Introduction to Digital Planning
I’m so glad you’re interested in getting started with digital planning! I know it can be overwhelming to figure everything out at first, so I offer an email series that takes you through each element of digital planning step-by-step. I highly suggest signing up for this one week email series so you're delivered a single easy-to-follow step each day. However, if you'd rather see all the details at once, then you can read the full summary in the article below!
Note: this introduction series is intended for iPad or Android tablet users only. If you plan to use your digital files on an eInk tablet (i.e. Remarkable, Boox or Supernote), you'll want to grab the free sample planner and instructions through this link.
Day 1: Choosing your App & Device
What is digital planning?
Digital planning and note taking recreates the experience of using a paper planner or notebook right on your iPad or tablet. We create this experience through the use of a tablet and stylus, PDF markup app and a PDF file with internal hyperlinks (more on all of this in a minute!)
What I love about digital planning
Flexibility and Customization: Working digitally means that you can continue to add new pages, adjust layouts, and move text around whenever needed.
Connecting Toolsets: For most of us, a digital planner or notebook won’t be the single tool that solves all our needs. You’ll still want to use other productivity-focused digital tools like Google Calendar, Trello or Notion. The key is to find the right combination of tools for your specific needs. But what I love about working in a digital planner, is that I have options like copy/paste and handwriting to text conversion that allow me to work between other tools and apps more seamlessly.
Convenience: I used to tote around several paper notebooks at a time and never seemed to have the one I needed when I had to look back or add a new note. Now I know I always have everything at my fingertips on my iPad/tablet or phone.
Organization: It’s so much easier to look back on my past notes with the search feature in my app, and I also love that I can export my notebooks or planners as PDFs to archive them.
Less Waste: I’m a visual learner and I take a ton of notes. I’m the person who always printed off a PDF or slide deck just so I could add my notes and really take in the information. But now, I can save all that paper by working digitally. It may seem like a small impact on an individual level, but transitioning to working paperless can have a huge collective impact!
What you need to get started
1. Tablet & Stylus: I personally recommend using an iPad with an Apple Pencil for digital planning, but you can use an Android tablet and stylus as well!
2. Note Taking App: These apps are designed to allow you to easily import PDF files and add your own notes, text and images. The app is the software component of digital planning and is what makes it possible for you to easily add your own content to the pages of your planner or notebook.
3. Digital Planner File: At a basic level, all digital planners and notebooks are PDF files. These files are created specifically for use on a tablet and have a large number of internal hyperlinks that allow you to quickly jump from one page to another.
Action to take today
STEP 1: Select a note taking (PDF markup) app to use for digital planning. Review an updated list of my top device/app options on this page.
STEP 2: Download your app of choice and start familiarizing yourself with the basics.
RESOURCES:
Using another app? I recommend searching for tutorials on YouTube, there are a ton of helpful videos available for most of the major apps.
Day 2: Digital Planner Basics (+ sample planner!)
As I mentioned in the last step, digital planners and notebooks are typically delivered as PDF files and can be imported directly into your PDF markup app. Many notebooks and planners also come with extras such as decorative covers and “sticker” image collections. We will spend more time talking about these other files soon. But for today, let’s focus on the core planner/notebook file.
All PDF markup apps have an “import” function that allows you to easily import PDF files into the app. Most apps also have a main document library or folder structure that you can use to organize all your imported files.
The great thing about digital files is that there is no limit to the number of times you can import a single file. So in the case of a notebook, you could import the file multiple times to create an entire library of notebooks.
You can download your weekly planner sample file by signing up to access my entire freebie library. Once you access the freebie library, you'll see the option to download the One Week Sample planner (along with a ton of other great resources!). This planner sample includes a weekly planning page, daily pages and a few sample template pages for note taking or more detailed planning.
This sample is just a glimpse of all the layouts and features included in my full planners, but it gives you just what you need to start to learn the basics without getting overwhelmed.
Action to take today
STEP 1: Download the one week sample planner file by signing up to access my free downloads through this link.
STEP 2: Import the planner file into your PDF markup app.
STEP 3: Write in this week’s dates and start experimenting with adding text and images to the pages of your planner
Day 3: Duplicating & Managing Pages
Now that you’ve imported your planner and started familiarizing yourself with the basics of adding text and images, let’s talk about one of the key things that sets digital planning apart from paper planning: the ability to duplicate pages and build out custom sections!
You’ll notice that your one week planner came with some bonus template pages. You can easily duplicate these pages as many times as you want for unlimited planning, note taking or list making.
Tips for using bonus/template pages
Consider the organization of your pages when deciding where to insert/paste your copied bonus pages. In a full planner or large notebook, you may be working in a document with 600+ pages, so you’ll want to take this into consideration and add your new page in a location that will be easy to navigate back to.
For Example:
- If you’re adding in a bonus planning template for a specific week or day, paste the page directly after the weekly/daily page it corresponds to. This way you can easily navigate to the weekly/daily page through the embedded document hyperlinks and then just swipe over to get to that new page you added.
- If your new pages won’t correspond to a specific dated weekly/daily page, you can add them after one of the divider pages I include with my full planners to create a custom section. I show an example of this in the video linked below.
Action to take today
Note: I demonstrate these steps in the Goodnotes app. If you use another app, the steps will likely be similar. You can find instructions for your specific app on YouTube or through a Google search.
STEP 2: Review the bonus templates included in your sample planner. Pick a template you want to use and practice copying/pasting the page within your sample planner
Day 4: Using Digital Stickers
In digital planning, “stickers” are simply PNG images with transparent backgrounds. You can place these images on any page of your planner to add decorative elements, trackers, or labels — just like you would use physical stickers in a paper planner!
In my planning systems, I also include a set of stickers that are designed to fit perfectly over specific sections of the page. I call these “widget stickers” and they allow you to easily customize the layout of your pages to meet your unique planning needs.
Typically, digital stickers are delivered as individual image files in a .zip folder. To use these files, just unzip the .zip folders and save the image files to a cloud storage drive or your device’s camera roll. Place them in your planner individually by inserting each image on the page.
For Goodnotes users, we also have the ability to share sticker collections in a “sticker book”. With these files, you can easily browse the entire sticker collection and select any image using the lasso tool to copy/paste them into your planner.
Action to take today
STEP 1: Watch this video: How to Use Digital Stickers
Note: I demonstrate these steps in the Goodnotes app. If you use another app, the steps will likely be similar. You can find instructions for your specific app on YouTube or through a Google search.
STEP 2: Download the sticker sample files from the "One Week Sample Planner" folder you accessed above through my freebie library.
GoodNotes users: import “Goodnotes Sticker Book” file directly into GoodNotes (without unzipping)
All other app users: save the .png sticker image files to your device’s camera roll or a cloud file sharing drive that you can access within your PDF markup app to insert each image individually
STEP 3: Practice inserting the sticker images, resizing and placing them on the page
Day 5: Adding New Pages & Layouts
One of the reasons I love digital planning is the ability I have to add new pages and customize my page layouts as my needs change throughout the year.
In the last step, I showed you how we can use sticker images to cover up and replace specific areas of a page, but what if you want to import a completely new page layout into your planner? We have a couple different options for adding new pages, and I share all the details in the video linked below.
Action to take today
STEP 1: Review the video from Day 3:
How to Duplicate and Add New Pages
STEP 2: Download the insert page sample files from the "One Week Sample Planner" folder you accessed above through my freebie library. This folder contains both the PDF and PNG file options for a To Do List layout. Save these files to a drive you can access from the app you're using your planner in.
STEP 3: As demonstrated in the video, experiment with adding this new layout as both:
1. A new standalone page in your planner with the PDF file
2. An overlay on the blank page in your planner with the PNG file
Day 6: Choosing a Planner
Now that you've had some experience using the sample planner this week, you should have a better idea of what you'll look for in a full planner when you are ready to make the investment!
Here are a few questions I recommend asking yourself when choosing a planner:
- What page layouts do I need to plan most effectively?
- What style planner do I want? (stylized and colorful or more minimal)
- Which pages are hyperlinked and which will I have to duplicate and insert on my own?
- What "extras" come with this planner? (bonus covers, stickers, etc.)
- Was this planner created by an experienced designer who has optimized the files to perform well? (File size matters! You can ask the designer for details on the file sizes before purchasing)
Laurel Studio Planners
The one week sample planner is just a small preview of my full planners. Laurel Studio planners include an action-oriented and highly customizable planning system that takes you from overwhelm and inaction to complete focus and clarity with the embedded goal setting and planning process!