5 Simple Steps to Add a Home Screen Shortcut to Your Digital Planner (iOS)

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Who doesn’t love a good shortcut?

And especially when it comes to technology, we’re always looking for faster ways to get things done.

And if every time you need to jot things down in your digital planner, you have to unlock your iPad, find your annotation app, tap on it, search through all your files, then tap on your planner…that’s 3 steps too many, in my opinion. Agree? Thought so…

Luckily, there’s a faster way to get to your planner by cutting out the middle man.

Instead of having to open your PDF app and then your planner, why not just add a cute little icon for your digital planner on the home screen that’ll take you straight to it?

Today’s post is going to show you how to do just that.

In just 5 simple steps, we’ll create a home screen shortcut to your digital planner PLUS you’ll get some cute, and 100% free icon images to use!

So let’s do it…

IMPORTANT

Not all iOS apps support and integrate with Shortcuts in iOS. At the time of writing, Goodnotes is the only PDF annotation app that does.

I will update this post as more apps add this functionality, so check back later for your app!

5 Steps to Create a Home Screen Icon for Your Digital Planner (iPad)

1. Import the Digital Planner to Goodnotes

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If your digital planner file is already in Goodnotes, skip this step and go to Step 2!

To create your Home Screen shortcut, the first thing you need to do is import your digital planner PDF to the Goodnotes app.

To do this, your planner file should already be stored somewhere on your device, either in iCloud Files, Google Drive, Dropbox, or another file management app. If it isn’t, I highly recommend saving it to your device to avoid any importing issues or glitches.

To import your planner, open Goodnotes and navigate to the main Documents screen.

Tap on the Plus (New…) option on the top left. Choose Import.

This pulls up a file browser window so you can locate and select your planner file. To get to your iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. tap on the back arrow on the top left until you see a left-hand column of different storage locations.

If you don’t see the storage location you need, tap on the 3 Dots icon to Edit Sidebar. You may need to turn on your Google Drive or Dropbox via the on/off toggle.

Now, navigate to where your file is stored and tap on it. This will immediately import the file and display it within Goodnotes.

To learn how to import your digital planner or notebook to Goodnotes from other locations, check out…

2. Open the Digital Planner in Goodnotes

Go to Goodnotes and open your digital planner PDF file if you’re not already there.

This tells your iPad Shortcuts app we’re about to do something with this file and “registers” it in Shortcuts.

It’ll make our lives easier in a minute—trust me!

3. Go to Shortcuts App

Shortcuts App Icon

Next, navigate back to your home screen but don’t completely close Goodnotes. Goodnotes should still be open in the background when you swipe up to display your Open Apps.

Now, Search your iPad apps by swiping from the middle of your screen towards the bottom. Type in Shortcuts and select the app when it appears.

You should see the main Shortcuts menu that looks something like this:

Shortcuts app main screen — Shortcuts main screen with + sign to add shortcut

4. Creating Your Home Screen Shortcut

You have a few different options when it comes to your home screen icon. Your first option is to use a photo or image file of your own to become the shortcut icon. Or, Shortcuts also has built-in “generic” icons that you can customize the color of and the icon or glyph.

Depending on which method you choose, follow the steps below:

To Use a Custom Image or Icon

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You’re welcome to use my FREE icons! Just scroll to the bottom of this post and save them to Photos 🙂

If you have an image or icon in mind that you’d like to use, make sure it’s saved in your iCloud Files or Photos app. It will need to be in an image file format (JPEG, PNG, etc.).

Tap the + on the Shortcuts main screen to create a new shortcut.
Name your shortcut by tapping where it says “Shortcut Name”. Rename your planner shortcut something like “My Planner” or “(Year) Planner” for example.
Go to the right-hand column and tap Apps. Scroll until you find Goodnotes and tap on it.
Locate the Goodnotes name of your planner and tap on it. You’ll see this has now been added to the shortcut instructions on the left-hand side.

add Home Screen shortcut to your digital planner

Next, tap on the Settings icon on the top right (looks like a set of sliders). Under Details, choose the Add to Home Screen option.
A pop up will appear letting you rename your icon (if needed) and change the icon that’ll appear on your home screen.

To select your custom icon, tap on the current icon and you’ll see the Take Photo, Choose Photo, and Choose File options. Tap Choose Photo or Choose File, depending on where your image is stored.
Zoom in and crop your image so that it fills this window. Tap Use when finished.
Tap Add, and you’re all set!

To Use a Generic Icon

Tap the + on the Shortcuts main screen to create a new shortcut.
Name your shortcut by tapping where it says “Shortcut Name”. Rename your planner shortcut something like “My Planner” or “(Year) Planner” for example.
Tap on the current icon on the very top left. This will let you change the color and glyph on your shortcut icon. There are many glyph options to choose from, so pick one that fits your planner! When you’ve chosen one, tap Done.

Next, go to the right-hand column and tap Apps. Scroll until you find Goodnotes and tap on it.
Locate the Goodnotes name of your planner and tap on it. You’ll see this has now been added to the shortcut instructions on the left-hand side.

Next, tap on the Settings icon on the top right (looks like a set of sliders). Under Details, choose the Add to Home Screen option.
A pop up will appear letting you rename your icon (if needed) one last time. Tap Add.
This will take you to your home screen where you’ll now see your new digital planner shortcut icon!

Final Steps to Creating Your Digital Planner Shortcut

To finish things up, head back to the Shortcuts app and you should see the same screen where we left off. Tap Done.

You’ll be brought to the Shortcuts App main menu where you can view and edit your shortcuts. If you ever need to make changes to your shortcut, locate it on this menu and tap the Elipsis (…).

If you’d like to create another shortcut to a digital notebook or other planner, tap on the Plus + and follow these instructions again.