Calendar.xls - personal history calendar and printable 1 month blank calendar
This Microsoft Excel workbook has the following worksheets (see screenshots below):
- A calendar where you can enter significant events from your life in approximately a line-a-week format. I originally started this project as insurance against fading memory, and it works! When the inspiration first struck to create it 10 years ago, I was able to enter many things from years before that I would already have forgotten by now if I hadn't written them down. So it can be important to preserving your memories, and it's also fun to work on.
- A line-a-day diary. Basically the same as above, except there's a line for every day of the year. Use cell comments to enter longer text. Some nice things about the calendar and diary is that they're searchable, unlike paper versions, and text entry and browsing is easier than with a database or more structured formats. I determined the dates for many of the programs on this site by searching my calendar for when I worked on them.
- A one-month blank calendar formatted for printing onto 11"x14", 14x16, or 14x17 paper (or other sizes). You set day 1 on the worksheet. It calculates the rest. Printing requires a wide-carriage (14") printer, which is sort of a rarity these days. Glad I've still got my Toshiba P-351 from 1985! Wish there were a Windows XP driver for it, though...
The calendar could also be used in conjunction with the family history database, to lay out significant events for your whole family tree instead of just one person.
Download:
Click here to download calendarxls.zip (about 38 KB). It contains CALENDAR.XLS in Microsoft Excel 2003 and Excel 5.0a formats. The two versions are identical. Rename the version you want to CALENDAR.XLS. COPYING.TXT (GNU GPL license) is also in the zip.
Screenshots:
1) The Calendar worksheet for recalling and listing past events in summary form. Insert rows to create more entries wherever you want.
2) The line a day Diary worksheet:
3) There's also a Sources "to do" list with some suggestions where to find source data to fill in the blanks, and a Done column for checking them off.
4) The printable 1-month desk or wall size calendar. You position day 1, then the rest are calculated, then you add or delete days at the end to get the right number.
If these don't suit your needs, there are many calendar templates for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint at the Microsoft website at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101425251033.aspx. Registration may be required.
