Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Own Digital Planner

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Plan your life and set personal goals digitally

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• Designing Your Planner
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• Digital Planner Programs
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• Using Your Planner
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• Selling Your Planner

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Want to create a cool, fun, customizable planner you can carry with you everywhere you go? Then a digital planner might be for you! In this article, you’ll learn how to build and design your own monthly, weekly, or daily planner using a digital design program. We’ll also give you tips for selling your planner design online if you’d like a side hustle. Ready to unleash your creativity and start getting organized?

Things You Should Know

• Design your planner to fit your life, including calendars, to-do lists, and habit trackers. Sketch out your designs on paper first and order and organize the pages.
• Use Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, Adobe InDesign, Canva, or GoodNotes to create your digital planner based on your sketches.
• Use your planner for work or school, or sell your planner on sites like Etsy or Shopify to build an online business and make a little extra cash on the side.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

Designing Your Planner

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   Sketch out your cover page. Your cover page usually sets the design tone for the rest of the planner. Think about what color scheme or theme you’d like to use. Then, on a piece of paper, sketch out what you’d like it to look like, including what you want to write on the cover and what kind of font you’d like to use. Here are some examples of cover page themes to get you started:

   • Leather-bound journal: For that traditional journaling feel, you could use a leather-textured background. Place your text over the background and use a line or shape tool to add stitching around the border of the journal.
   • Pastel-chic: Draw vertical or horizontal lines and color them with pastel pink, purple, and blue. You can also use white lines in between each color to make the pattern really stand out. Use a rectangular shape tool to draw a box at the center of the cover and add your text inside for a beautiful journal.
   • Outer Space: Use a starry background for a more realistic space feel. Using a shape or pen tool, you can also use a black background and add little white stars individually. Add cute details, such as spaceships, planets, and asteroids to make your cover stand out.
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   List out what kind of pages you want to include in your planner. Most planners are organized chronologically, with a page to see the month at a glance, followed by pages where you can write your tasks for each day of the week. However, you can design it however you’d like! Here are some examples of pages you can add:

   • Yearly goals: Do you want to go outside more? Read more books? Renovate your house? Consider creating a page at the beginning of your planner where you can write your goals for the year.
   • Monthly calendar spread: Use two pages in your journal to create a monthly calendar to write big events or birthdays and look at the month at a glance.
   • Weekly spread: Use two pages to create a spread where you can see the events happening during that week. Feel free to use this space to take note of major appointments, daily goals, and dinner ideas.
   • Daily planner and schedule: A daily planner can be super useful to write down all the tasks you want to get done each day. You can also create a timesheet on this page to schedule and keep track of all your appointments, meetings, and events.
   • Habit tracker: Habit trackers are often used so you can keep track of your healthy daily habits. Create a table with each day of the month written at the top and each habit you’d like to keep track of written on the left. When you have met your daily habit goal for the day, color in the appropriate square with whatever color you’d like.
   • Meal, water, and exercise trackers: Dedicate a page to track your meals, water intake, and exercise for each day. You can either use a list format to write out what specifically you ate or did, or you can create a habit tracker table and color in the square when you accomplished your goal for that day.
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   Order your pages. After you’ve decided what kind of pages to include, then decide how to organize them. Using a sheet of paper or a notepad, draw or list out the order of the pages. Do a quick sketch of how you’d like each individual page to look.

   • For example, if you want to make an overview page for each individual month, use a piece of paper to sketch out its design. Draw an even grid, with seven boxes horizontally and 5 boxes vertically. At the top of the calendar, write the days of the week, the month, and the year. You can also add a notepad to the side or the bottom of the calendar, or even decorate each month with a different theme.
   • Do you want to start with a monthly overview and then have daily planners for each day of the week under each month? Do you want to have trackers in the front of your planner, and then have a daily schedule later on? Having a plan can help you create your planner more easily when you enter your program.
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   Design and organize your planner's pages. Use a sheet of paper or a notepad to decide how you want your planner to be laid out. Draw out how you want each page to look, including where you want your text boxes, how you want your grids/tables/lists laid out, and what decorations you want to add. When you’re confident in your design, use your plan as a guideline and begin to create your planner on your preferred digital program.

   • Add page numbers at the bottom of each of your pages. This will not only make it easier for you to see where you are in your planner, but it can help you easily hyperlink your pages when you want to create tabs for your sections.
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   Transfer your paper design to the digital program. Once you’re happy with your layout, then it’s time to make the planner! Choose your digital planner program and create a new document. Add as many pages as you’d like to have in your planner and practice using the tools to create lines, shapes, and text. Once you’re comfortable using the program, add the tables, graphics, and other elements you’ll need for your planner’s design.

   • Use lines or tables to create timesheets, trackers, and templates for your calendars. After you’re happy with one page, you can copy and paste your design onto other pages.
   • Add shapes, text, and any other elements you’d like. Be creative! Change the colors of your theme, use a stylus to add line art, or import your own drawings or creations to create a beautiful, unique theme.
   • Depending on which digital program you use, you can use the shape tool, an imported picture, or a spiral-shaped element to make your planner look spiral-bound.
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   Use hyperlinked tabs to direct to other pages. A hyperlink is a picture, shape, or text that links to another page in the same document when you click on it. Digital planners typically use hyperlinks as “tabs” so that the user can quickly flip to another page without having to scroll.

   • Create “tabs” using a rectangle shape tool. Draw rectangles along the right-hand side of your notebook and use hyperlinks to direct to the page you’d like to go to.
   • Use your chosen color scheme or theme to decide how you want to color your tabs. For example, if your planner is lilac themed, you can use various shades of purple to differentiate each tab.
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Section 2 of 4:

Digital Planner Programs

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   PowerPoint: When you open PowerPoint, select “New” in the left pane. Then, select “Blank Presentation.” You can also start out with a template. Go to the PowerPoint website and use the search bar in the middle of the screen to search for planner templates and download your favorite.

   • You can also download templates from third-party theme providers like Slidesgo or SlidesCarnival for more options.
   • To add a new slide, or “page,” to your digital planner, click on the “Home” tab. In the “Slides” section, select “New Slide.” You can also select slides with other layouts by clicking on “Layouts” in the “Slides” section and selecting the type of slide you’d like to add.
   • Use the shape tool to create the body of your planner. To add a shape, click on “Insert” at the top of the screen. Click “shapes” and select the rectangle shape. Click anywhere in the workspace and drag to size and place the shape. Make the rectangle slightly smaller than the slide to give you room to put tabs and other decorations on the edge of your planner.
   • Create a table to easily format a calendar page. Select the slide(s) you want to add a table to. On the “Insert” tab, click “Table.” In the dialogue box, type “7” for the columns and “6” for the rows and hit “Ok.” Then, center your table in the middle of the page. Use the top row to label the days of the week and in the other boxes write the numerical day. You can use a real calendar to double-check where to put each number for each month of the year.
   • Create tabs on the outside of your pages. Use the shape tool to create a small rectangle. Then, drag the rectangle to the edge of your planner and rotate it so it fits correctly against the page. You can add text to your tabs by clicking the text tool at the top and dragging a box on top of your shape. Then, type whatever you’d like to label the tab.
   • To create hyperlinks for your tabs, right-click the text or shape you want to link to another page and select “hyperlink.” Select “This document,” then navigate to the page you want to link to and press “ok.”
   • When you’re finished with your planner, export it as a PDF to use in a note-taking app. In the upper left corner, select “File,” then “Export.” Click “Create PDF/XPS Document,” then click “Create PDF/XPS.” In the dialogue box, choose a location to save the file to. You can also rename the file in the “File name” box. Select “Publish,” and now your presentation will be saved as a PDF.
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   Google Slides: To create a new presentation, open the Slides home screen. In the top left, under “Start a new presentation,” select “New +.” Google Slides has a couple of themes available. To see what they offer, open your presentation. At the top of the page, click “Slide” and then “Change Theme.” In the pop-up box on the right, you can scroll and select which theme you’d like to use.

   • For more template options, you can also use third-party theme providers like Slidesgo or SlidesCarnival.
   • To add a new blank slide, click the “New Slide +” button in the top left. If you’d like to add a slide with a different layout, select “New slide with layout +” at the top left and choose the type of slide you’d like to add.
   • Insert titles, lines, text, or images you can format however you’d like. At the top of the page, click “Insert” and choose Text box, Line, Shape, or Image. Move, rotate, or change the size of your object by using the guide dots in the corners of the element.
   • Use the shape tool to create the body of your planner. Select the shape tool from the “Insert” tab or on the toolbar and select the rectangle. Click and drag to create a rectangle that is slightly smaller than the slide so that you can add tabs and decorations to the outside. This rectangle is where your planner’s pages will be.
   • Create tables for your calendar pages. Click “Insert” at the top of your page, then click “Table.” Hover over the boxes to create a table with 7 columns and 6 rows. Center your table in the middle of the page and use the top row to label the days of the week. You can use a real calendar to double-check where to put each day’s number for each month of the year.
   • To create hyperlinks, right-click the text or shape you’d like to convert and select “Link.” Click “Slides in this presentation” and select the slide you’d like to link to.
   • After you’re finished with your planner, export the file to PDF. On the top corner of the page, click “File > Download” and select “PDF Document (.pdf)” from the dropdown. Choose the location you want to save your PDF and click “Publish.” Now you’re ready to use your planner!
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   Keynote: When you enter the Keynote app, click “New Document.” You can choose to create a presentation using a preset theme, or you can start from scratch with a blank template. There are no digital planner templates on Keynote, but you can pick one with a background or color scheme you like to begin with and adjust the pieces later.

   • Add as many slides (or “pages”) as you’d like to have in your planner. Click the + in the toolbar, then select a blank layout.
   • Create the body of your planner using the shape tool. Click the icon that looks like a square with a circle behind it in the toolbar. Select the rectangle or square and drag it to the slide to add it. Use the white squares on the corners of the rectangle to resize it until it’s slightly smaller than the slide. This can give you enough space to add tabs and other decorations to the sides of your planner.
   • To add a table to your pages and create your calendar, select the grid icon in the toolbar. Select the table you want to use—you can click the arrows to view more options. To add more rows, click the equal sign in the top left corner of the table and click the arrows.
   • To create hyperlinks, select the text or shape you’d like to link to a different page. Then, right-click and select “Link.” Select “Slide,” and then type in the slide number of the page you’d like the link to redirect you to.
   • Once you’re finished and happy with your planner, export the file to PDF. Open the file menu on the top toolbar. Click “Export to” and choose “PDF.” Click “Next,” enter a name for your file, and choose the location on your computer you want to save the file. Click “Finish” or “Export” to complete the process. Now you can use your own digital planner!
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   Adobe InDesign: To get started, download InDesign and create a document with the number of pages you’d like to have in your planner. If you’d like to print your planner, you can use the standard 8.5x11 page dimensions so that you can use regular printer paper.

   • Access the Master page to add the same object to every page in your document. Go to “Window > Page.” Double-click on the page preview. On this new white page, you can design whatever you want and it will appear on every page of your document.
   • If you’d only like to duplicate a page design to a few pages, you can copy your page layout and “paste in place” (command+option+shift+V on Mac, ctrl+option+shift+V on PC). You can also select all of the elements on a page, hold down the alt/option key to copy them, and drag them to another page.
   • To create a body for your planner, use the shape tool. In the toolbox, select the Rectangle tool (you might have to select Polygon) and click and drag your mouse to create a shape that’s slightly smaller than the page. The rectangle becomes your planner pages, with space around the edge to add tabs and other designs.
   • Add a table to create your monthly calendars. With the Type tool, click where you want the table to appear. Choose “Table > Insert Table.” In the dialogue box, type “7” for the columns and “6” for the rows and hit “Ok.” Use the top row to label the days of the week. You can use a real calendar to double-check where to put the number of each day for each month of the year.
   • To create hyperlinks, right-click the text or shape you want to link and select “Hyperlink.” Change “Link to” to “Page,” and under “page,” select the page number you’d like to redirect to.
   • Once you’re finished with your planner design, export the file to PDF. To create a PDF of the entire book, click in a blank area of the book to deselect any pages. Choose “Export to PDF” in the “Book” panel menu. Specify the name and location of the file, then click “Save.” Choose a preset from the “Adobe PDF Preset” menu or select a category from the list to the left of the dialogue box. Click “Export” or “Save,” and now you have your own digital planner!
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   Canva: To get started, register an account with Canva. When you enter the home screen, click “Create a design” in the upper right corner to start with a blank template, or use the search bar in the center to browse through hundreds of templates. Canva also has a blank planner maker template.

   • To use some templates, pictures, and graphics without a watermark, Canva requires a Pro account, which costs an extra monthly fee. A golden crown symbol in the bottom right corner of the element indicates that you’ll need a Pro account to use it.
   • To add a new page on the computer, click “Add page” on the upper corner of the page. On mobile, scroll to the last page of your design and wipe to the left to automatically add a new page.
   • Use a rectangle shape to create the body of your planner. On the editor side panel, select “Elements.” Under “Lines & Shapes,” click on a rectangle to add it to your planner page. Using the dots in the corners, resize the rectangle until it almost fills the slide, leaving a little bit of space for tabs and other decorations. This rectangle will be where you design your planner pages.
   • Add borders, lines, shapes, and other designs using the “Elements” tab. Search for the element you’re looking for using the search bar at the top of the tab. Use the toolbar at the top of the page to change the colors of your elements and add text to your pages.
   • Make your calendar pages by adding a table element. In the side panel, click the “Elements” tab. Under the “Tables” section, click on a table to add it to your page. To add more rows or columns, select the table, click on the “...” that appears, and select “Add column” or “Add row.” For a calendar page, add 7 columns and 6 rows. In the top row, double-click each cell and type in the days of the week. You can use a real calendar to double-check where to put the number of each day for each month of the year.
   • To create hyperlinks, click the element you’d like to add a link to. Click the “... More” icon from the floating toolbar and select “Link.” Select the page you want to link to from the “Pages in this document” section in the dropdown menu.
   • Once you’re finished with your planner, save your design as a PDF. In the top right corner, select “Share > Download.” In the “File Type” dropdown, select “PDF Standard.” Then click “Download.” Your design will automatically save to your computer under “Downloads.” Now you’re ready to use your planner!
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   GoodNotes 5: To start, open the app. In the library, tap the box that says “New…” and select “Notebook.” You can change the template by clicking on the “...” in the upper right corner. Select “Change Template” and scroll down to the “Planner” section. You can select any template you’d like to use for the page you’re on.

   • To create another page with the same layout, click the “+” icon in the upper right corner and click on the template you used. You can click on “Before,” “After,” or “Last Page” at the top of this pop-up to select where in your planner you’d like to add the new page.
   • Use the shape tool to create the body of your planner. Select the Shape tool from the toolbar and adjust the control points with your stylus or finger until you create a rectangle that’s slightly smaller than the page. The rectangle becomes your planner’s pages, and the extra space allows you to add tabs and other designs to the outside of your planner.
   • To create calendar pages, use the Pen or Shape tools. From the toolbar, select either tool and drag with your finger or stylus to draw the shape you want. If you draw with the Pen tool, hold your finger or stylus still until the line or shape snaps straight. Create a grid, with 7 columns and 6 rows. The top row can be used to write out the days of the week. Use a real calendar to double-check where to put the number of each day for each month of the year.
   • GoodNotes doesn’t currently have a way to create internal hyperlinks. However, you can click the bookmark icon on the page you’d like to flip to add it as a bookmark. To quickly navigate, click the four-square icon in the upper left corner, select the bookmark icon, and click on your desired page. You can also create your pages and add hyperlinks using Adobe InDesign or Keynote and import them into GoodNotes.
   • After you’re happy with your planner, you can use your design right there in the GoodNotes app. Use your stylus or finger to write down all of your notes, to-do lists, and assignments in your new digital planner.
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Section 3 of 4:

Using Your Planner

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1. 
   Import your finished planner to a note-taking app. Your planner can be used with any note-taking app that supports PDF annotations, such as GoodNotes or OneNote. If you made your planner on a computer, upload it into Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud. You can also email the file to yourself, and download the PDF from your email on your mobile notetaking device.

   • To import your planner into GoodNotes (for iPad), open the GoodNotes app and tap the “+” in the library at the top left corner. Select “Import” and locate where you saved the file. Tap on the file. When it’s finished downloading, then your digital planner will be ready to use! Use a stylus or your finger to draw, add text, and plan your day.
   • To import your planner into Microsoft OneNote (for Windows, Android, and Apple), open the application and click anywhere you want to import a PDF file. Click “Insert > File Attachment,” and in the “Choose a File to Insert” dialogue box, select the PDF you want to import and click “Insert.” Once the file is inserted, double-click the PDF icon that appears. Using OneNote, you can draw, add text, and get organized with your new digital planner!

Section 4 of 4:

Selling Your Planner

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   Etsy: Etsy can be a quick, easy, cost-effective platform to sell your digital planners on. To open an Etsy store for free, go to the website and click “Get Started.” Answer the introductory questions, select your shop’s language, country, and currency, and select “Save and Continue.” Then, choose your shop’s name, click “Save and Continue,” and set up your storefront.

   • Once you list your planner, shoppers will be able to see it immediately. Consider creating a unique product listing photo using Canva to advertise your Etsy product and make it stand out from other products.
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   Shopify: Shopify can be a little more advanced than free sites like Etsy because you can control and customize almost everything, and you connect it directly to your own website. To create a store on Shopify, go to the Shopify website, sign up for an account, and choose your payment plan.

   • Choose an eCommerce platform like WordPress, WooCommerce, or Squarespace and design your site, then add your products.
   • Shopify also allows you to sell your products in multiple currencies, which can be a huge advantage if you’re looking to sell your planner globally.
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