Creating an Excel calendar is easy! It will help you manage your time and stay organized. Whether you want to schedule tasks, track important dates, or organize personal activities, an Excel calendar is all you need.
You can choose from built-in templates or a calendar from scratch using powerful Excel formulas.
This is an in-depth guide that teaches you various ways to create a calendar in Excel. Whether you’re a beginner looking for a quick and straightforward solution or an advanced user, this how to make calendar in Excel guide has you covered.
We will delve into creating a calendar manually, which offers extended flexibility and customization.
Make sure you read the article to the end. It highlights the steps for using a range of built-in formulas and tools in Excel.
The Benefits of Creating a Calendar in Excel
Various online calendars are available, including Google and Apple calendars. However, those have certain limitations and do not offer customization flexibility compared to Excel.
You definitely need expert-level knowledge to create a calendar in Excel, but the effort is worth it.
Here are a few benefits of creating a calendar in Excel:
- Customization: Excel has extensive customization options. Users can design a calendar that perfectly fits their specific needs, whether they need a monthly, weekly, or yearly view. Changing font types, font colors, and cell sizes based on preference is a breeze.
- Easy Accessibility: You can access the calendar from any device with Excel installed. With Microsoft Office online, you can use it on the go by ensuring you have your schedule at your fingertips, be it on a computer, tablet, or smartphone.
- Seamless Tracking: A calendar is the best way to keep track of your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks. Excel functions and features, such as Conditional formatting, take it beyond advanced data analysis possibilities.
- Robust Reporting: You can easily export calendar data and create complex reports. Excel boasts a range of powerful tools for data analysis. One may also choose to sync the data in real time between various sheets.
An Excel calendar can be a valuable asset in your planning toolkit, whether you’re managing personal tasks, coordinating team projects, or planning events.
Now, without any further ado, let’s create a calendar in Excel.
How to Create a Monthly Calendar Using Excel
Excel lets users organize data in tabular form, making it a perfect spreadsheet program to create a calendar.
There are two methods to create a calendar and organize activities in Excel,
- Choose a calendar from the Excel template library
- Create a calendar from scratch using built-in tools
Obviously, the first method is the quickest and doesn’t require much effort. The second method is for people looking to create a custom calendar that can be adjusted according to their unique requirements.
Let us discuss both of these methods in detail,
METHOD #1 – Customize Built-in Excel Calendar Template
This method gets the job done quickly. If you are in a hurry, then this one’s for you. It doesn’t require any expert knowledge.
Compared to the second method, it lets you create a calendar that auto-updates based on the year selected by the user.
Let’s start,
- Open the Excel application on your computer
- Click on the “New” tab as shown below
- In the search bar, type “calendar” and press “Enter”
(Excel will display a list of calendar templates that are available free for use) - Scroll through the available templates until you find a monthly calendar template that suits your needs. You can click on any template to see a preview and read a brief description
- Once you find a template you like, click on it to select it
- Click the “Create” button to open a new workbook with the selected calendar template
Excel will generate the calendar and display it in a new workbook.
For the sake of this article, we have selected the first template, as shown above. Note that further customization and usability may vary depending on the template you choose.
The key is to stick to the point and avoid selecting any fancy template that may take several hours to learn. Excel is the top spreadsheet program, boasting simple to advanced tools focused on the needs of enterprise-grade users.
If you are looking for something simple, then keep it simple and choose the template that gets things done as quickly as possible.
How to auto-update monthly Excel Calendar Template
Most templates from the Excel template library are fully automated. They will allow you to change the month and year using a dropdown menu or typing in the desired values.
The one we selected in the previous method is really powerful. All you need to do is set the year on the first sheet; the rest of the template will be automatically updated.
Note that each month is available across separate sheets in this template.
Here’s how it works,
- Make sure you are in the “January” sheet of the template
- Click on the cell below the “Enter Year” header and enter the desired year
- Next, select the start day of the week using the “Week Start” dropdown
- The days of the month will automatically adjust based on the selected month and year, as shown in the following GIF,
How to customize the Excel Calendar Template
You can customize an Excel calendar template as per your requirements without any limitations. All you need to do is double-click on any cell within the calendar grid to add events, appointments, or notes.
From changing the cell background to adding new sheets to accommodate the information as per your requirements, anything is possible.
I have listed a few of the most popular customization tools in Excel.
- Changing Cell Formatting – To format any of the cells, right-click and choose the “Format Cells” option from the list.
- Changing Cell Content – You can change the font and color and add borders from the toolbar or ribbon, which includes all the tools at the top.
- Inserting Media – To add a personal touch, you can insert images or logos. Go to the “Insert> PIctures“, and choose the image you want to insert.
- Automatically Highlighting Important Information – Conditional formatting automatically highlights essential dates. To do so, go to the Home tab and click on the Conditional Formatting icon, as shown below.
Once you have customized the calendar to your liking, make sure you save the file by pressing the “CTRL + S” on your keyboard or following the steps below,
- Click on the “File” tab from the main menu
- Choose the “Save As” option from the list
- Choose a location on your computer where you want to save the file
- Choose the desired file format (e.g., .xlsx for an Excel workbook)
- Click the “Save” button
To revert any changes that are made by mistake or are no longer required, press “CTRL + Z” on your keyboard.
Customizing the template is easy; it all depends on your requirements and creativity. Take some time to explore all the available tools from the ribbon and ensure you come up with a calendar that everyone will appreciate.
METHOD #2 – Create a Monthly Calendar from scratch in Excel
Creating a custom monthly calendar in Excel from scratch allows complete control and flexibility.
You can create fully automated templates using built-in tools and formulas in Excel. It is a powerful spreadsheet program for advanced data organization and analysis.
In this section, we will discuss the steps to creating a monthly calendar in Excel from scratch.
Let’s begin,
- Open the Excel application on your computer
- Select the first option named “Blank Workbook” as shown below,
- Decide on the structure of your calendar. Typically, a monthly calendar has seven columns (one for each day of the week) and enough rows to cover all days of the month. We follow the same structure
- To enter the days of the week, in the first row, starting from cell B1, enter the days of the week (e.g., Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.). Refer to the following image,
- Select the cells containing the days of the week. Go to the “Home” tab, bold them, and align them to center
- Identify the first day of the month and begin entering the dates in the appropriate cells. For example, if the first day of the month is a Monday, start by entering “1” in the cell corresponding to Monday in the first week
- Continue filling in the dates for the entire month. Ensure the dates correspond correctly to the days of the week as shown below,
- At the top of the calendar, add the month and year. You can do this in cell A1 or merge cells across the top row to create a larger heading
- Format the month and year heading as per your preference. But make sure that it is neat and clearly visible
- You can adjust the formatting of the date cells for clarity. You can use larger font sizes, bold text, and center alignment.
- Adjust the column widths and row heights to ensure all the dates fit well in a cell. For that, select the columns or rows you want to resize and go to “Home > Format > Row Height, Column width”
(You can set the Row width to “50” and the column width to “15” for better visibility and to ensure that all dates and notes fit neatly within each cell) - If you want to add a section for notes, you can merge multiple cells at the bottom or side of the calendar. Select the cells you want to merge, and go to “Home > Merge & Center”
- To clearly separate each day, add borders around the cells. To do that, Select the range of cells for the calendar, right-click, and choose “Format Cells”. Go to the “Border” tab and choose the desired border style. Refer to the following GIF,
- Use colors to highlight weekends, holidays, or special events. Select the cells you want to color, go to the “Home” tab, and choose a fill color
- After applying all the necessary formatting, our Monthly Calendar now looks like,
- Now that you have created the month of January, it’s time to name and create the rest of the months. Copy the January sheet to create the February sheet by double-clicking on the Sheet name and using the “Move or Copy > Create a Copy” feature as shown below
- Now, rename the new sheet to “February” and repeat the process for the remaining ten months
- Now it’s time to adjust the dates for each month after January. For February, start the first day of the month on the day of the week that follows the last day of January. Repeat this process for each subsequent month for the entire year
(Remember to remove non-existing dates from the months that contain 31 days, like February has 28 days, April has 30, and so on)
Voila! Your Monthly Calendar is ready.
You can now print any month by selecting all of the calendar cells, going to the “File” tab, and clicking the “Print” option from the list. Make sure to change the orientation to Landscape.
For a better print, I suggest disabling the gridlines. To do so, go to the “View” tab from the main menu and untick the checkbox before the Gridlines, as shown below.
You can download the template created by us through the following link,
How to Create a Custom Weekly Calendar in Excel
In the previous sections, we learned the steps to create a monthly calendar, the most common calendar format.
But what if you need a weekly calendar?
Creating such a calendar in Excel can help you stay organized and manage time efficiently over a given week.
Whether you’re planning tasks, personal activities, or events, a weekly calendar provides a clear and concise view of your schedule.
Follow the steps below to build a Weekly Calendar in Excel.
- Start the Excel application on your computer
- Select the first option named “Blank Workbook” as shown below,
- In the first row, starting from cell B1, enter the days of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.)
- In the first column, starting from cell “A2”, enter the time slots for each day (e.g., 8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, etc.)
- Adjust the row height and column width by clicking on “Home > Format > Row Height, Column Width”
(For a clean look, you can adjust the row height to “25” and the column width to “15”) - Bold the whole column and the row, and apply the necessary formatting with the colors of your choice
- Insert a new row at the top by right-clicking on the worksheet and selecting “Insert > Entire Row”
- Merge the cells across the top of the calendar (e.g., cells A1 to H1) to create space for the week and month heading.
- Enter the week and month, and format this heading to make it prominent using a larger font size and bold text
- Add borders to separate each day and time slot. Select all the cells from the calendar, right-click, and click on the “Home” tab from the main menu. Next, click on the “Border” icon and select the desired border style, as discussed in the previous section
Use colors to highlight specific days, essential tasks, or time slots. Select the cells you want to color, go to the “Home” tab, and choose a fill color.
That’s it! Your Weekly Calendar is ready to use. You can save it and start adding your events, appointments, or notes.
To download the Excel weekly calendar we just created, use the following link.
The Excel template library is full of weekly calendar templates; make sure you explore them.
How to Create a Mini Yearly Calendar using Excel
A Mini Calendar contains all the 12 months in one spreadsheet.
If you are looking to print a monthly calendar for your desktop, then this one is the right fit. You can quickly view the entire year, current date, and progress so far, considering the given task.
Refer to the following image.
Using Excel’s formatting tools, you can highlight specific dates using different colors to mark birthdays, meetings, holidays, and events. It will ensure you never miss an important day throughout the year.
As mentioned earlier, they are mainly used as printables. Here are the steps to create a mini calendar from scratch.
Necessary adjustment
Before we go for the actual steps, let’s adjust the column width as shown below.
STEP #1 – Create A Header for the Calendar
A header is a crucial component of any template. You can add the calendar year and other specific information as per your requirements.
Here’s how to get one for our needs,
- Start the Excel application on your computer
- Select the first option named “Blank Workbook” as shown below,
- Select the first row
- Increase the height of the row as shown below
- Select the first row and change the background color to light gray
- Click on the cell “M1”
- Enter “2024 Calendar”
- Hover to the toolbar section below the main menu
- Increase the font size to 28
- Make it bold
- You can change the font color according to your choice
Here is how the final output will look.
STEP #2 – Create a Calendar for the First Month of the year
Now, let’s start with the first month of the year. We will replicate this step for the rest of the months.
Note that we are creating this calendar considering Sunday as the start day of the week.
1. Getting the dates and weekdays
- Click on the cell “B3” and type “January”
- Click on the cell “B4” and type “Sun”
(Note that instead of using the full name for the weekdays, we will use three-letter abbreviations) - Now, click on the cell “C4” and type “Mon”
- Repeat the above steps for the rest of the weekdays
- Next, assuming that January 2024 starts on Sunday, we will select the cell “B5” and type “1”
- Next, click on “C5” and type “2”
- Select the cell “B5” and “C5”
- Hover to the lower-rightmost corner of the cell “C5” until you see the “+” icon. Next, click on that “+” icon and drag the mouse cursor to the cell “H5” which contains the final weekday (Saturday)
- Now, move to the next row and click on cell “B6”
- Put the following numerical value by referring to the last day of the first week. In this case, it will be “8” as the previous row ends with the number “7”
- Select the cell “C6” and type “9”
- Next, fill in the remaining dates for the second week. Use the “+” icon that appears when you hover to the lower-rightmost corner of the cell “C6”. You need to click and drag this plus icon to the cell “H6”
- Repeat steps 6 to 10 and complete the calendar as shown below
2. Formatting the calendar
- Select the seven cells from “B3” to “H3”, as shown below
- Increase the height of the third row
- Hover to the toolbar section and click on “Home” tab
- Choose the “Merge & Center” option from the list as shown below,
- Now, you will see that the name “January” is on the right side of the merged cell
- Hover over the toolbar section and change the text alignment to the middle
- Increase the font size to 13
- Change the cell background color to Violet
(You can choose any color of your choice) - Change the font color to white
- Select all the cells containing the weekdays
- Move the text to the middle
- Make it bold
- Change the cell background color to gray
- Select all the cells, including the name January, Weekdays, and dates for the month
- To apply borders, right-click on them and click on “Format Cells > Border” as shown below
- Finally, we will reduce the size of the column to make our calendar compact and beautiful
- Select the columns from B to H
- Hover to the right-most side of any selected column until you see the expand icon
- Reduce the size to 30% of the regular cell width, as shown below,
3. Create the remaining months of the year
The process followed above for January month can be utilized to create the remaining months of the year.
This is how the above output will look like,
Click on the link below to download and use the calendar we created.
Mini Yearly Calendar – Click Here To Download
You can customize the calendar according to your needs, add a logo to represent your brand and print it to put on your office desk. This adds a personal touch to the calendar.
FAQs: How To Make Calendar In Excel
Q. How do you create a calendar in Microsoft Excel for Windows?
There are two ways to create a calendar in Microsoft Excel. The first involves choosing a perfect-fit template library, and the second involves creating the template from scratch.
We have discussed both of the methods in detail in the above section of the article.
Here’s how to get the template from the library,
- Open the Excel application on your PC
- You will see the following dashboard
- Click on the “New” tab from left sidebar
- Type “Calendar” in the search bar
- Select the calendar you wish to use
- Click on the “Create” button
After making the required changes, save your calendar by clicking on “File > Save As”.
Q. What is a Dynamic Calendar in Excel?
A dynamic calendar in Excel is a flexible calendar that automatically updates when you change the month or year. It uses Excel functions to adjust dates and highlight important days without you having to do it manually.
This type of calendar helps you stay organized by pulling in data from other sheets and offering different ways to view your schedule. It’s easy to use and saves a lot of time for both beginners and advanced users.
Q. Does Excel have a Calendar feature?
Microsoft Excel has many Calendar templates. Each template provides a basic calendar layout that can be adjusted to meet user requirements.
Here are a few of the calendars from the template library,
- Monthly Calendar
- Academic Calendar
- Family Event Calendar
- Summer Break Calendar
Q. Can Excel auto-populate a Calendar?
Yes, Excel can auto-populate a calendar using formulas and functions.
You can use formulas like DATE and WEEKDAY to create a calendar that automatically fills in the correct dates.
This makes it easy to update and manage your schedule without manual adjustments.
Final Words
Creating a calendar in Excel offers a powerful way to manage your time and stay organized. Whether you’re using built-in templates or creating custom calendars from scratch, Excel provides the flexibility to design a calendar that fits your specific needs.
By following the simple steps outlined in this guide, you can create a calendar that helps you track your tasks, plan events, and manage projects more efficiently.
If you have any doubts or if you are stuck, feel free to comment below. I will answer all of your questions as soon as possible.
Also, make sure to explore our blog section to learn more tips and tricks for using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets like a pro.