Adding Dates AUTOMATICALLY To Your Planner In Indesign - With 3 Examples Shown Step By Step!

[@traciseville]

this is so amazing!!! thank you for your knowledge and for sharing

[@Meli-vi4oe]

Thank you Heather ! The video is very well explained ! I finally found a way to not write all the dates on my weekly planner ! It is by far the best video on automatic numbering ! Thanks a lot !

[@pseudodesigner1977]

I was going to fast and it wasn't working... and so I waited and listened and I got it right. THANK YOU. Saved me a bunch of time in the long run.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

You are so welcome! Glad it helped

[@sarap5478]

This is so helpful and well explained! Thank you, it will be easier to create my planners now.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Thank you so much 😊

[@9OClockRant]

I’m a fairly experienced InDesign user, but a little stumbled with this calendar business. I just want to make a custom one for my wife. You enlightened me where I got wrong. Thank you.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

I am glad to help

[@Kankou23]

Thank you for another awesome tutorial!

[@jor771572]

Thank you, Heather for such a great tutorial! I was able to successfully complete my planner inserts without any difficulties. At the beginning a little bit overwhelmed, but the results are amazing.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

That is awesome. I am so glad it was helpful

[@arwinv9816]

Thank you very much, rare and valuable information!

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

You are so welcome!

[@khoanguyen-pc7fg]

Hi Heather, I am really thankful to have your videos as my guidance. I do have questions regarding the daily and weekly spread since I am doing both in one planner. When I selected the data source for the weekly, it was a warning that it may make the inserted data fields invalid because I already have my daily spread established. Also, is there a way for me to insert the weekly spread one row at a time instead of it being inserted all the rows at once? Thank you Heather

[@Carl-ErikBorg]

Hi, Thank you for very good videos. I am struggling to get the week and dates running correctly. I have 2 parent pages 1. horizontal weekly calendar on the left side on the spread and notes todo list on the right side of the spread. 2. same as the first parent page, but calender on the right side and notes, todo list on left side of the spread. Do I have to do 2 different data merge files? or ??. Thank you :)

[@ImpresosdelNorte]

Thank you so much, none of this methods worked for me actually because my client wanted weekly pages with a diferent design every month 😖 but I figured out a way thanks to you and that spreadsheet was so helpful too

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Awesome. I am glad it was able to help in some way at least 😀

[@oliviarose6444]

Thank you. Well taught.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Thank you so much ☺

[@ansel6605]

Brilliant, this helped so much. Thanks!

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Glad it helped!

[@_abbadoo_]

do you have any tips and tricks for mass hyperlinking (like a monthly calendar linked to corresponding 31 daily pages) or is it just a big manual job?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Sorry to say it is a very manual job. However I do have a few times that can make it a bit easier, like adding frame boxes first, making sure you have a hyperlink shortcut added to indesign, and creating a spreadsheet of the page numbers so you can just go through and quickly add them without jumping back and forth. I will be showing all of these in a video coming out this week. It is already recorded. I just need to edit and post it 😁

[@dilara8320]

thank you so much Heather its a great tutorial! I thought I finished it successfully but now I have colorful square brackets with every number that I use data merge. Can you please help me about it?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

I apologize but I have never gotten that before, so I would not be able to tell you why that would happen. Have you tried to redo it? Were you ever able to figure it out?

[@Avenue16]

I love using Data Merge! For my calendar I want to do a weekly spread as well as a month spread. Wondering how to utilize the csv to do both.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Unfortunately I have not figured out a way to do that to where it would be worth the effort. But if anyone else reading this comment has an idea of how it can be done, I would love to give it a try and see if I can make it work!!

[@Avenue16]

@@HeatherMichelleCo Thank you so much for the reply! I'm thinking the workaround is to create separate Indesign files. Then export my pdf. Then take the two pdfs and merge them and then just move the pages in the order that I need lol.

[@octane8k]

​​@@Avenue16Or create different indesign dicuments and merge with book feature in indesign so you create the pdf merged as not to lose the hyperlinks of different documents.

[@victorimeh6861]

Thank you for this Heather. Please I need help inserting the images into excel. I can't rename my image header column to be @image and the image path are seen as text file in indesign. Any idea how to fix this?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

He there. Would you be able to tell me why you are not able to rename the column? If it is my download, you will have to save it to your device before you can make changes. As far as I know, the header will have to say @image for it to work. I am not aware of any work around. It is how the adobe program knows what it is. You may be able to contact adobe support

[@Narmada2k]

You are amazing thank u so much for this video

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

You are very welcome 😁

[@beyzanursn]

Hello, this is amazing. But I have a question. In expamle 1 (23:44), how can I add dates both pages? I want the dates I transferred from Excel to flow on two pages side by side. I'm trying to make a diary with a date on every page... I couldn't fine any solution.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Hi there. Was the second example (31:25) not they type of example you were looking for? It has dates on two pages of the same spread. It sounds like that is what you are wanting to do.

[@lunaeiraes5930]

Thank you so much, your explanation and file made it very easy! I used data merge to do monthly calendars some years ago, but I can't remember how I did it (lost the file 😭) nor I can make it work now. Do you have any idea by chance?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

The monthly calendar should work the same way. You should have all of the dates on one row on the spreadsheet and then the new month dates on the second row. You can have a column for the month and then you would need a separate column for each box on the calendar. For example, You could have M1, T1, W1... and the M2, T2, W2... for week two of the calendar as column headings. The would need to all be on the same row. This sounds like a good one for me to make a video for. I will add it to the list, but for know, I hope this makes sense.

[@lunaeiraes5930]

@@HeatherMichelleCo Thanks! I'll try it out

[@martinnahtigal]

I tried every possible solution but after I export the txt. exactly like you in the video, then Indesign shows only the name of the day without the date. Do you have any suggestions?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Hi there! This is so hard to answer without seeing the spreadsheet. Do you have the name of the day and the date in two different columns? If they are all in one column, have you tried to increase you text box in Indesign? If the text is too large to appear in the text box, then you would need to increase the size. If you see a small red square with a red plus sign in the middle on the right side of the box, then that would indicate that text is extending farther than the box than what is shown.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

@artsypaperieshoppe thank you so much

[@shadabsirkhot2323]

Amazing Amazing Amazing

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

❤️

[@sinnwunder1169]

Hi Heather, thanks a lot for your very interesting Videos! My question is: will the Excel Spreadsheet also work when I want to include holidays?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Yes it will. You can just add a column title holidays and then add in the holiday names. Whenever you have a blank, indesign will just add nothing. If you are wanting to do this to one with multiple days on a page or spread, you will probably need to add an extra column for each day of the week so that you can make sure that the holiday is on the correct day. Then you can add a placeholder for each day of the week for the holiday that will only be show up if you have something on the spreadsheet. So you might have Column titles "Monday Date, Monday Holiday, Tuesday Date, Tuesday Holiday, so on and so forth. I hope that helps!

[@BINEHAMDESIGN]

Do your formulas take into account leap years?

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Yes, the formula will take into account the leap year, but if you want to check it to make sure, then just enter 2024 for the year. This year is a leap year. 😉

[@raidrluvrf18]

Hello Heather. First let me say thank for such an indepth tut. However when I try to delete the 2024 date, I get an error. I've tried many solutions, no joy. Any suggestions, please.

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

If you are needed to save it as a txt file, go to 59:02 in the video and I explain the workaround for that error. Have you tried that? I explain how to save as a .csv first, delete the year and then save as .txt. That was the only way I was able to get it to work. Hope that helps

[@raidrluvrf18]

@@HeatherMichelleCo Thank you. I'll try that.

[@Jess-Gonzales]

So i am trying to make a portrait layout of example 2. I successfully linked each day, previewed it made sure I had 1 weekly page as a reg page (not parent) went back to select my parent weekly and started merging. After my merging process it not only made the rest of my weeks successfully but it jumped up my file to 1k pages and makes multiple copies of all my other pages, monthly, index, ect. I don't understand what am I doing wrong???

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

All other pages need to be added after the merge. Only add the pages to the original document that you need the dates on. Then in the merged document, that is where you would continue creating your planner and making the rest of your planner. This is why I create a parent for everything first, so that I can easy go back and add the other pages in the merged document. Hope that helps

[@macham7565]

Do you have any tips for digital planner 2400+ page auto and fast link

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

I wish I did. I have yet to find a quicker way to do it than manual. One thing that I can say is that if you create the first planner and then create your new planners from that one, you can create a short cut for editing the links which will be quicker than adding them all again. But it is still a time consuming process.

[@tanithjohannes1618]

Hi Please help I am in desperation when I download the Excel spread Sheet and try and change the date to 2025 it does not work for me help Please

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

You need to save it to your computer or Google sheets. You will not be able to edit my document.

[@tanithjohannes1618]

@@HeatherMichelleCo If I open it in Google Docs it does not work or Can you maybe send me a sheet for 2025 till I get this document to work lol

[@tanithjohannes1618]

I finally got it to work you need to use Excell on Edge to so this but it is sorted

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

@@tanithjohannes1618 I am sorry. I do not know why it is not working. It is working on mine. The only thing I can think is that if you have not downloaded and saved it, it will not allow you to make changes. That being said, I have just updated the file with the 2025 dates. See if you can just download it again and let me know if it works

[@tanithjohannes1618]

@HeatherMichelleCo After a great struggle I figured it out but thank you so.much

[@jor771572]

SOS HELP!!! Where is the Spreadsheet for the last example. I cannot see it in your google drive anywhere. :(

[@HeatherMichelleCo]

Hey there. There is only one spreadsheet with a monday and sunday start option. I do show how to make the spreadsheet in the video so that everyone can make a spreadsheet that fits their specific means.

[@BINEHAMDESIGN]

I need some help. Cani email you?