2024 Unico Planner Setup Guide

Congratulations on starting your digital planning journey! To start, let's go through what a digital planner and digital planning is -

Digital planner: a PDF document that allows you to write on top of it via a note annotating app on either a tablet, a cell phone, or a computer (PC/Mac)

Digital planning: the use of software or apps to organize and manage tasks, events, notes, and schedules electronically, often offered as a replacement for traditional paper planners

Now that we've covered the basics, keep reading below to get a step by step tutorial over how to start setting up your planner as well as understanding some basic features on how to use it. For demonstration purposes, the device used will be an iPad with an Apple Pencil and the app will be version 6 of Goodnotes. These methods are also compatible with Goodnotes 5 and other PDF annotation apps/devices.

Choose a Device

The device you use will dictate what app you wind up using for your planner. You can use an iPad, an Android tablet, an iPhone, an Android phone, or a computer (PC/Mac) with a stylus function and a stylus.

Choose a PDF Annotating App

Select a PDF annotating app or software that suits your needs. There are many options available, both free and paid, for various devices and operating systems. The Unico Planner was designed to best be used on an iPad device, but it can still be used on other devices. Keep in mind that the Apple and ChatGPT features will only work on an iPad, so remember that when looking to use this feature. Below are a list of apps that are compatible for using a digital planner:

• Goodnotes (iOS)
• Notability (iOS)
• Zinnia (iOS)
• Noteshelf (iOS, Android)
• Penly (Android)
• Zoomnotes (iOS, Android, Windows)
• Xodo (iOS, Android, Windows)

Downloading the Planner

Download your .zip file that you received via email. Place your unzipped files into a folder that you can easily access on your iPad. For this example I'll be using Dropbox - which you can sign up for a free account. Once you import your file into Dropbox, right-click on the .zip file and choose Extract All:

This should unzip your file into a folder with the following files:

Importing Into Goodnotes

If you haven't already downloaded Goodnotes into your iPad, download it here. Both Goodnotes 5 and 6 versions are compatible with this tutorial, but with a couple of differences between both interfaces. Once installed, open Goodnotes and tap on the + sign to get a drop down menu. Select Import:

Select your downloaded planner and tap Open:

Your planner should successfully import into Goodnotes and open automatically:

Editing and Read-Only Mode

In Goodnotes there are two modes when it comes to using the planner - 

Editing Mode: where you interact with your planner by drawing, typing, highlighting, adding images, etc to your planner

Read-Only Mode: this mode allows you to navigate around the planner and its pages via hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are links that you see on a typical web page online but within your planner, linking one page to another so you can switch seamlessly through them all. When you're in editing mode you can use the tools in the toolbar to write, draw, and copy + paste directly onto your planner.

When you're in read-only mode you will be able to tap on the dashboard links, monthly tabs, months, weeks in monthly pages, ribbons, Apple/ChatGPT icons, days in the weekly pages, hours on the daily pages, mini-calendars, and note template options. All of these are interlinked together and will run seamlessly so you can navigate the planner like a website.

Google, Apple, ChatGPT Integrations

This planner comes equipped with the following integrations -

Google Calendar: allows you to add your daily events from the weekly pages when you tap on the day of the week: You can also add an hourly event to your daily calendar by tapping on the hour of the day you're on:

Apple: Tapping on the 3 icons will open a menu that will allow you to choose from adding an event to your Apple Calendar, a note to your Reminder app, or send an email using the default Mail app:

ChatGPT: Tapping on this icon will open a pop-up menu allowing you to talk to ChatGPT. If you give it a very detailed prompt it will take a little longer to write out, which is why this feature works best if you want to ask it shorter, quick prompts.

To use both the Apple and ChatGPT shortcuts, first open the Integration Guide PDF that was included in your download. You will need to install Siri Shortcuts and the official ChatGPT apps on your iPad from the App Store. For ChatGPT, you will be required to create a free account and sign in. After Siri Shortcuts is installed, go to Settings > Shortcuts > Enable Private Sharing (allow custom shortcuts in iPadOS 15 and earlier):

You can disable this when you're done with the setup. Once you have done this refer to the guide that came included within your planner folder to enable the four shortcuts into Siri Shortcuts.

Pen and Text Tools

There are 3 main ways to write within your planner -

Pen Tool: this tool comes with an option of a fountain pen, ball pen, and brush pen with their own individual options and color choices. It's the most direct and easiest way to start writing on your planner.

Text Tool: this tool allows you to write with your Apple Pencil on your planner and Goodnotes will convert it to typed text:

To be able to access this feature, make sure you have Scribble on. Turn on Scribble in Settings > Apple Pencil:

Typing: this is an extension of the text tool where you can connect a keyboard to your iPad, select the text tool, set your font settings, and start typing:

Copying and Pasting Pages

If you want to duplicate pages from the productivity or notebook section, do the following -

Navigate to the page you want to copy, go the right-hand side menu with the three dots and tap on Copy Page:

Once your page is copied, go to where you want your page to be pasted. For example, if I want to add a dotted page after the Wheel of Life, I would navigate to the first Wheel of Life page, click on the page with the + icon on it, select After, then Paste Page:

This should paste your page right after the Wheel of Life page. To delete a page from your planner, tap on Move Page to Trash:

Digital Stickers and Widgets

These are PNG files that you can use within your planner on any page you'd like.  There are several different ways to import and use them, but for this tutorial you will be importing them into the Elements tool. With this method you can make folders of your stickers within Goodnotes and you don't have to have them saved locally on your device or Dropbox (though it's recommended to have them backed up somewhere for storage) to use them. This is a good method to store, organize, and access your stickers within the same interface and not having to switch back and forth windows like other methods.

To start, follow the same process as outlined above that you used to import your planner into Dropbox and import your stickers. Once imported into Dropbox, select them all and tap on Export to save them onto your iPad (you can delete them once they've been imported into Goodnotes):

Next, open Goodnotes, select the Elements tool and scroll to your right until you see a + sign:

Tap on the + sign and a new window should pop up asking you to add a new collection. Tap on Add Photos, select the stickers you just saved, and tap Add:

Name your collection and tap Create:

You will now see your stickers in your Elements section and are ready to use:

Choosing A Cover

The Unico Planner comes with ten custom covers to choose from. All covers come pre-loaded into the planner. Once you've chosen what cover you want to keep, go to the other covers, tap on the three dots on the upper right-hand corner, and select Move Page to Trash:

That should leave you with the cover you want to use for your planner. If you close your planner you'll now see the cover you chose as the default cover in Goodnotes:

Working With Note Templates

There are six basic note templates that you can choose from in the Notes Overview page. These templates allow you to write your own notes, draw, or create your own page spreads:

To delete, move, or add note template pages, follow the same steps in the copying and pasting pages and choosing a cover sections above.

That wraps up the basics to setting up your new planner. Happy planning!