Tips on Tabs

by Milt Vine

When Xerox introduced 5090s and then the DocuTech several years ago, many commercial printers embraced the on-demand technology. In many cases, those who established themselves in black-and-white, on-demand publishing have found that these operations have become their own profit centers, serving a range of industries. Manuals for the software industry, training materials for education and cookbooks for publishers are just a few of the products for which this technology is ideal. And what do these products have in common? They're all likely candidates for tabbing.

Plain Tabs. Plain tabbing simply refers to a tab without any type of reinforcement. These are usually printed and used in publications that require dividers, but donıt demand the durability that a coating provides. But what if your client's product does need to withstand heavy usage? Consider using mylar to strengthen them.

There are a number of factors to consider before determining whether or not a protective coating should be used. End use is a good place to start. Are the tabs for a perfect- or mechanical-bound book? How often and under what conditions will the publication be used? How many tabs will be required? Are aesthetics important?

Protection. Mylar is a transparent polyester film made in extremely thin sheets. Similar to cellophane wrap but much, much stronger, it is applied over pre-printed tabs or adhered in strips to the binding edge of sheets for reinforcement. It prevents the tabs from curling and smudging before their time or pages from tearing out. Mylar comes in many colors, including clear.
Tab sets can use a single color mylar or any combination of colors. In fact, color-coding is one of mylar's popular features. Color-coding improves the readability of manuals, reports and catalogs by dividing information into easily-identifiable sections for quick reference. For instance, one of our customers prints an office supply catalog. It is divided by category (writing instruments, paper and copier supplies, computer supplies, furniture, etc.). Though the catalog has an index, and the top of each page identifies the section, users rarely refer to either. Instead, they match the colored tab in the table of contents with the colored tab in the catalog body, and flip to the desired section in seconds.

Mylar Reinforcement for Tabs. Before deciding to use mylar reinforcements, make sure that your clientıs choice of tab configuration can be mylar coated by machine. Your bindery should have equipment that automatically applies mylar to  tabs in standard and overlapping tab configurations, which can save your client substantial hand-application costs. Standard tabs are those that are all the same size and evenly spaced in a row, or bank. Overlapping tabs are all the same size and evenly overlap in a number of banks.

Only clear, not colored, mylar can be applied by machine on cover tabs (tabs that are the entire length of the divider sheet.)  And shingle tabs‹those that overlap and increase in size as they progress from top to bottom‹cannot be machine-mylared at all.

Ink and Varnish Considerations. Like any other finishing process, mylar application has certain rules to follow for best results. During the automated mylar application process, sheets pass through a series of heated rollers which fuse the mylar onto the sheet and position the sheet for cutting. Then the equipment cuts the tab with a tooled die.

Because of the heat, wax-based ink or varnish is likely to smear during this process. Therefore, these are to be avoided. Also, be aware that some inks are more prone to scuffing and marking when put through finishing processes. These, too, should be used with caution.

Also, make sure your sheets are dry before sending them to your bindery for mylar reinforcement. Some customers add a little cobalt dryer to inks over which mylar is to be applied.

Other Tabbing Tips. Avoid heavily-textured paper when specifying mylar. The uneven surface can cause unsightly air pockets under the mylar.

Many customers supply us with covers and multiple-up tabs on parent sheets, which we pre-trim and then diecut the tabs. Another advantage to using finishers to supply tabs is they can pre-drill or punch the tabs for the mechanical binding you'll be using, from a basic three-hole drill configuration to plastic spiral and Wire-O punching.
Some of our customers have complained that, on occasion, when they receive tabs from OEMs, the last page in a group of tabs hasn't been fully cut. In production, the punched holes loosen and fall into the machinery, jamming the equipment and bringing production to a standstill. Finishing houses have drill equipment that can be calibrated to ensure that holes are evenly and completely drilled. Our company also routinely fans the stacks of tabs to make sure all punched holes are gone before they're packaged.

Packaging of tabs raises another set of issues. Here's an example: one equipment vendor supplies tabs 250 to a box, whereas we pack them in cartons. You're printing 500 copies of a manual with a dozen tabs in each. Thatıs 6,000 tabs your operators are going to have load into the machine. You can imagine the time and, hence, dollars saved if they can grab a large lift of tabs‹we typically pack 17" groups of tabs per carton‹rather than having to open and unwrap 24 smaller batches packed in boxes.

A note of caution: If your finisher does supply tabs in cartons, make sure they're packed spine-side down and bubble-wrapped, so the face of the tabs won't be damaged in shipping.

To merge your tabs into your document in the proper order, consult with your finishing house‹this can be very complex. For instance, the DocuTech prints text pages from the back of the document to the front. The order and position in which the tab pages are loaded into the tray affects the collating sequence. DocuTechs require tabs to be collated in single-reverse, descending (5,4,3,2,1) order. On the other hand, 5090s require double-reverse collating‹two number 5s, two number 4s, two number 3s and so forth‹further complicating the process. A finisher who's expert in tabbing can help you determine the right tabs and sequencing for the equipment.

Working closely with your bindery on tabbing projects will save you headaches and your clients costly surprises. Before finalizing specifications on a tabbing job, ask your bindery to run a free test to make sure ink wonıt smear, color mylar tabs are consistent and paper stock wonıt alter the expected outcome.


Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a post-production house specializing in  index tabbing in addition to providing folding, stitching, perfect binding, scoring , perforating and trimming  services for the trade. You can reach Milt at 206/682-2558. For more information about Seattle Bindery, check out their web site at  http://www.seattlebindery.com. İ 1996, Seattle Bindery & Mailing.

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