How To Create a Calendar In Mac Pages

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.  com. Today let me show you how  

to create your own custom calendar in Mac Pages. 

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So it's actually fairly easy to create your own  custom printable calendar using Pages. We'll  

start here by using the blank landscape template.  Now let's set this document up. The first thing  

I want to do is go to File, and then Convert to  Page Layout since we're not writing a book here.  

Then I'm going to go to View, and then Show  Layout. I'm going to Zoom so that it fits  

on the screen. Now I want to get rid of the Header  and the Footer since we're not using those here.  

Under Format, Show Header and Footer I can  simply turn those off. Now let's go to View  

and Show Rulers. Now we see the Rulers here at  the top and left. Now that we have Rulers I'm  

going to drag from those and add some Guides  at a half an inch from the edge of the page.  

Now the main part of the calendar  is simply going to be a table. 

So I'm going to click here on Table and add  this one here. The one without a header row  

or column. Now let's set it to the proper  number of rows. Now five rows are enough  

for a monthly calendar but we also want to have  a row that has the days of the month at the top.

So I'm going to click here and add a sixth row  and then I'm going to click here and I want to  

change this, of course, to be seven columns wide.  Now let's grab the handle here and drag this,  

not all the way to the top left because we want  to leave some room for the name of the month at  

the top. So maybe let's put it an inch and a half  from the top. Then I'm going to grab the bottom  

right corner and drag it down. Now the days of  the month don't need to have a full height row  

here. So I can grab the space between row one  and row two and drag up and let's make that  

something pretty narrow there. Now I can  drag the bottom again and it will space  

everything out and it's already starting to  look like a calendar. Let's go to Format,  

Table and down at the bottom there is  alternating row color. Let's turn that off.

Now let's put the days at the  top. So we'll just enter those in  

and then I'm going to select all of them  by clicking the first one and then Shift  

clicking the last one. Let's go to Format text  and let's make the text a little bit bigger.  

Make it Bold. Make it centered and  then let's set a unique style for this.  

So I'll click here and Plus, and I'll call this  Day Name. Now let's enter the day numbers. So  

the first of December is on a Tuesday so I'll  put a 1 here. But I want that to actually be  

right justified and I want it to be Bold and  let's make it something like 14 point, like that.  

Let's set a style for that as well. So I'll  click here, Plus, and call it Day Number.  

Now I'll go here and I'll enter in the number  for this and don't worry that it's not the same  

style. We'll just tap over to the next one  and do it for all of the different days.  

Now we can select all these cells  and click here just like the first  

one. Shift click and select the last  one. Under Format, Text I will change  

it to Day Number. You can see  they all now fit that style.

Now let's select all of the cells again here. Go  to Format, Cell and change the border style using  

the All Borders button right here and then let's  go to 2 point for that. So that creates a nice  

thick border there. Alternatively if you  don't want to include the cells that have  

nothing in them you could have just selected  this one and Command clicked all of the ones  

that have days in them and then done the same  thing here and then you get something that  

looks like that. Now let's turn off the grid lines  here. By selecting the Table I can go to Format,  

Table and you could see grid lines here.  I'll just turn those off and I'll also turn  

off the Table outline. So now I just have the  borders that I set and no extra grid with it.

Now let's create a text box for the top here  that has the month. So we'll stretch this out  

to go full width and then type the month  

and we'll set its style as well. Make it as  big as you want. Maybe even use a fancy font.  

Now if you want to put some  things on specific dates here  

you could do that by just clicking in the cell and  then going to a new line and typing something. But  

you probably want it to be justified with  the bottom of the cell rather than the top.  

So instead of that what I like to do is go and  create another text box, put that in a cell  

like that, enter something, and if you go to  Format Text you could align to the bottom,  

you could also go to the right, left, or  center. You could, of course, set its style  

so let's make it a little bit bigger and maybe  italic and then we'll add a new style for this.  

Then go to Format, Text Layout and  

increase the text inset a bit. So now you  could add these on various different days  

as you need.

To color things up a bit you can drag and drop  ClipArt or things you find on the internet or  

you can just use these shapes here. There's so  many different things it's easy to find things  

for a calendar. So, for instance, if I search  for snow here I'll come up with a snowman.  

You could put a snowman here in the upper left  hand corner. We can maybe change the color  

and then we can maybe look for something else.  

Whatever fits your style and the month. You can  also add graphics into the calendar easily enough.  

So, for instance, somebody's birthday on a certain  day. You can take the cake and place it inside.  

So you can keep adding graphics  and doing what you want.

The great thing is next month you  can start by taking this calendar  

and then making a copy of it and then simply  change the month, getting rid of these boxes,  

and remember to add new boxes just like this  all you need to do is Option drag and it will  

create a copy of it and then you can place a  new one in a certain spot and then changing the  

graphics. You could make one for the next month  even quicker than the first time you did it.