07 May 2014

MiracleBind by Blueline notebooks from Filofax

Filofax UK recently started to sell MiracleBind by Blueline notebooks in A4 and A5 sizes.

The notebooks lay flat and come in two forms. The MiracleBind range with their removable and reposition able pages and the NotePro which is a refillable notebook.

Both ranges use a common system of cover and rings and with a clever design the covers perfectly flat and can be also be folded back on themselves too.

The covers come in red and black. There is also an A4 punch so you can create your own pages and they will attach to the ring system.


You can see how they are put together in this video by Blueline




Visit the Filofax Website to order from the full range of MiracleBind and NotePro notebooks.

Plannerisms in association with Philofaxy also have some MiracleBind and NotePro notebooks to give away.... yes you can get one to try out.

We want you to comment on this post about:
  • How you will use your MiracleBind or NotePro notebook. 
  • Which size would work best for you in either range and why.
  • Like either the Plannerisms or Philofaxy Facebook pages.  
We will pick out the winners and list the winners next week and get you to contact us with your mailing address etc.

Judges decision is final, no cash alternatives will be offered, closing date for entries Sunday 11 May 2014 etc etc.

Thank you to Filofax for supplying the Blueline samples.

29 comments:

  1. I would use either A4 or A5 as a work binder. The larger size will be utilized at my desk and the smaller size I would use as a planner/notebook for work meetings. Being able to move around notes or agenda pages would be a fantastic feature to have in a notebook!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would use the A4 size for my office job, having the ability to move out notes that were simple scribbles or short term info would be great, and easily add more paper for projects is very useful. The a5 size would be used for my freelance work at my home desk, as I don't have as much data to process but the flexibility would still really help increase my productivity and keep notes tidy. I love the printed monthly calendar and how slim they are, flexibility is also a major plus.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh, this is interesting! I am just in the process of finishing the first draft of my novel and have been keeping my A5 notes in a Clipbook so I can add and remove pages as I add notes or change the order or content or chapters and scenes. It works well so far but a nice flat and hard cover book would be even better! And I could still move pages around, which is brilliant. I would use the A4 for the printed out pages to send to beta readers or just for my own revision, which with a lightweight, hard cover I could do anywhere, and still be able to make edit notes in the margin. It will also hold and keep the first draft on the shelf when I print out the second, and each book is so much cheaper than a normal ringed FF that I wouldn't need to take all the pages out and store them in a different organiser or file box.

    How many pages can an A4 hold, I wonder? And I take it the A5 pages can be taken out and inserted between the pages of the A4, for notes on the printed draft? I think I need one of these!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Definitely the A5 for every idea that needs to be expanded beyond a quick jot.

    But tell me, are the hole spacing compatible with the A5 range?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadly not, the spacing is 1 inch (25.4 mm) although you could punch the pages to fit I guess.

      We will have a review of the Clipbook notebooks next week sometime which are compatible with A5 Filofax.

      Delete
    2. I'm quite impressed with the Clipbook so far. The only negative point I noticed is that when it came from WH Smith, it had a very strong, almost chemical odour about it, which took a few weeks to fade. The design is very good, and its priced sensibly too. It has the advantage that all my inserts and punch are compatible, which is a possible downside of the Miracle Bind. I think I'd like to compare their A5 to the ClipBook, to see how usable it is for a daily binder. The hard cover could be an advantage, as I find it easier to write notes on, with a solid cover. The ClipBook and Miracle Bind seem to have hit the market around the same time, and its added some welcome choice to the type of binders available. Now all I need is for Time Manager International (TMI) to collaborate with FF, and release their inserts in true Filofax Personal size, losing the extra width and height, and I'd be very happy indeed. Having seen David P's day/week/month TMI diary, all available to view at the same time, I think it the best-designed diary for binders I have ever seen.

      Delete
    3. I've been using a clipbook for about a month now, and the smell did go after about 2 weeks of daily use. I really, really love it. I am not a swap-binder-every-week kinda person, but clipbook really has given me the space I need in a far smaller package than a a5 filo.

      Delete
    4. Oh, and I have loved clipbook so much I have sewed my own a4 version for work. It's turned out well, smart enough to use professionally. Faux leather is easy to come by (but hard to sew with!) and I used a 4ring binder mechanism from a snopake brand folder from Wh Smiths.

      Delete
  5. I would use the A4 size to begin my teaching job in September! Easy to make notes in staff meetings, information about the children etc. and I could insert my own page formats for planning etc!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would use this for project support material and notes in conjunction with my personal Filo - the A5 size would be just right!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think I would use an A4 or an A5 as a Christmas binder. I know.... it is only May, but I was printing up my new Academic year diary this week and realized that every year I manage to only just blimp through Christmas, and muddle through just about!!! It would be great to be far better planned than this and to have a year on year resource of to dos, recipes, wine lists, gift lists,decoration ideas, card ?making etc etc. Never too early to start right???

    ReplyDelete
  8. PS And red is such a Christmassy colour too!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This has possibilities. I have just started a new business venture and have formed a limited company. I was wondering about record keeping. I think that the A4 might make a perfect Minute Book and Company Record binder for all the official correspondence and records that one has to keep.

    This has to be worth serious consideration. The alternative is probably an A4 Filofax.

    With the ever expanding range of filing systems, Philofaxy is going to be increasingly busy keeping up to date with all the many choices.

    Like Philofaxy, this gets my vote.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A5 size is more portable, but in A4 -which is the best option for me-I could put A4, A5 or whaterver size paper I want because the punch and holes placement show me that any size paper could be put inside!
    The notebook imply that my any note, no matter how small, could be put inside, it's great because I don't like to rewrite my notes-there is just no time for that!
    I also could put my inserts from my personal size filofax, punched, in the notebook also -so, I'll have my planning pages too.
    I also could put my diaries there, which I enjoy to write on an A5 paper -this is 4th size paper.
    And, I could put printed books that I like to print on an A4 size paper-that's how versatile this notebook could be! This way, I'll use MiracleBind as all in one notebook!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Staples in the UK started a similar system a year or so back, and I've been using their A5 version for work - and would do the same with the MiracleBind. I like the idea a lot and find it very versatile, as I do need separate sections for work material. The slight disadvantage with the Staples version is that it's easy to pull pages out accidentally by leaning and dragging on your notebook when you're writing! I like the idea of being able to punch my own paper for the MiracleBind.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I would use the A5 as a household/family binder. We have some longer-term things on the go where it makes more sense for both adults to be able to access it regularly, so it doesn't make sense for me to keep it in my Filofax (which is where it all currently is). Stuff from possibly planning an overseas trip in the Autumn, to chasing up schools for the autumn, to a log of what we've done when in the garden. We could dedicate pages to ideas for the kids' birthdays/Christmas, and move them about to make sure they're grouped together. I would definitely get the hole punch too, so that we could add in flyers, receipts, etc, etc, as needed.

    A5 is better because I'd prefer to have each 'project' on a separate page, but if there's only 3 lines I'll be cross about 'wasting' an A4 page!

    (I'd love to use an A4 for work but for archiving/recording purposes we have to use bound notebooks.)

    ReplyDelete
  13. These notebooks are brilliant!The A4 would be wonderful to compile my teacher's notes in advanced classes. For ages I've been looking for an A4 with loose pages, because it is always nice to be able to switch them when needed, add and remove, play with the order till you find the best one, etc. But the choice in A4 filofaxes is rather limited, also they would be heavier and bulkier in comparison to these smart Miraclebind notebooks. Also, A4 is standard format here, so Miraclebinder pages could easily be photocopied in order to be shared with students, who could in turn keep them in their A4 binders. It would be perfect. I hope they are not too expensive... Thank you for this great and informative post!
    Brigitte F.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Really like the look of these new notebooks and they are reasonable priced too. Love the red colour. I would use an A5 version to keep track of my tasks and projects at work, the interchangeable nature of the pages means I can move notes around and put them in the appropriate section. With some sections larger than others if needs be. The layout and design of the pages is very clean looking. Stephanie S.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love these.

    I'd use the A5 for my coaching practice, to keep client notes, ideas, their accountability actions, etc all in one place, and instead of having each session's notes sandwiched between those of another client, it would be great to keep them all organised with a dedicated section per client.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually meant A4, as this would be far more useful, but I currently have the attention span of a gnat which is why A5 came out. You see, I'd be so much more organised with the A4. :)

      Delete
    2. These look really interesting. I like the storage pocket option, the monthly calendar and the tabs and indexing system. I would use the A5 for its portability in my role as clerk to a small parish council to replace the wire spiral bound notebooks I currently use. It would be my "everything" notebook, for taking minutes at the monthly parish meetings which I then type up (my hand written notes are available for public scrutiny so need to be kept safe and secure unless and until destroyed), for taking notes at other meetings and recording actions and "to dos", for recording telephone conversations, for planning. Having the monthly diary pages in the notebook would really help with appointments and scheduling. I would also keep in a list of important contacts in a tabbed section at the back. I work from home and there isn't an office at the parish so when I am there, I am generally working from my car or in a councillor's house or public hall with limited or nil internet access so it would really help to have those important contacts to hand (e.g. so if an angry parishioner wants to know why the bins haven't been emptied, I can look up the relevant contact at the city council straightaway!). The parish council has a tiny budget and hasn't provided me with a smartphone for work so I keep contacts the old fashioned way at the moment! The Miraclebook would supplement an A5 ring bound organiser which I could then leave on the desk at home and lighten my bag!

      Delete
  16. I've been using an A5 MiracleBind since the beginning of April in conjunction with my personal Filofax. I blogged about it at the time. I needed a lightweight, portable A5 binder to collate information for 23 different projects that I manage. It was impossible to fit all this information in my Filofax. I like the MiracleBind. The pages are slightly wider than A5 size, but are A5 when removed along the perforation, making them easy to relocate into a FF A5. What I like best is that I can fold a sheet of A4 and punch it into MiracleBind really easily. The other lightweight A5 option is the ClipBook, and having seen one, I think it has great potential.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I have been using an a5 clipbook as my main planner,

      Delete
  17. And it is very lightweight and slim. I have made my own a4 version for work and it is far better than a regular ring binder as a project book because it fits the contents exactly - it looks really slim and neat.

    ReplyDelete
  18. An A5 Miracle! I have been waiting for this all my life. Nothing beats the flexibility of being able to add and remove pages at will.Punch my own paper to keep costs down and be able to use my own creative design inserts. Opens flat for writing ease and fits neatly into either my briefcase for work, or my purse or handbag. At last I can organise and re-organise my life whenever and wherever I want, page by page. I don't just Like Plannerisms or Philophaxy? I Love them!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Just got a Clipbook a couple of weeks ago, and store my British Cycling Sportive Training Plan in it. Now I need an A5 refillable notebook to store ride notes, meal plans, and sleep patterns, and the Rapha Race Notes book I was going to get / use isn't refillable, and it is 5 times the price.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would love to have one of these in A5 size. I'm just starting my pHD and to have a notebook system that allows me to move pages around for the different chapters would be fantastic. I have tried a Filofax for this but it's quite bulky to be carrying it around all the time so something like this would be perfect as it eliminates the big problem that bound books have.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a brilliant idea. I would use the A5 as just having started up a small online business I could use the folder for a multitude of things ie suppliers, ideas, to do, etc. at the moment I'm using separate moleskine books and this would be in one place.

    ReplyDelete
  22. What is the difference between miraclebind and notepro?

    ReplyDelete