The transition from A5 Filofax to Personal Size Filofax

As a long term user of an A5 Filofax (this is my 20th year in fact) I have contemplated changing back to Personal size several times in the last few years, having started in Personal size back in late 1986 (yes nearly 40 years ago!) 

I've also been using the same Enhanced Time Management A5 insert since late 2011, so why change you might ask. 

As well as a large collection of A5 organisers (about 24) I have a similar number of Personal size organisers, plus a small number of Compact and Slimline size. 

In addition over the years I've collected an abundance of Personal size inserts of one sort or another. (A shoe box full, the universal measurement of spare inserts!) What was stopping me from making the change?

A5 has worked so well for me over the years, but may be the smaller size could be made to work just as well. 

First of all I looked for commercial inserts that might fit the bill, but for one reason or another I didn't find any that would fit my own requirements. 

I set to work on creating an insert of my own, a miniature version of my A5 Enhanced Time Management insert. However, in Personal size when I tried it out for a couple of weeks I don't think it would have worked for me, the restricted space on each day was going to be an issue, unless I could tame my hand writing and that has been a problem for the last 60+ years!!! 

Daily inserts would also be great, but that is a lot of paper to carry around, a compromise would have to be met by restricting to say only having 4 months of inserts in the organiser at any one time and make use of a monthly insert or year planner for more long term planning. 

Seeing your week ahead with dailies results in lots of page turning. Then I hit on the idea of two days per page. Would that work? 

I grabbed our existing files for that format and on screen I could see it certainly had a lot of potential. 

I started with file 2.3.2 on our 'Future Diary Inserts' Page. 

I did a couple of tweaks to the file to include 'Tasks' on each day and printed off a couple of weeks of inserts, cut them to size and populated the days with appointments and tasks I had recently had in my A5 inserts. 

I considered printing on to Personal size paper, this would have saved a lot of cutting and punching, except when I tried it, the printer mangled up each sheet that went through it. Back to the drawing board!

In the end I had to print on to A4 paper (two Personal sheets per A4 sheet) and then cut them out. With 108 sheets to cut to size I got quite good at cutting the pages to size by eye. However, it did take several hours to do. 

If I use Personal size on a long term basis I will certainly consider investing in a heavy duty paper cutter. One that can do 50+ sheets at once and make accurate and square cuts. It would save me a lot of time. 

In addition to the diary inserts I also gathered together all of my Personal size inserts in boxes and in organisers and sorted through them. Reusing some that I already had from a while ago. 

In some cases I had to recreate inserts I've been using in A5, but in Personal size to give me the same flexibility as the A5. 

At the moment with the inserts printed on Clairefontaine 80gsm paper it all fits into a Filofax (or similar) with 30mm rings. But with a little bit of thinning down the extra sheets I think I can get my 'fill' to fit in a standard 23mm Filofax, this will give me more choice from within my 'collection' 

Here is a video I did earlier this week describing the inserts and the change over. 

 

I'm quite looking forward to using Personal size again. I already have some appointments cropping up in 2026 to write in and no doubt more as we progress through 2025. 

I also like the certainty of having the files to create these files in future years and not have to worry about multiple languages or QR codes or them being discontinued etc.

Have you decided yet what you will be using in 2026?

Guide to Changing Organiser Sizes

How many times have you seen an advert on Facebook or elsewhere with text that includes:

Just received this today, not really my size, staying with the size I'm currently using...

Sometimes it might be an expensive Gillio or Custom Van der Spek organiser. I'm sure these items sell for about the same price the person paid for it. There is a better way of finding out if a particular size is for you or not?

This year with peoples life patterns and work patterns being so radically changed, I'm sure there are a lot of people considering a size change for their organiser as we approach 2026. 

Only today I was contacted by a reader on Facebook, they told me they were going to be changing from a Day on Two pages in Personal Size to a Day on One page in A5 size. 

They had sensibly printed off some Philofaxy inserts of their choice ✅, a great start I thought. Their next question was what to hold them in. 

I offered to take some photos of a selection of different A5's. 

I grabbed a few of different sizes and popped upstairs with them and took a couple of photos to share. 

The ring sizes vary from 35mm to 25mm with the Malden in the middle at 30mm. The thickness varies and the width varies by a small amount accordingly. 

Overall though there isn't a vast difference between them. What will be different is the overall weight of the organiser and paper inserts. Adding an additional 10mm of A5 paper, if you are going from 25 to 35mm rings is quite a leap in the weight. 

This also needs to be taken in to account if you are going to be carrying your organiser a lot. Not just will it fit in to my bag/backpack, but how much heavier will it be compared to you are currently carrying. 

You can print off the pages you are likely to be using or just get a stack of blank paper equal to the pages you will have plus say 10% and then get the kitchen scales out and compare the weight compared to what you are using now. Too heavy?

Seeing the differences in sizes is certainly going to help with the choice of what organiser to get, but don't forget the weight difference. 

Also consider how the organiser is made, do the covers contain any stiffener or not? If you only intend to use the organiser at a desk or similar flat surface then it will not be an issue, but if you might occasionally need to write in it whilst holding it in one hand, then a very floppy leather will not be the best choice. 

Naturally the internal layout, colour, texture etc will all be part of your decisions when it comes to making that final choice, but there are other things to consider first. 

1. Print off some inserts and try the size on just that size of paper only. 
2. Copy a typical week of appointments and tasks in to your intended diary insert, is there enough space?
3. Work out how many pages you will need to be carrying in your organiser, add a small allowance. 
4. From the above work out the size of rings you will need. Using blank paper or similar take the thickness of the stack of pages and add 5-6 mm to find out the internal diameter of the rings you will need
5. What will the overall size/weight be? Will this be ok to carry? 
6. Choose the design/colour you like
7. Seek out photo examples of the above, ask users for their opinions of that make/model. 
8. Ask ask ask.... 
9. Then buy the organiser of your choice! Enjoy....

Are you considering changing sizes next year? I am.... shock!! 

I've been considering changing back to personal size for a number of years, I've just never got around to printing off some inserts. May be it will happen this time. You will be the first to know if I do swap from A5 to Personal!

Different sizes that I've used - by Anita

After reading Steve's excellent post called Trying different sizes with a difference, it made me think about the different cycles that I've been through my Filofax journey so far, so I thought that I'd share this with you. Of all the sizes, I've used personal the most, followed by A5 and then A6,

Mini

Before I started writing for Philofaxy, I was using a purple mini Finsbury as a combined diary and wallet, but I'm not sure when that would have been. The Finsbury was in use for a couple of years, but I eventually gifted it to someone as I found the zipper pocket difficult to get change out of, and the week on two pages diary was a bit too small for me in that size. It's interesting to think back as I was still using a fair amount of cash back then! I managed to pick up a Pimlico wallet, which has been in use since then.

Pocket 

After selling the Finsbury, I did eventually plan to buy an ochre pocket Malden, but at that point didn't feel the need as I worked set hours in my job at that time, and didn't need to keep track of many appointments. I had started using Google calendar more, so I moved away from using a paper diary and instead used my iPod Touch, if I needed to check things when away from home. 

Back in 2020, I purchased a lovely little pocket Moterm, but I admit that it was never used, so I gave it away last year. 

 

It's funny how your mind can play tricks on you, as I could easily say that, "Yes, of course I've used pocket size", but actually I never have, as I think I just found the page size too small when you have the rings to contend with as well.

Personal

This is the size that I have used the most since buying my first Filofax back in 2009. After reading David Allen's book Getting Things Done, I started searching for a refillable notebook and unsurprisingly came across Filofax. I chose a cherry personal Classic and went for this size as it seemed to me to be the best compromise between portability and page space. My main one in use today is my favourite, my faithful personal Kensington, and I have found that I've stuck with this size, despite changing to a work from home job since 2020.  

A6

If I was starting all over again, I could easily see myself using A6 size instead, as I really like the dimensions of the paper, compared with the longer and skinnier personal size. 

Left to right - personal, A6 and pocket inserts

I've been very fortunate to have owned two beautiful Mulberry agendas. The first one which had undergone some amazing repairs and another eBay bargain with lovely walnut Nile leather. 

Walnut Nile leather

However, all of my paper and supplies were already in personal size and I hate wasting things... So, I sold the Mulberrys and decided to stick with personal instead.

Slimline

Whilst I really love this size and have owned a number of them (Lefax City and Iguana), ultimately it doesn't really work for me as I write quite a bit, so there just isn't enough ring space for spare paper. I've attempted to keep some to use for a specific project or taking notes, but I've come to realise that personal is what works best for me.

Slimline Iguana 3CL 1/4 IG (link above)

A5

After using my cherry personal Classic for just under a year, it started to develop the cracking/bubbling that the model can suffer from, so it was returned to Filofax and I got a crimson Malden in return (also in personal size). I then started investigating the A5 size and wrote this guest post. However, I got a bit carried away, as I foolishly sold my crimson one and later realised that I found A5 was too big for me as my only binder... I remember it now... We went away for the weekend on a martial arts course and I found that my A5 Malden was too big to fit into my bag, so I left it at home and understood why I'd chosen personal size in the first place! If I could go back in time, I'd give the crimson personal to my husband and ask him to hide it away somewhere, as I am sometimes too keen to sell my binders. So, for quite some years, I used both personal and A5 together, with personal being my external brain and A5 for planning projects or when I wanted to write more in-depth notes. However, over time, I found that my focus was so much on personal that I wasn't looking at the A5, so I sold any A5s and returned to solely using personal. 

After some years, I mentioned to a friend that I was considering returning to A5 for my new work from home job and was very kindly lent a beautiful aqua A5 Original.  

Whilst it's a beautiful Filofax, it was eventually returned to my friend as I was starting to use Excel more to keep track of work tasks, plus I wanted to start using up other notebooks and supplies, which weren't in A5 size. 

Of all of the A5s that I've owed over the years, my favourite was definitely my red Ascot. I did consider keeping this one, but I've realised that I'm not really a collector, so I didn't want such a beautiful binder just sitting on my bookshelf when it could instead be used and loved by someone else.

A4

At some point, I picked up an A4 Strata for a cheap price from eBay, but I eventually sold it as I didn't like the hard bonded leather and it was just too big. I think that A4 might be usable on a larger desk, like I used to have when I worked in an office, but it's too unwieldy when on my smaller desk at home. 

A4 Strata and crimson personal Malden

 

My late Mum had an A4 Graphic, but this was sent to a charity shop as it was too bulky for keeping hospital information in, so we just used plastic wallets instead for appointment letters and I kept notes in a separate section in my personal Filofax.

 

I also briefly had an A4 Finsbury, but I returned it for a refund as it was much heavier than I was expecting. However, I did write a review before it went back. 

 

So, I definitely haven't used all of the available sizes, but I'd say that I've given them a good go! Whilst I have tried different sizes, I don't tend to swap between them in regular use, as I don't think that my brain could handle that. Currently I'm using an A4 hardback notebook for work and my personal Kensington for everything else. 

Have you had a similar journey with your use of different sizes as well?

Paper Sizes

With the announcement by Gillio that they are bringing out an Organiser in 'HBxA5' size, which isn't a totally new size, it has existed for some time but mainly in Japan. I thought it was time to revise and update my paper sizes chart!

I often refer to my chart of Popular Paper and Page Sizes, I've updated it and you will find links to it further down this post. 

It wouldn't be so bad if you used this information every week, it might become second nature, but for most of us it is information we only use once or twice a year. 

So let us start with a picture. 

The three different sizes shown A5, B5 and A4 are common sizes. I've added the dimensions to show their actual sizes.

A4 is twice the area of A5, A5 is twice the area of A6 etc. Similarly B4 is twice the area of B5, B5 is twice the area of B6 etc.

These three sizes are all ISO216 paper sizes, ISO216:2007 specifies three different series of paper sizes, A, B and C. One thing in common is that the ratio of height against width is the square root of two. So if you multiple the width by 1.4142 (the square root of 2) you will magically get the height to within 1 mm. Alternatively multiple the height by 0.7071 and you will get the width of the page.

Because they follow this pattern we can easily scale from one size to another when printing. So for instance if you have a Word file that is set to A4 size to print it on A5 paper you scale the page by 0.7071, or more conveniently 70.7% or 71% if you can't input a decimal number.

Note that the reduction between each size is not 50% even though the smaller size has half the area. The scale factor for reduction is calculated by dividing the longer edge of the smaller size by the longer edge of the larger size (or the shorter edge of the smaller size by the shorter edge of the larger size).

Using that rule we can devise how to go from A4 to B5, so we take 250mm and divide it by 297mm to get 0.841 or just 84% should be close enough. 

What is the significance of B5 size you might ask.... B5 is Deskfax size, whilst Filofax have discontinued this size years ago, it still remains a popular size, although printed inserts for this size are difficult to come across. With the knowledge of the scaling factor of 84% you can take any of the Philofaxy diary inserts intended for A5 size and print them at 84% and you will have Deskfax pages.

All the Philofaxy diary inserts for A5 are in fact sized to A4 this is so if you use the 'Booklet' print facility available on some printers they will be printed the correct size on A4 paper (two pages per side) If you are printing the files directly on to A5 paper you have to scale the print to 71%. 

To help you remember this information I have created an 'aide memoire' which you can either put on your notice board or print out and put in your organiser. 

• Popular Paper and Page Sizes (notice board version) - .docx  or  .pdf
• Popular Paper and Page Sizes A4/A5 version - .docx  or  .pdf

If you have any questions pop them in the comments below.

Page Sizes - Revision!

We seem to find a new page size each year. I see questions like 'Does Pocket Plus fit a Van der Spek Junior' and my first reaction is 'What size is Pocket Plus.... what is wrong with Pocket' Or people referring to Pocket as being A7, no Mini is closer to A7!! Grrrrr!!!

I refer to my chart of Popular Paper and Page Sizes, I've updated it and you will find links to it further down this post. 

It wouldn't be so bad if you used this information every week, it might become second nature, but for most of us it is information we only use once or twice a year. 

So let us start with a picture. 

The three different sizes shown A5, B5 and A4 are common sizes. I've added the dimensions to show their actual sizes.

A4 is twice the area of A5, A5 is twice the area of A6 etc. Similarly B4 is twice the area of B5, B5 is twice the area of B6 etc.

These three sizes are all ISO216 paper sizes, ISO216:2007 specifies three different series of paper sizes, A, B and C. One thing in common is that the ratio of height against width is the square root of two. So if you multiple the width by 1.4142 (the square root of 2) you will magically get the height to within 1 mm. Alternatively multiple the height by 0.7071 and you will get the width of the page.

Because they follow this pattern we can easily scale from one size to another when printing. So for instance if you have a Word file that is set to A4 size to print it on A5 paper you scale the page by 0.7071, or more conveniently 70.7% or 71% if you can't input a decimal number.

Note that the reduction between each size is not 50% even though the smaller size has half the area. The scale factor for reduction is calculated by dividing the longer edge of the smaller size by the longer edge of the larger size (or the shorter edge of the smaller size by the shorter edge of the larger size).

Using that rule we can devise how to go from A4 to B5, so we take 250mm and divide it by 297mm to get 0.841 or just 84% should be close enough. 

What is the significance of B5 size you might ask.... B5 is Deskfax size, whilst Filofax have discontinued this size years ago, it still remains a popular size, although printed inserts for this size are difficult to come across. With the knowledge of the scaling factor of 84% you can take any of the Philofaxy diary inserts intended for A5 size and print them at 84% and you will have Deskfax pages.

All the Philofaxy diary inserts for A5 are in fact sized to A4 this is so if you use the 'Booklet' print facility available on some printers they will be printed the correct size on A4 paper (two pages per side) If you are printing the files directly on to A5 paper you have to scale the print to 71%. 

To help you remember this information I have created an 'aide memoire' which you can either put on your notice board or print out and put in your organiser. 

• Popular Paper and Page Sizes (notice board version) - .docx  or  .pdf
• Popular Paper and Page Sizes A4/A5 version - .docx  or  .pdf

If you have any questions pop them in the comments below.

Guide to Changing Organiser Size

 How many times have you seen an advert on Facebook or elsewhere with text that includes:

Just received this today, not really my size, staying with the size I'm currently using...

Sometimes it might be an expensive Gillio or Custom Van der Spek organiser. I'm sure these items sell for about the same price the person paid for it. There is a better way of finding out if a particular size is for you or not?

This year with peoples life patterns and work patterns being so radically changed, I'm sure there are a lot of people considering a size change for their organiser as we approach 2021. 

Only today I was contacted by a reader on Facebook, they told me they were going to be changing from a Day on Two pages in Personal Size to a Day on One page in A5 size. 

They had sensibly printed off some Philofaxy inserts of their choice ✅, a great start I thought. Their next question was what to hold them in. 

I offered to take some photos of a selection of different A5's. 

I grabbed a few of different sizes and popped upstairs with them and took a couple of photos to share. 

The ring sizes vary from 35mm to 25mm with the Malden in the middle at 30mm. The thickness varies and the width varies by a small amount accordingly. 

Overall though there isn't a vast difference between them. What will be different is the overall weight of the organiser and paper inserts. Adding an additional 10mm of A5 paper, if you are going from 25 to 35mm rings is quite a leap in the weight. 

This also needs to be taken in to account if you are going to be carrying your organiser a lot. Not just will it fit in to my bag/backpack, but how much heavier will it be compared to you are currently carrying. 

You can print off the pages you are likely to be using or just get a stack of blank paper equal to the pages you will have plus say 10% and then get the kitchen scales out and compare the weight compared to what you are using now. Too heavy?

Seeing the differences in sizes is certainly going to help with the choice of what organiser to get, but don't forget the weight difference. 

Also consider how the organiser is made, do the covers contain any stiffener or not? If you only intend to use the organiser at a desk or similar flat surface then it will not be an issue, but if you might occasionally need to write in it whilst holding it in one hand, then a very floppy leather will not be the best choice. 

Naturally the internal layout, colour, texture etc will all be part of your decisions when it comes to making that final choice, but there are other things to consider first. 

1. Print off some inserts and try the size on just that size of paper only. 
2. Copy a typical week of appointments and tasks in to your intended diary insert, is there enough space?
3. Work out how many pages you will need to be carrying in your organiser, add a small allowance. 
4. From the above work out the size of rings you will need. Using blank paper or similar take the thickness of the stack of pages and add 5-6 mm to find out the internal diameter of the rings you will need
5. What will the overall size/weight be? Will this be ok to carry? 
6. Choose the design/colour you like
7. Seek out photo examples of the above, ask users for their opinions of that make/model. 
8. Ask ask ask.... 
9. Then buy the organiser of your choice! Enjoy....

Are you considering changing sizes next year? 

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?

What size would suit me best?

M2 then Mini right down to A4 at the bottom

What size of organiser to use can become quite a time consuming and expensive exercise. However help in the form of this post is at hand, I suppose it could have been done as a large table, but it was easier to do as text.

Karine and I covered this topic in our very first podcast, but it will not harm to revisit it at a slower pace and without the pressures of trying to fit all my ideas and thoughts in to a 30 minute recording!!

Filofax and other brands of organisers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so let me start at one end of the spectrum and work our way up to the other end giving the details and my own personal thoughts on each one.

M2
A long discontinued size from Filofax, this uses paper size that is similar to Mini size but landscape format and with only 3 rings spaced at 19mm apart.

Filofax stopped making the organisers some time ago, and ceased offering inserts as well this year. But you can download and print your own inserts at Philofaxy for the M2 size.

M2's can be used as both as notebooks/wallet combinations being landscape in format, I have found the page format easy to use and it slips in to your back pocket or in to a jacket pocket so neatly.

Mini
This is the smallest size available, it uses paper that is 67mm by 104mm in size and five rings each is spaced 19mm apart. Mini is near enough an eighth of the size of a piece of A4 paper or roughly A7 size but slightly narrower.

Filofax have stopped making Mini size organisers, but you will still find them available pre-owned and may be new in one or two stores around the world. Filofax do still sell Mini inserts though.

Van der Spek offer a Mini size as well, but the ring spacing is not the same as the Filofax one, so inserts are not easily interchangeable, but VdS do offer a range of inserts for theirs.

Gillio offer two models in the Mini size, their ring spacing is the same as the ones in Filofax Mini so the inserts are interchangeable.

I have one Mini a grey Malden, I've only ever used it for notes and reminders really. But I have seen people that use these as a 'satellite' planner.

Pocket
This size that remains popular with users. It has 6 rings all spaced by 19mm and takes paper that is 81x120mm which is slightly bigger than A7 (74x105mm) paper.  Pockets come in various ring sizes from as small as 11mm to 19mm.

Quite a few Pocket size organisers have a full width back pocket, which makes it suitable as a wallet/organiser.

Older Filofax pocket organisers only had 4 rings, these are spaced the same as the middle four rings of a Personal size page, so a personal punch will work. Filofax no longer sell inserts with slotted holes to suite 4 ring pockets. This post explains the difference between 4 and 6 ring pockets.

The size of the Pocket lends itself well to be used as a small planner that fits in to a small bag or a slightly larger jacket pocket.

A6
A6 size organisers have been around for some time, but this size has become a lot more popular in the last two years. You will find them from Mulberry (Agenda), Van der Spek(Senior) and Gillio(A6) as well as a few other manufacturers.  The paper size is half of A5 so it measures 105mm by 148mm. It is worth noting that the ring spacing of A6 is different to that of Personal.

Franklin Covey Pocket size uses the same ring spacing as A6 but with a paper size of 89mm by 153mm.

Filofax have never made an A6 organiser, but you will often see Ebay sellers advertising Personal size organisers as A6, best to check the paper size as well as the ring spacing before purchasing.

I really like the A6 size, the paper proportions being the same as A5 but smaller, it means that our diary inserts have been very easy to adapt to this size.

Slimline
Slimline also uses personal size paper, but with small rings and generally they do not have a clasp and some not even having a pen loop. Rings tend to be 11mm or 13 mm in size and therefore quite limited in terms of their capacity. But they are slim enough to slip in to the inside pocket of a man's suit jacket pocket without being too heavy.

Compact
Compact uses the same paper size as the Personal size, but it is more compact due to the size of the rings used somewhere between 13mm and 16mm with most recent examples using 15mm size rings.

Personal 
When people think of 'A Filofax' most people would recognise it as being a personal size one. It's still remains the most popular size. The paper size of 95x171mm can be too narrow for some people. Personals vary in ring size between 19mm and 30mm, although there are some models that go bigger from other brands.

Being the most popular size you will find a huge range of models to choose from. Too many to include here.

The closest Franklin Covey size to Personal is their 'Compact' size this uses paper that measures 108mm by 172mm  so a bit wider than normal personal. Some organisers are wide enough some aren't especially if you want to use side tabs. However, some people have had Van der Spek make them a Custom Standard organiser made wider to take the FC pages. FC Compact is the same ring spacing as Filofax Personal.

Gillio use the size designator of 'Medium' for Personal size, whilst Van der Spek use 'Standard' for theirs.

A5
A5 is a popular size due to its size, using paper that is 210mm x 148mm in size gives you plenty of space for even the busiest of people to plan a full week of appointments and tasks in a week view spread.

Ring sizes on A5's vary from the compact 16mm in the Filofax Heritage to the huge 35mm rings in the Van der Spek Manager with a lot of 25mm and 30mm falling between these extremes. Filofax, Van der Spek and Gillio A5's all use the same ring spacing along with other A5 makers

Franklin Covey Classic size uses paper similar in size at 140mm by 216mm but the ring spacing is not the same as Filofax A5.

There are a very very large range of models available from most of the manufacturers across all price ranges too.

A5 is the size I currently use most, I've found that it fits my needs best, I have adapted the contents of my A5 so that it isn't that heavy to carry around as well.

Deskfax 
The Deskfax was discontinued by Filofax soon after the arrival of the A5 size. Yet despite that is still has a loyal following.

Unusually it has 9 rings in three groups of three, each group being spaced by the usual 19mm and the groups being spaced by 51 mm which is the same as personal size, so personal size pages will slip on to the rings of a Deskfax.

The Deskfax uses B5 size paper which is 176mm x 250mm which is between A5 and A4 paper sizes.

A4
This is the biggest size available that I'm aware of, unless you know of one bigger? It uses a paper size of 297mm by 210 mm with a standard 4 rings each 80mm apart.

Franklin Covey Monarch uses full size Letter paper which is similar in size to A4 at 216mm by 280mm but the ring spacing is not the same as the standard 4 rings used by Filofax and other A4 binders.

The A4 size is the grand daddy of the range of sizes available. It has its advantages as well as the disadvantages. On the plus side it takes regular size paper that you will find in most offices with just 4 holes to punch. As a planner you can easily get away with a simple week per page format, meaning that you don't have so many pages to keep on the rings.

The main disadvantage I found when using mine is not so much its size when closed but the size when open, they do take up a lot of desk real estate!

Filofax have cut back on their A4 range with just two models available these days. However, Van der Spek have A4 models in the range of writing cases, some of them with ring mechanisms.


I hope you have enjoyed this quick tour of the various sizes!

How to choose the right size organiser for you.

If you are a recent convert to paper planning (not just ring bound organisers) there are so many different sizes to choose from, even more so in bound planners.

So how can you pick one that will work for you? Where do you start?

Here are two simple rules.

1. Do not buy an organiser until you have tried out the page size for that size of organiser you ..have to/need to/would love to buy... Now I know the temptation is often too great.

2. Use loose paper of the size you are considering to evaluate it for at least a week.

What are the sizes?

Size	H x W (mm)	Rings
A4	297 x 210	4
Deskfax	250 x 176	3 x 3
A5	210 x 148	2 x 3
Slimline/Compact	171 x 95	2 x 3
Personal (Medium/Standard)	171 x 95	2 x 3
A6 (Senior)	148 x 105	2 x 3
Pocket (Junior)	120 x 81	2 x 3
Pocket Slimline	120 x 81	2 x 3
Mini	105 x 67	5
M2	64 x 103	3

They are all 'portrait' format with the exception of the M2 which is 'landscape' format.

Finally, the organisers in the photo from the top to the bottom are:

• M2 - Filofax Portobello
• Mini - Filofax Malden
• Pocket- Filofax Holborn
• A6 - Van der Spek Senior Touch Me
• Personal - Filofax Malden
• A5 - Filofax Belmont
• Deskfax - Filofax Richmond
• A4 - Filofax Classic

Organiser Sizes

People are sometimes confused by the different names of different sizes of organisers I've created the following tables to try to simplify the differences between Filofax, Gillio and Van der Spek organisers.

Size/Make	Filofax	Gillio	Van der Spek	Typical Ring Size
Mini	5 rings 19mm spacing	As FF	5 rings and different spacing to FF 19 - 25.4 - 25.4 - 19mm	11-13mm
Pocket	6 rings  19mm spacing	As FF	As FF - Junior	15-19mm
A6	Never made in this size	6 rings 19-19-38-19-19mm	Senior  6 rings 19-19-38-19-19mm	20-25mm
Slimline	6 rings 19-19-51-19-19mm	As FF but ring size 14mm	-	11-13mm
Compact	6 rings 19-19-51-19-19mm	-	As FF - Standard Compact	13-15mm
Personal	6 rings 19-19-51-19-19mm	As FF - Medium	As FF - Standard	23-30mm
A5	6 rings 19-19-71-19-19mm	As FF - A5	As FF - Manager A5	25-35mm
A4	4 rings 80-80-80 mm	As FF -A4	-	25mm

Model Size	Paper Size
Mini	67x105mm
Pocket	81x121mm
A6	105x148mm
Slimline	95x171mm
Compact	95x171mm
Personal	95x171mm
A5	148x210mm
A4	210x297mm

Notes: 

1. Gillio are bringing out an A6 model, it was shown in prototype form at the meet up in March, it is not known at the time of writing this post when the A6 model will be in full production or if the model name will be different. 
2. Van der Spek have A4 ring systems available in writing cases.
3. A6 - 6 rings 19-19-38-19-19mm is the same as used by Mulberry and Sucess and possibly other manufacturers. The Rapseco punch has a middle setting for this ring spacing. 
4. 19-19-51-19-19mm refers to the ring spacing using the centre of each distances between each ring. So the first three are spaced by 19mm between hole centres, then 51mm between hole centres, followed by another group of 3 spaced at 19mm between hole centres. 

Plunging Back into Page Formats by Nan

As long-time readers of this blog may remember, I cured my chaotic planner experimentation 8 years ago by making a commitment: Filofax as a brand and A5 as a size. After experimenting with Pocket as a satellite/wallet format, I settled on Personal as an adjunct format. I even ended up using Personal as my only planner format for over a year, with a large Moleskine as my journal. Even that was a departure...for years I insisted that even my journals be exactly A5 so I could swap pages with the A5 Filofax. Now, U.S. letter size is insinuating itself back into my life!

Can you tell I have a tough time dealing with multiple formats? Even as a kid it bugged me that my writing paper and the handouts from my teachers were two different sizes. It wasn't until college that I figured out that you could get letter-size loose leaf paper.

I joined a diet group recently, and the handouts and food log forms are letter-size. We were told, "Print out your menus and carry them with you everywhere." WHAT? A Filofax blogger carry letter-size paper? For now, I'm doing so by folding the sheets in half and slipping them into an A5 Flex cover along with my journal.

I will need to start using a letter-size binder to store all these handouts, forms, and recipes I print out from websites, which are formatted for letter-size paper as well.

And so it begins. Now I'm thinking I may as well use letter-size for work instead of my current A5, for the sake of consistency. Otherwise, I'll be shuffling around three different paper sizes every day--Personal, A5, and letter-size--and that will make me crazy. Sure, I currently have some letter-size documents at work, but they're things that I read, put in files, and refer to. Using and writing on letter-size paper is a different story, and it's something I haven't done for a decade!

My other alternative is figuring out how to format and print letter-size materials for A5 paper. Or is that even crazier?

Feeling fickle

I bought my first Filofax in 2009 and I admit that I've owned my fair share of different binders since then. I don't want to own a large collection, so I sell or swap the ones that have fallen out of favour. I am definitely a personal size fan as I like the portability and page size, with an A5 thrown in for when I want the extra space. However, recently I've found myself wondering if I could downsize to help me focus on the important things, and I'm sure I could remove quite a bit of out of date stuff from my crimson Malden.

I'm not sure if it's planner envy or just something that seems to happen, but from time to time I find myself thinking things like 'maybe pocket size would be just right' or 'maybe slimline was better for me'. I don't mind making changes if I truly believe that they will be for the better, but I have a suspicion this could easily be a form of procrastination instead. Working on my system can be very helpful, but it can't replace the actual doing.

Rather than rushing and making any changes, I think instead I will look to simplify what I already have and do. I think sometimes the idea of getting a new binder or starting a new set up feels like this time it'll be perfect, but anything takes time and effort to make it work. I've found that it's rarely 'planner fail', but me that's just not getting on and struggling with single tasking or getting the important stuff done. I am feeling fickle, but if anything I think I may go back to just the one binder and focus on making it work instead.

Another day, another Malden

Well, my three month trial of the A5 size is now over and I've moved back down to personal. As mentioned in my previous post, I had planned to finish it all off in a logical way, but a couple of things came up that brought it to a quicker and easier conclusion. I normally only use one of the penloops on my A5 Malden, but decided I wanted an extra pen one day and found it got stuck. I think part of the loop's lining had come unstuck and then re-stuck to itself, and I couldn't seem to fix it myself. Then I contacted City Organiser to ask if they might have the purple personal Maldens back in stock by the time I was visiting, and the surprise answer was that they had two available, but I'd have to ring the shop to purchase one. I'm not a religious person, but I just felt like the universe was trying to tell me something here! On the same day, I returned my A5 and rang up to purchase the personal size instead, with City Organiser putting the smoother version aside for me.

For ages, I've been telling myself I don't need a purple filofax. I know many people have multiple binders, but I want just one and suddenly I realised that it made sense to get the one I really want and be done with it. Despite enjoying the extra paper size of the A5, I'm relieved to be back to the personal size as I was able to carry my new filo around with me all day and still fit lots of other things in my bag.

It was love at first sight, I'm delighted to say.

It doesn't yet lay flat (like my other Maldens), but I'm willing to be patient as it's both a Malden and purple.

The leather has a much smoother grain than on my crimson one.

And it goes quite nicely with my satchel, which is an added bonus!

Size matters

I recently went away for a long week end, and as I was going around collecting up the last bits and pieces to pack, I picked up my A5 Malden in one hand and realised just how big it is.

My personal Malden wasn't available as it was waiting to be sold

Somehow, it seemed a bit ridiculous to take away such a large binder with me for three nights, so I left it behind. And boy, did I miss it. I don't know about you, but my filofax is normally within easy reach when I'm at home, so it was very strange to be without it. I went away for a week last Christmas and my personal was in my bag straightaway without any thought. 

So, a little doubt has crept in... and it's that old chestnut of what is the perfect size? I purchased an A5 for the extra space and at the time very rarely took my personal out and about with me. However, it seems that now I've decided on A5 I can see more opportunities for when I'd like to have a filo with me. For example, I'm going to London to attend the Dalai Lama's talk at the Royal Albert Hall (yay), and fancy using mine on the train journeys and to take the odd note in. I'm just not so sure I want to carry my A5 around with me the whole day. Also, I'm visiting Malaysia for three weeks next year and I really can't see myself taking this size away either.  

Maybe I'm asking a lot, but I want one filofax that does it all! I think I'll write down the pros and cons of each size, and maybe set a deadline to review how I've found the A5 size. Maybe it's good that I didn't sell my personal Malden and for the time being, I'm going to put it away until I make a final decision. Alternatively, visiting City Organiser on the same day as the talk will be a good opportunity to maybe consider a purple pocket Malden or imperial purple Finchley as a wallet. 

I have a suspicion that personal may be the happy medium between portability and paper size with owning just the one binder, but I could also now see myself owning two for the best of both worlds. I'm sure many of you more experienced owners have experienced this, but I suppose I didn't expect this to happen so soon after deciding to upgrade from personal to A5. Oh, choices, choices!   

Size matters...

Anyone who knows me well enough, will know that I love playing around with spreadsheets to look at things from a different point of view, to see things from a different angle and may be to discover something new I hadn't realised before....

So yes you guessed it, I couldn't resist plugging some numbers in to Excel the other day in connection to Filofax organisers, to see if there was something I had over looked or may be explain why some sizes are more popular than others.

So I decided to use the page area of the different sizes to see how they compare to each other between the different sizes.

Size	H x W (mm)	Area (sq mm)
A4	297 x 210	62370
A5	210 x 148	31185
Personal	171 x 95	16245
Pocket	120 x 81	9720
Mini	105 x 67	7035

Then looking at the page size in terms of percentage of each other and say 'converting' from one size to another size. In the table below, lets say you are using a Personal size and you are going to A5. You start on the top Personal and go down to A5 on the left hand side. This indicates that A5 is 192% in page area relative to Personal size (nearly double the page area)

			Current Size
Future Size		A4	A5	Personal	Pocket	Mini
	A4	100%	200%	384%	642%	887%
	A5	50%	100%	192%	321%	443%
	Personal	26%	52%	100%	167%	231%
	Pocket	16%	31%	60%	100%	138%
	Mini	11%	23%	43%	72%	100%

Another example, this time Personal to Pocket, your page size would be 60% of your current page size.

This got me thinking... if people are tending to cycle between A5 and Personal size. The sort of thing we hear is people like the extra space that A5 gives them, but they don't like the additional bulk of an A5 organiser.

Seeing the figures above it doesn't come as any surprise really as to why the A5 has such an advantage over the Personal size, but people are swapping too much between sizes.

There's almost a case for another size between A5 and Personal, one say that in the same ratio as an A5 page 1:1.4142.  This ratio is the same as the square root of 2, or the inverse of Sine 45 degrees, so there is some magic about the ratio of the height versus the width of the European paper sizes.

So I picked a page area roughly between the two sizes about 23000 sq mm, in that ratio you get a page size of 180x127mm or put another way, slightly taller than personal, but about a third wider compared to Personal size or 41% bigger than personal size. This page would look something like this in blue:

So I compromised slightly and made it the same height as Personal (171mm) in the same ratio as A5 that gives a page width of 121 mm and a page area of 20691 sq mm Or 27% bigger than personal size.

This is what it would look like and how it compares to Personal and A5 size.  An organiser in this size would need to be wider, but it would be the same height as a Personal size... think of it as Personal + 

  

I doubt if we would ever see organisers available in that size, but it might prove to be a more popular size if it ever did go in to production.