Do you type you notes on Index Cards?

Nursing Students General Students

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Is anyone here making their own index cards, by typing it on the computer and printing it out?

If so how do you do it? Do you do in MS Word? What template do you use? How many prints out at once?

Please advice. I am thinking that it is faster to type it out, rather than write it out.

0 Votes
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i swear to god, i read many of your posts and think you must be as anal retentive as me!

i had a nice canon printer that i could print 3x5 index cards on. i used to make flashcards that way. first, i open up a word document. click on "file", "page setup" and the "margins" tab. you will set all your "top", "bottom", "left" and "right" margins so that what you have left on your word document is the area of an index card that you will be printing on. make sure your "top" and "left" margins are as narrow as your printer is going to allow you to make them. with all that set in place, run a test. type some stuff in the field that is left on the word document. stick a blank piece of paper in your printer and see how it prints out. place a blank index card on top (or behind it) matching the top left corners and see if it's going to fill your index card adequately. if so, try printing an index card. place the card in the printer, slide that bar that holds the paper in place all the way over to wedge the card in position and hit "print" to see what happens. you may have to play around with this a bit to get it all exactly as you want it and to accommodate your printer. once it is all worked out, clear the text from the word document and "save" this document as a template for printing index cards so you don't have to do all this work over.

as you can see, it takes some playing around to get a document formatted to work for you. i am actually able to make a table without any printed gridlines. some of the newer word programs won't let you do this. by selecting no gridlines for a table i eliminate all the malarkey of fiddling around with the border lines. the table program allows me to see the gridlines on the computer so i can see the edges of each cell, but doesn't print them. i can then print all the information i want on an index card inside the cell of this table and then print it. there is still the problem of the top and left margin defaults on the printer though. to me, those half-inch borders that my computer won't print out are a waste of my paper.

i have dealt with the top and left margin default issue by creating a one column, one row table centered in the middle of a document. i will print out one sheet of paper with the borders (that can be done on the tables and borders toolbar by coloring the edges of the cell before printing) so i know where they are. then, undo the colored edges of the cell after printing the sheet of paper). i will carefully scotch tape an index card (or put a post-it note) inside this printed border on the sheet of paper and run it through the printer to get what i wanted printed on the index card or post-it note. i just keep re-using this one sheet of paper for each index card or post-it note because nothing else prints on it anyway. i have all kinds of printed post-it notes in my icd-9-cm code book that i've done this way. all because i'm anal retentive and like things to look nice and organized. :uhoh3:

you can customize the size of index cards by using card stock that you can get from office supply stores. when i just needed two 4x6 index cards for one of my math classes (legal cheat sheets for a geometry test), that is how i created them. table and two sheet of white card stock. i had stuff bold-face, colored, and underlined on these cards in the smallest font that i could read them! i set the table to print very light gray borders so i knew where to cut them out with my scissors.

i hope my explanations make sense. ask me if you need it explained better. i do this stuff all the time, so i may have left something out without realizing it.

0 Votes

you are the best!!! i will do as you stated and if i run into problems, i will surely let you know.

are you saying that you, printed on post-it-notes, because i have those big ones you know....explain that to me some more.

i swear to god, i read many of your posts and think you must be as anal retentive as me!

i had a nice canon printer that i could print 3x5 index cards on. i used to make flashcards that way. first, i open up a word document. click on "file", "page setup" and the "margins" tab. you will set all your "top", "bottom", "left" and "right" margins so that what you have left on your word document is the area of an index card that you will be printing on. make sure your "top" and "left" margins are as narrow as your printer is going to allow you to make them. with all that set in place, run a test. type some stuff in the field that is left on the word document. stick a blank piece of paper in your printer and see how it prints out. place a blank index card on top (or behind it) matching the top left corners and see if it's going to fill your index card adequately. if so, try printing an index card. place the card in the printer, slide that bar that holds the paper in place all the way over to wedge the card in position and hit "print" to see what happens. you may have to play around with this a bit to get it all exactly as you want it and to accommodate your printer. once it is all worked out, clear the text from the word document and "save" this document as a template for printing index cards so you don't have to do all this work over.

as you can see, it takes some playing around to get a document formatted to work for you. i am actually able to make a table without any printed gridlines. some of the newer word programs won't let you do this. by selecting no gridlines for a table i eliminate all the malarkey of fiddling around with the border lines. the table program allows me to see the gridlines on the computer so i can see the edges of each cell, but doesn't print them. i can then print all the information i want on an index card inside the cell of this table and then print it. there is still the problem of the top and left margin defaults on the printer though. to me, those half-inch borders that my computer won't print out are a waste of my paper.

i have dealt with the top and left margin default issue by creating a one column, one row table centered in the middle of a document. i will print out one sheet of paper with the borders (that can be done on the tables and borders toolbar by coloring the edges of the cell before printing) so i know where they are. then, undo the colored edges of the cell after printing the sheet of paper). i will carefully scotch tape an index card (or put a post-it note) inside this printed border on the sheet of paper and run it through the printer to get what i wanted printed on the index card or post-it note. i just keep re-using this one sheet of paper for each index card or post-it note because nothing else prints on it anyway. i have all kinds of printed post-it notes in my icd-9-cm code book that i've done this way. all because i'm anal retentive and like things to look nice and organized. :uhoh3:

you can customize the size of index cards by using card stock that you can get from office supply stores. when i just needed two 4x6 index cards for one of my math classes (legal cheat sheets for a geometry test), that is how i created them. table and two sheet of white card stock. i had stuff bold-face, colored, and underlined on these cards in the smallest font that i could read them! i set the table to print very light gray borders so i knew where to cut them out with my scissors.

i hope my explanations make sense. ask me if you need it explained better. i do this stuff all the time, so i may have left something out without realizing it.

0 Votes

daytonite, will it be to much to ask you to share you template with me? :) :)

i swear to god, i read many of your posts and think you must be as anal retentive as me!

i had a nice canon printer that i could print 3x5 index cards on. i used to make flashcards that way. first, i open up a word document. click on "file", "page setup" and the "margins" tab. you will set all your "top", "bottom", "left" and "right" margins so that what you have left on your word document is the area of an index card that you will be printing on. make sure your "top" and "left" margins are as narrow as your printer is going to allow you to make them. with all that set in place, run a test. type some stuff in the field that is left on the word document. stick a blank piece of paper in your printer and see how it prints out. place a blank index card on top (or behind it) matching the top left corners and see if it's going to fill your index card adequately. if so, try printing an index card. place the card in the printer, slide that bar that holds the paper in place all the way over to wedge the card in position and hit "print" to see what happens. you may have to play around with this a bit to get it all exactly as you want it and to accommodate your printer. once it is all worked out, clear the text from the word document and "save" this document as a template for printing index cards so you don't have to do all this work over.

as you can see, it takes some playing around to get a document formatted to work for you. i am actually able to make a table without any printed gridlines. some of the newer word programs won't let you do this. by selecting no gridlines for a table i eliminate all the malarkey of fiddling around with the border lines. the table program allows me to see the gridlines on the computer so i can see the edges of each cell, but doesn't print them. i can then print all the information i want on an index card inside the cell of this table and then print it. there is still the problem of the top and left margin defaults on the printer though. to me, those half-inch borders that my computer won't print out are a waste of my paper.

i have dealt with the top and left margin default issue by creating a one column, one row table centered in the middle of a document. i will print out one sheet of paper with the borders (that can be done on the tables and borders toolbar by coloring the edges of the cell before printing) so i know where they are. then, undo the colored edges of the cell after printing the sheet of paper). i will carefully scotch tape an index card (or put a post-it note) inside this printed border on the sheet of paper and run it through the printer to get what i wanted printed on the index card or post-it note. i just keep re-using this one sheet of paper for each index card or post-it note because nothing else prints on it anyway. i have all kinds of printed post-it notes in my icd-9-cm code book that i've done this way. all because i'm anal retentive and like things to look nice and organized. :uhoh3:

you can customize the size of index cards by using card stock that you can get from office supply stores. when i just needed two 4x6 index cards for one of my math classes (legal cheat sheets for a geometry test), that is how i created them. table and two sheet of white card stock. i had stuff bold-face, colored, and underlined on these cards in the smallest font that i could read them! i set the table to print very light gray borders so i knew where to cut them out with my scissors.

i hope my explanations make sense. ask me if you need it explained better. i do this stuff all the time, so i may have left something out without realizing it.

0 Votes
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

sorry, i can't. the file for the index cards was on another computer hard drive that got erased by a computer technician (long story). i was just printing post-it notes two weeks ago. i mock up these guide pages in a matter of 5 minutes and then delete the document when i'm done. if you use table to create a one cell table, you can "size" it to any dimensions on a page to fit the post-it note you are going to print on. the trick is to print out a sheet of paper that has the approximate edges of the post-it note defined as a box on the page (guide page), to then print the stuff you want on the computer screen within that box, make the border lines disappear (so they don't print), slap your post-it note within the box on your guide page and then run the whole thing back through the printer again. this time, the text gets printed out on the post-it note.

i saved my very early attempts at doing this because i was learning and teaching myself how to do them. that was 5 or 6 years ago and on that older computer that got the hard drive erased. i don't need to do that anymore. part of doing this is knowing how to work with all the different commands you have available to you within the word program. i happen to like to work with table a lot, so i know how to work with it and can create forms and things in a matter of minutes.

i will help guide you through making your template though. warning! i have dial up service and i'm already getting hints that i'm probably going to get dumped offline here. plus, i will be watching my soap operas shortly as well. if you pm me or send me an e-mail i'll be able to communicate with you through e-mail. i can attach files to e-mail. how does that sound. we can't print our e-mail addresses on these public posts.

0 Votes

SA2BDOCTOR and Daytonite:

You might like this link......makes flashcard making very easy. Have fun my anal retentive posters!!! LOL.

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/

0 Votes

Stop kidding me - OMG!!! Now you are also ONE OF the best!!! Daytonite, check this out!!!

SA2BDOCTOR and Daytonite:

You might like this link......makes flashcard making very easy. Have fun my anal retentive posters!!! LOL.

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/

0 Votes

My new printer can't handle 3X5 & that'sthe size I wanted for my med cards for clinicals. I just ended up making two text boxes 3X5 each on each standard size page & cut them out once they're printed out.

By the way, you'll love the flashcard site if you like flashcards. They even have directions on how to put the flashcards on your PDA.

Dixie

0 Votes
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
SA2BDOCTOR and Daytonite:

You might like this link......makes flashcard making very easy. Have fun my anal retentive posters!!! LOL.

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/

Cool site! The HTML way to print flashcards that they tell you on the site is exactly what I have been doing to make cheap flashcards for some time. I can't say they stole the idea from me because I think anyone can reason out how to do them that way. However, my instructions for doing them by that method have been on allnurses in a couple of older posts for some time.

0 Votes
Specializes in Junior Year of BSN.

Oh thats a great site Ness2bnurse...Thanks!

0 Votes
Specializes in Volunterr in A&E.

OMG if you guys are anal what am I LOL :yeah:I havent even started the UK equivilant of the pre-nursing exam and have already started making flash cards, I am using Memorylifter which is free software that you can test yourself online with or you can print out cards which have the ? on one side and answer on the other as reccommended by Fox on another thread xx

0 Votes

Here's a free template from Mead for index cards. I generally just print them out on paper cut them out and glue stick them on cards.

http://www.mead.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/MWIndexCardsView?langId=-1&storeId=10054&shopStoreID=10054&catalogId=10006&portfolio=false&mainnav=Y

0 Votes
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