Create Custom Planner Dividers and Dashboards

Printable Planner Dashboards and Dividers

Ready to take your planner game to the next level? One easy way to customize your planner and stay organized is by creating your own dividers. With just a few supplies - printable divider templates, recycled cardboard, and a laminator - you can create dividers that are not only functional, but also stylish and eco-friendly. In this tutorial, we'll walk you through the steps to make your own custom dividers, including tips for cutting and laminating. So grab your supplies, and let's get started on creating a planner that's as unique and awesome as you are!

What You'll Need

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Sticker Label Paper A4 {2 per divider}

Cardboard 250gsm+ [or] Recycle Cereal Boxes [or] File Folders

Printable Planner Dividers

Metal Ruler

Stanley Knife [or] Scissors [or] Guillotine

Adjustable Hole Punch

~ Optional ~

Clear Contact

Laminating sheets

Laminator

Adobe Photoshop

Download & Install

Make sure you have downloaded and installed Adobe Acrobat Reader (You only need the free version for this tutorial) to your computer if you are using a text editable planner dividers printable pdf file.

Download and organize your Printable Planner Dividers before you forget. Rename them and put them in your organization system to make sure you can find them again the next time you are in need of some printable dividers

Plan your Organization

Organize what section categories you want to include in your planner or recipe binder. You may want main categories and subcategories with their own dividers or you could use just main categories.

I am using my 5 Tab Dividers for my recipe book, my divider categories will be Sauces, Sides, Mains, Desserts and Misc. I don't have a huge collection of recipes yet, but I can add more dividers and categories as I need them.

Decide which order your categories will be arranged in to determine which tab you use for the section. For example, I will arrange my recipe sections starting with Sauces > Sides > Mains > Desserts > Misc.

Next choose a colour or design for each category from your printable divider pack. I chose yellow for sauces, lime for side dishes, coral for main dishes, purple for desserts and blue for misc.

Customize Your Editable Divider Tabs

Open the editable printable planner divider files you intend to use in Adobe Acrobat Reader and edit the text fields with the categories you have chosen.

To edit your divider tabs just click on the blue box over the tab you want to use and type in your word. (e.g. Budget) don’t worry the blue box doesn’t print out, it’s just there to help see what you can edit in the PDF.

Now the default font or colour may not be your style so let’s fix that next.

In Adobe Acrobat Reader you can use the keyboard short cut [ ctrl/cmd + E ] to edit these properties.

Now if you cannot change these properties the printable creator hasn’t given permission - contact the designer and ask if this was intentional or accidental. I make all mine editable so if you have one of my printables you should have no troubles customising these properties.

Find a font you like from your computer or download a font and install it on your computer. Adobe Creative Cloud comes with access to a font library.

Alternatively you can use free for personal use fonts online or if you are feeling extremely creative you can use Adobe illustrator with the plugin fontself and turn your own handwriting into a custom personal font.

Print and Assemble

I printed my designs onto A4 label paper for this project, however if you don't have label papers or don't want to use them, you can use regular printer paper or white cardstock for your printer.

Load your paper of choice into your printer and select File > Print. Make sure your page sizing and handling is set to Actual Size before printing so you get an accurate divider size.

Adhere your printed Dividers to your 250gsm+ Cardboard or recycled cereal box with both front and back designs. This part is made easier if your card board is approximately A4 size and your designs are lined up from the same corner on each side of the cardboard. The second page (the back design) is created larger to allow for some misalignment and still have edge to edge design.

Protecting Your Dividers

Consider using clear contact paper or Laminating pouches to protect your new dividers from spills and wear-and-tear. Don't worry if you don't have any on hand, this step is optional.

If you'd like to laminate your dividers for added durability, Simply slip them into an A4 laminating pouch and run them through your laminator.

It's time to cut out your dividers! Grab a metal ruler and a Stanley knife or scissors to carefully cut around your desired tab and remove any unneeded tabs. If you've used clear contact or Laminating sheets to protect your paper, this can help prevent any accidental tearing.

Once you've cut out your dividers, use your planner or binder hole punch to punch the necessary holes. And just like that, your new dividers are ready to help you stay organized and on top of your game

Try this for Dashboards and Checklists

You can create beautiful dashboards for your planners using these techniques as well. Just follow the same steps above with your dashboard printable designs and you have beautiful sturdy custom created dashboards.

You can use this method for many other types of planner printables.

I will use this method and laminate for protection for checklists in my planner. I can laminate my Clean Home Checklist, mark off completed tasks with a permanent marker throughout the week/month and then wipe it clean to use again for the next month.

This way I don't need to include extra copies of the same checklist in my planner taking up space.