How to Make a Planner in Google Slides (And Why You’ll Outgrow It)

Google Slides is one of the most popular free tools for making planners — especially among teachers, students, and creators who want a digital planner without spending a dime. It’s cloud-based, works on any device, and the slide-based format translates surprisingly well into planner pages.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to make a planner in Google Slides from scratch — covering page setup, layout design, hyperlinking, styling, and exporting as PDF. We’ll also be honest about where Google Slides hits a wall, and show you a purpose-built alternative that can save hours of manual work.

If you’re comparing tools, check out our 8 Best Planner Maker Tools comparison for a full breakdown. You might also want to see our PowerPoint planner tutorial if you prefer Microsoft’s tool.

Why Make a Planner in Google Slides?

Google Slides wasn’t built for planner design — it’s presentation software. But creators have adopted it for planner-making because it’s 100% free with any Google account, it’s cloud-based so you can access your planner from any device, it supports internal hyperlinks between slides (essential for digital planners), you can export as PDF for use in GoodNotes, Notability, or for printing, and it supports real-time collaboration if you’re designing with a partner or team.

For teachers especially, Google Slides is appealing because it’s already part of the Google Workspace ecosystem they use daily. Many teacher planner templates on Teachers Pay Teachers are built in Google Slides for exactly this reason.

That said, if you plan to make a planner in Google Slides regularly — or want to sell planners on Etsy — you’ll run into significant limitations. More on that after the tutorial.

What You’ll Need

A Google account (free) and a web browser. That’s it. Google Slides works on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. For the best experience, use a laptop or desktop — designing planners on a phone screen is painful in any tool.

Optional but helpful: browse planner template ideas for layout inspiration before you start.

Step 1: Set Up Your Slide Size

Google Slides defaults to a widescreen 16:9 format. You need to change this to a planner-friendly page size.

Go to File > Page setup > Custom. Enter your desired dimensions in inches. The most common planner sizes are US Letter (8.5 × 11 inches), A5 (5.83 × 8.27 inches), A4 (8.27 × 11.69 inches), and for iPad-optimized digital planners, a 4:3 ratio like 10 × 7.5 inches works well for landscape use in GoodNotes.

Click Apply and your slides will resize. Note that Google Slides doesn’t have a portrait/landscape toggle like PowerPoint — you control orientation purely through the dimensions you enter (taller than wide = portrait).

Step 2: Design Your Cover Page

Your first slide is the planner cover. To build it, right-click the slide and choose Change background to set a color or upload an image. Add a title using Insert > Text box — type something like “My 2026 Planner” or “Daily Planner.” Use the toolbar to adjust font, size, color, and alignment.

Add decorative elements with Insert > Shape for borders, lines, or accent blocks. You can also Insert > Image to upload logos, illustrations, or decorative graphics.

Tip: If you plan to sell your planner, keep the cover minimal and on-trend. Check our guide on colorful vs. minimal planner styles for direction.

Step 3: Build Your Planner Page Layouts in Google Slides

Each slide becomes one planner page. You’ll construct layouts using shapes, lines, and text boxes — there are no planner-specific widgets in Google Slides.

For a daily planner page, start with a header text box at the top for the date. Use Insert > Shape > Rectangle to create containers for your schedule section. Add horizontal lines using Insert > Line and place time labels (8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, etc.) in small text boxes next to each line. For a to-do list section, insert small squares as checkboxes and add text box lines next to each one. Add a notes section at the bottom with a rectangle container and horizontal lines inside.

The tedious reality: Every element — every line, every checkbox, every label — must be placed, sized, and aligned manually. Google Slides has no planner widgets, no snap-to-grid for planner layouts, and no way to auto-generate functional elements. For a single daily page, this takes 15–30 minutes. For a full year planner, multiply that across hundreds of pages.

To duplicate a finished page, right-click the slide thumbnail on the left and select Duplicate slide. Update the dates on each new copy.

Step 4: Add Monthly Calendar Pages

Calendars are the most time-consuming part when you make a planner in Google Slides. Use Insert > Table to create a 7-column, 6-row grid. Type day names (Sun–Sat) across the header row, then manually fill in every date for the month.

The catch: You need 12 separate calendar grids — each with different starting days and different numbers of days. Every single date must be typed by hand. When a new year comes around, you redo all 12 calendars from scratch. There’s no auto-populate function in Google Slides.

Compare this with Planify Pro, where you drop in a calendar widget, select the year and month, and it auto-generates with correct dates in seconds.

Step 5: Add Hyperlinks for Digital Planners

If you’re making a digital planner for GoodNotes, Notability, or any PDF reader, you need clickable navigation tabs so users can jump between sections. This is what separates a real digital planner from a static PDF.

Here’s how to hyperlink in Google Slides: create tab shapes using Insert > Shape along the top or side of your slide. Add text labels like “January,” “Notes,” “Goals,” etc. Select a tab shape, then press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) or right-click and choose Link. In the link dialog, choose Slides in this presentation and select the target slide number.

The brutal part: These tabs need to appear and be linked on every single slide. If your planner has 50 pages with 12 monthly tabs plus section tabs, that’s 700+ individual hyperlinks — all placed manually, one at a time. This is by far the most common complaint from creators who make a planner in Google Slides. Many spend more time linking than designing.

Pro tip: Build all your tabs on one slide first, link them, then duplicate that slide as the base for all other pages. This saves time since the tabs and their links carry over to duplicated slides. However, you still need to verify every link after duplicating.

Important: Links only work after exporting as PDF. They don’t function in presentation mode.

Step 6: Style Your Planner

Fonts: Google Slides has access to the full Google Fonts library — hundreds of options. Click any text, then use the font dropdown in the toolbar. Stick to 1–2 fonts for a clean look.

Colors: Select any shape and use the fill bucket icon to change its color. Use the text color tool for font colors. Pick a consistent palette of 2–3 colors and apply it everywhere.

The limitation: Google Slides has no global theme system for planner elements. If you decide to change your accent color from blush to sage, you’ll need to update every shape on every slide individually. There’s no “change all borders” option.

You can use Slide > Edit theme to set a consistent background, but this only affects the slide background — not individual shapes, borders, or text colors.

Step 7: Export Your Google Slides Planner as PDF

Go to File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf). Google Slides will export all slides as pages in a single PDF file with hyperlinks preserved.

Critical: Make sure to download as PDF Document, not “PDF (current slide only).” Also, after downloading, open the PDF in a reader like Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or GoodNotes and test every hyperlink. Broken links are common — especially if you reordered slides after creating the links.

For more on exporting and print considerations, see our step-by-step custom planner guide.

Where Google Slides Falls Short for Planner Making

Google Slides is a genuine option for simple planners — but after building one, most creators feel the friction:

No planner widgets. Every calendar, habit tracker, schedule, and to-do list is built from basic shapes and text boxes. Nothing auto-generates.

Manual calendars. All 12 months typed by hand. Every year means starting over.

Brutal hyperlinking. Hundreds of links placed one at a time. This alone can take 5–10 hours for a full digital planner.

No global styling. Changing a color means updating every shape on every slide manually.

Limited export options. No cropmarks for print, no bleed settings, no optimization for specific planner apps.

No built-in stickers or planner graphics. Everything decorative must be sourced externally, uploaded, and positioned by hand.

Performance issues with large files. Google Slides slows noticeably when files exceed 50–100 slides — a problem for full-year planners with 200+ pages.

These aren’t dealbreakers for a simple personal planner. But if you want to make a planner in Google Slides regularly, build a product line, or sell on Etsy — the manual work becomes unsustainable.

The Faster Alternative: Make a Planner in Planify Pro

Planify Pro was built specifically for planner creation — both printable and digital.

Drag-and-drop widgets replace manual shape building. Calendars, habit trackers, schedules, and notes grids are pre-built — drop them onto your page and customize.

Auto-generated calendars. Select a year and month, choose Sunday or Monday start, and dates populate instantly. Updating to a new year takes clicks, not hours of retyping.

One-click hyperlinking. Planify Pro auto-generates all navigation links across your entire planner — the process that takes 5–10 hours in Google Slides happens in seconds.

Global style controls. Change your accent color, header style, or widget borders across every page with one change.

Print-ready and digital-ready exports. High-res PDFs with optional cropmarks, or hyperlinked PDFs optimized for GoodNotes and Notability.

4,000+ stickers and graphics included in the editor. No external sourcing or uploading needed.

Commercial license available with the Business plan for selling on Etsy, Amazon KDP, or your own shop. Learn more about starting a planner business on Etsy.

Planify Pro is free to sign up and explore — build your planner with every tool before upgrading. PDF export is the only paid feature. See pricing for details.

Google Slides vs. Planify Pro: Quick Comparison

Cost: Google Slides — free. Planify Pro — free to design, $9.99/month for export.

Calendars: Google Slides — manual tables, every date typed by hand. Planify Pro — auto-generated, select year and month.

Widgets: Google Slides — built from shapes and text boxes. Planify Pro — pre-built habit trackers, schedules, notes grids.

Hyperlinking: Google Slides — 500+ manual links for a full planner. Planify Pro — automatic, one click.

Style changes: Google Slides — shape by shape, slide by slide. Planify Pro — global, one click.

Graphics: Google Slides — none included, source externally. Planify Pro — 4,000+ stickers and patterns built in.

Export for print: Google Slides — basic PDF only. Planify Pro — high-res PDF with optional cropmarks.

Export for digital: Google Slides — PDF with links (may break). Planify Pro — optimized for GoodNotes and Notability.

Large planners: Google Slides — slows down past 50–100 slides. Planify Pro — handles 200+ pages smoothly.

Yearly updates: Google Slides — redo all 12 calendar months by hand. Planify Pro — update and re-sync in a few clicks.

When Google Slides Is Still the Right Choice

Google Slides makes sense if you have zero budget and want to try making a planner before investing in any tool, you’re a teacher creating a simple lesson planner or class schedule within the Google Workspace ecosystem, you need to collaborate with someone in real-time on the planner design, or you’re making a basic personal planner with fewer than 20 pages and don’t need complex hyperlinking.

But if you’re spending more time fighting the tool than designing — or you want to sell your planners, create digital planners with navigation, or build a product line — a dedicated planner maker will pay for itself in time saved on your very first project.

Get Started

Option 1: Follow the Google Slides tutorial above to build your planner for free. It’s a great way to learn planner layout fundamentals.

Option 2: Try Planify Pro for free and experience the difference a purpose-built planner maker makes. No credit card required.

Either way, the best planner is the one you actually make. Pick your tool and start building.

For more guidance, check out our step-by-step beginner guide to making a custom planner or browse 3,000+ customizable templates to start faster.