base as they continue to bring out new models at affordable prices and at a rate that seems unbelievable as they react positively to customer suggestions/requests.

Given the amount of interest I've seen on You Tube and Facebook, I decided to take a look for myself. At the end of July they announced another new model, the Moterm Versa in personal size, they had previously brought out the Versa in pocket size and it sold out in days!

I ordered a Moterm Versa personal size in black leather via Ali Express. There was a choice of colours available, but I went with the black rather than a pastel colour. Call me traditional if you like!

My order was confirmed within a few hours of me placing it and they estimated that the delivery date would be 13-16th August, it arrived on the 13th August. I was able to track the progress of the order from start to finish. There was no problems with payment, my account was debited on the day of despatch.

The item was very well packaged for shipping with a stout outer carton, inside was a simple presentation box containing the planner inside a cloth dust bag both showing the Moterm brand name.

The Moterm Versa is a two part organiser. There is an outer 'jacket' and the organiser itself, in addition they also include a leather flyleaf and approximately 100 sheets of undated lined journal type pages.

Together the two parts make up quite a substantial planner/organiser.

There are a lot of pockets in different sections, and card slots in different groupings we well. There are two places for pens/pencils. The inside of all of the pockets are lined with a cloth material that will not stick to plastic cards that you store in them.

The outer jacket, it has a full width back pocket that is 320mm in length and 195mm deep, almost big enough to take a full A4 size sheet of paper, but not quite.

On the inside front cover you will find four card slots visible on the pocket flap. Behind the pocket there is a full height slip pocket.

The pocket is held closed by two poppers top and bottom. Open it up and you then find a full height zipper pocket, five more vertical card slots and another full height slip pocket behind the card slots.

In the spine of the outer jacket there is a slot to hold a pen or pencil.

The rear inside area of the outer jacket you will find five more horizontal card slots with an ID pocket at the foot of that section with the Moterm card and tag next to it. Behind this section are three full height slip pockets. The deepest one is used to hold the back cover of the organiser section in place.

On the outside of the cover there are two places for the clasp popper to be closed in to, this gives you the option of additional capacity should you really need it.

The removable organiser can be used on its own, you don't have to use it with the outer jacket. The outside of it is in leather, likewise the inside is in full leather as well.

The front inside cover has four horizontal card slots as well as a deeper business card pocket at the foot of that section. Behind this there is a full height slip pocket for holding additional papers.

The flyleaf which is held on the rings has a leather and elasticated pen loop as well as three horizontal card slots on the reverse side.

The rear inside cover of the organiser section doesn't have any pockets so it slips in to the outer jacket easily.

The rings are attached with a simple bolt arrangement, which makes them easy to change. They are 25mm internal diameter in a silver finish. Moterm have other rings available on their store site in silver, gold, and rose gold finish in 25mm and 30mm size. I've ordered a set of 30mm rings to assess their suitability for the Moterm Versa for width. I think it might be ok, but I will report back when they arrive, hopefully soon.

[See my review of the 30mm rings in my Moterm Versa]

The organiser also came with 100 sheets of undated lined journal type pages.

The outer cover and the organiser both have some form of stiffener present in the covers between the leather and the inside. This is only there to help the organiser keep its shape and it doesn't impact on the ability of the organiser to lay flat when opened.

The leather it self is pleasant to touch. There was a slight chemical smell to the leather, but this has disappeared by leaving the planner out of the dust bag and box for a day or two. I've also given the leather a wipe over with some leather care solution that too improved the smell of it.

The organiser doesn't seem fragile, the rings snap closed in perfect alignment each time. The stitching is very good and also consistent on all edges at quite a high stitches per inch all around.

The edges of the leather are all neatly finished there are no rough edges or stray threads on the stitching.

Dimensions: The Moterm Versa measures as follows:

• Organiser section (Open) 290 x 185mm
• Organiser section (Closed) 138 x 185 x 32mm
• Outer jacket section (Open) 335 x 208 mm
• Outer jacket section with organiser section installed (Closed) 170 x 208 x 45 mm

Please note that the thickness of both when closed will also be dependent on the contents of the pockets and rings. 

Weights:

• Organiser with flyleaf = 240 g
• Outer jacket = 272 g
• Both combined 512 g

Please note that the above weights are with the rings and all pockets empty. 

All of the above I have kept to my usual style of being objective as possible, my usual technical type description, but I'm sure you want to know my own opinion and what it is like etc.

They often say 'You get what you pay for' and that is true of most things.

I bought the Moterm Versa out of my own money. I paid €76.54($90, £69) including shipping. I didn't opt for express delivery, I went with the standard shipping to France. It arrived within the time limits and without any issues.

The buying experience was not a rushed one it all went smoothly and there is plenty of feedback about the status of your order and when it is shipped and the tracking details etc. The tracking number worked with LaPoste my local mail service as well.

I would say that it is certainly worth the money I paid for it and the overall quality is comparable to other organisers I own at the same price point and much higher too. How many other organisers have the grand total of 21 card slots!!??

If you want to see how it compares to other brands, I recommend looking on You Tube there are plenty of comparison videos on there, so you will get the opinions of other people as well as just mine.

Further Information:

Moterm planners are available via their AliExpress page or Amazon USA I am told they are still working on their own website.

There are also groups on Facebook the main one is fully supported by the company.

• Moterm Planner Fan Group
• Gillio VDS and Moterm Planner Community
• Moterm Planners B/S/T
• Moterm Planners BST Europe

Changing Size?

Have you ever seriously considered changing the size of organiser you are using on a daily basis? Not just going for a different ring size, but a different page size as well.

This post is for you, to help you through the thought process and it is one I've been going through this last couple of weeks or so.

For more years than I can remember I have been mainly using A5 as my main 'go to' size organiser. However, like most people I did start in personal size, well there wasn't many other options back then! I get these occasional hankerings to return to personal size.

This year being what it has been in terms of you make plans only to have to change them a few days or weeks later. I guess I'm not alone in looking at my organiser and seeing how my requirements this year have changed.

My starting point in this exercise is my A5 Enhanced Time Manager layout, I've been using it since mid 2011!

Obviously I have been using a current year version! I started off by looking through recent weeks to see what parts of the layout I used the most. At the moment it tends to be the right hand page more than the left hand appointments side.

I had bought a personal size insert earlier in the year on the off chance I might migrate in to that size, also to use it in photographs so it looked more up to date, it was in one of the many sales that Filofax France have held this year!

The new paper they are using is an improvement over previous versions. I like this layout because it is just one language, which leaves more space to write in. However, it is mainly focused on appointment type entries although I'm sure I could adapt it with a few extra drawn lines to include tasks and notes.

On a recent shopping trip I spotted the Quo Vadis Timer 17 inserts on sale at our local shops. I bought this insert to try out.

The first problem with this insert is that the size is slightly bigger than Filofax Personal at 100mm x 171mm, I trimmed off 5mm off the outer edge of each sheet. That didn't take too long to do and it solved that problem. The paper is excellent, no bleed through at all with my usual rollerball pen. Whilst the lines for appointments make life easier, the time range tends to suit a working day more than evenings. The space at the foot of the page could be used for tasks. However in recent weeks my task list has been more than would have fitted in that space. I could use a supplementary To Do list page. Like my current A5 insert though I don't have enough appointments to fill in that space.

At this point I realised if I was going to find a suitable replacement I would have to think harder about my actual requirements otherwise I would quickly end up with a stack of unused inserts!

Then I found this one in our Philofaxy personal on personal size paper inserts. It is the 4. Week on One Page Plus Notes/Tasks and you can find versions of it for 2020 and 2021 available on the Diary Inserts pages.

The appointments size gives equal space to each day, a plus point for me, it is unlined, but they could easily be added to the design if required. In my limited tests so far there are enough lines assigned to tasks for most weeks. 

For my initial tests I've only printed about 5 weeks of this design on ordinary Filofax white paper,  not the best quality, it is some I bought a few years ago and it seems to absorb gel ink a little too much for my liking, but it is fine with a ball point pen.

As I'm printing on to personal size paper, there is no cutting or punching required, so whilst it is tricker to print, there is less work involved to finish off the inserts. 

In conclusion, if you are thinking of changing page size of your organiser please consider the following:

• Do you really need to change sizes? Obvious really, but would a change of insert format in your current organiser size improve the use of your organiser. 
• Look at how you use your current inserts so you can decide what you require from your new inserts in terms of page space. 
• Have you used the new size previously? 
• Do you already own an organiser and accessories in the new size? 
• Test out potential inserts in the new size for at least a couple of weeks? 
• What other inserts will you need in the new size? Test those out as well if possible. 
• If you don't own an organiser in the new size, test just some inserts in the new size for a couple of weeks before you purchase an organiser and accessories. You might save yourself a lot of expense if you find the new size doesn't quite work for you. 

I will let you know if I make the jump back to personal size or not. 

Have you ever seriously considered changing the size of organiser you are using on a daily basis?

Width Guide

Whilst doing research in to B6 organisers, I was looking through past postings on the Van der Spek Facebook group and came across a variety of posts about Van der Spek Custom organisers that had been widened to take different width pages.

There seemed to be some confusion about the additional width required for different brands/designs of planner pages.

Here is my take on this problem.

Page Size	Actual size	Additional Width(mm)
Personal/Standard	171 x 95 mm	0 mm
Franklin Covey	172 x 108 mm	13 mm
Personal 'Wide'	172 x 121 mm	26 mm
B6	176 x 125 mm	30 mm

Remember Personal size is the same as Standard in Van der Spek language. Same page size, same ring spacing etc.

Van der Spek also offer the option to increase the length of the clasp, but please note that the clasp length is independent of the organiser width.

Therefore just because you have increased the width it does not mean you have to also increase the length of the clasp as well.

Increasing the length of the clasp just means you can stuff more paper in to the pockets!

If in doubt ask Petra for advice on the options.
Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

Monthly Overview Diary Insert in A5 and Personal sizes

Last week I published a single insert for just March to give you an overview of the month ahead, it was a bit of an experiment to be honest. I had been kicking this idea around for a little while.

It was also a departure from the normal Philofaxy inserts this was just a one off, no mail merging and colour was added too.

It was one of the most commented on posts for a while, not only on the blog, but also on the two Facebook groups I shared it on.

As a result of the comments and feedback I received I set to work to consider doing a full year and also developing a personal size version too.

I've also included some other changes requested such as the days of the week and changes to the colour shading (I've gone much lighter).

Adding colour makes it more attractive I'm sure, but my choice of colours might not be to your own personal choice, but given the source files you will be able to alter those choices.

There was some advantage to doing it as a single month, at most you only need to allow for 31/32 lines on a page. Doing it as a 12 month file using our normal mail-merge technique it goes up to 37/38 lines. That isn't much of an issue on A5, but on Personal size paper it is a little limiting on line height. However it might work if you have neat hand writing!

With the increased number of lines that also gave me the idea for filling up a small blank space at the bottom right with some notes for 'Next Month'

Of course all the headings and therefore the function of the right hand column sections can be changed if you download and customise the source files.

So today I'm releasing merged versions of the 2018 and 2019 files in the following formats:

A5 formats

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page. 


Print these on to sheets of A5 paper (scale to fit A5, or scale to 70%)

• Source files for A5 Word and Excel you will need both. 

There is no difference between both versions only the addition of a single page break after doing the mail merge at the beginning of the merged file, the source files are therefore the same.

In the case of the single sheets, print the odd pages first then reverse the paper to print the even pages.

For the 'Facing Pages' you can print all of these in one pass on personal size paper leaving the reverse side blank, or you can over print the reverse side with a design of your own personal choice. 

Personal formats

Personal on Personal size paper:

All of these are printed on to Personal size paper. In the case of the single sheets, print the odd pages first then reverse the paper to print the even pages.

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page.

For the 'Facing Pages' you can print all of these in one pass on personal size paper leaving the reverse side blank, or you can over print the reverse side with a design of your own personal choice. 

• Source files for Personal Word and Excel you will need both. 

There is no difference between both versions only the addition of a single page break after doing the mail merge at the beginning of the merged file, the source files are the same.

Personal on A4 Paper: 





You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page. 

These should all be printed single sided and then cut out using the cut marks for guidance and then punched along the centre cut line not on the outer edges. 

• Source files for Personal Word and Excel you will need both. 

We also have:

Personal on Letter size Paper:

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page.

These should all be printed single sided and then cut out using the cut marks for guidance and then punched along the centre cut line not on the outer edges. 

• Source files for Personal Word and Excel you will need both. 

I hope you find these new additions to the suite of diary inserts useful. Please report any file issues/dead links to me please. There is a lot of links in this post, all of them have to be entered by hand!

The files will be added to the main list in the next few days once the bugs have been eradicated from the links.... if there are any!

To customise the files you will need to download the relevant source files listed above. When you've made all the changes you like to the template, you can perform a mail merge to create your own insert for any period you like. Check out our Free Diary Inserts link if you want more information on how to do this, including videos at the bottom of the page.

Once again a big thank you to Ray at 'My Life All In One Place' for his hard work and co-operation with helping to create and support us with all these inserts.

This was my first attempt at 'Personal on A4/Letter' it's not difficult to do, but it challenged my knowledge a bit. I will admit compared to other similar inserts I chickened out at doing something on the reverse side of the pages! So I bow to Ray's superior knowledge in the creation of those! 

This work by Philofaxy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Please download, adapt, use, share, but don't charge or use commercially.

Why is Personal Size still the most popular size?

Whilst I was updating the post about A6 size earlier last week I started to think about Personal size.

Why is it still so popular?

Of course it's the original size that all Filofax organisers started in. The page size 95mm by 171 mm or 3.75 inches by 6.75 inches is the same as used back in the 1920's so almost 100 years.

The same hole spacing has been used too. The inner workings of the ring mechanisms have changed slightly. On the first ones the top set of rings are not linked to the bottom set. The tabs operate their associated set of three rings independently of the other set of three.

A short video will of course help!


I don't know when the change was made to the type of rings we use today happened.

The mystery as to how they settled on that particular paper size is something I have not yet managed to figure out.

After nearly 100 years or more if it was in use before Lefax/Filofax then it will have become a standard page size in its own right.

I've looked for page sizes that are multiples of personal size. There are some of old British Imperial paper sizes that come close to being multiple of personal size but none are exact multiples.

Why do you like Personal Size so much? Tell us in the comments below, thank you.

Carpe Diem by Simple Stories - Personal Organiser - Review

At PlannerCon Europe a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Sherman Crowell and his team who are the owners of Simple Stories based in Utah, USA.

We had a couple of discussions over the weekend which resulted in them agreeing to sending me some samples of their planners to review.

Their range is quite large covering not only ring bound planners, but also coil/spiral bound and travellers notebook styles too. The covers come in plain colours and a variety of patterned ones too, so there is something for everyones tastes I would say.

Their range includes a selection of inserts, stickers and other essential accessories, which you can purchase for your Carpe Diem planner or other brand of planner/organiser.

So this is the first of two reviews that are coming up in the next week or two.

We start with the Personal size organiser boxed set in Mint Vintage Floral design.

The planner comes in a presentation style box as shown here.

The reverse side of the box details the full contents with illustrations as well.

Removing the planner from the box

And then removing the card contents band to get a closer look at the design. 

The planner is made from a simulated leather, it appears to be well made and will wipe clean should you get any spills on it or a drink leaking in your bag etc. 

The design is continuous on to the reverse of the planner cover.

The interior is finished in a complementary colour.

The rings measure 26mm internal diameter (just over 1 inch in old money!) they are gold coloured finish. The ones fitted to the sample closed with a reassuring snap with no ring gaps or mis-alignment.

The front inside cover features a secretarial pocket along with three card pockets of different heights for business cards and other essentials you might want to carry.

The rear inside cover has a notepad slot with a full height slip pocket behind it. There is also a fully elasticated pen loop behind the clasp in a matching colour.

The organiser comes with a full set of inserts. These are undated, they include enough weekly inserts to cover 60 weeks, as well we 12 months of month per view inserts.

As you can see the design is simple and functional leaving you plenty of scope to decorate the pages if you wish to do so or just to use them as they are.

They allow equal space for each day which is always a plus point for me, with a notes section at the end of the week.

It is important to note that the inserts measure 172mm high by 103mm wide, this is in common with other USA organiser page sizes. Filofax page size is 171mm by 95mm, so the Carpe-Diem organiser will take wider page sizes if you wish to use them.

Whilst the weekly pages are Monday start, the monthly ones adopted a Sunday start. I know some people that prefer this combination rather than Monday or Sunday start for both.

The Monthly pages do have a small amount of decoration at the top of the page. But they allow the full use of the daily boxes and there is also plenty of space in the final column for notes too.

Each monthly tabbed divider has a different design on it.

Also each month is preceded by a page with notes and reminders for the month, birthdays etc. 

The monthly tabs are a generous size which will help you finding a particular date or day to add notes and reminders quickly. 

The insert set comes with three pages of stickers, quite a mixture of useful ones for highlighting events and tasks on different days. Additional sheets of these are available from the on-line store. 

Simple Stories products are sold world wide through a range of sellers. You can find your local one using the Store Locator on their website.

Thank you to Simple Stories for supplying the sample boxed set.

Further Information:

• Website: https://www.simplestories.com
• Catalogues: https://www.simplestories.com/catalogs
• Store locator: https://www.simplestories.com/store-locator
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SimpleStoriesScrapbook/
• Facebook Group: Simple Stories Carpe Diem Planner Fans but there are plenty of others!
• You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SimpleStoriesTV/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplestories_/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimpleStories

Personal Year Planner (Vertical Format)

Another insert that we have never been asked for, a year planner but in vertical format rather than horizontal format and by popular request for Personal size. The A5 version is here.

It looks like this:

Please note I used colour shading on this one just to enhance it a little bit. The downloads come with a 'normal' 12.5% grey shading we use on nearly all our inserts, but it is easy enough to change.

You can print out this out on a single sheet of A4, do not scale it, print it 100%, trim the printed page to 171mm high by 258mm wide, punch and then 'Z-fold' to fit a Personal size organiser.

'And here's one I prepared earlier'. The folds are at 95mm and approximately 177mm from the left hand edge.

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page.

If you want to customise this insert to your own requirements you need to download the source files here Word file and the Excel file, you will need both.

When you've made all the changes you like to the template, you can perform a mail merge to create your own insert for any period you like. Check out our Free Diary Inserts link if you want more information on how to do this, including videos.

Once again a big thank you to Ray at 'My Life All In One Place' for his hard work and co-operation with helping to create and support us with all these inserts.


This work by Philofaxy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Please download, adapt, use, share, but don't charge or use commercially.