Journal Sizes: Compare A5, A6, B6 and More

US Letter measures 215.9 × 279.4 mm and is the familiar 8.5 × 11 inch home-printer sheet. Half Letter measures 139.7 × 215.9 mm and is not A5. A5 is 148 × 210 mm; it is slightly wider and shorter than Half Letter. JIS B6 is 128 × 182 mm and should be named with JIS because ISO B6 is a different, smaller standard. A6 measures 105 × 148 mm. ISO A7 measures exactly 74 × 105 mm and must not be confused with pocket products measuring 80 × 126, 83 × 125, or 80 × 120 mm.

These six provide a practical scale from full home-printer paper to tiny memory cards. Letter can carry several smaller inserts for trimming. Half Letter fits common US binder workflows. A5 supports long-form writing and generous photo pages. JIS B6 offers a compact book proportion. A6 works for everyday carry and short entries. ISO A7 is genuinely small and rewards a single idea. The equal-scale comparison uses Letter as one reference, so the visual rectangles reflect width and height ratios rather than making every preset appear equally large.

Personal, Happy Planner Classic and Mini, TN Regular and Passport, A7/Pocket variants, M5 variants, and the legacy Pocket preset appear under Other Insert Sizes Supported by Pepys. They remain valid measured editor canvases without receiving the same heading weight as standard paper. A branded or market name can describe a family while products within that family vary. Always compare the exact width and height with a page you own. Cover dimensions are larger than page dimensions, and punching clearance reduces the usable writing width.

The three pocket-like values illustrate why the number matters. Pepys retains an 80 × 126 mm A7/Pocket insert, an 83 × 125 mm A7 Wide insert, and a legacy 80 × 120 mm Pocket page; none is the 74 × 105 mm ISO A7 standard. M5 also appears in several widths while sharing a 105 mm height. Two presets can share physical dimensions yet belong to different fit families, as ISO A7 and M5 Wide do. Naming both the family and dimensions prevents a false promise that equal paper automatically fits equal rings or covers.

Long-form writers often prefer A5 because paragraphs and larger photographs have room to coexist. Everyday-carry notes favor A6 or a measured pocket insert. JIS B6 balances portability with a book-like writing area. TN Regular has a tall narrow proportion suited to travel lists and vertical sequences; TN Passport is compact for short travel observations. Planner users should begin with the insert already known to fit their rings or discs. Memory keepers can choose by the photograph: a wide scene needs more area than one close portrait or a tiny ticket annotation.

For the common A5, A6, and B6 choice, place a sample paragraph and one photo on each measured canvas. A5 gives the most relaxed composition. JIS B6 narrows the page but keeps useful height. A6 halves the A5 area and makes every element more deliberate. To print A5 on US Letter, keep the PDF at A5, load Letter paper, choose Actual size or 100%, and trim around the 148 × 210 mm page afterward. Do not choose Fit to page, which enlarges A5 toward Letter and breaks the physical result.

A printable journal design begins with the page that will end up in your hands. Measure an existing insert when possible, and record the trimmed page width and height rather than the outside dimensions of a cover. Ring binders, disc planners, and traveler-style covers all add material beyond the paper edge. Choosing a canvas from a cover measurement produces an insert that is too large even when the printer behaves perfectly. Pepys labels each canvas in millimeters because millimeters make small journal differences easier to see. The corresponding inch values are calculated for checking a US printer dialog, not used as a second competing source of truth.

Decide how the finished sheet will be used before adding detail. A page that stays on US Letter can use the full sheet, while an A5 or A6 insert normally needs trim margins around it. Leave extra space at the binding edge when you intend to punch holes, and keep important text away from that allowance. If you are unsure between two named insert sizes, compare the measured dimensions instead of trusting the name. Pocket and A7 are especially inconsistent in product listings. A small test rectangle printed at actual size is faster and cheaper than discovering a mismatch after finishing a detailed page.

The public editor keeps the working Guest Draft and locally selected photos in this browser on this device. Your personal image pixels and journal writing are not sent to Pepys merely because you try the editor. This local boundary lets you replace, crop, move, and arrange personal material before deciding whether the tool fits your workflow. A browser can still clear local site data, private-browsing sessions can end without warning, and another device cannot see a local draft. Finish or export important work in the same browser session, and keep the original photos somewhere you control so you can select them again if local data disappears.

Editing is free and does not require an account. A subtle Pepys mark stays on the anonymous preview so you can judge composition without treating that preview as the final printable file. A free account is requested only when you choose a watermark-free PNG, exact-size PDF, or print output. Authentication preserves an opaque handoff identifier rather than placing photo data or journal sentences in a URL. After you return, review the restored draft and explicitly confirm the export. Registration does not silently create a cloud Project, and a successful local export receipt contains stable task and size identifiers rather than the creative content itself.

Pepys uses one shared editor document for public drafts and saved Projects. Text, photo placements, crop position, rotation, order, and other declared controls are editable elements. Printed borders, line patterns, day frames, and decorative illustrations may belong to the selected paper. Those fixed marks provide a stable composition and are not separate objects merely because they are visible. This distinction prevents a frustrating promise that every leaf, rule, or frame can be selected. When you switch a starter or physical size after meaningful changes, the editor asks before rebuilding the measured arrangement because a new paper can change where editable elements fit.

Photo changes are non-destructive: moving or cropping a placement changes how the selected local image appears without rewriting the original file. The same principle applies when one photo is used in a measured frame or duplicated as a sticker placement. Undo and redo operate on editor commands rather than creating hidden photo copies. Fixed decoration should remain calm and predictable while your title, story, schedule, or selected image carries the personal meaning. If an action would discard a meaningful edit, a confirmation is more honest than guessing that the old coordinates will make sense on a substantially different canvas.

For a final file, Pepys renders the chosen physical canvas at 300 pixels per inch. The PNG includes physical-resolution metadata, while the PDF page uses the exact selected width and height. Printing follows that generated PDF so the download and print paths do not disagree about geometry. In the system print dialog choose Actual size, 100%, or a similarly named option. Disable Fit, Shrink oversized pages, Scale to paper, and borderless enlargement unless you have deliberately designed for those transformations. Automatic scaling can make a beautiful page unusable in a binder even though nothing looks obviously wrong on screen.

Print one inexpensive proof and measure a known edge with a ruler. For an A5 page, the trimmed result should be 148 × 210 mm; for other presets, compare the dimensions shown beside the canvas or in the size guide. A one-millimeter difference can come from trimming, but a consistent percentage error usually means the print dialog scaled the document. Check orientation and paper source as well. When a smaller insert is printed on A4 or US Letter, the carrier sheet remains larger and the page is cut out afterward. Pepys does not claim that choosing A5 changes the physical paper already loaded in your printer.

Use a printer profile intended for the paper in the tray, allow wet ink to dry, and make trimming marks visible without placing them over photographs or writing. A metal ruler and sharp craft knife can produce a straighter edge than scissors, but either method works when used safely on a protected surface. Punch holes only after trimming so the binding edge is measured from the final page. For duplex work, test the printer flip direction with a plain sheet marked at the top; long-edge and short-edge settings vary with orientation and printer driver language. The public editor creates one page at a time and does not pretend to impose a complete booklet.

Keep the source photograph and the exported file until the physical result is accepted. Screens are backlit, so very dark shadows and subtle gray rules may print with less separation than expected. A proof reveals whether handwriting-sized text is comfortable, white cut borders are visible, and captions sit far enough from trim or punch zones. If an image, font, or paper asset is unavailable during export, the correct behavior is to stop rather than bake a placeholder into the file. A clear failure protects the physical result and gives you a chance to relink a local image or retry after the required asset is available.