Print your name and number sideways along the bottom edge, cut between each one, and leave them attached so people can take one.
How tear-off tabs work
To make tear-off tabs, print your pet’s name and your phone number sideways in a row of 8 to 10 small strips along the bottom of the flyer, then cut up between each strip with scissors, stopping at the main page so the tabs stay attached. A person who may have seen your pet can tear one off without needing a pen. Tabs are most useful on notice boards, in shop windows and anywhere people stand still. Our free poster tool can add them for you, but you can also do it by hand in about a minute per sheet.
When tabs are worth it
Tabs suit places people walk past: coffee shops, laundromats, grocery boards, dog parks and school noticeboards. Someone reads the flyer, thinks they may have seen that dog last week, and wants to take your number home. They are less useful on poles and corners that people pass in cars, since no driver is going to stop for one. Outdoors, tabs tear off in the wind and get wet, so keep them for sheltered spots. In a sheet protector they do not work at all, unless the tab strip hangs out of the bottom of the sleeve.
What to put on each tab
Keep each tab to two short lines. Line one is LOST DOG plus the name, or LOST CAT plus a color word: LOST CAT, GRAY. Line two is your phone number. That is enough for someone to remember why they took it. Do not add your address or last name. If you are using a separate number for sightings, use it on the tabs too. Make the digits as large as the tab allows, since the tab will sit in a pocket for a week and will then have to be read in poor light.
Making them by hand
Print your flyer with a blank strip about an inch and a half tall at the bottom. Write your number sideways on the first tab, running from the bottom edge upward. Repeat in a row across the page. On Letter paper, about ten tabs fit, each around three quarters of an inch wide. Then cut along the lines from the bottom edge upward, stopping just short of the main flyer. Use a ruler for your first cut if you want it tidy, but do not spend time on neatness. Fold each one once along its top, so it tears off cleanly when pulled.
Making them in a document
In Word or Google Docs, add a table with one row and ten columns at the bottom of the page. Type your text in the first cell, set the text direction to vertical if the program allows it, and copy it across the row. Word has a text direction button under Table Layout. In Google Docs, there is no vertical text in tables, so the common workaround is to make the row as a drawing or rotated image and paste it in. Print one test page, cut it and check that the digits are not trimmed off at the edge.
Speed up the cutting
A paper cutter or trimmer can cut a stack of five or so sheets at once, but only do small stacks, because a thick pile slips and cuts crookedly. Scissors work for a few sheets at a time. Have someone help while you are calling shelters. If you are short on time, cut only the copies going to boards where tabs matter, and leave the outdoor copies uncut. Cutting takes time you could spend searching, so do it in a spare moment rather than in the first hour.
Put them up so they stay put
On a cork board, pin all four corners of the main sheet and leave the tabs hanging free. In a window, tape the top and sides, leaving the tabs loose and facing the side where people can reach them. If the shop has a counter, a small stack of half-sheet flyers beside the till does the same job with no cutting at all. Pull one tab off yourself before you leave. A flyer with one tab missing shows people what the tabs are for, and may suggest someone has already taken one.
Watch the tabs as a signal
Check your boards when you refresh them. Missing tabs are not proof of anything, but they show that people have noticed the flyer. If one location loses tabs quickly, spend more time around there. Put up a fresh sheet if most of the tabs are gone, because a flyer with no tabs left can look like an old one. Keep a note in your location list, and take down every flyer once your pet is home so no one calls about a pet that is already safe.