As a planner enthusiast, there was a point where I still felt entirely scattered. Routines weren’t sticking, lists weren’t helping, and every new planning method I tried just made me feel more overwhelmed and behind. 

That’s when I gave iPad digital planning a try, and what I found was more than a system – it was a way to slow down and find calm amidst chaos. If you’ve been curious about the world of digital planning on the iPad and wondered how to introduce it into your productivity system, this post is here to help.

What Is Digital Planning (on iPad)?

If you’re new to digital planning or unsure where to start, it’s helpful to understand what it entails and the various ways people utilize it today. There are numerous digital planning tools available, including calendar and reminder apps on your phone, the Notion workspace, and various planning and productivity apps, such as Todoist, TickTick, and Any.do.

However, when you hear about digital planning – especially on your iPad – most people are referring to using a PDF planner that’s uploaded into a PDF annotation/note-taking app like GoodNotes, Noteful, and Zinnia, to name a few. 

Once you have imported your planner into your chosen app, you can write directly on your iPad using a stylus (like the Apple Pencil) – just like you would in a paper planner. Designers built these note-taking apps to be flexible for every user. You can add digital stickers, rearrange pages, insert photos, and use hyperlinks to jump between sections. It’s the kind of planning that feels familiar if you’ve ever used a paper planner – but with a lot more room to personalize, adjust, and stay organized without carrying anything bulky around.

While some people love bullet journaling or full-on productivity systems like Notion, this style of iPad digital planning is ideal for those who want the traditional aspects and creativity of paper planning, combined with the ease of digital tools.

In this guide, I will specifically focus on digital planning on the iPad through a PDF planner and stylus experience.

iPad Digital Planning for Beginners: How to Start Without Overwhelm

With so much information, apps, files, and videos out there, it can be extremely overwhelming to figure out how to begin digital planning. Digital planning has a learning curve, but my goal is to help you navigate through this and figure it out in a way that doesn’t feel daunting. Let’s set up your digital planner so that you’re one step closer to productivity bliss!

Download Your Planner

Start by downloading your planner (via free downloads, Etsy purchases, or shop websites). Etsy is a very popular marketplace for purchasing digital planners, and you should review their provided listing photos, descriptions, and reviews for more insight. There are endless customization possibilities with digital planning – no two planners are alike. 

Consider the type of planner that suits you and what you need in one. Try to figure out your likes and dislikes first, and ask yourself questions, such as:

• A multitude of templates within the planner, or a more minimal style?
• Portrait or landscape?
• Sunday start or Monday start?
• Dated or undated?
• Single page or double-page spreads?
• Monthly, weekly, and/or daily layouts needed?
• Does it allow for creative expression? (via stickers, digital bullet journals, and more)

Tip: Start with a free, simple planner before investing in a paid version. Get comfortable with the basics and validate if digital planning is something you like and something you can stick to.

I like to organize my planner items in my iCloud drive, separating them by the creator or shop from which I’ve purchased. You can simply keep the downloaded planner in your iPad’s downloads section if that’s easier.

Import Your Planner

Import your planner into your preferred app. Some apps are free, and some you have to pay for (either a one-time payment or a subscription).

With whatever app you choose, ensure that it’s user-friendly, matches your planner style, and most importantly, that it supports hyperlinks and PDF annotations, so that your planner functions properly.

There are two common ways to get your planner into the app you’re using by hitting the “Share” button on your iPad. I am a GoodNotes user, but I believe that the import process is pretty identical no matter what app you are using:

• Option 1: With your planner open on your iPad (e.g., in my iCloud drive), hit the “Share” button and click the option to open it with your PDF app (e.g., “Open in Goodnotes)
  • Import the planner as a new document. If you click to import into the current document, the app will add your planner to whatever current document you’re in, so be careful
• Option 2: Open your PDF app to the main screen and hit the + button (or similar). From there, find and click on your planner so that it uploads for your use

Explore & Utilize Features

Get to know the app and planner features to understand how they work together. Keep in mind that not all apps support the same features, but they usually have the same standard tools. 

Play around with the app’s pen, highlighter, text, eraser, lasso, and image tools. Also, experiment with the planner’s hyperlinks to jump between sections. 

The most important thing to learn, in my opinion, is how to use read-only mode, so that you can utilize your app’s tools or simply scroll through and click on your planner without any issues.

Tip: Start with the digital planning basics, and then you can use more advanced tools as you become more comfortable with them. Following this process can significantly reduce overwhelm and burnout with learning all there is to digital planning.

Once you’ve got the basics down, you may wonder how all this comes together in everyday life. Here’s a look at how I use digital planning to stay organized and grounded.

How I Use My iPad Planner to Stay Grounded

Planning will look different for everyone, but here’s how I use my iPad planner across yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily layers without getting overwhelmed. I’ve been planning since middle school, so it’s second nature to me. I know what’s mandatory for me to include in my planner and where to put it.

My digital planning system moves from macro to micro. I start with a broad yearly vision, zoom into a monthly roadmap, break that down into weekly plans, and finally focus on daily tasks. It’s like guiding ideas through a funnel – from big picture to bite-sized.

Yearly Vision

I’m a dated planner girl, so every year, I look forward to getting a new planner set up on my iPad. The one page that is non-negotiable for me to set up in any planner regarding the year ahead is a Year at a Glance page.

I use this page as a sort of bird’s-eye view for those dates that remain consistent year after year. It helps me stay on track of birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, bill due dates, subscription renewal days, and more.

I check this page each month when planning, but I prefer to add new events directly to my phone calendar as they arise.

Monthly Roadmap

Something I’ve learned about myself as a planner is that I need a full calendar view of my month so that I can see everything on my plate at once. My monthly calendar reminds me of what’s going on so that my brain doesn’t have to remember it all.

The monthly is where I make note of all the important dates, holidays, appointments, bills, reminders, and more – but it’s also where I start to have a lot of fun with the customization portion of digital planning on the iPad. 

More often than not, I follow a monthly theme, which likely stems from my days using a bullet journal. With the use of the tools within GoodNotes, such as pen and highlighter options, as well as a plethora of digital stickers, setting up my monthly pages always makes me look forward to opening my digital planner every day. 

My planner/planner style can change, but I usually stick to these pages every month:

• Cover/divider page
• Multiple calendars
• “Photo dump” page
• Goals and notes
• To-do list
• Trackers
• Weekly and/or daily spreads

Weekly Plans

When planning my weeks, I like to plan at the start of my week on Sundays. Sundays are like my mental reset days, but you can set your weekly plans on whatever day works best for you.

Each week, I review my goals, monthly to-do list, and progress from the previous week to plan accordingly for the new week. 

My weekly pages are set up more like a dashboard, focusing solely on the week, where I get a more granular view compared to the monthly pages. However, they are still full of details, so I don’t have to use daily planner pages unless I need to.

My current digital planner is more of a digital bullet journal style, so I have more flexibility here in how I choose to set up my week, compared to other pre-designed planners. 

My weekly page layouts may change each week, but they will always contain:

• To-do list – With this, I separate my top three priorities/non-negotiables, followed by a simple to-do list for everything else I’d like to get done that week
• Daily boxes – Here, I’ll copy events, bills due, birthdays, and other relevant information from my monthly calendar and paste them with the corresponding dates. I also track the top three items that I’d like to get done that day. I used to fill my days with more than three tasks, but the more I plan, the more I realize that I need to be realistic about what needs to be done and reduce planner overwhelm.

My goal with my weekly pages is that, should I choose not to use a daily page on any given day, I will still be aware of the main things that are happening and what I need to complete.

Some other items I may add, depending on my mood, include a habit tracker, a meal planning section, my faith plans, or a “Next Week” section to see what’s on the agenda and prepare if needed.

Daily Tasks

My daily pages are where I am the most flexible in my planning routine. Not every day of my life calls for me to use a daily page. 

If I have a hectic day where I need to time-block to stay afloat, if my to-do list keeps growing, or even if I feel like I’d enjoy tracking my day a little more, that’s when I’ll use a daily page.

Where my daily page and weekly pages differ is just in the details. On a daily page in my planner, I may choose to track the weather, my sleep quality, water intake, mood, or jot down some notes and thoughts specific to the day. If I need to break down a busy day, I’ll include a schedule for time-blocking, so I know what needs to happen and when.

With every page in my planner, my goal is to focus on rhythm over productivity, and I give myself grace if a page doesn’t get used or if a day doesn’t go as planned. 

That’s the power of digital planning to me – I don’t feel like I’m wasting money if I miss planning for a day, a week, or even a month (it’s happened before). I also know and appreciate that I can switch up my layout if something isn’t working for me. 

What I enjoy most of all is getting creative with digital stickers, fonts, handwriting, doodles, and colors. I enjoy having a planner I like to look at, which ultimately keeps me coming back to plan in it.

Final Thoughts: Find Calm, Not Perfection

iPad digital planning has brought calm to my chaos, and it can do the same for you. The process of learning how to digital plan can feel a bit confusing with so much to learn in the beginning, but don’t forget to enjoy the process along this new journey.

It’s not about creating the perfect system – it’s about building one that truly fits you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start small and give yourself room to explore at a pace that works for you.

Closing Notes:

• If you have any questions about using your specific planner or need troubleshooting assistance, please contact the planner’s creator.
• Many creators also have communities, via Facebook groups or other avenues, where you can ask questions and get inspiration from other people using the same planner as you. Along with those communities, there are also numerous Facebook social groups where people gather to discuss all things digital planning, not just specific to one planner.
• Feel free to use YouTube and Pinterest to your heart’s content. I love watching “plan with me” videos on YouTube for ideas and tips.

You’re not alone in this journey. The digital planning community is full of encouragement, inspiration, and support. Your new routine is just a few taps away!

FAQs:

(Click each numbered question below to reveal and hide the response.)

1. Do I have to use an iPad and Apple Pencil to plan digitally?

You don’t have to have those items, but they are helpful. There are also other tablets, such as Samsung tablets and the Remarkable. 

This decision comes down to preference and lifestyle. With the iPad, you can use it for more than just planning; it’s also suitable for web browsing, gaming, streaming videos, creating, and reading – and they come in multiple sizes, if portability is a factor in your decision-making process. Take some time to reflect on what you need in this current stage of your life.

I currently use my iPad Pro 12.9”, Apple Pencil 2nd generation, the Goodnotes app, and a planner from KDigitalStudio (whose products I’ve used for over 3 years). These products, along with the addition of a matte screen protector and Apple Pencil sleeve, have significantly enhanced my digital planning experience. As a beginner to digital planning, though, just start with the basics – you don’t need the latest gadgets to get the job done.

3. Are there any advantages to using a digital planner over a paper one?

Here are the pros and cons of both digital planners and physical planners, and I’ve had experience with both. Ultimately, it depends on what works best for you, not anyone else. 

Check out this chart for a comparison of paper planning vs. iPad digital planning:

Paper Planning	iPad Digital Planning
Requires a new planner each year	Reusable if using undated or re-importing PDF templates
Can be bulky to carry around	Lightweight, everything stores on your device
Mistakes are hard to fix (e.g., white-out).	Easily erase, move, resize, or undo with tools
Limited customization unless DIY	Highly customizable: fonts, colors, stickers, templates
Uses physical supplies (e.g., pens, stickers).	Digital tools and elements built into the app
No hyperlink navigation	Hyperlinked tabs and pages for easy navigation
Takes up physical storage space	All files are stored digitally or in the cloud
Tactile and low-distraction	May require screen discipline or “Do Not Disturb” settings