How to Create Grid Notes Planner Pages in Affinity Publisher: Step-by-Step Tutorial

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to create grid-style pages in Affinity Publisher using Tables. This method is efficient and flexible, allowing you to customise the grid to your exact needs without relying on a predefined grid. Follow along step by step!

Step 1: Set up Your Page

1. Open Affinity Publisher and create a new document
2. Select the page size - I used A4 but any size will work
3. Set Margins and Bleed to none
   

Step 2: Do the Maths

1. To determine the number of rows:
   
   1. Divide the height of your page by the size of your grid squares
   2. For example, an A4 page is 297 mm tall, and with 5 mm squares, 297 ÷ 5 = 59.4
   3. Ignore the remainder and add 1, making 60 rows in total
2. To determine the number of columns:
   
   1. Divide the width of the page by the size of your grid squares
   2. For an A4 page, which is 210 mm wide, and 5 mm squares, 210 ÷ 5 = 42 columns
      

Step 3: Create the Table

1. Add a Table to your page
2. Set the Table to have 60 rows and 42 columns
3. Adjust the scale of the Table to cover the full page
4. Check the Table dimensions in the Table panel to ensure that both the row height and column width are 5 mm - If needed, select all cells and manually set the height to 5 mm
   

Step 4: Apply Formatting

1. Select all cells and apply a background colour - I used the hex code #308DE4 for a dark blue fill
2. Apply borders to all cells
3. I set the border colour to white and the width to 0.2 pt
   

Step 5: Fix the Table Height

1. There will be occasions that the last row is hanging off the page, use the Vector Crop Tool to fix that
2. Enable the Vector Crop Tool and use the blue handle to crop the Table
3. Ensure the grid fits perfectly to the page
   

Step 6: Lock the Table (Optional)

1. Locking prevents accidental movement of design elements
2. Select the Table and lock it using the lock icon in the Layers Panel
   

Step 7: Reuse Your Table Formats

1. To save time in the future, create a Table Format from your current Table
2. Ensure the Table is selected
3. Go to the Table Formats panel and click the add a new format from selection menu option
   

Step 8: Use Assets for Structure and Format

1. One of the biggest benefits of creating Assets is that the format and the structure are both saved
2. Format your Table and then use the Add from Selection option from the Assets Panel to add your grid
3. Adding an Asset to your working file does not add the original Table Format to your file
4. If you need the Table Format add it to the current file from the Asset using the Table Format Panel
   

Conclusion

Using Tables in Affinity Publisher allows for custom grid creation without relying on predefined grids. By setting up reusable Table Formats and Assets, you can significantly speed up your design process. With this method, you can also edit your grids in Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for even more flexibility.

If you enjoyed this tutorial and want more tips and tricks, be sure to check out my free training at ElaineGiles.com/VIP. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a new tutorial.

If you have any specific tutorial requests, feel free to reach out - I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and watching, and see you next time!