Learn step by step how to create a beautiful, fully interactive digital planner with clickable hyperlinks in Canva — no design experience needed.
Digital planners have become one of the most popular digital products to sell online — and for good reason. They're beautiful, functional, reusable, and in high demand on platforms like Etsy and Gumroad. The best part? You can create a professional, fully interactive digital planner with clickable hyperlinks entirely inside Canva, even as a complete beginner.
Here's exactly how to do it.
20+ Best Digital Planners Need in Your Daily Life
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What You'll Need Before You Start
Before diving in, make sure you have the following ready:
A Canva account — Canva Free works for basic planners, but Canva Pro gives you access to premium templates, fonts, and the ability to resize designs easily.
A clear planner structure — Decide what sections your planner will include before you start designing. Common sections include a monthly overview, weekly spreads, daily pages, goal tracker, habit tracker, and notes pages.
A PDF-compatible app for use — Digital planners with hyperlinks work best when opened in GoodNotes, Notability, or Adobe Acrobat on a tablet or computer.
Step 1: Set Up Your Canva Document
Open Canva and create a new design. For digital planners, the most popular size is A4 (210 x 297mm) or US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches), as these work well across most apps and devices.
If you're designing for iPad use specifically, set your dimensions to 1668 x 2224 pixels to match the iPad Pro screen ratio perfectly.
Name your project clearly — for example, "2026 Digital Planner" — so it's easy to find and edit later.
Step 2: Design Your Planner Pages
Start with your cover page, then design each section of your planner one page at a time. Use Canva's template library as a starting point or build your layout from scratch using grids, shapes, text boxes, and icons.
Keep your design consistent throughout — use the same colour palette, fonts, and layout style across all pages. This creates a polished, professional product that buyers will love. Canva's "Brand Kit" feature (available on Pro) makes maintaining consistency effortless.
Design every page you plan to include — monthly calendar, weekly layout, daily pages, and any tracker pages — before moving on to the hyperlinks.
Step 3: Create a Navigation Tab System
The most important feature of an interactive digital planner is a clickable tab system that lets users jump between sections instantly. To create this, design a set of tabs or buttons along the side or bottom of every page — one for each section of your planner.
Label each tab clearly: Monthly, Weekly, Daily, Goals, Habits, Notes. Style them to match your overall design using consistent colours and fonts. These tabs will become your hyperlink anchors in the next step.
Step 4: Add Hyperlinks in Canva
This is where your planner becomes truly interactive. Here's how to add clickable hyperlinks in Canva:
- Select the tab, button, or text element you want to make clickable.
- Click the chain link icon that appears in the top toolbar — this is the "Link" button.
- In the link field, paste the URL of the page you want it to link to.
For internal navigation between planner pages, you'll need to link to specific page anchors. The most reliable method is to first export your planner as a PDF, then use a tool like Adobe Acrobat to add internal page links — as Canva's native hyperlinking currently supports external URLs rather than internal page jumps.
For external links — such as linking to a website, YouTube tutorial, or resource page — Canva's built-in link tool works perfectly and requires no additional software.
Step 5: Export Your Planner as an Interactive PDF
Once your design is complete and your links are in place, it's time to export. Click Share in the top right corner, then select Download. Choose PDF Standard for general use or PDF Print for higher quality.
Make sure the "Include hyperlinks" checkbox is ticked before downloading — this ensures all your clickable elements remain active in the final file.
Step 6: Test Your Digital Planner
Before selling or sharing your planner, open the exported PDF in GoodNotes, Notability, or Adobe Acrobat and test every single hyperlink. Click each tab, button, and link to confirm it works exactly as intended.
Fix any broken links back in Canva, re-export, and test again until everything functions perfectly.
20+ Best Digital Planners Need in Your Daily Life
Downloads
Final Thoughts
Creating a digital planner with hyperlinks in Canva is more straightforward than most people expect. With a clear structure, consistent design, and working navigation links, you can produce a product that genuinely delights buyers and stands out in a crowded marketplace.
Once your first planner is complete, the template becomes the foundation for endless variations — different colour schemes, themes, and niches — multiplying your product range with minimal extra effort.
Start simple, test thoroughly, and launch with confidence.
