Software to design and print planner layouts

[Plume145]

14 minutes ago, LizEF said:

But if you're going to use the same paper over and over for this, it seems like you could easily figure this out by simply doing it once on sacrificial sheets of paper and then measuring how much each sheet juts, numbering the pages and on each, identifying the margin that would need adjusting and then just doing it manually on the page design.  Since you'll be doing the same thing over and over, just changing the calendars, it doesn't seem hard to do this manually, once.  You just need a good ruler or calipers.

I guess you're right! It wouldn't actually be just one paper, more like 4-5, but it's still potentially doable. Maybe that's even how the Etsy maker did it? 

 

Man, I wish I could find that listing again. At least I'd have the right term to search with. 

[Saurabh D]

Use Adobe InDesign. I use that to create planners, journals, all sorts of DIY printables.

[Plume145]

56 minutes ago, Saurabh D said:

Use Adobe InDesign. I use that to create planners, journals, all sorts of DIY printables.

Unfortunately InDesign is only available with a subscription, and for my ideal budget I can only pay for a couple of months of it (four, if you count my stretch budget). So it's not really an option!

[Saurabh D]

2 minutes ago, Plume145 said:

Unfortunately InDesign is only available with a subscription, and for my ideal budget I can only pay for a couple of months of it (four, if you count my stretch budget). So it's not really an option!

 

Find an old licensed copy from before the subscription era.

[Saurabh D]

6 minutes ago, Plume145 said:

Unfortunately InDesign is only available with a subscription, and for my ideal budget I can only pay for a couple of months of it (four, if you count my stretch budget). So it's not really an option!

 

Or use this:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:9B2397B7E89B33E4DCA39B0364322D4202D1DF46&dn=Adobe+Indesign+CC+2019+v14.0.3.413+%28x64%29+%7BB4tman%7D&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce

 

[Plume145]

3 minutes ago, Saurabh D said:

 

Find an old licensed copy from before the subscription era.

ooh, I didn't know that was an option! That's really clever, I will definitely keep it in mind. 

[Plume145]

Just now, Saurabh D said:

 

Or use this:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:9B2397B7E89B33E4DCA39B0364322D4202D1DF46&dn=Adobe+Indesign+CC+2019+v14.0.3.413+%28x64%29+%7BB4tman%7D&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce

 

Thanks, but...what is that? 🙂  How am I supposed to use it?

[Saurabh D]

Just now, Plume145 said:

Thanks, but...what is that? 🙂  How am I supposed to use it?

That's a torrent to a pirated copy of InDesign.

[Plume145]

4 minutes ago, Saurabh D said:

That's a torrent to a pirated copy of InDesign.

Thanks, I appreciate that, but at this time I would prefer to try and get something the legal way. After all, it looks like there's definitely lots of wonderful options to choose from that won't break the bank, and it seems a shame not to support them - I feel like if no-one does, then in the end it really will be only Adobe's offerings out there. But I'm keeping the suggestion to find an older license! I'll keep an eye out for that. 

[Saurabh D]

9 minutes ago, Plume145 said:

ooh, I didn't know that was an option! That's really clever, I will definitely keep it in mind. 

 

I found a CS3 license + CD at ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOX-FULL-Adobe-Creative-Suite-3-CS3-Design-Standard-MAC/333879968269?hash=item4dbccc020d:g:4QoAAOSwYJtfjeP3

[Plume145]

1 minute ago, Saurabh D said:

 

I found a CS3 license + CD at ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOX-FULL-Adobe-Creative-Suite-3-CS3-Design-Standard-MAC/333879968269?hash=item4dbccc020d:g:4QoAAOSwYJtfjeP3

Wow, thanks! Again, I really had no idea that was a thing, and I appreciate it enormously. 

[Matthew Lee 1959]

Inkscape is really nice if you just have occasional need for design software.  Also Libre and Open Office are complete suite packages that include design software.  They are similar to Microsoft and they are all FREE.  You can also look at Corel Draw, Home and Student edition.  It's the full software but priced for the home user. 

 

I have the subscription for the entire Adobe Suite and I love it, but this is full professional software that has a very large learning curve.  My opinion is that it is worth the money, but is probably not for someone who only needs to do one or two personal projects and then will never use it again. 

[GBM]

Plume145,  Did you GET Publisher and If so do you like it ?   It appears I could get Publisher,Photo and Designer  today for $75 US.  Sure looks impressive.  Thank you. Greg

[gyasko]

This is doable in TeX/LaTeX.   

 

In fact,  there are people who have done  it already and put their templates on line.   Modifying their templates  would be easier than starting from zero — assuming you know your way around TeX or LaTeX.  At least TeX & LaTeX are free, work on just about any platform including some you’ve never heard of, and are predictable and consistent.  

[XYZZY]

And if you're will to write a bit of Python code, the PyPDF2 library makes rearranging and combining pages fairly easy.  The library is originally from some people with a printing shop who wanted to be able to take a PDF from a client and reformat it for printing as you're doing. 

[XYZZY]

I think the term for rearranging pages for printing signatures is "imposition".  So that should help you with googling.  E.g. "imposition software".

 

You could find one software that does both page design as well as imposition for printing.  Alternatively, you could do the page design in one application (e.g. Microsoft Word) and generate a linear PDF of the notebook.  Then run that through a separate program specifically for imposition, producing a second PDF that you would actually print.

 

Here's a video showing how to do what you want using Adobe Acrobat.  I don't have or use Acrobat, but I assume this is the paid version.

 

 

[alexwi]

On 2/6/2021 at 10:32 PM, Plume145 said:

So I need some sort of an application that would let me 1) design the layout (quickly draw straight lines, boxes, etc and repeat them as needed, input things like dates and days of the weeks, that kind of thing) and 2) arrange them in the right order so that when I print, it's not all out of order with eg march following September or whatever.

 

The rearrangement of pages on the paper for later cutting and/or folding is called imposition.

 

I never tried this software, but if it's not what you need, at least now you know what you're looking for.

 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfbooklet/

 

Alex

[alexwi]

For the design part of the project, you could use Scribus, which is a full-fledged dtp package and is free and actively updated.

 

I downloaded but haven't really used it.

 

https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Download or https://www.scribus.net/downloads/stable-branch/

 

Alex