How to use a digital planner in Goodnotes (and other apps)

• A tablet and a stylus – an iPad with an Apple Pencil (or a compatible stylus), an Android tablet with a pen, or an e-ink tablet such as a reMarkable, Kindle Scribe, Supernote or Boox.
• A note-taking app that opens PDFs with links. On iPad, Goodnotes and Notability are the most popular, and apps like Noteshelf, PDF Expert, Flexcil and Xodo work too. On Android, Samsung Notes, Xodo, Noteshelf and Flexcil are common choices. We compare them in the best apps for a digital planner.
• The planner PDF. With our digital planners you download it straight after payment from your order page or the link in your e-mail, and you can download it again from your account whenever you need to.

There are two easy routes. Menu names shift a little between versions, but the idea stays the same:

• From the download: open the PDF on your iPad (from Safari, Mail or the Files app), tap the Share button and choose Goodnotes. Import it as a new document, so it becomes a notebook of its own rather than pages added to another one.
• From inside Goodnotes: tap the button for a new item in your library, choose to import, and pick the PDF from Files (the Downloads folder, if you saved it there).

Large planners have many pages, so give the import a moment. When it opens, give the notebook a name and, if you like, put it in a folder of its own.

In Notability, open the PDF, tap Share and choose Notability, then create a new note from it. You can also import from inside the app, from the Files app or a cloud drive.

Other apps work in much the same way: use Share or Open in… from the file, or the app's own Import button. As long as the app keeps PDF links, the planner works as it should.

This is the part that trips most people up. In a note-taking app, a tap usually means "write". If your pen tool is active, tapping a month tab may just leave a little dot instead of opening the month.

• Switch to reading mode. Goodnotes has a read-only mode, and most apps have a view, hand or reading mode of some kind. In that mode, taps follow links. Tap the tab you want, then switch back to your pen.
• Let your finger navigate. Many apps have a setting so that only the pencil draws while your finger scrolls and taps. With that on, you can often tap links with your finger without leaving writing mode. Look in the app's stylus or pencil settings.
• Don't flatten or re-export while planning. Links belong to the PDF itself. Writing on the pages leaves them intact, but some "flatten" or "export as image" options remove them.

If a link seems dead, first check the mode – that is nearly always the reason.

• Keep a clean copy. Before you start writing, keep the untouched PDF in Files (or re-download it from your account), so you always have a fresh start.
• Navigate with the tabs and index, not by scrolling. A year of daily pages is long. The month tabs, the index and the dates on each calendar get you there far faster.
• Set up a favourite pen and highlighter. Most apps let you save favourite pens and colours. A fine pen for writing and one soft highlighter keep pages tidy.
• Use the page templates and notebooks. Our planners include notebook sections and page templates, all linked from the index, so notes stay in one place instead of spreading across apps. Pages you add yourself work fine, but they won't be linked from the tabs.
• Portrait or landscape, light or dark. You choose the orientation and a light or dark look when you design it. Want both looks? Make a second copy in a different mode.
• Decorate it. Stickers work in every one of these apps – see how to add stickers to a digital planner.
• Back up. Turn on your app's backup or cloud sync, and every so often export a copy of your planner. A tablet can be lost; your year doesn't have to be.

E-ink tablets show far fewer shades than an iPad, so a planner made for an iPad can look faint. With our digital planners you choose your device in the editor, and the planner is made for its screen: always light, with stronger lines and no pale tints, in black & white or in the few colours a colour e-ink screen shows. The links work on all of them. To get the PDF onto your device:

• reMarkable: add it with the reMarkable desktop or mobile app, or upload it through your reMarkable account on the web.
• Kindle Scribe: use Send to Kindle (the app, the website or e-mail) and make sure it stays a PDF rather than being converted.
• Supernote: upload it with the Supernote Partner app or Supernote Cloud into the Document folder.
• Boox: copy it across with BooxDrop or a USB cable and open it in the reader or notes app.

There is more about each device in our guide to digital planners on e-ink tablets.

Our digital planners all include every page – the year, months, weeks and days, trackers, notebooks and templates – and you only pick the layouts, your dates and colours. The difference is the design:

• Molly – tabs for the year, every month and your notebooks along the edge.
• Stacey – side tabs, a planner hub and extra pages each month for highlights, sleep and a bucket list.
• Novonichi digital – a calm, fine-grid page a day with Japanese month tabs (read about the style in our Hobonichi-style planners guide).
• Minimalist – soft neutrals, see-through tabs and a large template library.
• Digital study planner – the Minimalist for a school or university year: timetables, a study cronogram, exams and grades, and a page for every subject (see our study planning guide).
• Digital notebook – the same designs without dates: tabbed notebook sections and page templates.

You can switch between the designs in the editor at any time, and preview every page on a tablet before you buy. Not sure whether you want dates at all? Read dated or undated.