Big Nerd Ranch Weblog

Pingback from macoholic / GTD: Mac und Moleskine verbrüdern
Time: January 7, 2007, 12:22 pm

[...] Schöner Ansatz, den mir Guido da zukommen ließ, Danke dafür! [...]

Pingback from PagePacker from Big Nerd Ranch « Mullery
Time: January 7, 2007, 1:33 pm

[...] PagePacker from Big Nerd Ranch Big Nerd Ranch are known for their excellent classes about many Mac OS X technologies include Cocoa Bootcamp. One of their instructors is Aaron Hillegass, a name you should know if you do any Cocoa work on the platform as he’s written two great books on the subject. He whipped up a small application called PagePacker that lets you print 8 of the DIY Planner templates (or any single page PDF you want) onto a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and fold them into a tiny book. I think the UI for selecting the template could use some work, but it is still a nice freebie. Check it out! [...]

Comment from Dave Batton
Time: January 7, 2007, 3:47 pm

Congratulations on the release! Looks like a really nice little utility. But you gotta get it a new icon.

Comment from joshpaul
Time: January 7, 2007, 3:55 pm

Great app Aaron! Thanks for it. I’ve been getting “back into” GTD since the 1st.

Happy New Year.

Comment from victor Agreda Jr
Time: January 7, 2007, 8:23 pm

OK, please don’t make useful things time out unless they are demos. Your assumption that anyone “getting things done” will inevitably order Leopard the first instant it is available is not only antithetical to GTD, but a real PITA for those of us who will continue to use Tiger on older machines… That’s the kind of “upgrade or die” attitude I’d expect from Apple or Microsoft, honestly…

Comment from OwlBoy
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:13 pm

Awesome!

Pingback from LarryRoth.net
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:20 pm

[...] It would seem that PagePacker is just the application I was looking for. It allows you to easily drag and drop any PDF or image on to one of 8 “spaces”. These 8 spaces then print out into one foldable 8 1/2″ by 11″ page. There is even a catalog of 84 DIY (do-it-yourself) planner pages, such as to-do lists and calendars. And like any good Mac application it is easy to use and doesn’t get in the way of getting the job done. [...]

Comment from Fernando Meyer
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:20 pm

That’s amazing lol

Comment from Ken
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:28 pm

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Brilliant! I’ve been using PocketMod for a while, but I didn’t like the fact that I had to manually write in all of my appointments from iCal/Entourage. Now with this, I can just print the PDF from iCal. I love it! Thank you again!

Comment from Ken
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:30 pm

One issue though: which font are the DIY pages in? When I print it (on any of my printers), I get exclamation points where the spaces should be. While this isn’t a dealbreaker, it is somewhat goofy looking if I want to show my hipsterPDA to my friends…

Comment from Administrator
Time: January 7, 2007, 9:35 pm

Yes, there are strange exclamation points that appear in the DIY Planner pages. I have not figured out where they come from yet. I’ll write the designer and find out. Overall, they are, indeed, goofy looking. If I can get that fixed, I’ll do another release.

Also, be sure to read the help. It has some hints about how to get PagePacker-friendly PDFs out of AddressBook and iCal.

Finally, I’d like to do another post with “PagePacker Recipes” on how to get useful information into nice little PDFs. Please send comments if you figure out something cool.

Comment from Kyle Mistry
Time: January 7, 2007, 10:11 pm

This is an awesome little application you’ve got. Nice work!

By the way, I made my own little icon for it. Hope you don’t mind, I just didn’t care much for the current one.

http://kylepoint.com/creations/archive.php?year=2007

Comment from Speedmaster
Time: January 7, 2007, 10:42 pm

Great stuff, thanks! I’ll tinker w/ it a bit

Comment from lambas
Time: January 7, 2007, 10:55 pm

Dear Aaron,

I would like to thank you for making such a cool program. It will be very useful to me.

However I am writing a comment here to tell you that I am disappointed and a bit confused by your choice to have this program expire.

As a college student, I will not be able to afford to upgrade to Leopard any time soon.

I just find it very bizarre that you would act as if Tiger will cease to exist (or *should* cease to exist) once there is a new version of the OS out.

Could you please release a version of your wonderful application that does not expire?

Thank you and take care,
Lambas

Comment from Andrew Conti
Time: January 8, 2007, 12:00 am

Great first release! My only thought is to make it Applescriptable so you can automate the process of getting PDFs out of iCal and Address Book and into the program. Great work.

Comment from Brunger
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:52 am

Any chance on a win and/or linux version someday soon?
And like that german guy wrote, “Mac meets Moleskine” is an appropriate title.

Pingback from PocketMod-like application for Mac OS X | [MostlyGeek] Real Estate Technology Blog
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:06 am

[...] read more | digg story [...]

Pingback from Venera7.com » Blog Archive » PagePacker: PocketMod hecho fácil
Time: January 8, 2007, 5:00 am

[...] La aplicación y el mini-howto de doblado del A4 los tenéis en el blog de Big Nerd Ranch. [...]

Comment from Bill Byrne
Time: January 8, 2007, 5:39 am

Very nice little application. Any chance of 4 pager (rather than 8 pager) for those of us with weak eyes ? Also, the guideline line spacing is slightly off (but still usable) for A4 paper.

Comment from Jeroen Lokerse
Time: January 8, 2007, 5:57 am

Any chance of making it print an a A4 page for us europeans ?
I like pocket mod but printing to a A4 page drops portions of the page,

I’m at work here so haven’t tried it yet but reading your comment seems to suggest it only print to legal size paper.

Comment from Anders
Time: January 8, 2007, 6:57 am

Great app
so simple!

Pingback from NaturalBirthing.info » Blog Archive » PagePacker puts microbooks in easy reach
Time: January 8, 2007, 9:46 am

[...] Aaron infused the PocketMod process with some Cocoa mojo and the result is PagePacker, a slick little app that lets you quickly put together your own PocketMods from PDFs, images or pages from the DIYplanner.com template set. Throw a picture of your dog and a handy city map onto the back of your busy schedule and you’re all set. [...]

Pingback from MacNewsOnline.com- Mac News, Macintosh Articles, Mac Rumors, Software Reviews » Blog Archive » PocketMod-like application for Mac OS X
Time: January 8, 2007, 9:51 am

[...] read more Bookmark to: [...]

Comment from karel
Time: January 8, 2007, 10:16 am

I would like an A4 version too…..
please?
pretty please?

Comment from Anthony Underwood
Time: January 8, 2007, 10:35 am

Yes great app, but having an A4 option would make it even better. I’m from the UK

Comment from Mike
Time: January 8, 2007, 10:52 am

Having this expire is a really bad move – please remove the expire date – like others have said I may not be upgrading to Leopard this year

Comment from wrath of god
Time: January 8, 2007, 11:28 am

I also would like to hear the logic behind the June expiration. It makes little sense to me and is a dealbreaker on what looks like a great little app.

Comment from Dan Semaya
Time: January 8, 2007, 11:52 am

It would be great if you could make this app automatically populate the pages from your iCal. I’d like it to show me this month, today, tomorrow, this week and next week. I’d like to be able to print it out with the press of a button and grab it before I go out the door in the morning. Currently I find myself printing my iCal, plus printing out some Google Maps directions if I need them. It would be great if that could be automated.

Also maybe even offering multiple printable views. A 4-up version that doesn’t require you to cut the paper, but gives you more usable space per page would be nice.

Comment from Chris
Time: January 8, 2007, 12:32 pm

Thanks – this is terrific. I just made up a booklet with Bible verses I’m trying to commit to memory. Thanks for making if free!

Comment from damon
Time: January 8, 2007, 12:43 pm

Damn – I just finished setting up my moleskin to do what I wanted and then this. Back to sqaure one, good thing I used pencil in the moleskin
Thanks a ream!
d

Comment from Phil
Time: January 8, 2007, 12:55 pm

I had a dream…
You make it !
Very nice application. Just a ‘doubt’ : will it remain free ?

Comment from Lauram
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:04 pm

I don’t actually need this as at GTD tool, but I’ve been searching for a way to produce small booklets of recipes for friends who like my cooking. So I’m going to try it to see if it’s adaptable, but if anyone knows of an app that can do this with fairly simple text panels, I’d love a pointer.

Comment from Ed
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:05 pm

Another vote for an A4 version, and also for an A3 version for those times when you might want a large format book.

Comment from Ed
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:14 pm

Following up the requests for A4 versions, the Lifehacker page referencing PagePacker contains a DIY command line hack from woolfie for manipulating the postcript for an 8 page document to produce a single A4 sheet suitable for folding (not tried, caveat emptor …)

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/personal-organizers/download-of-the-day-pagepacker-mac-226961.php

Comment from mane
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:32 pm

Great but PLEASE we NEED an A4 Version!

Comment from OMW
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:39 pm

Beautifully illustrated and nicely done!

Adding an outline around the form (like the “imageable page rectangle”) would make it easier to print and trim PagePacker to custom sizes.

I make mine a little smaller (8″ x 10″) and carry them in a wallet with business cards.

Thanks for a great app!!

Pingback from GTD: Page Packer at The Apple Blog
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:48 pm

[...] Here’s one for the GTD’ers amongst our readership. Page Packer makes it simple to print notes, calendars, pictures, or whatever and take them with you in a small, fold-able booklet. [...]

Pingback from Switchblog » Blog Archive » Create your own planner
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:58 pm

[...] [...]

Comment from Stephen W. Carson
Time: January 8, 2007, 1:58 pm

One of the things I most often want with me is my Amazon Wish List. I brought it up on Amazon and switched “View” to “Compact”. I then selected Print and saved as PDF. I had to redo it when I realized I was getting a trailing page with useless garbage on it. Once I had my PDF, dropped it on PagePacker and it laid out the pages of the PDF. Very nice. Great work!

BTW, one more vote to fix the exclamation point bug.

Pingback from Nogz Blogz 3.4 » LinkDumping: Pagepacker, PCSX2 and UxTheme Patcher…
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:02 pm

[...] PagePacker makes me want a mac… I often wander around without a computer, so I needed a nice easy way to print important bits into little books of information that I could carry around in my pocket. Chad Adams figured out a brilliant technique of cutting and folding pieces of paper into little books and called it PocketMod. The technique was brilliant, but the software was a little awkward. So I, knowing a little about Cocoa, hacked together PagePacker. [...]

Comment from alan schauer
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:06 pm

YessSSSS!! After “Dot Net” (pocketmod), I never thought I’d see this! THANK YOU!

Pingback from Switchblog » Blog Archive » links for 2007-01-08
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:23 pm

[...] PagePacker makes pocket-sized books (tags: gtd planner calendar diy) [...]

Comment from Didier Boulet
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:38 pm

Any chance to see some Automator support for this ?

Comment from Daniel Jalkut
Time: January 8, 2007, 2:44 pm

Really cool little utility. About the exclamations, I noticed that if I open the PDF from within your Resources directory, and print a page from Preview, the spaces seem to survive without turning into exclamations.

If you’re taking minor usability suggestions

1. Would love to be able to drag from within the document to within the document. Once I drop something in, I might change my mind about where I wanted it, but now I have to go back to the catalog and re-find it.

2. The catalog is a little unwieldly with all its pages I’m not sure what you can do about this except manually assign categories and names to each of the items. It would be great if there was a little hierarchical outline view for selecting pages from the catalog.

3. If you allowed the catalog window to be resized, it might be easier to look at some of the proposed pages. I found myself switching to preview for browsing.

Anyway, not to detract from what is altogether an excellent little app.

Daniel

Comment from Dan Wood
Time: January 8, 2007, 3:26 pm

Really Cool, Aaron. My only suggestion would be to categorize the 84 pre-made page types (maybe an NSSegmentedControl) so it’s easier to browse through the templates or find what you’re looking for. It requires a very steady hand to look through the templates.

Also, you could bundle the media browser (like the one that comes with Sandvox) to make it easy to drag in iPhotos.

Comment from ForoMac
Time: January 8, 2007, 4:40 pm

Just amazing!

Comment from Dan Wood
Time: January 8, 2007, 4:59 pm

If you want to come up with another paper size, you could do a legal size paper (8-1/2″ x 14″) to create 10 panels instead of 8, with a wrap-around cover. Try it : Fold the paper into fifths lengthwise and cut a notch in the middle, and also on the new edge fifth panel. Then fold is much like the 8-panel one, but then one of the panels is double-length; it can then fold over the others like a nice cover. I would love to have a layout variation like this so I could get 25% more capacity!

Comment from TI
Time: January 8, 2007, 5:10 pm

This is really excellent. Any chance of source code, to see the Cocoa wizardry?

Also, if you do an update, how about enabling arrow keys on the template panel? That would make it easier to browse through them.

Comment from Jezbizee
Time: January 8, 2007, 6:16 pm

Nice little App. A4 for me too please. Out of interest, why will this not work with the next version of OS X?

Comment from Administrator
Time: January 8, 2007, 8:08 pm

OK, OK, I’ll add A4. Give me a week.

Comment from alex
Time: January 8, 2007, 9:19 pm

why is it that I don’t have the A5 option in iCal??

Comment from chad
Time: January 8, 2007, 11:41 pm

while I am content with my own bastard version of GTD (see the site), I am really excited about other possibilites for this software. But please, can we get a version that doesn’t expire. I recognize that this is free software, and that it is way to cool, but these size mods and a non-expiring version would take this from a flavor of the week to a must-have that all of my mac friends would want. thanks for offering this up.

Comment from Bernd
Time: January 9, 2007, 4:17 am

Nice application. I am happy to hear that you will add DIN-A4 (and hopefully A3, as it has the same proportions).

But PageMaker could be much better, if there would be an option to subscribe each page to one of your predefined templates _OR_ to an “action”. An action could be an URL, a random picture of an iPhoto album etc. or – and this would allow any variations – an Applescript. With this feature you could printout a PocketMod every week with automated iCal-integration etc…
Please add Applescript support (and make yor application scriptable)!!!

As I have seen, there is the “diyp3h_core_1up.pdf” inside the pakage-folder, which is the source for the catalogue. I replaced that with my own PDF containing my prefered templates, so the PocketMod looks like my personal one. I could recommend that to anyone else.

Aaron, if You will follow the hints to optimize the catalog-window, it would be helpfull to consider that the PDF containing the templates could have bookmarks or “named destinations” (http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/PDFOpenParameters.pdf) to jump to specific chapters.

Comment from Rob Evans
Time: January 9, 2007, 10:18 am

I’ve been using the pocketmods for a while and was wondering how I got my diary view into it without having to write it out.

Any chance of a PC version for us coporate Thinkpad wielders.

Comment from Chris Yarrow
Time: January 10, 2007, 4:29 am

I am using MAC OS-X 10.3.9 and can’t seem to make this work. I guess it’s imperative to have 10.4?

Pingback from ElizabethGenco.com » i wish i had a mac again
Time: January 10, 2007, 8:45 am

[...] Some amazing soul has made the PagePacker, a little application that lets you take DIY Planner’s Hipster PDA templates and arrange them on an 8×11.5 piece of paper, a la PocketMod or, of course, my one shot tutorial. This produces a handy little portable and disposable 8-page planner. [...]

Comment from Kim
Time: January 11, 2007, 9:02 am

ok, I am new at this, but love this idea, is this only usable by mac users or can anyone use it? Is is only good from a specific program, if so, how do I get it? Please help – Love this, but don’t know how to get to it. Thanks

Pingback from Download of the day: PagePacker | myMacBUZZ
Time: January 11, 2007, 10:18 pm

[...] Not everybody could afford a fancy PDA or a Smart Phone (or if you are waiting and saving up for the iPhone) to keep them organize. Why not print yourself your planner? Go old school instead, yes pen and paper. PagePacker is a nifty little application that does just that. [...]

Comment from Rick
Time: January 12, 2007, 1:27 pm

Here’s how to do it from Linux for A4 paper. If you want to use US letter paper, replace the word a4paper with letterpaper.

I named the script pdf2tinybk, and made it executable using chmod 755 pdf2tinybk. It takes the name of an eight page pdf file for its input and produces a file named book.pdf for its output.

./pdf2tinybk foo.pdf

Enjoy!

#!/bin/bash

# program to produce folded mini books

pdflatex=/usr/bin/pdflatex

infile=”$1″

tmpdir=”/tmp/$$”

mkdir “$tmpdir”
cp “$infile” “$tmpdir/in.pdf”
cd “$tmpdir”

# invert pages on top half

$pdflatex \\batchmode \
‘\documentclass[a4paper,portrate]{book}\
\usepackage{pdfpages}\
\begin{document}\
\includepdf[pages=1, angle=180]{in.pdf}\
\includepdf[pages=2-5]{in.pdf}\
\includepdf[pages=6-8, angle=180]{in.pdf}\
\end{document}’

mv book.pdf in.pdf

# impose pages into mini booklet

$pdflatex \\batchmode \
‘\documentclass[a4paper,landscape]{book}\
\usepackage{pdfpages}\
\begin{document}\
\includepdf[nup=4x2, pages={1,8-6,2-5}, trim=24mm 10mm 24mm 10mm, cut, frame]{in.pdf}\
\end{document}’

mv book.pdf $OLDPWD

rm -rf “$tmpdir”

Pingback from theory.isthereason » Today’s Links: Papercraft iPhones… just print and fold!
Time: January 13, 2007, 7:50 am

[...] PagePacker makes pocket-sized books Heard of PocketMod? It’s like syncing to printed paper. Now there’s a full-blown universal Mac app that lets you produce one regularly. Keywords: gtd, mac, productivity [...]

Pingback from Big Nerd Ranch Weblog » PagePacker 1.1: A4, AppleScriptable, little fixes
Time: January 14, 2007, 9:32 pm

[...] When I released PagePacker a week ago, I thought it might be handy for a few people. (See the original post if you don’t know what I am talking about) Now that thousands of people (literally) have downloaded it and given me feedback, I’m quickly getting out a new version with: [...]

Comment from Rick
Time: January 14, 2007, 10:14 pm

Another Linux resource is http://www.laidout.org

I haven’t actually tried using this to create a pocket organizer yet, but it looks like it could work…

Comment from Roger
Time: January 15, 2007, 6:22 pm

THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME PROGRAM. I LOVE YOU MAN!

Comment from PModder
Time: January 17, 2007, 6:49 pm

Tiger vs. Leopard? Heck, I’m still using Panther on a G3 Powerbook and don’t expect to be able to afford a new Mac for some time. I’m a heavy PocketMod user, however, and when I’ve needed more functionality I’ve printed pages into PDF format on my Mac or on my work Windows system (using CutePDF Writer, free) and used the PDF to PocketMod Converter on the PocketMod site. It’s cumbersome and the converter needs Windows and .NET, but it gets the job done for poor Tiger- and Leopard-less folks like me.

Comment from Dan
Time: January 17, 2007, 8:03 pm

Any chance you would share the source ? Then we all can tinker and modify to our heart’s content.

Comment from A Debian User
Time: January 18, 2007, 2:06 am

Thank you for sharing your script, Rick!

Comment from timyeo
Time: January 18, 2007, 5:02 am

great app. I recall days when I’m fiddling w MS Word changing the document’s page and font size just to squeeze it down to the size i want.

A few suggestions after using it for 5 minutes:
1. Multiple pages
- 8 boxes is nice, but sometimes we have whole documents we want to shrink and fold and take with us. With multiple pages, I won’t need to save separate files. Of course, this probably ain’t the aim of PagePacker, but still, this little feature might open up PagePacker to a whole lot more of possibilities (e.g. printing PDF slides 2 slides per page etc)

2. Double sided printing
- 1 page, 2 sides, 16 boxes. With multi-page feature, this would be easily possible

3. Bigger paper sizes?
- small notebooks are fun, but what about bigger ones like A3 folded? haven’t given it much thought yet, but imagine the possibilities.

Great app

Comment from jmac
Time: January 19, 2007, 11:35 am

Please excuse if someone has answered this already…I just skimmed this page…!)

The font for the DIYP pages is Blue Highway and, I haven’t tested this, but, if you have it installed, it may get rid of those pesky exclamation points in your PDF’s. Doug writes about the need for the font on his DIP Planner Widget Kit 3.0 page: http://www.diyplanner.com/templates/official/widgetkit03

Comment from jmac
Time: January 19, 2007, 11:37 am

P.S. Aaron, PagePacker is great! Thank you!

Now I just need to upgrade from Panther… (yeah, it’s past time.)

Comment from Jessica
Time: January 20, 2007, 11:03 pm

I would probably love this program if I could use it. PocketMod’s support for Mac is subpar.

However, I am stuck with Mac 10.3 for the forseeable future. Why require 10.4, and why force the upgrade? Not all of us are interested in or able to continue to upgrade.

Comment from Jeroen Lokerse
Time: January 21, 2007, 3:40 pm

Any info on the a4 version ?;
It’s been 2 weeks ?

You’ve made an awesome tool man, now just go for the finishing touch.

Comment from Administrator
Time: January 21, 2007, 6:42 pm

The new version has been out for a week:
http://weblog.bignerdranch.com/?p=24

Pingback from Curious.Judith » Blog Archive » Lifehackery Templates -or- cleaning up all these downloads
Time: January 21, 2007, 8:53 pm

[...] I have the walleteercombo1 download — i don’t need business size cards to intermingle with all the 3×5s, i dont think. I was probably inspired to get the walleteer because of the Goal Setting Tool kit. I think the right thing to do is translate the tools in the goal setting toolkit to something that can be implemented as one of those little booklets, so easily made on a Mac with pagepacker.app. [...]

Pingback from routine at jmjordan.com / blog
Time: January 22, 2007, 7:27 pm

[...] I came across this little app for my Mac today that I really like. It is called ‘Pocket Packer.’ It is an application that lets you design a little planner made out of a single sheet of paper. It is very handy. You can choose from 30 or so pages, such as a calendar, note sheet, or to-do list, but the cool thing is that you can also add a PDF document or a picture as one of the pages. So I can print my schedule as a PDF and add it as a page. You can find ‘Pocket Packer’ at Big Nerd Ranch. Thanks to the guys at MacBreak Weekly for talking about it. Sorry to all those Windows users out there, but this is a Mac only app . But until you wise up and get a Mac, you can print mine. [...]

Comment from Icelander
Time: January 23, 2007, 12:46 pm

I’m getting an error when I try to open the Page Packer .dmg. It’s telling me there’s a broken pipe.

Comment from Rachird
Time: January 24, 2007, 3:49 am

Not too shabby! Really, thanks!

Comment from Calpurnio
Time: January 24, 2007, 4:47 am

POCKETCUTTLAS inspired by “pocketmod” & PagePacker
PAGEPACKER COMPATIBLE TEMPLATES
free Download POCKETCUTTLAS from:
http://www.calpurnio.com

Comment from Alex Schröder
Time: January 24, 2007, 6:22 am

I’m with Jessica: My laptop still has 10.3, and I certainly don’t plan to upgrade the 10.4 on my mini anytime soon…

Comment from Administrator
Time: January 24, 2007, 6:27 am

In PagePacker, I use PDFView for the catalog. PDFView didn’t exist on 10.3. Thus, PagePacker will never run on 10.3.

Comment from Tom McIntosh
Time: January 24, 2007, 8:29 am

My first expectation was that it would print four pages on one side of the paper and four on the other side, making the output twice as big and using both sides of the paper. Could then fold and cut and staple the pages together with a regular stapler. Pages 1 and 8 could stay the 1/8 size. Just have to figure out the others.

Pingback from Active Voice » Blog Archive » Hipster PDA Downloads for Writers
Time: January 25, 2007, 5:27 pm

[...] Coming soon: writing and editing templates optimized for the brand-new PagePacker from Big Nerd Ranch. Stay tuned! [...]

Comment from Sean Murphy
Time: January 31, 2007, 11:03 am

Hi Aaron,

Would you be willing to release the Source? I am learning Cocoa and this looks like a nice way to learn some tips about image manipulation.

Also, you have a very handsome and happy looking family.

Regards
Sean

Comment from Gruffi
Time: January 31, 2007, 7:56 pm

Grrf, why do Mac users get all the cool stuff? Can’t corprate PC geeks have cool tools too??

Comment from Bob
Time: February 12, 2007, 11:44 pm

A thought for a future upgrade…

How about the ability to add pages to the catalog? I would love to design a few forms and be able to drag them into the catalog. Heck, maybe people would even be interested in sharing new forms for various specialized applications.

Comment from pierro
Time: February 23, 2007, 1:50 am

so damn it – what can i do, if i am a windows_user ?
i like that . . . .

Comment from Jon Glass
Time: March 3, 2007, 1:57 pm

I just posted some hints on DIYPlanner on printing on both sides of a piece of paper, and creating little booklets. This post is the first of three, with the last post describing how to print fairly complex page layouts. Look for the first article here:
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/2196

Have fun.

-Jon

Comment from David Mundie
Time: March 14, 2007, 12:30 pm

This is really cool, but it quickly became clear to me that static templates aren’t what you want – you really need to be able to take hand-written notes, type those notes into the templates, and then use the updated templates as the basis for the next printed version. So I have created a bunch of Pages documents that mimic some of the DIY pages, but are editable. This is what works for me.

Comment from EyesOfCalvin
Time: March 14, 2007, 10:17 pm

Its a pity that Windows users can’t use your great app, Aaron. I have created an A4 sized template for Pocketmod in MS-Word format. It can be edited to fill in own stuff, saved and printed. Can be downloaded at my blog.

Comment from Jon Dueck
Time: March 23, 2007, 10:48 am

Wow, Aaron! This is _very_ cool. I’ve downloaded and shall use it. It looks like a great place, among other things, to store Frisbee games. Cheers!
-Jon Dueck

Comment from Wilm
Time: April 16, 2007, 6:41 am

Does this actually work for A4 paper now? I can select A4 in the preferences and is seams to work, the only thing is some of the included pdfs are scaled to small in the final printout.

Comment from Nathan
Time: May 21, 2007, 12:23 am

This program would be so much better if I could move the page around and zoom once placed…just a thought

Comment from mwschmeer
Time: June 1, 2007, 2:30 pm

Ok. It’s June. No Leopard yet. Will you release a non-expiring version?

Comment from Rasmussen
Time: June 12, 2007, 7:23 am

Excellent app! I’m looking forward to your next release.

Comment from Blessed Cheesemaker
Time: June 16, 2007, 6:29 am

ditto June…ditto no Leopard yet…ditto will you release a non-expiring version?

Comment from stefan hampden
Time: June 26, 2007, 9:17 am

great app!

1 suggestion: ability to move directly from a print preview to page packer (copy and paste would work just fine)

1 bug little bug: there are 2 pages which purport to be a 2007 calendar, i think one should be 2008 since the days are different.

Comment from judy
Time: August 2, 2007, 9:57 am

Thank you for PagePacker! I’ve seen pocket mod & was wishing for customized pages. I just discovered Pagepacker & will be using it for my students. Right now I’m finishing up a “Word MIllionaire Journal”. Thank you!!!!!

Comment from Stephen Moye
Time: August 20, 2007, 6:47 pm

I notice that there is a PDF in the app that has all of the 3×5in forms. Is it possible to add to that PDF? I would like to add some pages with music 5-line staffs for composing ‘on-the-go’.

Thanks for an interesting app.

One thing I just noticed (Mac OS X 10.4.10, PPC DP): double-clicking on a PagePacker document does not seem actually to open the document — clicking on “Open Recent” in the File menu does, however.

SGM

Pingback from Make a Handbook?? – The Apple Blog Community
Time: September 2, 2007, 11:48 am

[...] Another suggestion would be the spiffy PagePacker. PagePacker lets you easily create small, 8 paged books out of 1 sheet of standard 8-1/2 x 11 paper which can be filled with images and PDFs of your liking. Best of all, all of the stuff that you place in your little books will be formatted appropriately for the printing out and cutting of them. Hope this helps! __________________ My Mac(s): MacBook, white – 2.0 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD The Macversity – Mac + School = Love. [...]

Comment from Nate Taylor
Time: September 21, 2007, 11:46 am

I was wondering if the Page Packer is open source. I was thinking of doing a specialized free version. I know how to edit / replace the PDF for the pages and alter the menus, but I didn’t want to do this without you being okay about it.

I was thinking of something for computing references, programmers, web designers etc.

My wife is a musician so I like the idea of a music version too, and would be glad to help with it.

I think page packer should have a web page all of its own, with ‘modules’ available – it should be easy to add an option preferences to select a different template. I’d be happy to help with the web page too (although there are probably others more competent then me in that field).

Pingback from . . . And, We’re Back: Spiritual Direction and Blending Offices, Pt. 5 « The Wingèd Man
Time: October 8, 2007, 9:39 am

[...] I’d like very much to print up a booklet that outlines the office so that I can have something to refer to, and not just pencil jottings and brackets in my BCP.  It seems I might have to do a little tweaking of PagePacker to make the thing work, but that’s okay.  It would be a nice reference to have. [...]

Comment from Isa
Time: October 10, 2007, 2:31 pm

Great job, but any chance you could tweak your program for those of us with XP? Hope you can ’cause we’re really missing out.

Comment from Zappo
Time: October 16, 2007, 6:28 am

Can anyone confirm whether PagePacker for Leopard will be making an appearance.

TIA for feedback

Comment from maria
Time: November 2, 2007, 8:43 am

Try the new pocketmod out!! Lots of new templated, very easy to use!!!!

http://repocketmod.com/

Pingback from Big Nerd Ranch Weblog » PagePacker Open-Sourced
Time: November 5, 2007, 6:59 pm

[...] Don’t know what PagePacker is? Check this posting. [...]

Comment from Erik Mallinson
Time: November 8, 2007, 9:13 am

I’ll just add this to the comment deluge. PocketMod wasn’t anywhere near the first when it comes to 8-page books. I was doing them in 2001 and learned about them from a friend who did them in the early 90s.

Comment from Gand
Time: November 9, 2007, 2:24 am

Add source download link on this page:
http://weblog.bignerdranch.com/PagePackerSource.tgz

Comment from hyrcan
Time: November 14, 2007, 4:05 pm

Holy crap this thing is awesome! I just found this following a random link on 43f and I’m glad I did!

Comment from RLee
Time: December 10, 2007, 12:54 pm

I’m having great fun making little books! However, the corner place holders resize smaller than the others. This is quite annoying when trying to print out already tiny little calendars from iCal. Whats the point of the “imageable page rectangle” if the scaling is going to be smaller than the others anyway?

Thanks!

Comment from RLee
Time: December 10, 2007, 12:56 pm

Sorry, additional note. It seems that things coming from the catalog do not get resized smaller, just anything “not native” to the program.

Comment from Haywood
Time: January 12, 2008, 3:59 am

Great tool! Any chance of a 2008+ calendars?

Comment from Drifty Leftwright
Time: January 17, 2008, 4:13 pm

Hmm… I’ve been handwriting these books for a while, and wanting to print them from ordinary documents (I don’t use electronic planners or anything like that) such as reservation confirmations, driving directions, contact lists, itineraries, to do lists etc. I’m on Windows and I’m struggling with Word to do this. I’ll try Acrobat, too. In any case, I praise your work, especially the beautiful pictorial how-to. I’m linking to this on my blog for the inspirational/paper-folding value alone.
Thanks!

Comment from stog
Time: January 19, 2008, 6:38 am

This is fantastic! I’ve been carrying printed copies of ical for ages, this makes it so much more pocket friendly. Also my girlfriend is dyslexic so organisation is a big issue and she is definitely a pen and paper person!

Comment from stog
Time: January 19, 2008, 6:54 am

One quick question, I have looked in the package contents of your brilliant little app and I see the planner pages are a multi page pdf. I’d like to add a few of my own pages to this, do they have to be specific dimensions?

Comment from Chris
Time: January 28, 2008, 5:45 pm

Like RLee said, the corner pages are resized smaller than the others, which makes everything inconsistent and the corners difficult to read.

Comment from diaz
Time: April 2, 2008, 3:31 pm

Awesome program!

One problem: in the Page Setup dialog I can change the Scale to something like 80%, but it still prints at 100%. I really need to be able to scale the output so I can fit it in my wallet.

Comment from Nancy Perry
Time: April 7, 2008, 2:44 pm

I’m wondering why the pages imported to pagepacker that end up on the ends (pages 1,2,5 and 6) seem to always shrink compared to the rest. It happens on screen (has nothing to do with the printer). It’s not terrible… just a little aggravating. Is there a fix that I can do, or is that something that needs to be worked out in the next version? Thanks!

p.s. I love the program!!

Comment from rosa
Time: May 22, 2008, 8:58 am

Thanks for PP. I’ve just made a mini book for my daughters and they love it too!

Comment from chad
Time: July 6, 2008, 4:27 pm

this is great, but what i’ve really been looking for is a way to convert a common txt and/or pdf ebook into a front and back printed, 8-page per side of a 8.5×11 sheet, so that i can print out 16 pages onto one sheet of paper, fold it up, staple the center and cut the edges apart for reference purposes…i can’t seem to figure this one out…convert a complete ebook into several consecutive 16-page booklets…this app is great though…very useful…thanks

Comment from Jack
Time: July 22, 2008, 2:36 pm

This is terrific but if you could fix the shrinking of the ends It would be AWSOME!!!!!!

Comment from Sweden
Time: August 30, 2008, 1:37 pm

If you want another example:
Try this: http://www.iconus.ch/fabien/products/cbeng/cbeng.html

This app can take any pdf and create a doublesided booklet in either 4 or 8 pages per printed page. Have used it myself for some years and often use it.

Mr Sweden

Comment from werutzb
Time: October 7, 2008, 8:32 pm

Hi!

I would like extend my SQL experience.
I red so many SQL books and want to
get more about SQL for my position as oracle database manager.

What would you recommend?

Thanks,
Werutz

Comment from chilliman
Time: January 9, 2009, 1:28 pm

It would be great if you can make all these margins absolutely zero. So It will make maximum size of printing area on A4.
I prefer PocketMod because it got absolutely zero margins, even tho I am stuck this great application afterall.

Comment from abdoo
Time: March 16, 2009, 2:19 am

Hi this is really a great app, this is one more vote for A3 support, it will be really nice. one more thing we could edit the templates using the program, we type the information we want in the program itself. thanks keep up the good work

Comment from Robbin
Time: September 15, 2009, 4:13 pm

I, too, would love ZERO margins. I don’t understand why 1,2,5 & 6 have different margins for the bottom of the page. I am trying to cram in a lot of text and printing as a PDF still requires its own margins or it cuts things off.

Those margins, plus PagePacker margins makes the type REALLY small.

Thanks!

Comment from Leila
Time: October 18, 2009, 11:57 am

I love it!
I use a Moleskine all the time, but there are a few things, I need additionally. Till now I always SEWED myself a small booklet, now I can easyly print it out, already with lines, and other great things, I wouldn’t have thought about.
Great application!
I’d love to see some more sheets, especially the possibility to print 2010, when you are in year 2009, e.g.
Keep it up!

Comment from patrick
Time: December 8, 2009, 4:37 am

I just started using it, and allready love it, especialy in combination with Things.
But please update it with the 2010, 2011 and 2012 calendar.

Comment from Todd
Time: January 1, 2010, 5:35 pm

Great app. Now that it’s 2010, an update with new calendars would be great.

A fantastic update would be dynamic calendars, so a pre-filled monthly calendar could be added. But, that sounds like a lot of work.

Comment from Trenda Nielson
Time: January 22, 2010, 7:21 pm

I could this applicaation be used for other document them the dyi planner? I have a field form (about 25 pages I would like to put in a smaller more guy friendly size. Can you help?

Comment from ALICE
Time: February 15, 2010, 10:21 am

is there any old version for Mac 10.3.9?

there used to be and now i cannot find it.
thanks
alice

Comment from zengr
Time: April 20, 2010, 3:29 pm

We have one PocketMod for Linux!

It’s called PocMan!

http://lug-sjsu.org/2010/02/24/lug-meeting-1-pocman-v0-7-and-much-more/

Comment from Joe Siri Ekgren
Time: July 13, 2010, 12:40 pm

Thank you for a nice tool!

For those who have requested/need a calendar for 2010, 2011 etc, make your own with a few clicks.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/

Save as PDF in the Print-dialog and you are set.

All the best,
Joe

Comment from RD
Time: August 22, 2010, 7:27 am

Brilliant! Thanks! I was looking for something with a bit more flexibility than the online pocketmod could offer. Thanks again!!

Comment from Tony
Time: August 31, 2010, 2:57 pm

Very clever. Should make it easier to create these little books. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to check it out.