I hit the last page of my planner on a Tuesday. Not a paper planner — a digital one, on my iPad, which somehow made it feel sillier. I'd been jotting client notes all week, went to add one more, and there was simply… nothing there. No next page. For a good thirty seconds I sat there like the tablet had personally wronged me.
Here's the thing nobody warns you about when you switch to digital planning: the pages don't run out — you just add more. And in GoodNotes, adding a page (or a whole insert full of them) takes about ten seconds once you know where to tap. Short version, before anything else: open your planner, tap the page-overview grid (or the + at the top), and choose "Add Page" for a blank one — or, to drop in a PDF insert you bought or made, use Import and tell GoodNotes to add it to the document you already have open, not as a new file. That one little choice is the whole ballgame, and it's the exact spot where most people accidentally end up with two planners instead of one.
I check every insert I sell on my own iPad before it ever goes live (usually with coffee), so I've walked this path more times than I can count. Let's do it together — no jargon dump, I promise.
First — what actually counts as a "page" in a digital planner?
A digital planner insert is a single PDF page — a habit tracker, a lined notes sheet, a meal plan — sized to sit inside your existing planner and written on with your Apple Pencil, exactly like a sheet you'd slip into a physical binder. That's the whole idea. A blank page just adds room; an insert adds room with a purpose already printed on it. Both get into GoodNotes the same couple of ways, so once you've done one, you've done them all.
So how do you add a page in GoodNotes, step by step?
There are two routes, and they're both short.
For a blank page:
- Open your planner and tap the page-overview icon (the little grid, usually top-left) to see all your pages at once — or just tap the + near the top.
- Choose Add Page. GoodNotes drops a fresh page in right after the one you're on, and you can pick which paper template it uses (blank, lined, dotted, whatever suits).
- That's it. Write away.
For a PDF insert you downloaded (a tracker, a log, a notes sheet):
- With your planner open, tap the + and choose Import.
- Find the insert's PDF in your Files app and select it.
- Here's the part that matters: when GoodNotes asks, choose to add it to the current document (append) — not import as a new file. That tucks the insert's pages right into the planner you already have.
- Want it in a specific spot rather than at the very end? Open the page overview and drag the new page's thumbnail into position. Done.
Faster still, if you like split view: swipe up to reveal the dock, open Files beside GoodNotes, then tap-and-hold the insert page and drag it straight onto your planner. Same result, fewer taps.
New document or add to existing? (the mistake everyone makes exactly once)
This is the thirty-seconds-of-confusion I promised to save you. Any time you import a file while a planner is already open, GoodNotes asks a quiet little question: import as a new file, or add to the one you're in? Get it backwards and you either scatter single pages into their own lonely notebooks, or — the more painful one — merge a brand-new planner straight into last month's notes.
The rule I keep in my head: a whole new planner gets its own file; a single page or insert gets added to the planner you already have. New binder, or new sheet in the binder — decide which one you're doing before you tap, and you'll never untangle a merged mess again.
| Method | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Add Page (blank) | Inserts an empty, templated page after the current one | Extra room to write, no pre-printed layout |
| Import → Add to current document | Appends a PDF insert's page(s) into the planner you already have open | Dropping in a tracker, log, or notes sheet you downloaded |
| Import → Import as new file | Creates a separate GoodNotes document from the PDF | A brand-new full planner — keep it on its own |
| Drag & drop (split view) | Pulls a single PDF or PNG straight onto (or between) pages | One page at a time, placed exactly where you want it |
This is the whole reason I build my inserts as clean, single-purpose PDF pages — so they behave predictably the second they land in GoodNotes, no fiddling. If you want extra room that already knows what it's for, my landscape lined notepaper set is six ready-to-write pages for exactly the "I just need more space" Tuesdays; my graph & dot-grid insert comes in six sizes with light and dark versions for sketching, budgeting, or bullet-journal spreads; and the habit tracker set gives you daily, weekly, monthly and annual pages to append whenever a new goal shows up. All PDFs, all built to drop in and stay put.
The thing I wish someone had handed me when I started digital planning: I put together The Color-Confident Crafter Kit — four free downloads I genuinely wish I'd had early on, including a plain-English cheat sheet for the file stuff that trips people up. It's yours for an email, and I only write when I actually have something worth saying. Grab the free Kit here.
What about stickers and little doodles?
Different job, slightly different move. Stickers aren't pages you append — they're images you place on top of a page, so they come as PNGs (transparent background, no ugly white box). Two easy ways in: use the Elements tool in GoodNotes' top toolbar to save a sticker collection you can tap-and-drop over and over, or just open Files in split view and drag a PNG straight onto your page. Once it lands, grab the little corner handle to resize it — bigger, smaller, however it fits.
That's why a good sticker set is PNG, pre-cropped, and ready to drag. My cottagecore GoodNotes sticker pack is hand-drawn and cut clean, so it sits on your spreads without a white halo and without a conversion step — decorate the page you just added and call it a day.
The honest caveat
GoodNotes keeps changing, and I'd rather admit that than pretend it's frozen. The exact tap-path shifted a little between GoodNotes 5 and 6, and other apps handle this their own way — Notability, for instance, treats an imported PDF a bit differently, and some hyperlinked planners have their own quirks about where a new page can safely go without breaking a link. The principle holds everywhere, though: a blank page adds room, a PDF insert adds room-with-a-job, and a sticker sits on top. Get those three straight and you'll figure out any app's particular buttons by feel.
Frequently asked questions
Can you add pages to a digital planner, or are you stuck with what came in it?
You're never stuck. Digital planners are just PDFs your app can add to — tap the + and choose Add Page for a blank one, or Import a PDF insert and append it to the planner you already have open. The pages effectively never run out.
Why did my imported planner merge into my old notes?
Because when you imported, a planner was already open and you chose "add to current document" instead of "import as a new file." A whole new planner should come in as its own file; only single pages and inserts should be appended to an existing one. If it merged, undo the import and bring the planner in fresh as a new file.
Do planner inserts work in GoodNotes 5 and 6?
Yes — any app that can import a PDF can use them, and that includes both GoodNotes 5 and 6. The menu wording differs slightly between versions, but the two paths (Add Page / Import and append) are the same idea in both.
What size should a GoodNotes insert be?
Match it to your planner's orientation so it doesn't sit crooked — portrait insert for a portrait planner, landscape for landscape. That's exactly why my inserts ship in six sizes with both portrait and landscape versions: you pick the one that lines up with the planner you're already using instead of forcing a resize.
Can I use these inserts in Notability or another app?
Generally yes. They're standard PDFs, so any planning app that imports PDFs — Notability, Noteshelf, Xodo, and others — can take them. The import wording changes app to app, but "import a PDF and write on it" is the common thread.
Keep making
Next time you flip to the end of your planner and there's nothing there, don't panic (or glare at your iPad the way I did). Add a page, or drop in an insert that already knows its job — ten seconds, and you're back to the actual point, which is using the thing.
If you'd rather not build every page yourself, that's fair — I'd honestly rather you spend the energy planning than formatting. That's why my planner inserts come as clean PDFs in multiple sizes, checked by hand (by me), so the page you need is ready to drop in. And if you want the plain-English cheat sheet for the file side of all this plus three other things I wish I'd had early on, the free Color-Confident Crafter Kit is right here — one email, no noise.
Try it on your planner tonight and tell me which insert you reached for first. I genuinely collect these stories.
Read next:
- SVG vs PNG vs PDF: Which File Do You Actually Need?
- Seamless Digital Paper: How to Use It Without the Seam Showing
About the maker: Hi, I'm Kassie — the designer and one-woman team behind Digisperse. With a background in drafting, programming, and psychology, I make print-ready digital downloads for makers: vectors, color palettes, planner inserts, die cut files, and stickers — every file checked by hand and color-accurate within the CMYK gamut. Want something custom? Just reach out.
Keep it sunny,
— Kassie