Digital icon stickers are an effective and colourful way to speed up your monthly planning process. In just a few minutes, you can have an overview of the month to come.

This tutorial will show you how to add, resize and reposition icons. It will also show you how to keep your newly-resized and pre-selected icons stashed away for even faster planning next time.

Icon Stickers to Speed up Planning

They say a picture is worth a thousands words, and icons fit the bill perfectly.

They can categorise an event or activity at a glance, don’t take up much room on your planner page, and give you a snapshot of what’s to come.

Once you’ve selected icons you use regularly, the process just gets quicker and quicker.

You will be able to take one look at a page and see immediately how your month is shaping up. You will be clear about your commitments and how much time you have to schedule other things.

When you move from monthly to weekly planning, you already know where you have committed your time, so using icons also speeds up weekly and daily planning. The effect just ripples through.

Icons keep planning simple so you actually get on and do things.

Digital Icon Stickers for Faster Planning

Monthly Planning

• Have your digital planner open on your monthly spread.

Digital Icon Stickers

• If you’re using a GoodNotes sticker book, have that open in another tab.
• If you’re using individual PNG files, you’ll need to split the screen and have your file manager or cloud storage open in another window.

Selecting and Copying Icon Stickers

• With your GoodNotes sticker book open, use the Lasso tool to marquee select a section of a sticker you want to use.
• Tap & hold inside the marquee area, and choose Copy.
• If you find you can’t select a sticker and keep getting the Take Screenshot option, go to your Lasso tool and tap again to turn Images on.

Add the Icon to your Planner Page

• Change windows so you’re looking at your digital planner.
• Tap & hold, and select Paste.
• If the sticker needs resizing, and you have more to add, wait until they are all on the page. It is quicker to resize them all together. They also stay the same size if they are group resized.

Adding Icons from Files or the Cloud

• If you are using individual PNG files, open your file manager or cloud storage in a split screen.
• Tap & hold the sticker you want to use and when it ‘pops’ up, drag it over the digital planner and let go.
• You will need to resize the sticker, as it will import full size. Again, if you are adding multiple stickers, it is easier to marquee and resize them all at the same time.

• Keep adding stickers until you have everything you need for that month.
• The icons are now ready to resize, if necessary, and move into position.

Resizing Icons

• Use your Lasso tool to marquee select all the icons you’ve added to the page.
• Tap & hold, and select Resize.
• Use the corner handle to shrink or enlarge the icons to the size you want.
• Tap outside the selection to deselect.

Moving Icons into Position

• Use the Lasso tool to select individual icons and move them to the appropriate date.
• If you need to use an icon more than once - for example I’ve used the recycling and planning icons twice - just Lasso select, Tap & hold to copy, and Tap & hold to paste.

Saving Icons for Future Use

• If, like me, you find you use the same icons from one month to the next, it is worth saving your newly-sized icons for future use.
• This also has the advantage of speeding up your planning even more. You don’t need to choose, copy, paste and resize the stickers every month. You can just occasionally add new ones.
• If you have an empty section on your digital planner, you can designate one of those to keep your favourite stickers within easy reach.

Copy and Paste your Resized Icons

• Lasso all the resized icons on your monthly planning spread.
• Tap & hold, and select Copy.
• Navigate to the section you want to use for your favourite icons.
• Tap & hold, and select Paste.
• Move them into a bundle to save space. You can now quickly grab them, ready sized, next time you sit down to do your monthly planning.

Icon Stickers for Speedy Monthly Planning

It is amazing just how quick this is to do but, as you can see in the image below, it does give you an instant, at-a-glance overview of your month.

With key dates and recurring activities in place, it makes it easier each month to see how much time you have available for other things.

It will also make weekly and daily planning that much quicker.