Create and Bind Your Own A5 Diary
Choose any starting date, customise the page layout and generate a free, print-ready PDF for your own 53-week diary.
The pages are already arranged, or imposed, in the correct order for double-sided printing on A4 paper. Once printed, they can be folded into A5 bookbinding signatures, ready for you to sew and bind.
There is no signup and nothing to pay. Everything happens inside your browser; the information you enter is not uploaded, stored or sent anywhere.
A Printable Diary Made for Bookbinders
Creating individual diary pages is fairly straightforward. Arranging more than a hundred of them into the correct order for double-sided printing, folding and sewing is the bit most people would rather not do by hand.
The Diary Generator takes care of that for you.
It creates a complete 53-week, week-to-view diary beginning on a date of your choosing. You can start in January, midway through the year or with a personally significant date – it is entirely up to you.
Once you are happy with your choices, select Generate PDF. The resulting file is ready to print double-sided, collate, fold into signatures and bind.
Customise Your Diary
The generator allows you to choose:
- The week your diary begins
- Outer and gutter margins
- Serif or sans-serif type
- Heading position and size
- Writing guidelines
- Bank holidays and occasions
- Optional Notes pages
- Optional Contacts pages
- Whether additional sections appear at the front or rear
A live preview shows the first week of your diary while you adjust the settings.
How It Works
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Choose your starting date
Select the week on which you would like your diary to begin. The generator creates a complete 53-week diary from that point.
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Customise the pages
Adjust the margins, typography and other available options. Add Notes or Contacts pages if you would like them included.
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Generate your PDF
Select Generate PDF and allow the generator a moment to build and download your diary.
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Test your printer settings
Print the first four sheets before committing to the complete diary. Fold those four sheets into a signature and check that all the dates appear in the correct order.
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Print, fold and bind
Once the test signature is correct, print the complete PDF, collate the sheets, fold them into signatures and bind your diary using your preferred bookbinding method.
Printing Your Diary – Please Read This Bit
Correct printer settings are important. A perfectly generated PDF can still emerge from the printer in the wrong order if the wrong double-sided setting is selected.
After downloading the PDF, open the file properly before printing it. Double-click the downloaded file and open it in your usual PDF reader. Avoid printing it directly from the downloads window.
In your printer settings, select:
- A4 paper
- Double-sided printing
- Flip on short edge
- Actual size or 100% scale, rather than “fit to page”
- Headers and footers switched off, if the PDF has opened in a browser
Printer manufacturers describe these settings differently, but flip on short edge is the crucial one.
Before printing the complete diary, print only the first four sheets. Fold them together into one signature and turn through the pages. If the dates run in the correct order, your settings should be right for the complete print run.
Paper, Page Size and Signatures
The generator has been designed and tested for printing on both sides of A4 paper. Each printed sheet is folded in half to create A5 pages.
A standard diary without additional sections is arranged into seven signatures, with four folded sheets in each signature.
Adding optional Notes or Contacts pages may alter the final page count. The generator will arrange those pages according to the options selected.
I have only tested the generator using A4 printers and A4 paper. Other paper and finished-page sizes are not currently supported.
If You Have Made My Starter Kit Books
If you have already used my Complete Bookbinding Starter Kit, you have learned exactly the style of binding needed to turn these printed signatures into a finished hardback diary.
The Diary Generator supplies the printed sections in place of the pages included with the Starter Kit. From that point, the same essential process applies: fold and prepare the sections, sew the text block and turn it into a properly bound casebound book.
You can therefore return to the Starter Kit instructions and use the method you have already learned to create your diary.
If you have not learned that binding method, you can still use the generator, but please be aware that it creates the printable diary pages – it does not currently provide complete instructions for constructing the finished book.
This Tool Is Still in Beta
The Diary Generator has successfully produced finished diaries for me and for other bookbinders, but it remains a beta tool. Printers, browsers and operating systems have an impressive number of ways to behave differently.
Please test the first four sheets before using paper for the complete diary.
If something does not work, I genuinely want to hear about it. A short message telling me what happened, which browser you used and what your printer produced would be extremely useful.
Likewise, please tell me when it works. Photographs of finished diaries are especially welcome!
Help Me Shape the Diary Generator
This tool began as something I thought members of the Learn Bookbinding community might find useful. I would very much like future improvements to be guided by the people actually using it.
Feature requests, suggestions and wildly optimistic wish lists are all welcome.
For example, would you find any of these useful?
- Year-planner pages
- Personal-information pages
- Timetables
- Important dates
- Additional diary layouts
- Different optional sections
- More control over typography and page design
- Other paper or finished-page sizes
Those are examples rather than promises. If there is something you would genuinely use, please tell me. It is far more helpful to know what real bookbinders want than for me to disappear down a coding rabbit hole adding features nobody needs.
You can email me at office@learnbookbinding.co.uk, leave a comment below or post in the Learn Bookbinding Facebook Group.
Even a very short message such as “It worked”, “It didn’t work” or “Could it do this?” would be appreciated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Diary Generator free?
Yes. It is completely free to use, with no signup required.
Is any of my information uploaded or stored?
No. The generator runs entirely inside your browser. The dates and settings you choose are not uploaded, stored or sent anywhere.
Can my diary begin on any date?
You select the week on which the diary begins. The generator then creates a complete 53-week diary from that starting point.
What size is the finished diary?
The generator is designed for double-sided printing on A4 paper. The printed sheets are folded in half to create A5 pages.
How is the diary arranged?
It uses a week-to-view layout. A standard diary is arranged into seven bookbinding signatures containing four folded sheets each.
Can I add other pages?
You can currently add Notes and Contacts pages to the front or rear of the diary. Other optional sections may be considered for future versions.
Why are my pages printing in the wrong order or orientation?
First check that your printer is set to print double-sided and flip on short edge. Print only the first four sheets and fold them into a signature before printing the complete diary.
Can I bind the pages using the Starter Kit method?
Yes. If you have completed the books supplied with the Complete Bookbinding Starter Kit, you already know the method required to turn these diary signatures into a finished casebound book.
Does the generator include bookbinding instructions?
The generator creates, arranges and downloads the printable diary pages. It does not currently include complete instructions for binding the finished book.
Ready to Make Your Diary?
Once you have read the printing guidance, especially the requirement to print double-sided and flip on the short edge, you are ready to begin.
Choose your starting date, customise the layout and generate a set of A5 diary pages ready to print, fold and bind.
I’ve read the printing notes – open the Diary Generator
Free to use. No signup. Nothing uploaded or stored.
Thank you Jon-Paul , a great little tool! Just test printed the first 4 sheets (8 pages!) and it looks fab. The left and right margins are not quite the same size but suspect that’s my settings rather than yours. Full scale production for Xmas starts soon!!!
Love this – thank you so much for developing it! Ideas for future developments would be a front page for ‘name, contact details, etc.’ (although I’m going to play with notes page at the front instead of the back maybe) and maybe a page-a-day version? First test print of first section looks great though! Thank you!
This is fantastic, thank you so much!! all printed brilliantly… are you able to create a page for a month, like the excel calendars? just wondering how to do it…. love your instructions, your website, you guys are amazing thank you!!!!
Hey Lynn – Thanks so much for the feedback (and very kind words!), very reassuring to hear that it’s working as intended!
I’ll add your suggestion to my todo list, I’ll give you a shout when I have a demo and perhaps you can test it out for me! 🙂
Jon-Paul