Calendar shortcuts are quick links built into your digital planner that help you add events to your calendar app faster.
They are small little buttons on every Month, Week, and Daily view. When you tap these calendar shortcuts, it opens a calendar event or reminder screen with the date pre-filled. From there, you can finish adding the details, choose your time, set alerts, and save it to your calendar.
Calendar shortcuts are not the same as calendar syncing. Your planner is still a PDF, so it does not automatically sync back and forth with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or any other calendar app. If you write something in your planner, it will not automatically appear on your calendar. And if you add something to your calendar, it will not automatically appear inside your planner.
These buttons are completely optional, since some customers prefer a cleaner planner layout without extra shortcuts throughout. If you’d like to use them, simply enable Calendar Shortcuts when building your planner in the Planner Builder.
Calendar Shortcuts on Samsung Tablets
On Samsung tablets, The Elegant Planner uses Google Calendar shortcuts.
This means that when you tap the little G icon inside inside your planner, it will open Google Calendar so you can create a new event. From there, you can add the event title, time, date, location, reminders, and any other details you need.
Before using the shortcuts, make sure you are signed into the Google account where you want your events to be saved.
Calendar Shortcuts on iPads
If you’re using your planner on an iPad, you can use Google Calendar links and/or Apple Calendar + Reminders shortcuts. Google Calendar links are the simplest option: they open a new event in your browser and prefill the date for you. Just make sure you’re signed into your Google account in your default browser. If you’d like to use Apple Calendar or Reminders, you’ll need to install the shortcut first.
These shortcuts use the Apple Shortcuts app, which comes pre-installed on most iPads. If you do not see it on your device, you can download the Shortcuts app from the App Store.
The shortcut installation process only needs to be done once. After the shortcuts are installed, you can use them from inside your planner whenever you want to quickly add something to Apple Calendar or Apple Reminders.
With the Shortcut installed, on any daily, weekly, or monthly page, tap the calendar button to create an event—Apple Calendar events will open a pop-up with the date pre-filled. You can also set reminders by tapping the bell icon, which will prompt a pop-up to add a reminder to your Apple Reminders app.
Shortcut Installation
On your iPad, be sure you have the Shortcuts, Apple Calendar, and Apple Reminders apps installed before setup. Tap the buttons below to open the shortcuts and install them.
Apple Calendar Shortcut (For Goodnotes Users)
Apple Reminders Shortcut (For Goodnotes Users)
Apple Calendar Shortcut (For Notability Users)
Apple Reminders Shortcut (For Notability Users)
Installation is very simple:
- Tap the shortcut installation link.
- The Shortcuts app will open.
- Review the shortcut details.
- Tap Add Shortcut.
- Once added, the shortcut will appear in your Shortcuts app.
- Return to your planner. When you tap an Apple Calendar shortcut inside the planner, it will run the shortcut and help you create a new calendar event.
Tap these icons in the top right of your Monthly Calendar pages next to the template library icons:
Look for these icons on the weekly & daily pages:
Please note: When using Apple shortcuts, a small notification banner may pop up each time the shortcut runs. This is a normal part of how Apple Shortcuts works and does not mean anything is wrong. Once the shortcut finishes running, you can continue adding your event or reminder as usual.
