📘 EduPlanner – Full User Guide

EduPlanner is a Google Sheets add-on designed to generate a professional, year-long teaching planner. It combines monthly overviews, weekly lesson panes, term views, and side tools into one organized workbook. This guide explains every feature and how to use it, step by step.

1. Getting Started

1. Install the add-on
    EduPlanner is installed from the Google Workspace Marketplace or provided by Inclusive Learning Solutions Ltd.
   Once installed, it adds new menus:
   

• EduPlanner — Build
  
• EduPlanner — Extras
  
• EduPlanner — Admin Tools
  

2. First-time setup
   

• Open a fresh Google Sheet.
  
• From the menu, select EduPlanner — Build → Initialize Year.
  
• You will be prompted for the academic year (e.g., 2026).
  
• EduPlanner will generate the 12 month tabs and apply the base formatting.
  

2. Planner Types

You can use EduPlanner in two ways, depending on preference:

A. Monthly Planner

• Creates 12 tabs, one per calendar month.
  
• Each month shows:
  

• A main grid (Mon–Sun, columns B–H).
  
• Lesson planning pane (Mon–Fri, columns J–N).
  
• Extra rows for Before School, Whānau Time, P1–P6, After School.
  

• Best for schools/teachers who want a whole year overview.
  

No links are generated in monthly tabs. They are plain planning sheets.

B. Term Planner

• Creates Term 1–Term 4 tabs (based on your TERMS sheet).
  
• Each term tab shows weeks stacked top-to-bottom.
  
• Inside each week:
  

• Main grid (Mon–Sun, B–H).
  
• Lesson planning pane (Mon–Fri, J–N).
  
• Period rows for your timetable (from the OPTIONS sheet).
  

• 🔗 Links appear automatically in term planners:
  

• When you type a lesson name into a period cell, EduPlanner appends a small 🔗 emoji.
  
• The 🔗 links directly to the matching cell in the Lessons — Term X sheet.
  
• This allows you to double-click or click the link to jump between the planner and the detailed lessons.
  

3. Key Features & Tools

3.1. Weekday & Holiday Coloring

• Weekdays (Mon–Fri): pale blue headers.
  
• Weekends (Sat–Sun): light grey headers.
  
• Holidays: pale pink shading, pulled automatically from the HOLIDAYS sheet.
  
• Manual repaint:
  

• Use EduPlanner — Admin Tools → Force Holiday Colours to re-apply if changes are made.
  

3.2. Side-by-Side Lesson Pane

• On both month and term views, columns J–N are reserved for Lesson Plans (Mon–Fri).
  
• Column I mirrors column A for period labels.
  
• Period labels (P1, P2, etc.) come from the OPTIONS sheet.
  

3.3. Jump Buttons (ON/OFF)

• Default: OFF (no automatic links).
  
• If turned ON (via Admin Tools), the side-pane can be auto-populated with 🔗 formulas that link to Lessons.
  
• Note: Most users keep Jump Buttons OFF and rely only on manual 🔗 appended by typing.
  

3.4. Subject Color Coding

• The OPTIONS sheet has columns E:F to map subject names to hex colors (e.g., Maths | #FFCC80).
  
• When you type a subject name in a lesson cell, the background automatically changes to the mapped color.
  
• Supports partial matching (e.g., “Maths – Algebra” still matches “Maths”).
  

3.5. Assessments

• Open via EduPlanner — Extras → Open Assessments Sheet.
  
• Add assessments with Date, Subject, Description, and optional Color.
  
• EduPlanner automatically:
  

• Adds 📌 notes in matching calendar cells.
  
• Optionally shades lesson rows with your chosen color.
  

3.6. Collaborative Notes

• Toggle on/off via EduPlanner — Extras → Toggle Collab Notes Row.
  
• Adds a “Collab Notes” row under each week for shared comments.
  

3.7. Learning Logo (School Branding)

• Set once via EduPlanner — Extras → Set School Logo (once).
  
• Locks your logo in A1 on every tab.
  
• Prevents overwriting (locked range).
  

3.8. Error & Link Cleaners

• Clear Old Jump Formulas: removes legacy =HYPERLINK() formulas.
  
• Clean Errors: wipes any #ERROR! values from planner grids.
  
• Remove All Links: strips links from Term/Lessons sheets if needed.
  
• Auto-sanitize after rebuild: ensures no unwanted links remain.
  

4. Building the Planner

4.1. Monthly Flow

1. Initialize Year → Creates all month tabs.
   
2. Import Holidays (optional, from a public source).
   
3. Set Default Country/Region (so holiday wizard knows which list to fetch).
   
4. Build Lessons Tabs (EduPlanner auto-creates a “Lessons — Term X” sheet for each term if needed).
   
5. Type directly into month planners.
   

4.2. Termly Flow

1. Fill in TERMS sheet with start/end dates of each term.
   
2. Run EduPlanner — Build → Build Term Tabs.
   
3. This generates Term 1–4 planners.
   
4. Term cells support linked 🔗 emoji:
   

• When you type a lesson, EduPlanner appends 🔗.
  
• The 🔗 is clickable → jumps into the Lessons — Term X sheet.
  
• This works only in Term planners, not in monthly planners.
  

5. Admin Tools

• Toggle Jump Buttons – switch between no links (plain) and formula-based links.
  
• Clear Old Jump Formulas – remove legacy links.
  
• Refresh License Cache – re-checks your license status.
  
• Force Holiday Colours – repaint pink holidays and grey weekends.
  
• Clean Errors on All Tabs – fixes any #ERROR! and clears leftover formulas.
  

6. Tips & Notes

• Monthly planners are for overview (no links).
  
• Term planners are interactive (🔗 links between overview and Lessons).
  
• HOLIDAYS sheet must have Date in column A, Name in column B.
  
• OPTIONS sheet customizes:
  

• Period labels (row timeslots).
  
• Subject colors.
  

• Repainting (Fast Repaint) can refresh colors and holidays without rebuilding the full year.
  
• Auto roll-over can copy the planner for the next year and increment TERMS/HOLIDAYS automatically.
  

7. Typical Workflow (Termly Example)

1. Run Initialize Year.
   
2. Complete the TERMS sheet (term dates).
   
3. Run Build Term Tabs.
   
4. Set subject colors in OPTIONS.
   
5. Add assessments in the Assessments sheet.
   
6. Import holidays.
   
7. Open Term 1 tab → type lesson names → EduPlanner appends 🔗.
   
8. Click 🔗 to jump into the matching Lessons — Term 1 tab.
   
9. Use Admin Tools as needed to repaint, clean, or refresh.
   
10. At year end, run Create Next Year Planner to roll over.