Folders, Bookmarks, and Tabs

Notebooks get a lot of love in our shop, and with good reason. Delicious paper and clever layouts help us get organized, remember important information, and enjoy the act of writing more. But today we’re taking a look at some of the little accessories we don’t talk about as much that can make our notebooks even more powerful organization tools.

Notebook Covers and Folders

For many of us, our notebook, bullet journal, or planner is our central tool for staying organized from day to day. And that means it goes everywhere with us, and often ends up being the landing place for scraps of paper, business cards, random stickers, and all kinds of stuff. Most notebooks aren’t designed to hold loose papers—and that’s where covers and folders come in.

Notebook covers like the Hobonichi cover or the Baronfig Guardian case have pockets and pen loops built in to help you carry everything you need and stay organized. Notebook systems like the TRAVELER’S Notebook have zipper pockets and stick-on pockets that you can add to customize your notebook exactly the way you like it. And some notebooks, like the Leuchtturm Hardcover Notebook, Monocle Notebook, and Blackwing Slate Notebook, have a folder built in.

Bookmarks

How often do you close your notebook and lose your place? We usually think of using bookmarks in the book we’re reading, but they’re great for notebooks as well. We love notebooks that come with a ribbon bookmark built in, like the MD Notebook and the Leuchtturm Notebook. Also fabulous are clip-on bookmark stencils, like Midori’s Bookmark Clip Ruler or TRAVELER’S COMPANY’S Brass Template Bookmarks. Hobonichi’s Page Keepers and Pencil Boards are also handy for keeping your place.

If you find yourself referring back often to notes on a previous page, like a to-do list that you haven’t finished yet, check out Book Darts—another reading-oriented tool that works great in a notebook. They’re slim metal tabs that you slide onto the edge of a page to point at whatever’s written there. Instead of folding down corners in your notebook, use Book Darts to mark notes or pages that you’re still working with, then just slide them off when you’re done.

One special notebook deserves an honorable mention here: the Polar Fountain Pen Notebook, which has perforated tabs at the top corner of each page. You just tear them off when you’re done with that page, so it’s always easy to find your spot in your notebook later.

Tabs

Page tabs are one of our favorite notebook accessories. They’re fantastic for creating sections in your notebook, finding your place, dividing a planner by months, or marking different subjects by color. 

Metal tabs like Midori’s Index Clips or Traveler’s Company Brass Number Clips can slide on and off the edge of the page easily. Same goes for Yamazakura’s paper Densho Clip On Tabs, which have space for writing so you can make notes on the subject matter. Then there are sticky tabs like Hobonichi’s Index Stickers, or Semikolon’s removable Sticky Page Markers that you can use to color-code your notes. 

We also love Kokuyo’s Campus Slide Binder, which comes with tabbed sections and can be refilled with loose-leaf paper. If you’re taking notes on a number of different topics, a binder is a great notebook alternative—you’ll never run out of paper in one section or have too much paper left over in another.

Pen Loops

Finally, you can add a pen loop to your notebook so you’ll always have a writing tool handy. Some notebooks, like the Blackwing Slate, come with a loop built in. But you can easily add one to your notebook, like the clip-on loops from Traveler’s Company or Midori’s Miniclip Penholder. Leuchtturm’s stick-on elastic Pen Loop works great, too!

How do you accessorize your notebook to fit your style? We want to hear about your favorite tools!