How to Create a Yearly Calendar in Excel (with Easy Steps)

An Excel calendar could be pretty helpful if you prefer to plan ahead and have a busy schedule. Remembering this, in this article, we’ll go through the steps along with the explanation of how to create a yearly calendar in Excel. Interestingly, this calendar is dynamic and interactive. That means the calendar updates itself when you change the year’s value. In addition, we’ll also discuss how to create a monthly calendar using Excel VBA.

Create a Yearly Calendar in Excel: 4 Steps

Now, before we take a thorough analysis of this tutorial, let me show you what the final output will look like. Here, we have a yearly calendar, where the Saturdays and Sundays (weekends) are shown in light orange while the Holidays appear in bright orange.

Here, we have used Microsoft Excel 365 version, and you may use any other version according to your convenience.

📌 Step 01: Create Primary Outline

In the first step, we’ll create an outline of the calendar by dividing the Months across 3 columns and 4 rows.
Next, enter the 7 days in a Week and highlight the Weekends, in this case, Saturdays and Sundays.

📌 Step 02: Enter Month Names

Second, go to the B4 cell >> type in the number 1 >> hit the CTRL + 1 keys on your keyboard.

Now, this opens the Format Cells dialog box.

In the beginning, move to the Number tab >> choose the Custom option >> in the Type field, enter “January” (within inverted commas) >> lastly, jump to the Font tab.

Next, choose the Bold-Italic Font style >> select a Color, here we’ve chosen purple >> hit the OK button.

In turn, select the B4:H4 range of cells >> press CTRL + 1 keys to navigate to the Format Cells window.
Following this, proceed to the Alignment tab >> in the Horizontal section, choose the Center Across Selection option >> press the OK button.

Finally, this should display the month name January as shown in the image below.

Similarly, repeat the same procedure for the other months and your output should look like the following picture.

📌 Step 03: Utilize Excel Functions to Make Dynamic Calendar

Third, move to the B6 cell and enter the formula given below.

=IF(MONTH(DATE($B$2,$B$4,1)+SEQUENCE(6,7)-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$2,$B$4,1),2))=$B$4,DATE($B$2,$B$4,1)+SEQUENCE(6,7)-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$2,$B$4,1),2),"")

Here, the B2 and B4 cells refer to the Year 2022 and the Month of January respectively.

📃 Note: The SEQUENCE function is available on Excel 365, Excel 2021, and Excel for the web, so please make sure to have the compatible version.

Now, press the ENTER key and the formula will populate all the days for the Month of January.

📃 Note: Please make sure to change the Date format to only dd in the Format Cells window by pressing the CTRL + 1 keys on your keyboard.

Eventually, the results should look like the image given below.

📌 Step 04: Indicate Holidays in the Calendar

In the fourth and final step, make a List of the Holidays in a new sheet as shown below.

Then, select the B6:H11 cells >> go to the Conditional Formatting drop-down >> choose the New Rule option.

In an instant, the New Formatting Rule wizard pops up.

Next, choose the Use a formula to determine which cells to format option.
Then, in the Rule Description enter the following formula.

=ISNUMBER(VLOOKUP(B6,Holidays!$C:$C,1,0))

Here, the B6 cell points to the Monday in the Month of January while the Holidays!$C:$C represents the Dates in the Holidays sheet.

Formula Breakdown:

VLOOKUP(B6,Holidays!$C:$C,1,0)) → the VLOOKUP function looks for a value in the left-most column of a table, and then returns a value in the same row from a column you specify. Here, B6 ( lookup_value argument) is mapped from the Holidays!$C:$C (table_array argument) array. Next, 1 (col_index_num argument) represents the column number of the lookup value. Lastly, 0 (range_lookup argument) refers to the Exact match of the lookup value.
- Output → #N/A
ISNUMBER(VLOOKUP(B6,Holidays!$C:$C,1,0)) → becomes
- ISNUMBER(#N/A) → the ISNUMBER function checks whether a value is a number and returns TRUE or FALSE. Here, #N/A is the value argument, and since it is not a number so the function returns FALSE.
- Output → FALSE

Now, this should highlight the holiday on January 1st in bright orange color.

In a similar style, repeat the same process for the other months and your output should look like the screenshots shown below.

How to Create a Monthly Calendar

What if you want to create a monthly calendar? Our next method has you covered! Here, we’ll use VBA Code to automate the task for us, therefore let’s see it in action.

📌 Steps:

First and foremost, navigate to the Developer tab >> click the Visual Basic button.

This opens the Visual Basic Editor in a new window.

In the following step, go to the Insert tab >> select Module.

For your ease of reference, you can copy the code from here and paste it into the window as shown below.

Sub CalendarMaker()
'This code was taken from extendoffice.com
       ActiveSheet.Protect DrawingObjects:=False, Contents:=False, _
          Scenarios:=False
       Application.ScreenUpdating = False
       On Error GoTo MyErrorTrap
       
       Range("a1:g14").Clear
       MyInput = InputBox("Type in Month and year for Calendar ")
       If MyInput = "" Then Exit Sub
       StartDay = DateValue(MyInput)
       If Day(StartDay) <> 1 Then
           StartDay = DateValue(Month(StartDay) & "/1/" & _
               Year(StartDay))
       End If
       
       Range("a1").NumberFormat = "mmmm yyyy"
       With Range("a1:g1")
           .HorizontalAlignment = xlCenterAcrossSelection
           .VerticalAlignment = xlCenter
           .Font.Size = 18
           .Font.Bold = True
           .RowHeight = 35
       End With

       With Range("a2:g2")
           .ColumnWidth = 11
           .VerticalAlignment = xlCenter
           .HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
           .VerticalAlignment = xlCenter
           .Orientation = xlHorizontal
           .Font.Size = 12
           .Font.Bold = True
           .RowHeight = 20
       End With

       Range("a2") = "Sunday"
       Range("b2") = "Monday"
       Range("c2") = "Tuesday"
       Range("d2") = "Wednesday"
       Range("e2") = "Thursday"
       Range("f2") = "Friday"
       Range("g2") = "Saturday"

       With Range("a3:g8")
           .HorizontalAlignment = xlRight
           .VerticalAlignment = xlTop
           .Font.Size = 18
           .Font.Bold = True
           .RowHeight = 21
       End With

       Range("a1").Value = Application.Text(MyInput, "mmmm yyyy")
       DayofWeek = Weekday(StartDay)
       CurYear = Year(StartDay)
       CurMonth = Month(StartDay)
       FinalDay = DateSerial(CurYear, CurMonth + 1, 1)
       Select Case DayofWeek
           Case 1
               Range("a3").Value = 1
           Case 2
               Range("b3").Value = 1
           Case 3
               Range("c3").Value = 1
           Case 4
               Range("d3").Value = 1
           Case 5
               Range("e3").Value = 1
           Case 6
               Range("f3").Value = 1
           Case 7
               Range("g3").Value = 1
       End Select

       For Each cell In Range("a3:g8")
           RowCell = cell.Row
           ColCell = cell.Column
           If cell.Column = 1 And cell.Row = 3 Then
           ElseIf cell.Column <> 1 Then
               If cell.Offset(0, -1).Value >= 1 Then
                   cell.Value = cell.Offset(0, -1).Value + 1

                   If cell.Value > (FinalDay - StartDay) Then
                       cell.Value = ""
                       Exit For
                   End If
               End If
               
           ElseIf cell.Row > 3 And cell.Column = 1 Then
               cell.Value = cell.Offset(-1, 6).Value + 1
               If cell.Value > (FinalDay - StartDay) Then
                   cell.Value = ""
                   Exit For
               End If
           End If
       Next

       For x = 0 To 5
           Range("A4").Offset(x * 2, 0).EntireRow.Insert
           With Range("A4:G4").Offset(x * 2, 0)
               .RowHeight = 65
               .HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
               .VerticalAlignment = xlTop
               .WrapText = True
               .Font.Size = 10
               .Font.Bold = False
               .Locked = False
           End With

           With Range("A3").Offset(x * 2, 0).Resize(2, _
           7).Borders(xlLeft)
               .Weight = xlThick
               .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
           End With

           With Range("A3").Offset(x * 2, 0).Resize(2, _
           7).Borders(xlRight)
               .Weight = xlThick
               .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
           End With
           Range("A3").Offset(x * 2, 0).Resize(2, 7).BorderAround _
              Weight:=xlThick, ColorIndex:=xlAutomatic
       Next
       If Range("A13").Value = "" Then Range("A13").Offset(0, 0) _
          .Resize(2, 8).EntireRow.Delete

       ActiveWindow.DisplayGridlines = False
       ActiveSheet.Protect DrawingObjects:=True, Contents:=True, _
          Scenarios:=True

       ActiveWindow.WindowState = xlMaximized
       ActiveWindow.ScrollRow = 1

       Application.ScreenUpdating = True
       Exit Sub

MyErrorTrap:
       MsgBox "You may not have entered your Month and Year correctly." _
           & Chr(13) & "Spell the Month correctly" _
           & " (or use 3 letter abbreviation)" _
           & Chr(13) & "and 4 digits for the Year"
       MyInput = InputBox("Type in Month and year for Calendar")
       If MyInput = "" Then Exit Sub
       Resume
   End Sub