How to Tab Your AA Big Book Step by Step — The Complete Guide
Updated: 3 days ago
If you've ever sat down with a sponsor and watched them flip to the exact right page in seconds — that's tabs. The AA Big Book has 575 pages. Without tabs, working the Steps becomes a search-and-page exercise. With tabs, the book opens where you need it. Here's everything you need to know.
Why Tabs Make a Difference
Tabs aren't cosmetic. They're a functional tool. Every sponsor who's been around long enough has figured out a system — either their own or someone else's. The AAmazingtabs system has been refined over 10+ years of hand-tabbing Big Books, so what you're getting isn't guesswork. It's what works.
When your Big Book is tabbed, you can find any of the 12 Steps instantly, flip directly to the Promises mid-conversation, locate any prayer without hunting, and move between key sections in seconds. That's the difference between a study tool and a book you carry around.
Tabs do three jobs. They help you find a section quickly. They help a sponsor teach, because a sponsee can see where each Step lives in the book. And they help you remember: after a while, the tabs themselves become a map of the program in your hands. If a tab doesn't help you find something you will use again, leave it off.
What You'll Need
To tab your Big Book yourself, you need a standard AA Big Book (4th Edition) and a complete AAmazingtabs DIY Tabs Kit — 144 laminated, pre-labeled tabs with a step-by-step placement guide included. Every tab is already labeled with the name of the section it marks.
If you'd rather skip the process entirely, the pre-tabbed and highlighted AA Big Book arrives with all 144 tabs already applied and the text highlighted throughout. Open the box and it's done.
Step-by-Step: Applying Your Tabs
Step 1 — Lay out your tabs
Organize the 6 pages of tabs before you begin. The placement guide lists each tab by name and the exact page it goes on. Keep the guide open next to you throughout.
Step 2 — Start at the front
Work from the beginning of the book to the end. Don't skip around. The placement guide is ordered front-to-back so you don't lose your place.
Step 3 — Apply each tab to the outside edge of the right-hand page
Tabs go on the right side of the right-hand page. The label sticks out beyond the page edge. Center the tab vertically at the correct page — the guide tells you exactly where.
Step 4 — Press firmly and allow to set
Run your thumbnail across the tab adhesive. Give it 30 seconds before turning the page. The adhesive is repositionable for a short time, so you can adjust before it sets permanently.
Step 5 — Complete all 144 tabs
Most people complete the full tabbing in one sitting — about 90 minutes following the guide. Work front-to-back without skipping sections.
Step 6 — Let the book rest 24 hours before heavy use
Let the book sit closed overnight before daily use. The adhesive cures fully over the first 24 hours.
What Gets Tabbed
The full AAmazingtabs system marks all 12 Steps, all 12 Traditions, the Promises (page 83–84), Doctor's Opinion, Bill's Story, How It Works, Into Action, There Is a Solution, To Wives, The Family Afterward, Working With Others, A Vision for You, and all key Prayers — 3rd Step, 7th Step, 11th Step (On Awakening and Retire at Night), Fear Prayer, Resentment Prayer, Sex Conduct Prayer, Acceptance Prayer, and Sick Man's Prayer. That's 144 tabs total.
Tabbing From Scratch: What to Tab First
If you are using blank tabs instead of a kit, work from the big sections down to the small ones. That way your main navigation goes in first and everything else fits around it. Page numbers are from the 4th Edition.
1. The chapters. These are the backbone: The Doctor's Opinion, Bill's Story (p. 1), There Is a Solution (p. 17), More About Alcoholism (p. 30), We Agnostics (p. 44), How It Works (p. 58), Into Action (p. 72), Working With Others (p. 89), To Wives (p. 104), The Family Afterward (p. 122), To Employers (p. 136), A Vision for You (p. 151), the personal stories (from p. 171) and the appendix on spiritual experience (p. 567).
2. The Steps. Mark where the directions for each Step begin. Step Three around pages 60–63, the inventory from page 64, Step Five at page 72, Steps Six through Nine from page 76, Step Ten at page 84, Step Eleven at page 86 and Step Twelve at page 89.
For Step One, many sponsors tab The Doctor's Opinion and More About Alcoholism together. In our teaching, those pages show what powerlessness means: once the body starts drinking it can't reliably stop, and the mind can't stay stopped. That powerlessness over alcohol, physical and mental, is the unmanageability. It is not the list of consequences that came after.
3. Prayers and Promises. The prayers that go with Steps Three and Seven (pp. 63 and 76), the Promises (pp. 83–84) and the morning and evening suggestions for Step Eleven (pp. 86–88).
How to Place Blank Tabs So They Stay Neat
Plan in pencil first. Make a light tick in the margin where each tab will go, then flip through and check the order before anything sticks.
Stagger them down the edge. Start near the top of the page edge and step each new tab a little lower, then start again at the top. That way no label hides behind another.
Write labels before you stick. Writing on a tab that is already in the book is harder, and the ink smudges.
Leave enough tab inside the page. About a third of the tab should hold onto the page so it doesn't peel off in a bag.
Don't over-tab. If every page has a tab, nothing stands out. Keep tabs for places you will open again and again.
Common Mistakes
Overlapping tabs. Usually from skipping the pencil plan.
Paper tabs in an everyday book. A Big Book that goes to meetings in a bag gets handled a lot. Paper curls and tears; laminated tabs hold up.
Labels too small to read. If you have to squint, the tab is not doing its job.
No system. Decide what you're tabbing and in what order before you start, or the edge of the book ends up random.
Should You Highlight Too?
Tabbing organizes your Big Book. Highlighting takes it further — it turns the book into a visual study guide. The pre-tabbed and highlighted AA Big Book comes with both: all 144 tabs applied plus color-highlighted text throughout.
If you prefer to do your own highlighting (many sponsors like doing this process with a sponsee), the AAmazingtabs Tabs Kit gives you the tab system without pre-done highlighting. For a deeper look at how tabbed Big Books work in step work, read What Is a Tabbed and Highlighted AA Big Book.
The Fastest Option
If you need a book ready for a newcomer on Day 1, the pre-tabbed and highlighted AA Big Book ($99) arrives fully done. Also available in large print soft cover for members who prefer a bigger font. We also offer an AA Big Book Tabbing & Highlighting Workshop for those who want to learn the full system before starting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tabs does an AA Big Book need?
It depends on your system. A basic set for the chapters, the Steps, the prayers and the Promises can be 30 to 40 tabs. A full study set, like ours, uses 144 laminated, pre-labeled tabs.
Should I highlight my Big Book before or after tabbing?
Many people highlight first, so the tabs don't get in the way while they read and mark the pages. Either order works if you plan your tab layout in pencil first.
Do big book tabs fit the large print edition?
Yes. Tabs work on the standard hardcover and the large print edition. Page numbers differ between editions, so check each spot against your own book's table of contents before you stick a tab down.
Can a sponsor tab a sponsee's Big Book?
Yes. Many sponsors tab the book together with a sponsee at an early meeting. It is a good way to walk through the chapters and show where each Step is found.
Questions? Reach us at info@aamazingtabs.com. We're a sober family with 30+ years in the rooms.
Take the Big Book with you: get the AAmazingtabs app. App Store · Google Play
AAmazingtabs is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
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