How to set up a digital planner on iPad in GoodNotes

What you need first

An iPad, the GoodNotes app, and a planner PDF. An Apple Pencil is not required, though handwriting with a finger gets tiring quickly. If you do not have a planner yet, the free 2026 to 2027 midyear planner is dated and hyperlinked, so it is a reasonable one to learn on.

Download the PDF on the iPad itself rather than on a computer. It lands in the Files app under Downloads, which is where the import step will look for it. If you downloaded it on a desktop, put it in iCloud Drive so the iPad can see it.

Import the planner

1. Open GoodNotes and go to your Documents view.
2. Tap the + button and choose Import.
3. Browse to the PDF, usually under Browse, On My iPad, Downloads, and select it.
4. Wait for the whole file to open. A planner with several hundred pages takes a few seconds, and the hyperlinks will not respond until it has finished.

Do not use Open in GoodNotes from the share sheet if you can avoid it. That path sometimes creates a read only copy rather than a document you can write in, which is the first thing people tend to hit.

Make the hyperlinks work

This is the step that makes a planner feel like an app, and it is the one that confuses most people on day one.

A hyperlinked planner uses links built into the PDF itself. It is not a GoodNotes feature and there is nothing to switch on. But GoodNotes will only follow a link when you are not holding a writing tool. If you tap a month tab while the pen is selected, you draw a small dot on the tab instead of navigating.

Switch to the pointer or hand tool first, then tap. Once you know that, the tabs, the month grid and the day links all behave the way the planner intended. If you own an Apple Pencil that supports it, a double tap near the tip switches tools without reaching for the toolbar.

Set scrolling to match the planner

Most planners are designed as single pages, so vertical scrolling makes the page drift half in and half out of view. In the document view menu, switch scrolling to horizontal. Each page then snaps into place like turning a sheet, which is what the layout assumes.

Writing on the pages

Zoom in before you write in a small box. GoodNotes has a zoom or write-in window that gives you a large area at the bottom of the screen and places neat text into a small target area, which is worth using for daily boxes and habit grids.

Turn on palm rejection if you rest your hand while writing. If your planner has ruled note pages, the lines are printed into the PDF rather than being GoodNotes guides, so the app's own paper templates are not involved.

The three things that usually go wrong

Links write instead of navigating. A writing tool is selected. Switch to the pointer or hand tool.

The planner opens but nothing is tappable. The file is still loading, or the PDF is a scan rather than a hyperlinked document. A scanned or exported flat PDF has no links in it and no app can add them back.

Pages look cropped or stretched. The document is being displayed to fit a different aspect ratio. Check that you imported the original PDF rather than a screenshot or a printed to PDF copy, which loses both the links and the page size.

Does this work outside GoodNotes

Yes. A hyperlinked PDF planner is a normal PDF, so Notability, Noteshelf, Xodo and most Android note apps will open it and follow the same links. The tool switching behaviour differs between apps, but the principle is identical: you cannot follow a link while you are holding a pen.

A sensible first week

Set up the current month and the current week, and leave everything else alone. Planners get abandoned when the first session turns into an hour of filling in sections you have not needed yet. The year pages and the trackers will still be there when you have a reason to open them.

More options in the free planner library, including undated, student, budget and ADHD friendly versions.