Buyers Guides & Videos - Diaries, Organisers and Calendars
Which size diary should I get?
Diaries at Euroffice are available in A4, A5 and A6 sizes. Both A5 and A6 diaries are great for taking out of the office as they’ll easily fit into a bag or pocket and the majority of pocket diaries also feature gilt corners for added protection. A5 diaries offer more space than A6, for writing down appointments or events but will still fit neatly inside a bag if needed.
A4 diaries or quarto diaries, also known as desk diaries or appointment diaries, are predominately used within offices, salons and stores that operate an appointment schedule. Their larger pages allow for more information to be written down and can be laid flat on an office or reception desk.
What diary styles are available at Euroffice?
Diaries are typically casebound which means they are manufactured with a rigid hard case with sewn sections. Casebound diaries usually feature an internal ribbon marker that helps to quickly identify the current day or week within the diary. Wirebound diaries are a good alternative and these often have a polypropylene cover, a plastic page marker and an elastic closure band that helps to protect the pages from curling and ensures the security of your diary.
What’s the difference between diary page layouts?
There are several different diary page layouts available and it’ll depend on how you use your diary to decide which the best format is for you. Larger diaries, like A4 sized diaries, will use a day to page or two days to page layout while smaller A5, pocket and A6 diaries will use a week to view layout.
A day to page layout features one page for each weekday and half a page each for Saturdays and Sundays. A diary with two days to page layout will use one page for two weekdays and a quarter of a page for the weekend. Week to view diaries typically use two pages side by side to show a full week with weekdays usually given more space than Saturdays and Sundays.
Many diaries will also feature pages at the beginning and end that contain information on telephone codes, train lines, have space for contacts and addresses or include blank pages for notes.
What’s the difference between a year diary and an academic diary?
The difference between a year diary and an academic diary is the period they cover. A year diary starts in January and ends in December, following the calendar year, while an academic diary starts in July and ends in July the next year so follows the traditional academic year. Academic diaries are also available in 18 month periods starting in July and ending in December of the next year.
When are diaries for the next calendar year or academic year available?
Standard diaries that follow the calendar year generally become available around June or July and we recommend you order early as stock begins to run out by November. Academic diaries, which start from July, usually become available from April or May onwards.
What’s the benefit of a personal organiser over a standard diary?
A personal organiser contains more than just a calendar diary and is designed for long-term use rather than just for a calendar year. A good personal organiser will let you schedule appointments, take notes, store addresses, hold business cards and have space for a pen or pencil. Most organisers use page refills that can be added to the six-ring binder system and there’s a wide variety of page refills available from updated diary inserts, address books, notes pages and even maps.
Filofax is the biggest manufacturer of personal organisers and they offer a fantastic selection of high quality organisers in leather or leather-look covers. Leather organisers combine the luxurious feel of genuine leather with the classic personal organiser look. Leather-look organisers are a fraction of the price of real leather but offer the same classic look. Traditional black or brown personal organisers are most common but there’s also pink, red and purple colour options available too.
How do I refill my personal organiser?
Personal organisers are designed to use page refills and typically use a six-ring binder system which allows pages to be easily added or removed. Diary inserts are the most common type of page refills available but address books (blank or with alphabetic tabs), blank or ruled notes pages and calendar page refills are also available. Thanks to the filing method used in personal organisers, these refills from Filofax can be mixed and matched to create your own unique organisational system.
Refills come in a range of different page sizes which are shown below for reference:
- A4 – 210mm x 297mm
- A5 – 148mm x 210mm
- B5 – 176mm x 250mm
- Personal – 95mm x 171mm
- Pocket – 81mm x 120mm
- Mini – 67mm x 105mm
What type of calendar do I need for my office?
Calendars can be used to mark dates, meetings and events, or can be used to simply check the date or day of the week. A wall calendar is a good option if an internal office team or department needs to coordinate dates and these calendars come in a week, four weeks or a month to view formats to accommodate different sizes of team. For a larger, reusable, wall calendar the write and wipe A3 calendar sheets from Avery are dry erase sheets that can be stuck to the wall. You can write on these sheets using a whiteboard marker pen, and marks can be removed using a dry wipe cloth.
Desktop calendars are best for personal use as they are designed to sit neatly on office desks or on PC monitors. These calendars are available in day, week, month, three month or year to view formats as daily tear-off block calendars, triangular calendars or desk planner calendars.
What formats of wall planner do you stock?
Weekly, monthly or yearly wall planners are available at Euroffice to help plan schedules, events and staff. Year planners that start from January and end in December are available alongside academic year planners. Perpetual year planners can be used from year to year as they don’t list any particular year and only list months and days. Planners usually provide additional space beside their standard grid system to allow for extra information to be added against a particular month, week or day.
Many wall planners are made from metal which allows magnetic strips and planner accessories to be placed on dates to display information. Some planners have a drywipe surface as well so whiteboard marker pens can be used to write notes onto the board and then removed using a dry cloth.
High quality wall and year planners usually incorporate a metal or wooden frame around the planner but both framed and unframed planners will include a wall mounting kit so they’re easy to fix to the wall. A range of different sizes of planners are available so you can find the right size for your wall.