Notched tabs in books for marking sections

Whenever I add tabs to the side of a book to separate different sections, they always end up all crumpled after a while. To solve this problem, I cut notched tabs into the pages instead of tabs that stick out the sides. You can use them to separate different sections in a notebook or journal, or index different sections to make information easier to look up (e.g. in a dictionary or a reference manual). The advantages of this are that the tabs won't get all crumpled and messed up in your bag or pocket so they last longer, and it generally looks much cleaner.

The concept behind this was taken from this inventoids post, but I didn't have a Moleskine so I thought I would use this on my Latin dictionary to make it easier to look words up. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to write an instructable when I first did this, so these photos are from tab-ifying another book.

Step 1: What you'll need

• a book: it can be a dictionary, reference handbook, diary, notebook, etc. Anything you want to separate into sections or index for easy reference. It also helps if your book is flexible, i.e. you can bend it when you thumb through the pages.
• a knife: you could use scissors if you really wanted to, but I wouldn't recommend it
• a cutting mat: if you don't have one, use a stack of scrap paper
• a ruler
• paperclips or binder clips (optional): to mark out the sections you want

Comments

[scafool]

I used to just mark the edge of the pages with a marker instead of cutting them. Same idea, just a bit lazier

[cokebottle tuque]

Have you tried using a single hole punch? I imagine it would reduce the amount of time spent cutting by a good bit, but the holes might be a bit small.

[aetherfish]

That's a good idea. I think the original inventoids post was about a hole-punch-like tool that could be used for making tabs like these. Like you said, though, the holes from a regular hole punch might not be the right size and shape.

[duck-lemon]

thats awesome man that'll help me in my study so much.

[gmjhowe]

Great work, nice and simple!