moleskine indexing hack tool
I love my moleskine notebook, it just feels nice. I need a way to structure my books, and get to sections quickly but I hate those sticky tabs GTD addicts use to organise them. They just get bent, or pushed out of place, or lose their stick. I carry my notebook in my bag, my pocket, in my cycling backpouch. Anywhere. Stuff just gets bashed.
I would much prefer a simple cut out ‘inverted tab’ like you get in old diaries to mark the months. A tool to achieve these would be amazingly useful, like a mutant stapler or nail clipper. To test the idea I got out the trusty Stanley knife:
The squared notebook gives a nice line to follow for the cuts. Any tool should aim to exactly fit these lines, just to enhance the feel of the finished tab.
The very square edge is a little open to becoming frayed and bashed, so the tool should be a curved die giving a nicely rounded corner to the tabs. Either the square shallow tab as shown here, or a deeper semi circular version would be nice. I clipped only 5 pages at the start of a section.
The side view shows the general effect. These inverted tabs are very easy for your thumb to locate. I’ve used them to split one notebook into 6 separate sections, for separate projects, all along the vertical side. For a more sophisticated setup a mix of tabs on the top, bottom and edge could separate 3 different types of sections, with individual sub sections along the length of the edge.
The 10 minutes playing with the Stanley knife was quite fun, but could grow boring pretty quickly. A tool would be very convenient, the standardised size and shape would be pleasing, and I bet the chances of slicing your finger would be much less than using a knife. I bet every moleskine addict would buy (and receive) several for gifts. Especially if they were a sexy leather bound minitool you could carry in your bag.
My googling hasn’t turned up any suitable tools, there are several die cut tools featured on crafting sites, but none are really small enough, or simple enough to use. If you know of anything suitable please let me know below or at steve@inventoids.com.
As ever, this was initially sketched on the train - before mocking up the output. Here is the sketch:
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Steve invents things while travelling to work on the train. He sketches them in his moleskine notebooks. Instead of actually making them (and becoming a billionaire overnight) he posts them here for the good of mankind.
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Nice one! I also hate the labels sticking out, for obvious reasons. Did you happen to see my hack of a Moleskine Info Book? No cutting necessary!
Thanks gtdfrk. Love the ‘inbox’ sticker on your post - I’m going to have to start labeling all my back pockets inbox now.
Love it. I’m a Moleskin fan too, and will definitely try this out.
The only thing close I have seen are corner rounding punches for scrapbooking:
http://www.croppingcorner.com/details.php?pid=1864&cname=Scrapbooking%20Punches&catid=82&sname=Corner%20Rounding%20and%20Decoration%20Punches&subcatid=2
But that would only let you mark the two corners as opposed to all down the edge.
Otherwise there are many small thumb punches (circle, square, rectangle) also available, but none made to nip the edge off a sheet or group of sheets.
-Rob A>
Hey this is an awesome post. Had an idea for a tool you could use. Not sure what there called but you use them in woodworking for getting into corner to neaten them up.
Hole punch?
@Rob
Something like the corner punch, but with a different profile would be perfect. Nice find.
@Smiler / David
I remember a square punch from school that used to be used for very thin ply, to cut square holes out (for putting the spindle of a clock through usually). I must have a hunt in my dads garage in case he has one. You need a hammer though, so not as convenient. Fun though!
[…] if you’re sick of messy tabs sticking out from your notebooks, this might be your solution. moleskine indexing hack tool [Inventoids via […]
Hi,
Great idea!! I just ordered one of these…
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SQUARE-PUNCH_W0QQitemZ190128789827QQihZ009QQcategoryZ11793QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
Just place it 1/2-1/3 of the way in, so it doesn’t cut a full square, but instead cuts a “slice”
Tobi
Isn’t this quite similar to the notches cut in the sides of dictionaries? That’s been around for years and years!
Having a portable tool to do it, that’s new.
Could you just use a reguar hole punch, shifted so that it only cuts half a circle from the edge?
Like this: I sacrificed a clump of pages in an archived Moleskine, just so I could upload this photo to demonstrate…
@Tobi - exactly the kind of thing I was looking for - nice find.
@Berry - precisely. It’s an old idea, what I really want is a neat easy custom tool to do the job instead of getting a blade out.
@ Juggling Frogs - I appreciate the sacrifice. I had through of that but my big chewbacca thumbs would struggle with those narrow holes. (Does chewie even have big thumbs?) I guess you could nibble 3 or 4 holes to get a wider patch though… and the hole punch would be on the desk already.
[…] feine Idee, sein Moleskine mit eingekerbten Tabs zu untergliedern. Bei den Markierungen mit Post-Its oder sonstigen Haftelementen kommt es leicht […]
You might want to check out the scrapbooking stores for a hand-held hole punch with a larger diameter that the regular hole punch.
Based on my “experiment”, the hand-held tool must be the way to go. A whole signature can be quickly done in two or three punches, and the pages are easy to line up with one another.
I found these when searching on-line, but they are expensive. (They could be useful to have around for other projects, though.)
http://kobis.safeshopper.com/36/346.htm?739
[…] had also spent some time today reading up on GTD. And here is a Moleskine hack to accommodate the GTD system. Interesting stuff. I had recently bought a leather cover for the […]
You should be able to find something here.
http://www.1stopsquare.com/punches.html
I immediately thought of nippers when I read about your project. You can get them on Amazon or at your local hardware store. Just ask for “end-cutting” nippers like these.
This seems too inflexible, just like re-labeling a Moleskine travel info book (suggested on other blogs). I’m going to go with simple color coding using something that wraps around the edge of the page. This will remain flush with the unbound edge of the Moleskin, preserving its simple beauty, but will also be able to be moved. Combine this with writing in pencil, and you can use your Moleskine much longer.
Ok, to chime in again (sorry)… it seems ridiculous to buy a twenty dollar punch or pair of pliers specifically for the purchase of mutilating your Moleskine notebook.
Here’s a four dollar (or less) solution that I implemented today:
1) Buy Post-it flags, preferably the half-inch type in four or more colors.
2) Decide how many pages to allocate to each section (for my modified GTD, they are Tasks, Projects, Someday, Records, Lists where Records are things like account balances and Lists are things like XMas gift ideas).
3) Take a flag for each section and cut off half of the clear sticky part (keep them).
4) Place the shortened flags on the first page of each section, so that half of the colored flag sticks out. Fold the part that sticks out with a sharp crease so that it goes over the edge of the page, onto the back of the page. Apply the sticky part that you removed earlier to stick the back side to the paper.
5) If you align them like file folder labels, you should have a nice colored marker for the start of each section, none of which will stick out beyond the covers of the Moleskin. From the front, it will look just the same as before.
Advantages: If you write in pencil, you can expand a section and shrink another as you like, especially if they are next to each other. You have not altered the simple, age-old design concept of the Moleskine. Removing the tags will return it to its original form. You can write something small on the tags if you like, too. It’s a heck of a lot easier and cheaper then buying a special square punch to mutilate this simple, beautiful piece of art.
If you don’t need to write on them, and you don’t mind bending pages a bit, simple colored paper clips could do the same job.
I don’t have a blog, so I won’t post this variation and hope to be famous. Call it my humble contribution to all those who appreciate simplicity. If you are now going to debate which pricey pen to use, that’s not you.
Great idea!
[…] moleskine indexing hack tool : Inventoids The idea isn’t terribly groundbreaking, but if you’re sick of messy tabs sticking out from your notebooks, this might be your solution. (tags: moleskine gtd productivity hacks diy organization) […]
[…] in Daily life at 9:53 am by LeisureGuy Cool idea: cut inverted tabs to index your […]
That’s a great idea, I foresee a few slit fingertips if I attempt it though LOL
Use a woodworking gouge.See Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hi/103-2203446-0677408?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=gouge&Go.x=12&Go.y=12&Go=Go
You fantasize about a tool to make inverted tabs, but you should consider a single hole-punch! I have used it forever to make these inverted tabs you describe so well
@ Michael - just make sure you aren’t in a moving car at the time, and you’ll be fine. But thats why we need a cool tool for this.
@joe - I’m loving the wooden handled old school joinery feel
@Lis - I need a slightly bigger tab, so a slightly oversized single hole punch is the tool for me. I’ve ordered a couple of things - I’ll probably post the results when they arrive.
Left this comment Sep 1st on the post at moleskinerie.com, not realizing people had already said more or less the same thing here. Reposting anyway…
Have you tried just using a hole punch? Marvy Uchida (http://marvy.com) makes a lot of different kinds of punches in “fun” shapes. Maybe one of these would suit your purpose better than just a regular small circle hole punch. Like the dog bone, for example. The shape is longer than it is wide. I tried to see if they maybe made exactly what you’re looking for, but it looks like they don’t. Still, this might exist somewhere. Try crafts supplies and google things like “tab paper punch” or something. Good luck! I think it’s a great idea. If you find something let us know.
Here’s the a url for some of Marvy’s craft punches.
http://www.marvy.com/product_details.aspx?ProductID=22
I have used scrapbook scissors for this purpose. You can use one type ~~~~~~~~~~ to cut a curvy or deckeled edge and another to cut a pinked edge /\/\/\/\/\/\ and yet another to cut a cloud !?! edge. Check it out -
http://www.croppingcorner.com/browse.php?cid=22&shopid=
The idea about color coding works too. I use magic markers to color code the edges of notebooks for this purpose all the time.
[…] moleskine indexing hack tool : Inventoids […]
[…] Moleskine iPod Hack - Smart Moleskine hack with room for 2 moleskines + iPod Moleskine Indexing Hack Tool - Inverted tabs. Looks great Moleskine Tabs Hack - Not thoroughly explained, but great […]
Hi.
Very interesting idea for tabs.
I made a link to this on my blog.
Check my GTD hack with pics and walkthrough:
http://jangeisler.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/moleskines-finally-arrived/