Woody Allen observed that 80% of success is showing up. If that’s true, then success depends more than anything else on a calendar. Users of Publisher 2003 can improve their own odds of success by drafting a custom calendar, in which you can list important dates and can’tmiss appointments, in addition to scheduling upcoming events.

Calendar Basics

Publisher automates the process of creating a basic calendar structure. Simply open the File menu and select New to access the New Publication task pane. Next, click Publications For Print under the New From A Design heading; a list of publication types appears. Select Calendars and choose a calendar size: Full Page or Wallet Size. A variety of corresponding calendar designs appears to the right of the task pane. Peruse the options and click the one you like.
The design you select will appear along with the Calendar Options task pane. Review your options in this task pane; you can specify the orientation (portrait or landscape) and scope (monthly or yearly) of your calendar and determine whether the calendar should include a schedule of events. Click the Change Date Range button and specify a date range for your calendar in the Change Calendar Dates dialog box. When you return to the Calendar Options task pane, click Color Schemes and select a default option or click the Custom Color Scheme link to create your own. After you select a color scheme, click the Font Schemes option and select a font scheme. You can close the task pane after making your selections.

Now it’s time to tweak the appearance of the various objects that constitute the calendar. By default, Publisher adds a logo, tag line, and contact information to each calendar page. You can move, resize, or delete any of these objects. You also can use the Objects toolbar to add graphics, shapes, and text boxes to your calendar. To insert an appointment reminder, for instance, you should select the Text Box icon on the Objects toolbar and then click anywhere on the calendar page. After typing the relevant information in the resulting text box, adjust the text box size and location to best fit the appropriate date cell. (We should note that the aforementioned customizations affect the active calendar page only. You will have to repeat this process for each additional page in your calendar.)

Dates By Design

As an alternative, Publisher lets you insert monthly calendars into existing publications. Open your publication and make sure it has enough room to accommodate a calendar. Next, access the Insert menu and select Design Gallery Object. On the Objects By Category tab, select the Calendars option and doubleclick a design from the preview gallery
on the right. When the new calendar appears on the page, resize and position it as needed. Next, right-click the calendar and select Wizard For This Object to access the Calendar Designs task pane. Click the corresponding Change
Date Range button at the bottom of the task pane and specify the desired month in the resulting dialog box. Click OK to save your modifications. You can repeat this process to fit more than one monthly calendar on a single page. You also have the option of adding extra calendar pages to a publication. Open the Insert menu and select Page. In the Insert Page dialog box, indicate the number of additional pages needed and select the Duplicate All Objects On Page radio button. Click OK and wait for Publisher to insert the new pages. You can update each calendar on a page by accessing its Calendar Designs task pane, clicking the Change Date Range button, and selecting a new month for the calendar.

Share Your Time

After you create a calendar, you should print it, bind it, and hang it on a wall. With any luck, you’ll find yourself enjoying even greater success, as you show up more often to the events listedon the calendar you made yourself.