Free Calendar Template – Coral

Are you looking for a simple yet effective way to create a dynamic calendar in Google Sheets? Whether you’re organizing your personal schedule or managing a team, this quick guide will show you how to build a fully functional calendar in just 10 minutes. Plus, you’ll find a free template to get started instantly!

Step 1: Set Up the Sheet

1. Resize the Cells: Open a new Google Sheet, resize the columns and rows to make them uniform, and ensure they’re easy to work with.

2. Align the Text: Highlight all cells, go to the toolbar, and set the Horizontal Alignment to “Center,” Vertical Alignment to “Middle,” and enable Text Wrapping.

Step 2: Create Input Fields for Year and Month

1. Select two adjacent cells (e.g., B1 and C1), merge them horizontally, and label them “Year” and “Month.”

2. Next, in the row below, type the initials of the days of the week (e.g., Sun, Mon, Tue, etc.).

3. Select a grid (e.g., 5 rows x 7 columns) below this header to represent the days of the month, then apply All Borders to create the calendar layout.

Step 3: Add Dropdown Menus for Year and Month

1. Create a new sheet and name it “Settings.”

2. In this sheet, list the years (e.g., 2023 to 2030) in one column and the months (January to December) in another column.

3. Go back to your main sheet and select the cells for “Year” and “Month.”

4. Insert dropdown menus:

   • Go to Data > Data Validation > Dropdown > From a Range and select the year and month lists from the “Settings” sheet.

   • Customize the dropdown display with arrows for easy selection.

Step 4: Populate the Calendar

1. Using the selected year and month, calculate the days dynamically with a formula. For example, use =DATE(year, month, 1) for the first day and increment it across the grid.

2. Format the cells to display only the day numbers:

   • Select the data range, go to Format > Number > Custom Date and Time.

   • Remove the month and year fields to show only the day.

Step 5: Highlight Non-Month Days and Today’s Date

1. Graying Out Non-Month Days:

   • Use Conditional Formatting to compare the month of each date with the selected month.

   • Apply a formula like =MONTH(A1)<>$C$1 to check if the date is outside the selected month.

   • Set the text color to gray and remove the background for these cells.

2. Highlight Today’s Date:

   • Add another conditional formatting rule for the range.

   • Use =A1=TODAY() to highlight today’s date with a custom color.

Step 6: Final Touches

1. Customize the colors and formatting to match your style.

2. Test the dropdown menus to ensure the calendar updates dynamically when you change the year or month.

3. Save and share your dynamic calendar with friends or colleagues!

Download the Free Template

Don’t want to start from scratch? Download the free Google Sheets calendar template here. It’s ready to use and fully customizable.

What’s Next?

In the next tutorial, we’ll enhance this calendar by adding an option to choose the starting day of the week. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks on mastering Google Sheets.

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