The best paper for visual notes is either blank paper or paper with a light dot grid printed on it.

What is dot grid paper?

Blank, grid, and dot grid are probably the most popular options for notebooks.

I like the dot grid because it provides enough structure to draw straight lines and mark out areas, but does not interfere with readability. Most dot grid layouts are arranged with dots every 5mm.

In search of printable dot grid paper

I search for “printable dot grid paper” and several results came back. I also found instructions on creating printable dot grid paper. These two are good ones …

• SeptemberLeather.com
• Incompetech – features customizable grid

Even though both of these worked, I decided give creating it a try. I explored various online guidance including setting up paper in Word, Excel, and Google Sheets.

Word seemed the easiest, but it took me about 25 test sheets to get the space right when using a computer running Windows. On my Mac, the same spacing that worked for Windows didn’t work.

Below is a link to my printable version, which has no watermark.

Creating a notebook

Since my goal was to create a notebook with dot grid paper, I printed the dot grid pattern onto the card stock I used for my pocket notebooks.

Below is the final result in the completed notebook …

Conclusion

For visual notes, I recommend a notebook so you can keep your notes organized. However, printing dot grid sheets are great for practice and creating your own notebooks.