Wondering what’s the easiest way to create a digital planner? Let me share the fastest way to create a digital planner completely for free. You can most definitely create an eye-catching digital planner on Canva and I’ll tell you how to do just that in less than 10 minutes!
On top of that, I will share how you can sell the planner on Etsy. Step-by-step guide that will take you from 0 to 100 sales in no time!
How Can I Make My Own Digital Planner?
A digital planner is simply a PDF document with active links. You can create these links by using InDesign, Google Slides or Keynote.
You can also make your own digital planner by simply using Canva. Most people don’t want to buy expensive software just for one planner. However, if you do decide that you want to create planners for a living, Indesign might be your best choice. It has a steeper learning curve but once you learn it, Indesign does make it easier for you to create future planners.
Can I Make a Digital Planner on Canva?
You can most definitely make a digital planner on Canva. It’s quick. It’s easy. And most importantly it’s 100% customizable to your own personal needs.
Canva digital planner design doesn’t have to take days! Creating a digital planner doesn’t have to take hours and hours, you can easily do it quickly. On top of that, you can design different digital planners so that they would fit all of your different needs. Or you could choose the planner depending on your mood. Sometimes you’ll want boho style, sometimes you’ll prefer minimal style digital planners.
I’ve created a quick tutorial which will show you how to create a digital planner on Canva in under 10 minutes! You can check it out here:
If you don’t feel like watching a video, let me share a quick written tutorial on how you can create a digital planner on Canva:
1. What’s the right digital planner size?
Let’s say that you’re creating a digital planner for Goodnotes. These are the best dimensions for your planner:
455.04 x 588.45 (pixels)
OR
6.32″ x 8.17″ (inches)
However, you can also simply use A4 format.
2. How to Create a Planner Cover
Let’s first create a cover image on Canva will be your cover image. It doesn’t really matter, you can also create multiple ones and just add them as images later. However, just choose one for now. It will be the first page of your digital planner.
3. How to Create an Index page for Digital planner?
Right after the cover page your planner will have an index page. This is the page where you put all the main links so it’s easy to navigate for people.
The planner bellow isn’t the most typical. Basically all the hyperlinks are like book notes on the right. Also, you can click the pen and sticky notes which will all bring you to different planner pages.
Some people prefer to create clickable tabs instead:
You can either write down the names of the months, numbers or add icons on the tabs.
4. How to make the tabs clickable?
You can easily add hyperlinks to the tabs by simply selecting the object and clicking on the link icon. Then you either link the pages inside the planner or add an external hyperlink.
That’s basically it! After you duplicate all the necessary pages, you’re done. But what if you don’t want to duplicate each page and add links manually?
Well, Canva is great for the aesthetics. But it’s better to create digital links elsewhere. I’d personally just download all the images and add the links either in Google Slides, Keynote or InDesign.
The reason why I’d do that is very simple: sometimes the links on Canva just don’t work. Also, all of these other programs allow you to create master slides. With master slides there’s less manual work because you can choose certain areas that are going to be repeated throughout the whole planner.
Canva Links Not Working?
Once you export the planner, make sure that you choose PDF standard. Otherwise the hyperlinks may not work. Also, Canva states that if you add text effects to your text that can also impair the possibility of the links working.
However, I’ve definitely seen cases when the links just don’t work. That’s why I think Canva is a great tool for the looks of your planner. But you should definitely use other programs to add the hyperlinks.
I don’t know the exact reason why that happens but I do have a simple solution that could help you fix that. You can find it in this video:
Do I Need to Pay for Canva to Create Digital Planners?
It’s not necessary. Most of the features are free. Although the paid Canva version does have advantages, e.g. different graphic assets that you can use.
How Do You Make a Digital Planner to Sell?
One of the things that most people don’t want to do is to create a detailed dated planner. I mean, it is quite time consuming when you need to create 300+ different pages. You could also create a more simple planner that only has the months linked (12+ different pages). However, in that case you really need to think about the offering. Will your planner have hand drawn stickers? Additional pages? Or a realistic look?
Before you decide on what kind of planner you want to create, check out existing Etsy planners. If you are a new Etsy shop owner, don’t go for the most popular one. You will need to find a more niche planner so that the competition isn’t as high.
Also, keep in mind that creating a planner is just one part of the job. You’ll need to think how you’ll advertise it as well. I do have a helpful video about how to get the first sales on Etsy as well:
I hope that this article has been helpful to you! Let me know if you have any questions about the digital planning world.
Also, if you are looking for a digital planner yourself, checkout my latest digital planners here:
