tip: printing hipster on letter-sized paper

Lots of people are using index cards (a.k.a. hipster PDA) to make their printed lists portable and pocketable. It's a great idea, but it doesn't work well for me because my work printer can't handle media that small and with my home printer, it is a hassle to set it up to feed index cards. So I've started printing my lists on a regular sheet of letter sized paper and folding it into one fourth size and carrying that in my pocket. This is, of course, the universal, age-old method of carrying a sheet of paper. Nothing new here. However, a slight tweak that makes it work a little better is to print the lists out 4 pages per sheet of paper. That way, after it is folded, you still have a full page of information visible on each surface without having to unfold the sheet to read it. If you fold the blank side of the sheet to the inside, the result is sort of like a booklet. 2 of the pages are upside down, but you adjust to that quickly and I normally work with only one page at a time anyway. Unfolded, you can see all 4 pages at the same time and you have the back available for notes. I call this a folded hipster. [edit: for a smaller version, printing 6 pages per sheet works well, too]

Exactly how to print multiple pages per sheet depends on the particular equipment you are using. It may be available in the print dialogue screen. You may have to click the button for printer properties. Look for a "pages per sheet" setting. This option does not seem to be available for my HP inkjet, but is always available when printing from Acrobat regardless of equipment, so if you can convert to .pdf, you can always use this method.

You can print one context list per page and I like to reserve one page for a daily schedule. I just type a list of times down the left margin and write in appointments.

There are more complicated methods for creating better folded "booklets" from a sheet of paper. But the method above is efficient, quick and simple so you won't spend time cutting, stapling or fussing with it. You just print, crease and go.

I'm wondering if anyone else is doing this or has any better ideas for a fast, simple, portable printout.
 
I use PocketMod

I find using a PocketMod slightly better. This allows for printing 8 pages a sheet, and with a simple cut a 'special' folding technique you create an eight page book.

The website has a download version which will take an 8 page pdf and create a 1 page PocketMod.

Enjoy...
 
Yes, the PocketMod is pretty neat and definitely makes a good little booklet. Trying that out is what led me to the method I described above. The advantages to a folded hipster is that they are a little faster to make and can be quickly unfolded and laid flat to see all the pages at once and all right-side-up or to use the back of the sheet. The back could be pre-printed with contacts or whatever or left blank for notes. It also can be printed from any computer without installing software. But the PocketMod is definitely more book-like. By the way, printing a folded hipster 6 pages per sheet also works well and is a bit smaller that way.
 
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