Filofax Reminder App

Filofax have recently launched a Reminders App, thank you Tim for spotting it. 

The app is available for Android and iPhone, you can see the full details on this page. 

Using new inserts with a QR code you can scan your written notes and input them in to the app and get audible reminders for tasks etc. 

The way the app works seems to be the wrong way around to how I work! I use the built in Calendar and Reminders app on my Apple devices and these can be shared with family members etc. 

At least once a week I scan through these and copy them to my organiser. 

Remember once you put your information in to an app of any sort there might be privacy issues compared to only using your Filofax. 

This isn't the first time Filofax has offered software, there have been apps for printing out your contacts list in the past and printing pages. Both of these apps are no longer available or supported. I still have the one for printing contacts! 

This app seems to have been supplied by 'InkLink' who ever they are? For it to work your diary inserts seem to require the QR code for the date information it seems. 

Would you use this type of app? 

Trying different sizes with a difference

On Friday Laurie asked had people successfully downsized their size of Filofax. I mistakenly read it as downsizing their Filofax collection <cough!>  No!! It was definitely the size of Filofax you regularly use. 

It was interesting to see the cycles people had been through. Take a read of the comments for yourself. 

Here is my own 'cycle' 

Before 1986 I used to use an ordinary pocket diary, nothing special, a different one each year. I wasn't very well organised at all. 

In 1986 I got my first Filofax a Winchester in Personal size of course! 

Looking back at my inserts for the years 1987 onwards I used it partially as a journal with minimal planning. If only I had known this wasn't quite how I should have used a Filofax then! 

For what ever reason I drifted in to using an electronic organiser in the form of a Casio Digital Diary in the mid 1990's 

Considering the amount of storage this had (64 kilobytes) I was able to store my reminders, appointments, telephone numbers and a few notes. I still have a couple of these and the PC cable. The software though was written for Windows and it was always a little hit and miss to sync it with Outlook. 

However, as a very portable digital device it worked/works very well. Batteries only need to be changed about every 18-24 months and it is possible to change them without losing all the data. 

The main limitation was the screen size, typing on such a small keyboard took a little bit of practice!

By the time I 'upgraded' to my Psion 5mx, my Filofax had been stored away and more or less forgotten. 

I really liked using the Psion, the 'Agenda' layout even looks like a Filofax M2. 

The Psion was my workhorse for a number of years in the late 1990's and in the early 2000's. I briefly used an HP iPaq, but I didn't get on as well with its Windows operating system as I did the Psion. The Psion could be synced with Outlook and had applications for Email and Contacts etc. 

It has 16 Megabytes of internal storage plus the option of additional storage in the form of a CF Memory card (up to 2GB), quite a jump compared to the Casio. 

Sadly security of email servers has overtaken the standards that the Psion was written for, so even if I could connect it to the internet, it would be very difficult to fully use all its applications. In-stand-alone unconnected mode it is still possible to use the Psion as a diary, To-Do list and with some applications. 

Then a big changed in my career. In 2005 I started a new job where I was not permitted to use personal electronic devices in the office. I went back to using my Winchester. 

With a new set of inserts and an up to date diary insert I was up and running again. 

I then discovered that Filofax now did A5 and Pocket sizes. I got a Filofax Finsbury A5 mainly because printing my own inserts for A5 size was going to be much easier. 

It was the start of my A5 obsession I guess. 

Then along came Philofaxy and the Filofax obsession really kicked in. Whilst I was still an A5 user. In retirement I started to experiment with all the sizes. 

From the massive A4 Classic shown here next to the A5 Finsbury. 

Whilst it doesn't look that much bigger, it is when you open it up on your desk you realise how much space it is going to take up! 

At the other extreme I've tried out the Filofax M2 as a pocket planner/wallet. Shown here next to a Malden Mini, similar page size, but the M2 is Landscape rather than the usual Portrait and only has three rings rather than the five in Mini size. 

I've also used Pocket and A6 with varying degrees of success! 

If you look at the different personal size organisers I've used, they have varied from the Slimline Personals with 11mm rings through to the big Moterm Versa with 30mm rings and the Gillio Mia Cara (similar to the Moterm in bulk) 

The Gillio Mia Cara (Medium/Personal Size)

The Moterm Versa. 

Having settled in to A5 size over 10 years ago, I've not changed from using that size. I have often changed which A5 organiser I use, but that was just to try out different ones. 

It wasn't until 2012 that I got my first iPhone and that was fairly limited because of the small screen. I've replaced my iPhone a few times since then, but my use of 'digital' planning has not increased. If anything my use of my organiser has increased, because I am more comfortable using that and there is less distractions and less chance of losing information down a digital rabbit hole. 

For me settling on an insert design that suits my day to day life has been more important than what organiser, or what page size I use. 

I have a wide range of A5 organisers in ring sizes from 16mm to 35mm. I tend towards 25-30mm most of the time though. 

Overall my progression has been Paper (Personal Size) > Digital > Paper (Personal Size) > Paper (A5 Size run in parallel with some Digital planning but not in place of paper.  

My most often used A5 - Van der Spek Custom. 

Analogue Vs Digital.... or vice versa!

The on-going discussion about the pros and cons of using analogue or digital will continue for ever... well as long the lights don't go out and your digital device doesn't run out of electrons to power it! 

I like to think I'm not in either camp, I use both, using the strengths of either system to overcome the weaknesses of the other. The 'best of both worlds' as it were. 

I try not to duplicate a complete planning system in both although as you will see if you are using both it's hard to avoid that. 

If you are a 'purist' you might be only using digital apps for all your planning and task reminders, but you are very unlikely to be reading this blog post?  

Or may be you only use paper planners for all of your planning and task reminders and note taking... and we love you for accepting that method as the only way of doing things. Why not!

Going exclusive or only partial digital isn't as straight forward as you might think, there are host of different apps for different aspects of your digital planning needs, calendars, note taking apps, task reminders, project planning, etc. etc. and the outputs of these can be private to just you or shareable in some way or form with your partner assuming they are using a similar app. 

The sharing with others seems to me to be the main reason for retaining a digital calendar. It's often a requirement of some work places that you share your calendar with your team/line manager as it makes booking meetings easier. 

Alison and I have access to each others main calendars without getting out of our office chairs or speaking to each other! It helps avoiding clashes of dates when booking things etc. We both have additional calendars as I'm sure Alison doesn't need to know about the schedule for Free for All Friday posts on Philofaxy, and I don't need to know about her book blogging schedule! 

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I do use Apple Reminders for routine tasks that are repeating in nature in either regular or irregular intervals. The advantage of this is that when you tick off a task as being completed, the system will automatically reset itself for the next time and you don't have to work out the date in 9 weeks time or what ever it is. 

However, I do bring together in my organiser these routine tasks and my many 'one off's' that don't get put on my digital app. That way I have all of my tasks for the next week or two in 'one place' on my paper organiser diary insert. Noted down on their appropriate days. 

At least once a week I look at the schedule list of my reminders and I transfer them across to my paper insert. 

I also cross-check my appointments at the same time so that those are in-sync between the digital and paper world.

I only have one paper diary to keep up to date. It is too easy for multiple planners to get out of sync if you using more than one (as I used to do!) 

There are plenty of You Tube videos discussing 'Analog vs Digital' take a look. 

Which camp are you in? 

Digital Calendar Accessory

It occurred to me the other day that if there was only one bit of electronics I owned and used in conjunction with my organiser it would be some form of digital calendar.

To use a paper planner you need to know what day today is, what the current time is. Yes you can wear some form of wrist watch that will give you the time and date. Isn't that the obvious solution?

What I was thinking of was something like a credit card size 'device' that shows the date and time, and being credit card size it could slot in to a card slot or id pocket in the inside front cover of your organiser. So as soon as you open your organiser you would see what the date and time is.

I looked at first through my own collection of gadgets.

None of them fits my requirements of being 'credit card size' and show the date and time. They all date from the 1990's. The Casio Digital Diary(top left) has no date and time function at all! The TI Card is the perfect size but it is only a basic calculator. The larger Casio Digital Diary (top right) has date and time as well as a lot of other functions, but it is clearly much bigger! Another option was my Psion 5Mx but that too is far too big for this requirement!

Over 25 years later I would have thought something suitable would exist. Thin watches exist, but so far I haven't come across a modern item on the market that is suitable size.

So for now I will stick with a wrist watch/activity monitor, currently my Fitbit Blaze.