Paper Doll Talks Tabs (Part 1) — and Throws a Filertek Contest

Posted on: June 5th, 2012 by Julie Bestry | No Comments

Over the past year, I’ve been teaching Paper Mommy how to use a computer, and in particular, the internet, via long-distance. (If you’re trying coach computer issues over the web, Log Me In is a godsend!) She’s doing a great job, and like her daughter, Paper Mommy prefers the clean, organized lines of Twitter to the clutter of Facebook.

Most of her technological questions deal with the basics of maneuvering through email, social media, search engines and browsers. The terminology can sometimes be a sticking point, though, as I learned when I tried to convey what I thought was a simple concept regarding the purpose of browser tabs. Eventually, Paper Mommy was able to visualize that the tabs in her browser were supposed to be the digital equivalent of file folder tabs. Ah-ha!

Once we had that cleared up, she had just one more question. What did the browser tabs have to do with the tab key on her keyboard? (Some lessons take longer to explain than others.)

All of this got me thinking about the importance of tabs in keeping paper organized. When papers are at their tidiest and most efficient and effective, tabs serve as “Peek-a-Boo” alerts to let you know, “Hey, that thing you want? It’s right here!”

For the most part, the big guns in the filing business have created the kinds of built-in innovations we’ve talked about before, like Smead’s SuperTab oversized tab filing folders and FasTab hanging folders with built-in tab areas, and Pendaflex’s Ready-Tab Reinforced Hanging Folders and Ready-Tab Extra-Capacity Hanging Folders with Lift Tab™ Technology.

But what do you do when the tabs that would make your organizing life so much easier just aren’t built-in or part of the kit? Over the next two posts, we’ll be looking at some special alternatives to help you create tabs wherever you need or want them. Today, the focus is on hanging folders.

Filertek Dry-Erase Hanging File Tabs first showed up on Paper Doll‘s radar after the 2011 NAPO conference. This stand-alone plastic hanging file tab has its own patented, built-in, dry-erase writing surface, so even if you have hanging folders without any built-in tabs (or a bag of those nasty, old-fashioned, plastic filing tabs), you can still have clear, bright, easy-to-read labels.

With Filertek, you write directly on the tab with a dry erase pen, flip down the little visor-like cover (available in clear or assorted colors) and click it closed.

Paper Doll isn’t too proud to admit it: I have chubby, little sausage fingers. Writing on those tiny strips of paper and threading them into those traditional (sharp, annoying) hanging file folder tabs has always been a bane of my paper organizing life. I really like that with Filertek, to reuse and relabel a tab, you simply flip the cover up, wipe the tab clean and write a new label. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Of course, you can also attach a removable adhesive label (that you’ve printed on your labelmaker) and then close the cover.

And if you really like kicking it Old School, you can insert a pre-created paper label, too, but it slides in from the top after you’ve closed the cover, so there’s no fussing with threading a narrow label horizontally into the old file sleeve.

Once your preferred label style is in place, just attach a Filertek tab to a hanging folder by snapping it in place.

Filertek comes in clear or color tabs (blue, yellow, green, pinky-peach and orange). I’d like to see them upgrade to some prettier shades, but aesthetics are certainly in the eye of the beholder. Filertek is available in packs of five or twelve, and in boxes of 25 or 50, in either clear or color. Every package comes with a special odor-free, black Filertek dry erase pen.

Filertek Dry-Erase Hanging File Tabs can be purchased directly from The Pencil Grip, the North American distributor, or through Amazon.

Now, for the Paper Doll/Filertek Contest. The rules are super-easy:

1) Tweet or post a Facebook update about this blog post. You can do it manually, or use the Bookmark & Share links at the bottom of this post.

(On Twitter, make sure your tweets aren’t protected (hidden). On Facebook, set the access for the post to public.)

2) Include a link to this Paper Doll post and the hashtag #PaperDoll-Filertek.

3) Come back and post in the comment section below, with a link to your tweet or Facebook update.*

*UPDATE: The OnlineOrganizing.com system does not allow clickable links in the comments. If you’ve tried to post your comment and have had a problem, please post your link WITHOUT the http:// portion (i.e., just www.Twitter.com/whatever) and it will post without trouble. Sorry about that, folks!

That’s it! But be speedy — the contest closes at Noon in the Paper Doll (Eastern) Time Zone on Friday, June 15, 2012. Two randomly selected winners will each receive both of the following:

One 25-pack box of CLEAR Filertek Dry-Erase Hanging File Tabs
One 25-pack box of COLOR Filertek Dry-Erase Hanging File Tabs

You can’t win if you don’t begin, so be sure to enter, and let the world know about the contest.

While you’re at it, visit Filertek at Twitter, Pinterest and on Facebook, and Paper Doll at Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. To make sure you never miss a post, subscribe to the RSS feed up there to the right, just below my photo.

Of course, when we’re using hanging folders isn’t the only time we need tabs. Surely, there are moments when we’d like a textbook or cookbook to help us quickly delineate categories. Sometimes we just wish we had some pretty tabs to mark our places in notebooks or loose stacks of paper. And once in a while, wouldn’t it be nice to have a tab that also provided a place to take some notes or tuck some items away in a flat pocket?

In our next post, we’ll be looking at ways to have the convenience of tabs that do all of the above — even when we’re nowhere near file folders. Here’s a sneak peak of just a few of the items we’ll be reviewing: