F'n calendars

[Farabomb]

So I have a PDF here of a single page PDF calendar. It's a 2015 one that I have to convert to 2016. The boss thinks it's just clicking buttons but I don't think it's that easy.

I'm thinking I have to reflow the whole thing, add the holidays and do the other edits the customer wants by hand. Does anyone else have an idea on how to do it?

The calendar part looks like this.

[Joe]

To do it manually would be a major undertaking. There are plenty of free word processing templates online that can do it and you can modify it to your hearts content after that. Hell even Publisher can do calendars with ease.

[Farabomb]

Can they output a PDF that looks close to it? I don't have pooplisher installed. All I need is the calendar part, I can make it work with the existing art.

And yes, the customer uses comic sans in their emails.

[Joe]

Do you have Word or OpenOffice? If so just search for Calendars for whichever one you have. You could output a PDF from either. Then overlay the numbers over the existing artwork in Indy or something like that. You might even be able to find a free script for Indy to create the calendar.

[Farabomb]

Thanks, off to go look at my options. Already told the boss it's going to take a bit of time to get this done.

[delooch]

jesus, i just realized this is the first time in 15 fucking years i dont have to scramble to assemble a yearly calendar! 

also, check timeanddate.com - you can output the guts to calendars there easily as well

[Farabomb]

Groovy, I will check it out. I'm plating a calendar right now. One that comes in set up correctly. Since the boss has no idea he thinks taking last years, waving the magic wand and some incantations and it's done in 5 minutes. All that for 250 pieces. We are not making money on this job at all.

[Joe]

Groovy, I will check it out. I'm plating a calendar right now. One that comes in set up correctly. Since the boss has no idea he thinks taking last years, waving the magic wand and some incantations and it's done in 5 minutes. All that for 250 pieces. We are not making money on this job at all.

Yeah that would be a major fustercluck to try to edit last years into this year. You'd have to charge $75,000 for the 250 copies.

[Tracy]

here is one that is very similar, just change the year at the top in excel
create a pdf and edit in illy if needed, there are others on the website
I think the url is at the bottom
url wasn't at the bottom, here it is http://www.vertex42.com/calendars

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdvbn0jj0ydanvt/2016%20changeable.xls?dl=0

[andyfest]

I use a web-based calendar site to create custom calendars that can be downloaded as a PDF when you are done.
www.timeanddate.com

[StudioMonkey]

I got InDesign templates where all I have to do is change the day the 1st of January falls on and it all reflows.  2 Text boxes, one with the dates, one with the days of the week.  Holidays that stay on one date (like Xmas) are in the text box with the dates.  Holidays that fall on a particular day (like Thanksgiving) are in the text box with the days.  If you want weekends marked do the SAT / SUN in bold or red or something.  Then move Easter and check for a Leap Year and its done.  15 minutes max.

You can do it for where the days move or where the dates move.

Yeah I made the templates myself but it only takes an hour or so when you've got some slack time and then you don't have to redo every year.

[Tracy]

Interested in sharing that template studio?

[Farabomb]

Yeah, I have one I found that's a 2016 one as well as a script generator. The generator won't let me do what I want but it works pretty good.

[StudioMonkey]

Interested in sharing that template studio?

Working on it

[StudioMonkey]

Here you go:

Read Me file
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s5mjkedpdawywo5/READ%20ME%20InDesign%20Calendar%20Template1.txt?dl=0

Calendar 1 - with fixed DAYS and ghost numbering
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3vyvw8glfgjeqsf/2016%20Calendar%20Template1.indd?dl=0

Calendar 2 - with fixed DATES
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qsh652287grfe6k/2016%20Calendar%20Template2.indd?dl=0

A brief how-to if you want to create your own
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xdew0x2ntzunl5/Calendar%20Template%20Creation.pdf?dl=0

I was shocked how big Calendar 1 InDesign file is - all the linked text boxes I suppose.  I have set these up as A3 Photo calendars with a space at the top for photos.  They can of course be easily adjusted for US paper sizes.