How to Create a Printable Calendar

Printing a calendar from a computer is easy.

You can purchase day planners and many varieties of monthly and weekly calendars at your local office supply store; but making your own printable calendar has the added incentive of customizing to your schedule and your taste. You can create a printable calendar in any of these formats using a variety of programs such as spreadsheet, publishing, and word processors. Using Microsoft Word or a similar word processing program can allow you to create a customized calendar that includes graphics or other creative images similar to a publishing program.

Things You'll Need

• Printer

Instructions

1. Decide what program you want to use to create your printable calendar. Word processing programs allow you to insert tables that you can stretch to calendar size squares much like in spreadsheet programs .

2. Decide what calendar format you need to create. Choose from the calendar templates available, and decide whether you want to schedule by day, week, or month. Splitting daily calendars into hourly times is possible as well. Choose the option that best suits your needs.

3. Open the document program. At the top of the window menu click "File," then scroll down and select "New," "On My Computer," "Other Documents" tab, and then select the "Calendar Wizard" option.

4. Click "Next" on the Calendar Wizard option and choose your calendar's basic layout. Select "Next" and choose the orientation that the calendar will print on the page, either horizontally or vertically. Put the date range for the calendar on the next screen and click "Next" and "Finish."

5. Once the calendar opens, you can format it further by changing the lettering style and placement. You can also insert information on different dates of the calendar which would allow you to color code using different color options for appointments, holidays, birthdays and other events.

6. Click "Insert" on the top menu tab, and select the option for "Pictures." Choose either to browse the software's "Clip Art" or your own picture files. Choose the image you want to insert into the calendar, and add in pictures or borders to decorate the page.

7. Create a background for the entire calendar by selecting "Format" from the menu bar, then choosing the "Background" option. You can add an image to the background of the calendar through "Fill Effects" or "Printed Watermark."

8. Save this version of your calendar which you can easily edit, update and reprint for the next month's calendar.

Tips & Warnings

• Laminate a generic calendar template, and omit the numbers and event information to create a reusable calendar that you can fill in with erasable ink or marker.

• You may resize background images to fit the space on your page.

• Calendar creating software and seasonable clip art are available online, which you can browse for inspiration or use on your own calendar.

• If you chose to include a background image, you may need to enable background printing for the document by selecting "Tools," "Options" and checking the box for the image to print along with the calendar.

References

• Microsoft: Calendar Templates
• Hewlett Packard: Business Templates

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Time and Date: Calendar
• Clipart and Crafts: Seasons