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Originally Posted On: https://blog.boxysuite.com/calendar/best-google-sheets-calendar-templates/
The calendar is an essential and one of the most used apps on computers and handheld devices. Even if a person is not an entrepreneur or office worker, there will always be a need to look at a calendar and log schedules. However, despite such tools’ popularity, most event tracking apps still lack customizable views and flexible controls. Users also have to settle with little to no support for media files in view and plain text-only event details.
Fortunately, calendar apps are not the only computer programs that allow people to check the date. Word and number processors, particularly Google Sheets, are also excellent replacements for managing schedules. Today, users can either create calendars from scratch or use templates for Google Sheets, like the ten (10) great ones below:
1. Google Sheets Annual Calendar Template
“Annual Calendar” is a minimalist yet stylish template from Google Sheets’ own template gallery. It offers a yearly view and individual month sheets with the bottom “NOTES” section and enough space for event entries. Also, there are 16 themes to choose from, which can be selected using Sheets’ new “Theme” feature (accessible in the toolbar).
2. Smartsheet Weekly Planner
Smartsheet’s weekly planner allows users to manage every second allocated for working each day and every day of a week. It’s possible to set the “Schedule Start Time” (e.g., 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM) as well as the time interval of all hours (10 min, 15 min, 20 min, etc.). Besides that, the use of Google Sheets’ built-in date picker makes it easy to select and switch to the right week.
3. SpreadsheetClass Yearly Mini-calendar
The “mini-calendar” is a yearly calendar with simple texts and highly-recognizable filled and empty date cells. It includes three years: 2021, 2022, and 2023, each assigned to a unique sheet. Unlike other templates, this one removes distractions and doesn’t require much tinkering-users can then focus on the more important tasks.
4. Smartsheet Open Daily Planner
Aside from weekly, monthly, and yearly calendars, there are also daily calendar template google sheets. In particular, this template from Smartsheet lets anyone plan every 15 seconds of each hour in a day. A user can write short tasks and notes on the designated sections on the right side as well.
5. Calendar Templates Add-on
“Calendar Templates” is an add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace that acts like a template. With just a few clicks, one can generate an annual calendar, which can be the year: 2021, 2022, or 2023. Compared to actual templates, it displays the week number under the “CW” column, which can be helpful for some people.
6. Full-size Monthly Automatic Calendar
The automatic full-size calendar from SpreadsheetClass is a simple calendar that assigns unique sheets for all months. It has enough cell space for events, making it possible to read details without expanding date boxes. Also, one can generate monthly calendars regardless of the year and even choose the starting/end date.
7. Thegoodocs.com Orange and Blue Monthly Calendar
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Customizability is an advantage of using Google Sheets instead of a regular event tracking app. Apart from using different views, it’s also possible to style the date boxes and use lovely images as headers. As an example, the Orange and Blue Monthly Calendar from Thegoodocs.com is an elegant template that resembles classic wall and desk calendars. Instead of sheets, it uses a dropdown menu for month selection, which prevents clutter and offers a unique experience.
8. Smartsheet Budget Calendar
Calendars are not only used for simple scheduling and date checking; many people also rely on special calendar apps to manage other things like budgeting. With this template from Smartsheet, a user can log the monthly budgets and actual spending and view a year-end summary. Additionally, there are monthly budget/spending sections on “Operating Income” and “Operating Expense” for accountants and entrepreneurs.
9. Yearly School Calendar
Google Sheets is a popular tool among students, which makes it ideal for tracking the school year. Regardless, the “Yearly School Calendar” is a template that offers a unique view with months on the side and the event list in the middle. It acts like a bulletin board, something which students can relate to and would actually use.
10. Light Purple Content Calendar
The “Weekly Content Calendar” is a weekly planner for social media influencers and content creators. It makes it easy to plan what video, photo, regular post, or disappearing story to post on a given day and a particular platform. The four major social media names (Twitter, IG, FB, and TikTok) are present, and it’s possible to change these items’ order and the number of appearances in columns. However, despite the template being mainly designed for content scheduling, it can still be repurposed by simply changing a few labels.
Benefits of Using Calendar Templates in Google Sheets
Unlike other spreadsheet programs, Google Sheets makes it easy to create charts and input data. Accordingly, it’s also more manageable to make a calendar from scratch with it than with the alternatives. However, despite this, there are still benefits to using a calendar template, particularly the following:
Access all months in a single file
With a template, a user can access all months in a year in a single Google Sheets file. There will be no need to switch browser tabs only to see the other months, which makes things more efficient. Many templates, like the one from Google Sheets’ gallery, also assign each month a special sheet to give every date enough room. Aside from better scheduling, this also helps in saving storage space on Google Drive-a clear benefit to free Google account users with only 15GB allocation.
Save precious time
Learning how to use calendar templates is easier than drafting a calendar in Google Sheets from scratch. A template will be ready to use after importing or duplicating; on the other hand, creating a calendar requires more steps. As such, one will have to design a table, place days correctly on cells, add holidays, and then repeat the process 11 more times.
Instead of designing, these precious hours could have been spent on scheduling and actually working. People use calendar apps to manage days wisely, and going with a template is one way of valuing time.
Avoid date mistakes
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Even with extra carefulness, it’s hard to avoid mistakes when making a document or, in this case, an entire calendar in Google Sheets. Besides the up to 31 days of each month, every date (21, 22, 23, etc.) has a designated week and day (e.g., Monday, Tuesday), which are confusing to track. There can also be empty boxes before and after the first and last date of the month for full-year calendars.
Ensuring the correct placements of dates is crucial as any mistake can break the schedule and incur unfavorable outcomes. Thankfully, this problem will not be a concern if one uses a template, especially as most templates are reviewed several times.
Have well-designed and customizable calendars
While plain white-colored Google Sheets calendars work fine for casual date checking, there are benefits to having a beautiful event tracker. One can feel less pressured with schedules, entries will be easier to read, and it’s possible to feel motivated when the calendar looks great. Regardless, it’s easy to have a well-designed calendar using a template. Many websites offer templates in different styles (e.g., modern, playful, vintage), and even Google Sheets provides a minimalist yet stylish one. It’s also possible to customize calendars, as Sheets’ color and table formatting features are easy to use.
Access holidays instantly
One can quickly have access to holidays by simply importing or copying a calendar template. Again, this will prevent placement mistakes which can affect the schedule and incur unfavorable outcomes. It will also eliminate the need for manual typing, which is especially convenient for those from countries with many holidays (e.g., Cambodia, Sri Lanka). Lastly, template creators position holidays nicely on date cells, so there’s no need to balance readability and enough space for entries.
Use premade equations for advanced calendars
Apart from simple scheduling and checking of the current date, many people use calendars to track budgets, marketing campaigns, etc. However, unlike regular event tracking apps, tools designed for such use cases are expensive and hard to use. One reason is that these tools offer advanced features, like an automatic entries calculator and graph generator.
Luckily, Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program, which means it can do calculations and make advanced calendars free. Countless templates for such calendar types are also available online so that one can get started with just a few clicks. Besides that, there will be no need to type equations and learn Sheets’ function list-all formulas work and point to correct cells in most templates.
Final Words
Whatever purpose or style a spreadsheet calendar serves or follows, it should fulfill the user’s particular preferences and needs. Many dislike standard calendar apps for the lack of customizability, so these two things must be considered. Fortunately, Google Sheets is a flexible and powerful program, meaning users can fine-tune templates both in design and functionality.
While Google Sheets calendars have benefits, standard calendar apps are still more reliable, user-friendly, and functional. For instance, Google Calendar allows users to switch between views quickly (Day, Week, Month, Year, Schedule, 4 Days) and still access the same data. Although it’s possible to create views in Sheets, users must scroll through cells or switch between sheets/tabs, and there will be difficulties when indexing entries.
Ultimately, a dedicated event tracking app like Boxysuite is still the superior option. Boxysuite is the first and only native macOS Google Calendar app, and it offers a clean, productive working environment. It has excellent features like Desktop Notifications, Multiple Accounts Support, Auto Sync, Dark Mode, and Menu Bar/Status Bar shortcuts. Besides Google Calendar, it provides native apps for Gmail, Contacts, and Keep. Boxysuite is the best calendar app for the Mac, so learn more or try it for free today!
