
So you’ve heard about the increasingly popular digital planners, and you’re wondering if you should really make the switch?
Paper planners and journals have long been an effective way to manage time, accomplish tasks and help keep your life organized. However, technology has become so prevalent in our lives that for most of us, it seems more convenient to get things done on a device.
But what if you can have the best of both worlds?
And that’s where digital planners come in.
Digital planners are basically re-created versions of traditional pen-to-paper planners, but are used on an iPad or tablet. They are usually PDF, JPEG or GoodNotes interactive files which are imported to a note-taking or PDF annotation app (such as GoodNotes or Notability). An Apple Pencil or stylus is used to write on the digital planner so it can mimic the experience of writing on a traditional paper planner.
Paper planners get the job done but in today’s world, some limitations of paper planners can be recognized.
Making the switch to digital planning was honestly such a game-changer for me. I loved paper planning but there are so many perks of going digital!
Here are some of the main reasons why I chose to ditch paper planning for digital planning.
VERY ACCESSIBLE
Gone are the days where you’ll need to lug around another book wherever you go.
I often refer to my planner when I am out and about, so this is a big PLUS for me. I can now access my planner on my iPad (which pretty much lives in my bag anyway), or even view it on my phone. You can schedule meetings and appointments with confidence, because you can check your availability on-the-go!
Also, you won’t need to individually carry all the accessories and writing tools (such as different colored pens, highlighters, stickers etc) with you because it’s all there for you! So, you can effortlessly do your planning, journaling or note-taking when you are not at home.
SIMPLE TO KEEP NEAT
Something that I used to struggle with, when using a paper planner, was keeping my pages neat and tidy.
I like to keep my pages clean looking, but I am also quite indecisive. As a result, my pages would just be full of eraser marks, white-out or cramped writing.
The beauty of using a digital planner is that you don’t need to worry if you make a mistake or change your mind. You can easily erase things, move things around or even resize whatever you wrote!
FLEXIBILITY WITH PAGES
Another thing I LOVE about digital planners is the fact that you can EASILY insert additional pages, delete pages or duplicate pages to your liking. You can even move pages around within the planner!
There are SO many planner templates and inserts available to purchase nowadays. You can have a planner for every day tasks, a productivity planner, a gratitude journal, notebooks – the possibilities are endless!
UNLIMITED COLOR OPTIONS
When it comes to writing in my planner, I used to enjoy color-coding my entries. I would have one color designated for personal stuff, another for studies, and another for work. But the problem I had was it was hard to find pens and markers in the exact colors I wanted!
With digital planning in the GoodNotes app, you can choose or put in the exact HEX code for the color pen or highlighter you want. Your color options are limitless!
EASE OF USE
Digital planners are great because of how easy and comfortable it is to use. Navigating to different sections or pages of digital planners is effortless when you have a good planner with lots of hyperlinks. You can have a HUGE digital planner with lots of pages, and instead of needing to flick through all those pages to get to the section you want (like with a paper planner), hyperlinked tabs make it so much easier.
And if you are using your digital planner in GoodNotes, everything you do is saved automatically so you don’t have to remember to manually save anything!
FEELS JUST LIKE A PAPER PLANNER
A big reservation I had in the beginning of my digital planning journey was the writing experience of a digital planner. I loved paper planners because I like to actually WRITE in my planners.
However, I soon realized that I didn’t need to worry about that. If you use your digital planner with an iPad and Apple pencil, writing in your digital planner will be such a good experience. When writing, your wrists or palms touching the screen will not interfere with your handwriting and the Apple pencil just syncs really well with the iPad.
And if you want it to feel more like you are writing on paper, there’s screen protectors out there you can purchase which make the iPad screen feel more “paper-like”.
PRINT IT OR SHARE IT
If you are wanting a physical copy of your planner (whether completed or blank) you can just print it out. You can also choose to share pages with your friends. This is useful if you write down notes during a meeting and want to share the notes with your colleagues! All you have to do is export the page and send it off as a PDF.
DIGITAL STICKERS
If you love using stickers, sticky notes or washi tapes, don’t fret. You can still use them on your digital planner!
There are lots and lots of digital stickers available to purchase (especially on sites like Etsy) so you can still decorate your planner with cute little stickers!
The advantage digital stickers have over traditional physical stickers is that you can reuse digital stickers over and over again! Honestly, how good is that? I was one to hoard stickers because I was too afraid to “waste” them so I kept saving them up! But with digital stickers, you have more than one chance to use them.
You can also resize digital stickers to your liking. Therefore, you can make digital stickers work with the space that you’ve got!
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
Not only will switching to digital planning benefit you, but it will benefit the environment too.
Think about all the paper notebooks, planners and journals you have at home? If you switch to digital planning, you can consolidate all of that and go paperless!
It prevents wastage and will positively impact the environment.
COST EFFECTIVE
Assuming you already own an iPad and Apple pencil, it is actually cheaper to invest in a digital planner. If you think about it, if you have an undated planner, you can re-use your digital planner over and over again. You can also keep inserting blank new pages (for free) if you want to!
And if you purchase a digital planner with lots of templates, you could get unlimited uses out of it! it’s just so worth it.
Also, writing tools and planner decorations for a paper planner can get expensive (especially if you like to get creative). Doing it digitally is a lot cheaper!
Paper planners are great, but once I experienced the benefits of digital planning myself, I was hooked. Digital planners and notebooks offer much more flexibility and accessibility than paper planners!
If you are curious about digital planning and just want to dip your toes in the paperless planning world, you’ve created a FREE preview planner just for you! So before you go cold turkey on your beloved paper planner, give our planner a whirl HERE, and it may just spark a new love with digital planning.