Printing the planner
For a ring binder: A4 or US Letter, both sides, punched along the wide margin. Four settings decide whether it works.
The four settings
- Size‘Actual size’ or 100 %. Not ‘Fit to page’ – otherwise every page shrinks a little and the punch holes hit the text.
- Both sidesPrint on both sides and flip on the long edge. With ‘short edge’ every back page is upside down.
- Quality‘Normal’ or ‘Standard’, not ‘Draft’. Otherwise the fine grey lines and boxes disappear.
- ColourGreyscale for everything – unless there is a photo on the cover. Then the first PDF page in colour and the rest in greyscale.
One test sheet first
Print only PDF pages 1 and 2 and hold the sheet up to the light. Is the back the right way up? Is the wide margin for the punch holes on the same edge on both sides? If so, print the rest. If not, one of the four settings is still wrong – and you have only used one sheet.
Paper
Ordinary matt copy paper will do; at 90 to 100 g/m² less shows through when both sides are written on. A full year is about 70 to 75 sheets, half a year about 38 to 42, a quarter about 22 to 24.
Punching and filing
Punch along the wide margin: printed on both sides, it is on the same edge of every sheet. An ordinary two-hole punch will do – in North America the three-hole punch for Letter. Punch small stacks and the holes line up everywhere.
The current week goes on your desk or the kitchen table, and back into the binder at the end of the week.
Rather have booklets?
Then you print two pages on each side of a landscape A4 or Letter sheet, flip on the short edge, fold the sheets in the middle and staple them – one booklet per quarter. The detailed printing tips explain it step by step.
No printer at home?
A copy shop prints the PDF for you. Say: ‘Both sides, actual size, flip on the long edge.’ Many will punch it too, or bind the pages with a spiral.