How to Make a Calendar In Excel

This article explains four different ways on how to make a calendar in Excel. Instructions apply to Excel 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, Excel for Mac, Excel for Android, and Excel Online.

How to Make a Pre-Made Calendar in Excel

You can craft your own calendar in Excel from scratch, but the easiest way to create a calendar is using a pre-made calendar template. Templates are useful because you can edit each day to include special events, and then print each month whenever you like.

1. Select File > New.

   

2. In the search field, type calendar and select the magnifying glass to initiate the search.

   

3. Select the calendar style that suites your needs. This example uses the Any year calendar. Once you've selected your calendar, select Create.

   

4. Each calendar template has unique features. The Any year calendar template in particular lets you type in a new year or starting day of the week to automatically customize the calendar.

   

How to Make a Custom Monthly Calendar in Excel

If you don't like the limitations of a calendar template, you can create your own calendar from scratch in Excel.

1. Open Excel and type the days of the week in the first row of the spreadsheet. This row will form the foundation of your calendar.

   

2. Seven months of the year have 31 days, so the first stage of this process is to create the months for your calendar that hold 31 days. This will be a grid of seven columns and five rows.

   To start, select all seven columns, and adjust the first column width to the size you'd like your calendar days to be. All seven columns will adjust to the same.

   

3. Next, adjust the row heights by selecting the five rows under your weekday row. Adjust the height of the first column.

   To adjust the height of several rows at the same time, simply highlight the rows you'd like to adjust before changing the height.

   

4. Next, you need to align the day numbers to the upper-right of each daily box. Highlight every cell across all seven columns and five rows. Right click on one of the cells and select Format Cells. Under the Text alignment section, set Horizontal to Right (Indent), and set Vertical to Top.

   

5. Now that the cell alignments are ready, it's time to number the days. You'll need to know which day is the first day of January for the current year, so Google "January" followed by the year you're making the calendar for. Find a calendar example for January. For 2020, for example, the first day of the month starts on a Wednesday.

   For 2020, starting on Wednesday, number the dates in sequential order until you get to 31.

   

6. Now that you have January finished, it's time to name and create the rest of the months. Copy the January sheet to create the February sheet.

   Right-click the sheet name and select Rename. Name it January. Once again, right-click the sheet and select Move or Copy. Select Create a copy. Under Before sheet, select (move to end). Select OK to create the new sheet.

   

7. Rename this sheet. Right click the sheet, select Rename, and type February.

   

8. Repeat the above process for the remaining 10 months.

   

9. Now it's time to adjust the date numbers for each month after the template month of January. Starting with February, stagger the starting date of the month to whichever day of the week follows the last day of the January. Do the same for the rest of the calendar year.

   Remember to remove non-existent dates from the months that are not 31 days long. Those include: February (28 days—29 days in a leap year), April, June, September, and November (30 days).

   

10. As the last step, you can label each month by adding a row at the top of each sheet. Insert a top row by right-clicking the top row and selecting Insert. Select all seven cells above the days of the week, select the Home menu, and then select Merge & Center from the ribbon. Type the month name into the single cell, and reformat the font size to 16. Repeat the process for the rest of the calendar year.

    

Once you're finished numbering months, you will have an accurate calendar in Excel for the full year.

You can print any month by selecting all of the calendar cells and selecting File > Print. Change orientation to Landscape. Select Page Setup, select the Sheet tab, and then enable Gridlines under the Print section.

Select OK and then Print to send your monthly calendar sheet to the printer.

How to Make a Custom Weekly Calendar in Excel

Another great way to stay organized is to create a weekly calendar with hour-by-hour blocks. You can create full a 24-hour calendar or limit it to a typical work schedule.

1. Open a blank Excel sheet and create the header row. Leaving the first column blank, add the hour when you typically start your day to the first row. Work your way across the header row adding hour until your day is complete. Bold the whole row when you're done.

   

2. Leaving the first row blank, type out the days of the week in the first column. Bold the whole column when you're done.

   

3. Highlight all rows that include the days of the week. Once all are highlighted, resize one row to a size that will allow you to write in your daily/hourly agenda.

   

4. Highlight all columns that include the hours of each day. Once all are highlighted, resize one column to a size that will allow you to write in your daily/hourly agenda.

   

5. To print your new daily agenda, highlight all cells of the agenda. Select File > Print. Change the orientation to Landscape. Select Page Setup, select the Sheet tab, and then enable Gridlines under the Print section. Change Scaling to Fit All Columns on One Page. This will fit the daily agenda to one page. If your printer can support it, change the page size to Tabloid (11" x 17").

   

How to Make a Custom Yearly Calendar in Excel

For some people, a yearly calendar is more than enough for you to stay on task all year. This design concerns the date and month, rather than the day of the week.

1. Open a blank Excel sheet and, leaving the first column black, add January to the first row. Work your way across the header row until you reach December. Bold the whole row when you're done.

   

2. Leaving the first row blank, type out the days of the month in the first column. Bold the whole column when you're done.

   Remember to remove non-existent dates from the months that are not 31 days long. Those include: February (28 days—29 days in a leap year), April, June, September, and November (30 days).

   

3. Highlight all rows that include the days of the month. Once all are highlighted, resize one row to a size that will allow you to write in your daily agenda.

   

4. Highlight all columns that include the months of the year. Once all are highlighted, resize one column to a size that will allow you to write in your daily agenda.

   

5. To print your new yearly agenda, highlight all cells of the agenda. Select File > Print. Change the orientation to Landscape. Select Page Setup, select the Sheet tab, and then enable Gridlines under the Print section. Change Scaling to Fit All Columns on One Page. This will fit the agenda into a single page.