Portrait Calendar
- Version
- 4'333 Downloads
- 250 Kb File Size
- January 3, 2022 Updated
- 0 Number of comments
- Rating
I don’t know how many project proposal meetings I’ve been in where, almost as if in a synchronized performance, everyone rotates their paper handouts. They hit the calendar page… and find that, alas, it was submitted in landscape orientation. The next few moments are a continuous rattling of paper as everyone not only flips back to compare the dates with the rest of the proposal, but also adds the rotation required to view the landscape calendar.
Actually, more often than not, it’s several rotations because everyone expects that landscape page to be oriented differently. When you step back and observe, it’s really kind of funny – as if you’d handed the room a bunch of Rubix Cubes. But when you’re trying to lead a meeting, the lost time and lost attention can be annoying.
The question at the heart of the issue is: Should we staple the top right or left, or even the bottom left, of a landscape page inserted into a portrait handout? Well, according to BusinessManagementDaily.com, the top right seems to be the preference, but there’s not a defacto standard. So, it appears we’ll need to show a little patience and deal with presentation “staplers” from both sides of the fence.
Unless that is, you decide to download our free Portrait Calendar.
Quick Summary
This year-long, monthly, blank calendar template is formatted to print in portrait orientation. Not only is it useful as a calendar for to include in handouts for staff meetings, but it also works well as a log worksheet for clipboards, a syllabus calendar for students, or as a blank calendar for brainstorming sessions. Really, you can use it for anything requiring a customizable calendar in portrait format – long and narrow versus the wide and short layout of a landscape calendar.
Weeks begin with Monday and the weekends are highlighted – making it a great business style calendar. There is also a section at the bottom of each month for notes (see the ADVANCED section below for a quick tip on adding lines to the “Notes”).
Template Contents
There are 12 worksheets in this template – one for each month. The Layout image shows you the basic format of this template.
Layout
How To Use the Portrait Calendar Template
Setting up the Calendar
There is no setup needed for this calendar – it’s ready to print. Note that the cells are not designed for inputting text like in a typical Excel workbook (typing in the cells will override the date formatting). But, if you do want to add some graphics or even “text” (via text boxes), see Adding Graphics and Text in the Advanced section below.
Printing the Calendar
Each month (worksheet) can be printed individually (Select the worksheet at the bottom, then click on “File” in the menu, and choose “Print”; Pick your options and hit the “Print” button.)
To print the entire year – all 12 worksheets – in one print job, right-click on any worksheet tab and choose “Select All Sheets.” Then follow the steps above, and you can see that you’re now printing 12 pages instead of one.
Another way to print the entire year at once is to select “entire workbook” in the document print settings dialog.
You can modify the format of the calendars by changing the font size or style of the “Months” and the “Days of the Week” titles just like any standard cell. You can also change the background color of the “Month” titles (click “Home” from the menu bar and then choose “Fill Color”).
The default paper size for this calendar is US Letter, but the design will look pretty much the same if you choose to print on A4 size. Just pick “A4” in the “paper size” print settings.
Advanced
Setting up and printing is easy, but what if you wanted to add week numbers or change the notes section? Here are some advanced tips on how you can change this calendar to fit your needs.
Adding Lines to the Notes Section
The “Notes” section of this template is formatted without lines. But it’s a simple process to add lines to help keep your writing straight. Highlight cells A10:G13 (see the Notes image).
Notes
Then click on the “Border Button” in the toolbar and select “More Borders...” (see the Border image).
Border
Match the “Format Cells” options to the diagram (described in the instructions below):
Border Settings
Instructions:
- Choose the highlighted “Style” for a thin line.
- Choose “Automatic” color (black).
- Deselect all of the line markers except for the two displayed on the left.
- Note: Only the center and bottom lines should be displayed.
- Click on “OK.”
The newly formatted “Notes” section should now look like the Notes with Lines image:
Notes with Lines
You can copy and paste cells A10:G13 into each worksheet and you’ll now have a yearly calendar with notes at the bottom of each month.
Adding Graphics and Text
The date cells on this template are one large cell. Those cells are formatted with a custom number format that pulls out only the “day” of the entered text. For example, if you pick June 1 and look at the formula bar, you’ll see the following date: 6/1/2019. But, the cell only displays the “day” portion of that date (“1”) (see the Formula image). If you click on the cell and add text, it will overwrite the date (or, if you hit “Alt+Enter” and add text on a new line within that cell, the custom format will not understand and will replace the “1” with the whole string). So, we have to enter new content as an image or text box – which will act like another “layer” that sits on top of the calendar.
Formula
To view instructions on how to add graphics and text, please follow the link to my previous article on Landscape Calendar (the concept is the same with this Portrait Calendar).
