How to use your iPad as a digital planner
Have you heard of digital planning but wondered what it was or how to get started?
Think of your favorite paper planner. Now imagine if you could use that on your iPad, iPhone, or Android tablet with the help of an annotated hyperlink app such as GoodNotes, Noteshelf, Xodo, and more.
Does that sound exciting? If so, you're in luck. You have just discovered digital planning!
What is a digital planner?
A digital planner is a hyperlinked pdf document that can replace your paper planner. It works in the same way as a paper planner-a place to jot down appointments, thoughts, ideas...etc. But let's get one thing out of the way: like a paper planner, a digital planner DOES NOT sync to your google calendar.
Yep, that's right! You will still need to manually enter appointments into your calendar.
How does a digital planner work?
You will need a few things to get started with a digital planner. A tablet, a stylus, an annotation app that supports hyperlinks, and a pdf planner.Currently, the digital planning community recommends an iPad, an Apple Pencil, and the GoodNotes App. This is also what I currently use for my planning setup. All of my products are tested to be lag-free within GoodNotes with my iPad Pro.
Before you go ahead and purchase those highly expensive items give it a try with what you have. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. While most planners are tested for GoodNotes, the document is created the same regardless of the annotation app you choose to use. So do not stress if you do not have an iPad. (Please note: PDF planners DO NOT WORK WITH ONENOTE)
I have a free compatibility notebook linked here. Simply download this notebook. If the hyperlinks work on the tablet and app you choose you are set for digital planning.
Once you have all of the items for planning simply upload the pdf document into the app of your choice. I recommend saving a copy of the pdf before uploading incase you need to access a fresh copy in the future.
If you are using GoodNotes there is one hidden thing you need to do to use your hyperlinks (if only you know how long it took me to figure this out)
In the upper right-hand corner make sure the pencil with the line is clicked to be a pencil with a circle. from here you can click away but you can not write. To start writing click again on that pencil and start planning!
In a nutshell-that is digital planning.
