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This article is about writing pad. For notebook computer, see Laptop. For other uses, see Notebook (disambiguation).
"Notepad" redirects here. For the Windows text editor, see Notepad (software).

A notebook (notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, legal pad) consists of a book or binder composed of pages, often ruled, made out of paper, used for purposes including recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing, and scrapbooking.[1][2][3][4]

Paper notebooks[edit]

Notebooks for sale at a department store

Paper notebooks can be distinguished by:

  • Form factor (size and weight)
  • Binding and cover material (including printing and graphics)
  • Pre-printed material on writing surfaces (lines, graphics, text)

Legal pad[edit]

According to legend, Thomas W. Holley of Holyoke, Massachusetts invented the legal pad around the year 1888 when he innovated the idea to collect all the sortings, various sort of substandard paper scraps from various factories, and stitch them together in order to sell them as pads at an affordable and fair price. In about 1900, the latter then evolved into the modern legal pad when a local judge requested for a margin to be drawn on the left side of the paper. This was the first legal pad.[5]

The only technical requirement for this type of stationery to be considered a true "legal pad" is that it must have margins of 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) from the left edge of legal pad. Here, the margin, also known as down lines,[6] is room used to write notes or comments. Legal pads usually have a gum binding at the top as opposed to a spiral or stitched binding.

Binding and cover[edit]





Notebooks used for drawing and scrapbooking are usually blank. Notebooks for writing usually have some kind of printing on the writing material, if only lines to align writing or facilitate certain kinds of drawing. Inventor's notebooks have page numbers preprinted to support priority claims. They may be considered as grey literature. Many notebooks have graphic decorations. Personal organizers can have various kinds of preprinted pages.


Notes in a notebook



Students take notes in notebooks and studies suggest the act of writing (as opposed to typing) improves learning.[8]


Possible electronic successors[edit]

Since the late 20th century, many attempts have been made to integrate the simplicity of a notebook with the editing, searching, and communication capacities of computers through the development of note taking software. Laptop computers began to be called notebooks when they reached a small size in the 1990s, but they did not have any special note-taking ability. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) came next, integrating small liquid crystal displays with a touch-sensitive layer to input graphics and written text. Tablet PCs are larger and provide more writing and navigation space.

Digital paper combines the simplicity of a traditional pen and notebook with digital storage and interactivity. By printing an invisible dot pattern on the notebook paper and using a pen with a built in infrared camera the written text can be transferred to a laptop, mobile phone or backoffice for storage and processing.

See also[edit]