How to Make Dot Grid Paper for Bullet Journaling

[@therealfiamd8750]

Thank you for this tutorial! I was looking all over the internet for colored dot grit paper for my journal and you saved my freaking life!

[@elcanaldenoemicarro]

OMG You've saved my life, dotted paper is so rare in my country and shippings are so costly I knew this was the only possibility I have to create my own bujo! Thank you so much!!

[@NElizabeth]

Yay! So glad to hear you found the video helpful and that you will be able to try bullet journalling! :)

[@berthalidiacamargovazquez7435]

Noemi, where are you from?

[@clarissadesimoni]

You’re a godsend! I can finally stop spending sooo much money on notebooks and planners with dot grid paper!!! Thank you so much!!!

[@NElizabeth]

Yay! Happy to help!

[@itsCece]

You're asking me if this was helpful? Goddamn, you saved me. This was hella helpful.

[@NElizabeth]

Happy to help!

[@MissNessa974]

Thank you, it's been a while since I told myself that I had to make my dot grid papers myself but I did not know how. Your tutorial is so simple. Thanks again.

[@wanderingmoon9772]

YAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!! An open office tutorial. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@meiwood7678]

I have to say...you do an INCREDIBLE job of making this clear, precise, and simple. In practice, trying to do it myself, it was NOT so simple! ; ) BUT...I made my own d*mn dot paper! With a few of my own "fanagles." I had a different version of Open Office Draw, the text box wouldn't move the dots (I think I accidentally made a second one? DN), so I started from scratch, and "oversized" the text box...the ellipses kept re-emerging when I tried to add either more dots or more spaces, or worse, it created a diagonal margin down the page!...so I left them out. It's important to not press Enter when copy-pasting...just copy-paste. I took advantage of the extra margin spaces by hole-punching in the extra margin. And I had to create TWO pages in order for my printer to create double-sided dot paper. I worked with what I had...and using your instructions, it helped me enough! And I exported to PDF to see if it would help, and it did, with mostly even margins! I cut it in half, and decided to live with the imperfections. Maybe I just needed Version 4 of OpenOffice, or maybe I'm just technologically cursed...LOL! =D

[@kitkatjmarie]

Thank you! I used Microsoft Word to make this but I followed your instructions. It worked perfectly!

[@NElizabeth]

Great! I'm glad to hear it worked well in Microsoft Word! :)

[@courtneybeam8404]

This guide is fantastic! Thank you so much for making it! Exactly what I needed!

[@NElizabeth]

You're welcome! So glad you found it helpful! :)

[@apricotsoap]

Thank you! I've been wanting this dot grid paper for a long time; I could never figure out how to do it. You did a great job of explaining and teaching!

[@NElizabeth]

apricotsoap Yay! Thank you for watching! Glad you found it helpful!

[@missdetw]

Thanks for this great tutorial! ☺

[@joklazen]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! Al the printables I tried would leave such a big margin an all sides, it drove me nuts. Now I have a perfect printable

[@NElizabeth]

You're welcome!

[@aemilia2313]

Thank you! Your tutorial has helped me create totally symmetrical dot grid paper for double sided printing, which was the main issue I had with free printables from around the web. It even works with A6 sizes as well! (Just delete a few horizontal rows to create blanks). Now if only I found your video last week, BEFORE placing an order for dot grid refills lol.

[@NElizabeth]

Glad to hear it! Happy to help! :)

[@ppoyner1]

Thank you so much for this tutorial as well as the free app information. Now I can make my own Tomoe River paper dot grid personal pages.

[@NElizabeth]

You're welcome! I'm so glad you found the video helpful! :)

[@auroracochrane9149]

in pages, its slightly different. to get rid of the ellipses, you need to go to: edit>substutions>uncheck all or maybe just one of them, but not sure which. then, text>font>gear>character spacing, increase to 100% for any text size. if you change the line spacing to 1.5, change character spacing to 150%, double line spacing, 200% character spacing etc. if you increase bot the line and character spacing the dots will be smaller compared to the grid itself

[@shayvanbrn]

Aurora Cochrane THANK YOU THANK YOU YOU SAVED MY LIFE

[@kcatero]

Thank you! and it is the "Smart Dashes" substitution that needs to be off.

[@LifeDIYJosie]

Thanks! I added this to my faves. I'm going to attempt this and use it for making travelers journal. Tfs! New subbie. Welcome to YT and planner community. I watched your November layout on your color crush. You're so creative and very organized! Enjoy your weekend! ☺

[@NElizabeth]

LifeAt50&Beyond Thank you so much for subscribing and for all the wonderful compliments! :) I'm really glad you found the video helpful and I'd love to see how your travelers journal turns out when you finish! Be sure to enjoy your weekend as well

[@aryakumar9921]

I just copy-pasted an image of dot grid paper from google to my word document and printed it :P

[@Vildmis]

Link for that pic? 😊

[@aryakumar9921]

@@Vildmis Ah that was 3 months ago, I dont have the picture or link now, sorry...I just searched dotgrid paper on google and went to images' section. Hope thats enough.

[@Vildmis]

@@aryakumar9921 ah okay thanks anyway 😊

[@learntocrochet3952]

Thank you for sharing. Instead of one large text box, I used two text boxes. It was easier to work with. I also used Word and it worked well.

[@NElizabeth]

Oh, good idea! :) You're welcome! Glad you could get it to work in Word!

[@learntocrochet3952]

NElizabeth Yep, I love it. You can also change the color of the dots if you want to be creative. I saw a listing like that on Etsy. BTW, I made mine legal width but A6 height. The extra width will serve as tip-ins on both sides. No more using washi tape to add tip-ins.

[@NElizabeth]

Nice! Love the creativity!

[@yuntaagung8108]

YOU SAVE MY COIN!! Thank you so so muuuch

[@tinacampbell2610]

Great tutorial! Love them for my school notes!

[@NElizabeth]

Thank you!

[@kim_8958]

Very helpful. Thank you so much!

[@ZabbyBabies]

Thank you! great video; just what I need.

[@NElizabeth]

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching! :)

[@AfkarzemerTech]

Your awesome girl ❤️😘 thank 🇱🇰

[@indomia5990]

Thank you so much for this! 🌟

[@NElizabeth]

You're welcome!

[@linesey1420]

Thank you very much for this tutorial ! Very usefull !

[@NElizabeth]

You're very welcome! So glad you found it helpful!

[@mariannesalas5196]

Thank you so much 🤗🤩 Should I print the sheets on an inkjet or laser printer?

[@brivera7]

Fabulous!! 😊👌 Thanks!!!

[@NElizabeth]

Thank you!

[@kerrydavies9031]

The tutorial is fantastic!!! 😭 You need more subs!!

[@NElizabeth]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!

[@eloisehamilton2395]

Thanks for the info. I hate most off-white colors and now my BUJO paper will be the white that I like. I'm also considering using colored paper.

[@NElizabeth]

You're welcome! Fun! Yeah, I don't love that most notebooks use cream colored papered either. Have fun experimenting!

[@hung14nguyen]

Thank you for sharing!!

[@NElizabeth]

Glad you found it helpful! :)

[@naiumygoedert]

I would like to know what kind of paper you used?

[@NElizabeth]

Any printer paper will work, but I believe 24lb is the sweet spot that I prefer. 20lb is your standard printer paper which I find a little too see-through. 24lb is only slightly see through and a feels nice. 32lb is luxurious and thick and doesn't have much shadowing at all, but I find it's a bit too thick and stiff for daily use.

[@Marta_z_Dabrowy]

I also made dotted paper, but in Corel Draw 😃

[@monkeybaby7867]

Hello, what printer do you use? My laser one is giving me faint print.

[@selaqub]

thank you so much ! 😘

[@NElizabeth]

So glad it was helpful! :)

[@indahsutriyati6307]

Thank you so much!!

[@Antisympathy]

What the distance between the dots? Regular 5mm? I want to do 3-4mm dot grid. This only for us letter size?

[@elle_talia]

Your tutorial is amazing. I tried it but I don't know where I am wrong I did same paper settings as your but my page seems either too big or too small. I will keep trying there must be something missing in my settings.

[@NElizabeth]

Hmm.. Yeah, it sounds like maybe your page setup isn't quite right. Have you tried actually printing it to see how it looks?

[@joycem7]

What type of paper do you use, brand and weight? This was awesome I'm going to be changing my Bujo from binded book to disc so this is so helpful! Thanks

[@NElizabeth]

Joyce Mebed So glad you found it helpful! :) I have been using 28lb paper lately, because I found that it does not show any bleed through or shadowing from my staedtler triplus fineliner. I don't remember what brand standard 8.5x11 paper I use, and I'm not home to check at the moment. It was just whatever I could find at the store. Anything should work. As for A4 sized paper, it seems like everyone that ships to the US is a distributor for Mohawk brand paper.

[@joycem7]

Any chance you could give directions if you have Microsoft word? My husband blocked me from downloading so not to get junk on my computer ;}

[@NElizabeth]

Unfortunately, I don't have Microsoft Word on my computer, however the two key words you are looking for are "kerning" and "line spacing". Kerning is the horizontal distance between characters, and line spacing is how far apart vertically the lines are. It looks like you can adjust the kerning on the fonts window: word.tips.net/T001130_Changing_Kerning.html and I believe line spacing is in the "paragraph" section.

[@joycem7]

Thank you for your quick response, trying to set up my 2017 discbound bujo!

[@MYWorld-pl6xm]

Did u use a normal print paper

[@chelseag3365]

Thank you so much!

[@NElizabeth]

You're very welcome!

[@JayashreeSahithyaR]

hey pretty useful. added it my favs. I'm using microsoft wordthough, but there's no "drawing" format in it? will any other format help?

[@NElizabeth]

Jayashree Sahithya Thanks for watching! :) In this tutorial, I only use the document format of the software. You should be able to find the kerning and line spacing settings in the font/paragraph settings section.

[@JayashreeSahithyaR]

Thanks found a solution. :) (Y)

[@a13x4]

Hi Jayashree, I have Microsoft Word too, can you help me with the dots? Thank you.

[@user-rg8zw1yx1q]

Can anyone send me a link to a printable one? Ain't a tech wiz. Thank you!

[@oldproji]

You should also set kerning to 10 points too.

[@pinkyjoyce1123]

hi what brand of paper u printed those dotted paper?

[@NElizabeth]

I used just standard printer paper. I believe it was Mohawk brand 28lb if my memory is correct, but anything will work!

[@rachelv4490]

what kind of paper did you use? I am using micron pens and I don't want the ink to show through the backside.

[@NElizabeth]

I typically want to create true A5 pages, so I've been using 28lb A4 paper. Its actually quite difficult to find and buy A4 paper in the United States. I've only been able to find up to 28lb paper online, and they all seem to be distributors of Mohawk brand. That being said, the 28lb Mohawk paper is working really well and I would definitely recommend it. I'm not sure how your pen will perform, but my Staedtler Triplus Fineliner does not bleed at all, and there is almost no shadowing! :) If you're not limited to A4 size, I'd recommend purchasing at least 32lb paper.

[@adolys5616]

How do i bind the pages? Should i get a binder?

[@NElizabeth]

I just used a 3 hold punch to put the sheets into my A5 sized planner. If you didn't want to put them into a ring bound planner/binder, I know that Staples copy & print center offers a few different binding methods at a reasonable price. They offer perfect binding, spiral bound, and wire bound options for only about $2. :)

[@adolys5616]

NElizabeth thanks for answering so quickly! Unfortunately, in my country there isn't a Staples shop but I've found some easy book-binding videos online and i'm really happy with how mine turned out! Thanks for the tutorial!

[@madelinem6862]

Thanks!

[@NElizabeth]

Madeline M I'm glad you found it helpful! Thank you for watching! :)

[@madelinem6862]

I did, very much! I'm moving my bullet journal into a filofax and this will be perfect!

[@Naciye2003]

where do you get the Mohawk paper? I Google it and it's $40 a ream. :-(

[@NElizabeth]

I bought mine from BinderTek for about $30 a ream (500 sheets): www.bindertek.com/a428nopabyre.html Empire Imports also has the same product for sale: www.empireimports.com/a428nopabyre.html?kw=a428nopabyre&cmp=googbase&gclid=Cj0KEQjwqtjGBRD8yfi9h42H9YUBEiQAmki5OjZrYkT7P40158fNl2rvlUN-_5uskTaKndVjy51Zc-waAu6L8P8HAQ It is definitely more pricey than standard paper in the US. The dimensions are only slightly different than standard letter sized paper, so if you can't justify the cost, there's absolutely nothing wrong with just using half-letter sized pages in your planner! :) You could also use legal sized paper (8.5x14) to print two A5 sized sheets, but you'll just need to cut them along all four sides.

[@shellbykibler4719]

What type of paper did you use?

[@NElizabeth]

You can use any type/size of paper that you'd like as long as you adjust your document setup settings. In this video I think I used the US standard 8.5x11" size paper, store brand from Staples. I'd reccommend 28lb or higher if you will be using it for bullet journalling, as pens don't bleed through as easily.

[@royshuldberg6277]

This process worked great and my paper turned out beautiful! I have a question - I tried to duplicate the page so I could print it double sided but when I did, it started printing with huge margins (even though the image on the computer didn't change). When there is only one page it prints just fine...what did I do wrong? (I used "duplicate slide" in the insert menu, which I imagine is where my issue lies, I'm just not sure how to do it otherwise). Thanks!

[@NElizabeth]

Hmm... honestly, I'm not sure. :/ As a workaround, you could print one sided, then once all the pages are done, take them out and load them upside down into your printer. That way, it will print on the backside the next pass through. :)

[@florencekho3574]

NElizabeth, I had followed every step, until the Paste part, how did you paste the entire page at once? I could only do single paste :-( I mean only one line.

[@NElizabeth]

I believe that was just editing magic. :) Just paste each line individually. Another trick to make it faster is to paste a few lines, then copy several of the lines at once, then paste - this will paste several lines at the same time.

[@florencekho3574]

Thank you so much, NElizabeth :-)

[@pat.s.s9944]

trying to follow the tutorial but I got lost after setting up the text box, because I couldn't type in it. Not sure what I did, but somehow I got a line of periods typed but the image is so small I can barely see it. after that I somehow opened up a window with the typeface etc but I don't know what I did to get there. I'm lost! I think you may have done some steps without saying what you were doing because it is obvious or second nature to you, but not necessarily so clear to some of us who learned to type on typewriters. For example, I don't see the ellipses and I don't know what you did to correct the problem...

[@NElizabeth]

I'll try my best to help! Although, it is a little difficult without seeing the problem :) If you can't type in the textbox, try double clicking into it. You can also try clicking on it and typing, even if you don't see the blinking cursor. If all else fails, I'd suggest just trying to delete the box and start over/try again. You can also try making the textbox smaller to start with, then increasing the size later once you have some text in it. The periods will be very tiny, as they are just dots a few pixels wide. You can try increasing the zoom by using the little plus and minus scroll bar in the very bottom right corner of the screen, which may make things easier to see. If you don't see an ellipses, don't worry! We don't want an ellipses, because it is a special character that changes the distance between consecutive periods. So, if you don't have one, you can skip the step where I delete it.

[@pat.s.s9944]

NElizabeth thanks! I'll try again using your suggestions and let you know how it goes! Thanks again!

[@denissemartinez6301]

I think you should sell them on your etsy page :) Just my opinion :)

[@NElizabeth]

Denisse Martinez Thank you! I am considering doing so for my December releases; I'll just need to order larger shipping supplies, haha. I also have some creative ideas to make them decorative, that I'm excited to play around with. :)

[@miat789]

Ok dumb question but how do you do the textbook option in Word

[@NElizabeth]

By textbook, I assume you mean textbox? There should be an insert tab at the top, and a textbox option within the menu/tab. For detailed instructions, you can use this link and select the version of Word that you have. :) support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-copy-or-delete-a-text-box-4d968daa-5c86-48f2-88fa-b65871966017

[@lynh4094]

I want to print double sided, can you help me?

[@NElizabeth]

Sure! I can try. :) Are you trying to print two sheets per page, or 1 sheet? Also, do the pages extend all the way to the edge of the paper, or will you need to cut around all 4 sides of the final sheet?

[@pat.s.s9944]

i'm using Open Office 4 just like you

[@traciereed4927]

So why cant you just use the paper you can buy at the store? Is it not the same thing?

[@drifter0717]

Sometimes, like in my case these papers are not easily available, expensive, or out of stock. So printing is the only way.

[@shayvanbrn]

What about Pages? They are a basic in Apple products.

[@NElizabeth]

Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with Apple products/software, but I would assume they have a similar kerning/spacing feature! This page seems to have relevant information on adjusting character spacing: support.apple.com/kb/PH23624?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

[@gaganraj5745]

do u have a file of this?

[@NElizabeth]

Out of respect for those that offer digital downloads on Etsy, I'm currently not sharing the final document I created in this tutorial. :/ However, if you need help following the video or have questions about a particular step that is giving you difficulty, I'm happy to help! :)

[@jobbap6669]

whats format in word? it doesn't have "format"

[@NElizabeth]

It depends which version of word you are using, but I think you will want to check out "page layout" or "paragraph"

[@ZoeAnne511]

Does this work for iOS? Apple

[@Marta_z_Dabrowy]

Yes, Open Office runs on Mac too.

[@danielanunez3556]

this video saved me but it was too long. it more direct and straightforward video would have been better but still, thank you ;)