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How to use a digital planner on an Android tablet

Most digital planner guides assume an iPad. A hyperlinked PDF planner works just as well on an Android tablet, as long as you open it in an app that follows the links. Here is how to set one up.

S
The Stelaah team
· 3 min read

What you need

An Android tablet, a note-taking app that opens PDFs, and the planner file. A stylus such as the Samsung S Pen makes handwriting comfortable, though any active stylus that works with your tablet will do. A digital planner is just a PDF, so nothing about it is tied to Apple.

Choose an app that keeps the links working

The tabs, month grids and index in a hyperlinked planner are links inside the PDF. Not every app follows them. Noteshelf, Xodo and Penly open these planners with the links working, and let you write with a stylus. Samsung Notes opens them for handwriting, which is fine if you mostly write on the pages and navigate less.

Import it as a document

  1. 1.Download the PDF on the tablet, or save it to a cloud drive the tablet can reach.
  2. 2.Open your note app and choose its import or open document option.
  3. 3.Pick the planner file. Import it as a document, not as images, or the links are lost.
  4. 4.Open the dashboard or index page and tap a link to check it works.

If tapping a tab draws a line instead of jumping, a pen tool is selected. Most apps follow links only with the hand, read or select tool active. Some let you follow links with a finger while the stylus writes; it is worth turning that on if your app offers it.

Landscape or portrait

Pick the file that matches how you hold the tablet. Many planners come in both orientations; landscape suits two-page views and side tabs, portrait suits a tablet held like a notebook. You can keep both and use whichever suits the day.

Back it up

Your handwriting lives in the app's copy of the file, not in the original PDF. Turn on the app's sync or export a copy now and then, so a lost or reset tablet does not take your plans with it.

If something does not work

  • ✓Links do nothing: switch from the pen to the hand or read tool, or try another app from the list above.
  • ✓Pages look stretched or cropped: you probably opened the wrong orientation file; try the other one.
  • ✓The app is slow on a big planner: close other apps, or use a weekly planner with fewer pages.

A free 2027 planner with every page linked. The Free January to December 2027 Digital Planner has 587 hyperlinked pages: monthly menus, 53 weekly and 365 daily pages, trackers and a dashboard that links every page, in iPad landscape, iPad portrait, US Letter and A4 files with a Monday or Sunday start.

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From the Stelaah Store

S
The Stelaah team

We build Stelaah and the Stelaah Store. These guides cover the everyday problems our planners, kits and tools are made for, in plain steps you can use with or without them.

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