Anni's How To

Getting started

Two minutes from signup to a full planner.

1. Go to anniplanner.com and tap Create an account. Name, email, password. That is the whole form.
2. On the signup form, set your Planner display name (how your cover reads, like "Mrs. Hegreness") and your Grade level or subject ("Third Grade", "4th & 5th Grade", "Math"). Both appear on your cover art and can be changed anytime in Settings.
3. That is it. You now own a complete planner: cover, class info pages, grades, attendance, data, weekly planning pages for the whole year, to-dos, notes, and every calendar. About 99 pages, built the moment you sign up.

Your school year

Load real dates once. Everything else follows them all year.

The fast way

1. Open Settings (top right).
2. Under Starter data, tap Load PVUSD 2026-2027 calendar if you are in Paradise Valley. Every no-school day, break, early release, and milestone lands on all of your calendars at once.

Any district, from the calendar PDF

1. In Settings, find New school year.
2. Type the year label (like "2027-2028"), then upload your district's calendar PDF.
3. Anni reads the dates out of the PDF and shows you every day it found before anything is saved. Review the list, then confirm.
4. Rolling into a new year? Your lesson plans move onto the new year's school days by school day number, so day 14 of teaching stays day 14 of teaching, even when the calendar shifts.

Add one day by hand

On any month calendar, tap the + on a date. Choose what it is: an event, a no-school day, a break, an early release, or a milestone. Events appear everywhere that date shows, on every calendar view.

Live district calendar

Your district changes the calendar. Anni notices for you.

1. Find your district's calendar feed link. On most district sites, the calendar page has an ICAL or RSS button. Anni takes any of them: iCal (.ics), webcal://, a Google Calendar link, or an RSS/XML feed.
2. Open Settings, paste it under Live district calendar, tap Connect feed. The first sync runs immediately.
3. Done. Anni re-checks the feed about once a day when you open your planner. You never touch it again.

What happens when the district adds a closure

Say a storm closes school Tuesday and the district updates its calendar. Next time you open Anni, the new closure is already on your calendars, and if you had lessons planned that day, Anni shows you exactly what it can do about it: a full preview of which lessons would slide where. Tap Move my lessons and it happens. Tap Keep my plan and nothing moves. Your call, always.

Planning your weeks

Type anywhere. It saves itself. Then it gets fun.

The basics

• Every weekly page has your subject blocks with times. Tap any box and type. Tap away and it saves.
• Made a mistake? The "Saved" flash at the bottom has an Undo button. Anni also quietly keeps the last 50 versions of every box on the server.

Attach anything to a lesson

1. Under any lesson box, tap + attach.
2. Add a link, a quick note, or upload files and photos (more than one at a time is fine). They live right under the lesson.

Voice notes from the car line

1. Tap + voice under any lesson.
2. Talk for up to 60 seconds. "Pull the fraction tiles before first bell, and remind table three about the quiz."
3. Anni saves the audio on that lesson and writes out what you said next to it, automatically. Play it back or just read it.

Copy a lesson, or a whole day

• copy under a lesson sends that one lesson to any date and subject.
• Copy day in the day's header sends the whole day.
• Both offer Repeat weekly until a date. Set your Monday routine once and stamp it across the semester.

Make the schedule yours

• Change any block's time: tap the time on the block (like 9:45 - 10:45) and scroll the wheels to when it really runs. That weekday remembers the new time from then on.
• Reorder your day: press the ⋮⋮ handle on any block and drag it up or down. The new order becomes your default for that weekday going forward.
• Different days, different shapes: Mondays can run a completely different order and times than Thursdays. Anni learns each weekday separately.
• Digitizing an old planner? Anni reads your block order (and times, when they are printed) straight off your pages and sets your schedule for you.

Find anything

Search in the top bar looks through every lesson, every page, and every event at once, and jumps you straight to the result.

Snow days and bumping

The feature that sells itself in the teachers' lounge.

An assembly eats your afternoon. A lesson runs long. School closes. On paper this means an eraser and a bad evening. In Anni it is one button.

1. On any day's header, tap Bump ›.
2. Choose how far: forward 1, 2, 3, or 5 school days, or back 1 (which un-does a bump, or compresses your plans in).
3. Tap Preview what moves first if you want to see the whole ripple before committing: every lesson, where it goes, nothing hidden.
4. Tap Bump. Every lesson from that day forward slides by school days. Weekends, breaks, and no-school days are skipped automatically because Anni counts teaching days, not calendar squares.

The nothing-lost report

After every bump or move, Anni shows you a receipt: every lesson that moved, from where to where. If anything would land past the last day of school, it is highlighted in red, still safe, never deleted, so you can compress or rearrange. Nothing ever silently falls off the end of your year.

Last-year ghost view

Your best material, exactly where you need it, one year later.

1. After your first year rollover, open Settings and turn on Last-year ghost view.
2. Every weekly lesson box now shows a faint line underneath: what you taught on the same school day last year. Day 37 shows day 37, even if the calendar dates drifted.
3. Like what past-you wrote? Tap the ghost line and it fills the box. Edit from there.

Split-track subjects

Two curricula in one time block, each with its own boxes.

Teaching 4th and 5th grade math to the same class at the same time? A combo class? Anni models it instead of making you cram two plans into one box.

1. Open Settings, find Split-track subjects.
2. Next to a subject, type track names separated by a comma: "4th Grade, 5th Grade". Two or three tracks per subject.
3. Tap Save tracks. Every weekly page now shows that block split into labeled boxes, one per track.

Tracks bump independently, roll over independently, and show up properly labeled on sub plans and emailed packets. Anything already written stays in the first track. Clear the names to go back to a single box; nothing is deleted.

Class lists and rosters

One spreadsheet upload fills half your planner.

1. Go to the Class Info section, open Class List (Parent Contact, Transportation, and Medical work the same way).
2. Tap Upload Excel (.xlsx) and pick your file. First row should be column headers. The page renders straight from your sheet.
3. Prefer typing? Every roster page is also a plain typeable grid.

Birthdays, everywhere at once

If your class list has a Birthday column (or DOB), the Birthdays page builds itself, and every student birthday shows on every monthly and weekly calendar with a little cake. Upload once, celebrate all year.

Allergies and door postings

1. Open Medical Information in Class Info. The allergy checklists sit right on top.
2. Check any allergy posted at the door (peanut, tree nut, all nuts, sesame, dairy, egg, latex, fragrance-free, service dog). The moment you check it, two things pop up: a printable door poster with the dogs on top, and a ready-to-send parent email you can copy or open in your mail app.
3. The tracked list (bee stings, EpiPen on file, asthma, dye sensitivities, and more) records individual needs next to your medical roster, no posting needed.
4. Reopen the poster or the email anytime from the buttons that appear next to each checked box. The email wording follows standard school practice: no student is named, packaged snacks with labels only, no food sharing, and treats planned with you first.

Attendance names

Your class list also fills the student column on all four attendance quarters automatically.

Attendance

Real dates from your real calendar, not "Day 1" boxes.

• Four pages, one per quarter. The columns are your actual school days, pulled from your district calendar, with closures already skipped. Labor Day is simply not there.
• The table scrolls sideways as the quarter fills and lands on today's column when you open it. Today's date is highlighted.
• Type any mark you like: P, A, T, or your own system. Two characters per day.
• Student names come from your class list upload, or type them once on Quarter 1 and they appear on all four quarters.

Growing pages and the supply list

Planner pages that stretch like a spreadsheet.

Add rows anywhere

Curriculum maps, communication log, passwords, IEP page, class data, and every other grid page has + Add 5 rows at the bottom. Tap it as many times as you need. Notes pages have + More space, and every notes box can also be stretched by dragging its bottom corner.

The classroom supply list

1. In Class Info, open Classroom Supply List.
2. Fill in Supply, Quantity, and a Note ("24 count, the good ones").
3. Tap the page's own print button (top right corner of the page), choose Save as PDF, and email the file out. The printout comes out with the dogs across the top and your name under them. Simple on purpose.

The meeting log

Your paper trail, building itself.

1. Open Meeting Notes in the Notes section.
2. Set the date and name the meeting: parent conference, IEP review, team meeting.
3. Add who was there: pick students straight from your class list and parents from your contact sheet, and type in anyone else (principal, counselor, OT, a translator). The more complete the room, the stronger the record.
4. Write your notes and action items, then tap Log this meeting. It joins the running record below, newest first.

Tap any person's name on a logged meeting and you see every meeting they have ever been part of. When someone asks "when did we discuss this?", the answer is one tap, with dates.

Printing and the keepsake book

Paper when you want paper.

• Print in the top bar: print the whole planner, or Choose specific pages and tap the ones you want.
• Every single page also has its own print button in its top right corner.
• In any print dialog, Save as PDF turns anything into a file you can email.

The end-of-year keepsake book

One tap in the Print menu: End-of-year keepsake book. Your whole year, bound and printable: your plans as you actually taught them (after every bump), the photos you attached to lessons, your events, the birthdays you celebrated, and a closing "Year in Numbers" page. Teachers keep their planners for a reason. This one keeps itself.

Sharing: parents, subs, colleagues

The right people see the right things, and only those things.

Your parent website

In Settings, tap Publish parent site. You get a public page with your calendar and weekly schedule, and nothing private, ever. Share the link from the Share menu.

Parent peek links

Share → Parent peek: pick one day, get a link that shows that day's schedule and topics. It expires by itself the next day and never includes student data. Perfect for "what is my kid doing Thursday?"

Sub plans that handle themselves

1. Once, in Settings, save your Substitute contact: the front office, your secretary, your team lead.
2. Sick at 5am? Tap Sub plans on the day (or in the Share menu), add a note if you want, and check Email the link for me.
3. Anni builds a clean printable page for the sub: your schedule, that day's lessons, class list, dismissal info, and emergency procedures. Never passwords, medical details, grades, or parent contacts.
4. The moment someone opens it, Anni emails you a receipt. You know your class is covered without leaving bed.

The compliance timeline

Share → Compliance timeline: pick any entry you have edited and Anni builds a read-only, timestamped trail of every saved version, oldest to newest. Print it or hand the link to a case manager. Links expire after 30 days. Server timestamps, not editable, exactly what documentation reviews want.

Give a colleague your layout

Share → Give a colleague my planner layout: they sign up through your link and start with your page setup, your sections, your order. None of your content ever transfers. Your planner structure becomes their head start.

Plans that email themselves

"Anni turns in my lesson plans for me." Say it out loud. Enjoy it.

1. Open Settings, find Lesson plan email.
2. Check Send my plans automatically.
3. Pick the day it goes out, the time (your local time), and whether it sends this week's plans or next week's.
4. Add who it goes to, one per line: "Principal Smith, psmith@district.org".
5. Choose your reminders: Anni emails you 1, 2, or 3 days before it goes out (pick any of them), so you always get a final look.
6. Tap Save email schedule, then Email me a test packet to see exactly what your admin will receive.

From then on it just happens. The week's plans go out as a clean, professional packet from Anni's own address, on your schedule, with a copy to you. If a week is ever not ready, your reminder email is the nudge, days ahead.

Digitize your old planner

The planner you already love, reborn as your live planner.

Anni itself started as one teacher's paper planner, photographed and rebuilt. Yours can make the same trip.

1. Open Settings, tap Digitize my planner.
2. Upload your weekly pages in order: photos straight off your phone camera are fine, or a scanned PDF. One week per page reads best. Bright, flat shots beat dim angled ones.
3. Tell Anni whether the pages are from this school year or a previous one. For a previous year, enter the Monday the first page's week started on, so the date math is exact.
4. Pick the Monday in this year where the first page should land (it defaults to your first school week).
5. Tap Read my pages. Anni reads each page and shows you every lesson it found: the date it will land on, the subject, the text. Uncheck anything you do not want.
6. Tap Place these on my planner. Done. Your old planner is now live, bumpable, searchable, and shareable.

Anni on your phone and tablet

A real app feel, no app store required.

Sign in once, add Anni to your home screen, and it opens full screen from its own dog icon like any other app.

First, sign in on your phone or tablet

1. Open your browser and go to anniplanner.com. Use Safari on an iPhone or iPad, and Chrome or Samsung Internet on an Android phone or tablet. The home-screen step needs the built-in browser, so start there rather than inside another app like Facebook or Gmail.
2. Tap Log in, enter your email and password, and you land on your planner. First time here? Tap Create an account instead.
3. Anni keeps you signed in for 30 days, so you rarely type your password again. After you add it to your home screen, it opens straight to your planner.

Then add Anni to your home screen

Find your device below. Each one takes about ten seconds.

iPhone (Safari)

1. With anniplanner.com open in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with an up arrow) in the bottom toolbar.
2. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
3. Tap Add in the top right. Anni's dog icon lands on your home screen.

iPad (Safari)

1. With anniplanner.com open in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with an up arrow) at the top right.
2. Tap Add to Home Screen, then tap Add. This is the setup you want for writing with the Apple Pencil.

Android (Chrome)

1. With anniplanner.com open in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu in the top right.
2. Tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app).
3. Tap Add or Install. If Chrome shows an install strip along the bottom first, you can just tap that.

Samsung Galaxy (Samsung Internet)

1. With anniplanner.com open, tap the menu (the three lines at the bottom right).
2. Tap Add page to, then Home screen. On some versions you tap the download icon in the address bar and choose Add to Home screen.
3. Confirm Add.

Android (Firefox)

1. With anniplanner.com open, tap the three-dot menu.
2. Tap Add to Home screen (or Install), then confirm.

Prefer to keep it in your browser? Bookmark anniplanner.com instead. The home-screen icon just gives you the full-screen, app-like version. On iPhone, stick with Safari for this step: only Safari reliably adds Anni to the home screen on iOS.

Computer (Chrome or Edge, optional)

1. Open anniplanner.com and look for the install icon in the address bar (a small monitor or plus symbol).
2. Click it, then Install. Anni opens in its own window from your desktop or taskbar.

iPad and Apple Pencil

• Write directly into any box with the Pencil. iPadOS turns your handwriting into text as you write (Scribble).
• Rest your palm on the screen while writing. Anni ignores it.

Getting around fast

• The top navigation opens each section on its own page: tap Class Info and you see only Class Info. Everything brings back the whole planner in one scroll.
• On calendar views, the month rail on the right jumps you straight to any month.
• Tap any date on a Year at a Glance calendar and you land on that exact day's weekly page.
• Collapse all / Expand all tidy the scroll. Past calendar pages tuck themselves away automatically, and your choices are remembered.

Quick answers

The whole support desk, in one list.

• Did it save? Look for the "Saved" flash at the bottom after you tap away. If you see it, it is on the server.
• I typed over something I needed. Tap Undo on the Saved flash. Anni also keeps the last 50 versions of every box; the Compliance timeline in the Share menu shows any entry's full history.
• A page looks stale. Pull down to refresh. Anni loads instantly from a local copy first, then updates from the server.
• My feed did not pick up a change yet. Settings → Sync now checks the district feed immediately.
• The mic will not record. Your browser blocked microphone access. Allow it for anniplanner.com in your browser settings and try + voice again.
• Photos will not read in Digitize. Retake them brighter and flatter, one week per shot. Screenshots of a scanned PDF work too.
• I split a subject and want it back. Settings → Split-track subjects, clear the names, save. Your first track's content stays right where it was.
• Who can see my planner? Only you, unless you share something. The parent site, peek links, and sub pages each show only what that audience needs, and this guide says exactly what each one includes.