On this page we are offering the electronic version of the Living Springs’ Daily Planner! Now some may ask, if you can get a beautifully printed calendar with a handsome cover protected by a hardy plastic jacket for free by visiting the Living Springs Institute’s Resource Shop, why would anyone want an electronic version? Well, I’m glad you asked, because we’re just dying to answer this question, as well as others which are related to this electronic version! Why do we have this version? What can I do with this version? What format is the electronic version published in? What is a PDF, and will it work on my computer? Printing tips!

The PDF calendar is a fantastic way for people to make a calendar which works best for them. Using the PDF version, you can resize the calendar, print out just the pages you want, bind it in any form you like, etc. So be creative!

To help in this endeavor, the following information is presented with the hope it will be of use to those who desire to print their own calendars, using the PDF version. Of course, we can’t tell you exactly how to do what you may want to do, and exactly how to accomplish it with your particular machine. However, this information should be basic enough to help everyone get started!

Most printers will print some of this PDF calendar’s lines and graphics with a slight blue cast. If you want the pages of your calendar to be grayscale, be sure to set your printer properties to print in "black only" or "grayscale."

With the exception of the first two pages which are the calendar’s cover (page 1 being the front cover and page 2 being the back cover), this PDF calendar file is setup so that every page alternates between being a right-hand page and a left-hand page as you would view them in a book form. This means you are going to want to print this file so that every other page is on the opposite side of a sheet of paper. If you do not have access to a fancy printer which is capable of printing on both sides of a sheet in just one pass, the following information may be of help to you.

Different printers, their drivers, and even the interface of the PDF reader you are using can have different ways to help you do double-sided printing. There is no way for us to specifically tell you how to double-side print on your machine. However, there is one way you should be able to do it on any machine and a couple of popular options which exist on most machines.

Important - No matter what option you choose or have available, there are two facts you will have to know for most all of them. First - which side of the paper does your printer print on, and second - which end of the paper does it make the top or head. To determine this:

A. Take a scrap sheet of paper and place a mark on one end of just one side.

B. Put this sheet into your machine so the mark is facing up (or toward you) and at the end of the paper which leads into the machine.

C. Print some text on the paper.

Now, looking at your test sheet, did it print on the same side of the paper that you put the mark on? Is your mark at the foot or at the head of the paper? Now you know which way to put the paper into the machine a second time and get it to print on the blank side with the head at the same end as the page you printed on the first side!

Option #1 - The safest way to print double-sided, is to do each page a sheet at a time.

A. Open the PDF calendar.

B. Skip the cover pages and print page 3.

C. Put the sheet you just printed back into your machine with the head of the paper pointing in the direction you determined your machine prints the head, and turning the blank side of the paper to be the side you determined your machine prints on.

D. Print page 4.

E. Continue this process through the remaining pages of the calendar.

Option #2 - To make this process easier, your machine may give the option of printing every other page; or you may have the option of doing this same thing, but the choice is to print all the odd numbered or even numbered pages. If your printer has the choice of "double-sided" printing but you know it’s not fancy enough to literally print both sides of the paper in one pass, it is likely this option is nothing more than an elaborate way to lead you through the every other page process we are discussing here. Thus, if you have the double-side printing option, you may still find the following information of use.

A. Remember, no matter which option you have on your machine, you will need to be clear about which side your machine prints on and which end it makes the head, as was discussed above.

B. If you have the "print every other page" option, you will need to find out whether your machine prints the odd numbered pages or the even numbered pages, so you can do the opposite on the back of each page. Some machines will simply start on the page you are currently looking at in the window and go from there. If this is the case, start with page 3 to get it to do the odd numbered pages; and when you do the backside, simply scroll to page 4 so it will do the even numbered pages.

If your printer insists on printing all the odd or even numbered pages and you can’t stop it from printing the cover, don’t despair. When printing the second side of your pages, simply put a blank piece of paper in place of the cover page it printed the first time. If you do not desire to have the cover pages at all, put a piece of scratch paper in for the cover page each time. This will save a piece or two of paper, and fortunately the cover pages do not have much on them so they do not take much ink.

C. For either option, you will need to note which page prints first? Was it the last odd or even numbered page, or was it the first? This is important because when you put the paper back into the machine you will want to stack them first to last or last to first, depending on which your machine does first.

Important - When resizing the calendar, you will want to take note of the fact the PDF calendar is produced to print on 8.5" x 11", but because the print area is exactly the same as the standard print calendar you can order from the Institute, this leaves a considerable amount of white space around the edges, particularly on three sides.

Option #1 - Some printers will give you the option of "scaled printing." Unfortunately, every manufacturer does this differently, but if your printer can do it, you should find the option by clicking on the print icon in your PDF reader. You may see "page scaling" in the print dialog box which opens. However, this will likely only contain options for fitting your page onto the printable area of the paper size you have chosen. To hopefully find more useful options, you can click on "properties." This should bring up the specific options available for your printer. If scaling is available, you’re likely to find it in the "page setup" or "page layout" tab or area of this properties box. Once you choose "scaled printing," or the like, more controls should become available for choosing the percentage of increase or decrease you desire. You may want to play with this, printing out just one page as a test to see if the scale you have chosen actually prints the size you desire, and prints desirably clear and/or crisp.

Option #2 - Especially if shrinking the pages to make a smaller calendar is what you’re looking to do, there are a couple of tricks you can try, even if your printer does not allow custom scaling.

One option is to simply print the calendar on smaller paper stock. A lot of printers will give you the opportunity to choose from a variety of paper sizes. For instance, the "statement" size is 5.5" x 8.5". This is simply a standard letter size cut in half. (Some printers even allow you to configure custom sizes, but to figure out how to do this, you will need to consult the instructions for your specific printer.) Once you have settled on a size, you may be able to purchase the size you want right off the shelf of your local office supply store or have them cut it for you. If you have the use of a paper cutter available or you’re really good at cutting paper straight, you can precut the sheets yourself.

Important - If you choose to print on a paper size smaller than the calendar’s page, remember to set the page scaling option to a command such as "shrink to printable area," or you may only get some of the page. If you use certain commands, such as "fit to printable area," you may get an elongated or smashed down distortion if your chosen paper size is not the same length to width ratio as a letter size sheet. Again, print a test page to see what you truly get from your printer.

Option #3 - The other trick still calls for cutting the paper but not until after it’s gone through the printer. If you click on the print icon of your PDF reader, in the print box you should have the option of printing multiple pages per sheet. Putting more than one page on a sheet will incrementally shrink the size of each page. However, one complication to this technic is that it will be a little tricky getting the right pages on the front and back of each sheet. Only you, spending time with your printer, can figure out if your machine will allow you to accomplish this.

If you have a tip you’d like to share, we’d love to hear it! To share your ideas, simply use the form provided on this page. You may also use the form if you have further questions about the PDF version of the calendar, so please don’t hesitate to ask. We can’t guarantee that we can help, but we’ll be happy to try!

Of course, there are many great ways to bind your calendar; and especially if you re-size it, you will want to take into consideration how you will bind it. As the PDF calendar file stands, without modification, you are given a 3/4" margin on the binding side of the pages, and the pages are setup to print on 8 1/2" X 11" paper. This is done for the purpose of punching holes in the calendar's pages, so you may put them in a three-ring binder. However, punching holes is not your only option.

Important - We want to point out again that the print area of the PDF calendar's pages are the same as the standard print calendar you can order from the Institute. The standard calendar is 6.75" X 9.5" in size; but because of the 3/4" margin on the binging edge, the PDF calendar will generally be 3/4” wider than the standard calendar, unless you trim both left-hand and right-hand edges.

Option #1 - If you desire to cut off the 3/4" edge on the binding side of the pages, you will have to be knowledgeable in binding techniques, such as perfect binding, in order to put your calendar together. Which if you desire to do and want to put forth the time, there are some websites which tell how this type of binding can be done at home with simple (or in some cases, quite sophisticated) wooden jigs you can make yourself, and glues which are available at many local hardware stores. To find these sites, simply do a search for, "how to perfect bind."

Option #2 - If you maintain the 3/4" margin and punch standard three-ring binder holes in the edge, you can bind your calendar in many styles and sizes too numerous to cover here. However, we would like to point out one because it gives you the option of making your calendar flat and if you desire, smaller than 8 1/2" X 11." In many stores, you can buy simple flat paperboard portfolios with three metal fasteners inside. These often come in a wide variety of colors; and if you're not interested in cutting your calendar down, many of them have convenient pockets inside. If you are interested in cutting down your calendar, these paper portfolios are an excellent choice for a binder.

Now, because you will not want to cut through the metal fasteners, you may not be able to cut it down to the exact height of the standard print calendar, but you can come close. If you have access to a paper cutting machine (Some office supply and/or copy center stores make them available to their customers.), you can simply print your calendar, punch the holes, and put it in your binder. Then you can cut the calendar pages and the cover all at once. This leaves you with neat, clean edges just like the one you can order from the Institute.

Go Small - If you desire to have an even smaller calendar, you can print your pages at a height which makes them just the right size to fit in one of these portfolios, and use only two of the fasteners. Then you can cut the entire calendar down to a very compact size!

Living Springs Institute produces its Daily Planning Calendar primarily as a product which can be ordered from our Resource Shop, but we understand that not everyone desires to have a calendar just the size, color, binding style, etc. that we have chosen to produce. With that in mind, all the calendars we gave away for the first couple of years came with a survey which could be used to give input on the calendar. (You can still use our electronic survey to give your opinion!) Over all, we got a very positive response, and certain additions and valuable changes were made to the calendar. (You can see our responses to ideas given in the surveys by clicking here.) However, there are always those items that individuals desire which would require us to produce all sorts of variations in order to accommodate. Our answer to this was to create a flexible version of the calendar which an individual can use to produce the calendar in a form which is most valuable to them personally and/or to those they are teaching, and sharing with.

Another thing this version provides is an archive of the calendar. If you did not get a previous year of the print calendar, they do not continue to be available to order; but you can still see the same information by downloading the electronic version for that year from this page. This can be extremely helpful to those who desire to study the calendar and understand how it works.

This electronic version provides the flexibility I mentioned above. It is a file you can save and view on your computer anytime you want. It is also a very printer friendly version of the calendar, so you can print out your own calendar anytime you want, make as many as you want, and the way you want! With this version, you can play with the size the calendar is printed, put it in the folder or binder of your choosing, use just the pages you want, print pages out for use on an overhead projector, and other forms which benefits your ability to use this calendar! (View our "printing tips" on this page for help on how to print your own calendar, and use the "Idea Form" to share your ideas and tips with us.)

All we ask is that you do not attempt to remake or reproduce this calendar under your own copyright and/or for profit. Feel free to give it and share it with as many people as you like, that’s why we do the work of producing it. This is a teaching tool, and if we can provide it for free, you can afford to do the same!

The electronic version is made available by individual years, and is produced in PDF.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993, and it is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system. To view a PDF, you will need what is called a reader, but don’t fear the reader is nothing complex nor expensive. In fact, many computers come with one already installed. If you do not have one, you can get a PDF reader for free, and it should be no trouble obtaining a version which works with your computer and its specific operating system. Much like the way a web browser works, once you have the reader for your operating system, you can open PDFs and see the same thing a person with a totally different computer sees. Read More

If you do not have a PDF reader installed on your computer, you can get Adobe Acrobat for FREE by clicking here.