What Is a Digital Planner and How Does It Work?

With life becoming more and more hectic and stressful everyday, having a planner has become necessary rather than just being helpful.

With so many appointments, tasks, deadlines, and everything else that life throws your way, keeping it all in your head just doesn’t work.

That’s where a planner helps you stay organized, show up prepared, and actually make progress on your goals.

So many of us already use a planner or a journal, or we at least buy one every year or so as part of either New Year’s resolution or just because the planner looked pretty. And most of the time they either get lost or they just sit on a shelf collecting dust.

The answer to this problem is a digital planner or a daily digital planner because it lets you track every appointment, to-do, and things that are important to you in one tidy place you’ll never misplace.   

Also, we’re living in a time where being environment-friendly and going paperless is not just a trend, but a real priority. 

Digital planners and journals give you all the classic planning perks without using a single sheet of paper. 

Let’s understand in detail what is a digital planner and how does it work. I will also share some of the best digital planners and journals for iPad or any other tablet, that will help you take control of your lives.  

What is a Digital Planner?

As the name suggests, a digital planner is simply the digital version of your traditional paper planner. It is generally a hyperlinked PDF that you can import in any PDF annotation app like Goodnotes or Notability. 

You can actually write on them like you do on a paper planner so they basically mimic the experience of your traditional planner and journals. 

Since this is a digital planner, it has so many benefits over a traditional planner as you can imagine. 

You can ease and re-write if you made a mistake, you can use different colors, stickers, images, etc. We’ll talk about the benefits more in detail later, first let’s understand how does a digital planner work. 

How Does a Digital Planner Work?

You don’t have to be a tech-savvy person to use a digital planner, and it’s so much easier than you might think. 

From wherever you purchase the digital planner of your choice, you’ll eventually receive a PDF file.

To use that PDF file as a planner, you’ll have to download a PDF annotation app like Goodnotes or Notability. 

Once you have downloaded the app, you can sign up and import your PDF file into it. 

Once your PDF file is successfully imported, you can use it in two different modes:

• View: This is where you can use the hyperlinks and navigate through your planner. You don’t have to manually flip through the pages like you would in a physical planner, just use the hyperlinks to jump directly to the page of your choice.
  
  
• Edit: This is where you can write on the different pages. There are so many tools available inside the app that will assist you in writing and decorating your daily planner pages. 

What Are the Benefits of a Digital Planner?

There are some obvious benefits of a digital planner that I’m sure you would have already guessed by now, but there are some that you might be surprised to hear about. Let’s talk about them one by one. 

1. All Your Planners in One Place

Let’s say you are using a meal planner for planning your meals and tracking your recipes, a reading planner for planning and journaling about the books you read, and a daily planner to track and organize your life. 

Now instead of maintaining separate physical planners for each of them, you can have them as different PDFs in one place, either in Goodnotes, Notability, or any other PDF annotation app you choose to go with.

You just open your iPad and choose which planner you want to use.

2. Edit Without the Mess

Let’s say you tried a recipe that didn’t work so well, or you tweaked some ingredients and want to change your recipe in your meal planner, you can’t erase in your physical planner but you can do so in your digital meal planner.

Similarly, you can update your book review in your reading planner and journal. 

3. Use it Across Devices

This one might be surprising for you. You have your meals planned for the family get-together and now you’re going to the farmer’s market or a supermart for grocery shopping, you can easily open your meal planner on your phone and see your grocery list. 

You can go through your recipes and see if you would be needing anything else. No need to maintain separate grocery lists. 

This is just an example for a meal planner but think about all the other planners and the ease of use that comes with it. 

4. Eco-Friendly and Clutter-Free

As we already talked about, a digital planner is completely paper-free which is better for the planet and better for your shelf-space. 

5. Looks Good, Feels Better

You can customize your digital planner the way you want. You can use different covers, use different colors and different types of pens, stickers, and so much more. 

You don’t have to carry 10 different things every time you sit with your planner. 

6. You Can Personalize As Per Your Needs

A digital planner gives you a lot of freedom. If you want to add some extra pages or rearrange certain pages, you can do all that with just a few taps.

What Are the Different Types of Digital Planners and Journals?

There are so many different types of digital planners and journals available in the market, but here are a different types you can choose from:

1. Meal Planner and Recipe Tracker

If you’re someone who likes to plan meals in advance or wants to stop guessing what to cook every day, this one’s for you. 

You can map out your weekly meals, keep track of grocery lists, and save your go-to recipes all in one spot.

 

2. Reading Journal and Book Tracker

This one’s made for book lovers. You can track what you’re reading, rate books, jot down your thoughts, and see how many books you’ve finished over the year.

3. Daily Planner

This is your everyday go-to. You can plan your schedule, list out your to-dos, set priorities, and stay organized throughout the day.

4. Morning Journal

A morning journal is to help you start your day in an intentional manner. It is a place to set your intentions, write down what you're grateful for, and give your mind a moment of calm before the chaos begins.

5. Night Journal

Helps you slow down and reflect. You can brain dump your thoughts, process your day, and basically give yourself permission to let go of whatever’s been on your mind.

6. Health and Wellness Journal

This one’s great if you're trying to build better habits or just check in with how you're feeling. You can track your workouts, sleep, water intake, energy, mood, etc. It’s a really great way to stay connected to yourself.

7. Student Planner and Notebook

Made for school, college, or studying in general. You can plan assignments, manage your schedule, and take digital notes without carrying around heavy notebooks.

How To Use a Digital Planner on Android?

You don’t have to worry even if you're using an Android tablet, because digital planners work just as well on Android as they do on an iPad. 

Even if you have an android tablet, you can still download all these PDF annotation apps that are available on the Play Store.

Once you've downloaded the app, you simply import your digital planner or journal into it. That’s pretty much it. You’re all set.

All you really need is an Android tablet and a stylus or digital pencil. Something you can actually write with. After that, it works exactly the same as it would on an iPad. 

How to Use a Digital Planner on a Laptop?

Yes, you can use a digital planner on your laptop too. It just works a little differently.

Since these planners are interactive PDFs, you’ll need a PDF annotation app that’s compatible with your laptop.

But what you need to understand is that laptops aren’t really built for handwriting. So if you want to actually write on your planner pages, you’ll need to use a mouse, a trackpad, a graphic tablet, or a touchscreen laptop with a stylus like the Surface Pen. 

You can technically use your finger, but that’s usually not the most comfortable option.

The only thing you need to keep in mind is that in order to write on it, you’ll have to either use a mouse, a graphic tablet, or a microsoft surface pen. You can even use your fingers to interact and write but that might not be the best idea.

So yes, it works on a laptop, but tablets are just more natural for this kind of planning. If you're serious about using a digital planner every day, using it on an iPad or Android tablet with a stylus gives you the smoothest experience.

Wrapping Up – What Is a Digital Planner and How Does It Work?

At the end of the day, a planner isn’t just a place to write things down. It’s a tool that each one of us needs in today’s world, to organize our lives. 

More than that, it helps you understand the things that matter most in your life, what you’re working towards, and how far you’ve come. 

And in a world where we’re all trying to be a little more mindful about how we treat the planet, choosing a digital planner is a small but meaningful step. 

It’s an eco-friendly alternative to traditional paper planners with no waste and no clutter.

I hope this blog helped you understand what digital planners are, how they work, and the different types of digital planners you can explore depending on what you need right now. 

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you. Namaste!