Printable Content Planning Order Tracker Excel Template

This comprehensive Printable Content Planning Order Tracker Excel template is designed for content marketers, digital agencies, social media managers, and freelance creators who need a streamlined yet robust system to plan, track, and manage their content production workflows—all optimized for printing. This template integrates the strategic needs of Content Planning with the operational precision of an Order Tracker, delivering a clean, professional, and fully printable document structure that ensures accountability, deadlines are met, and team collaboration remains efficient—even in offline environments.

SHEET NAMES

• Dashboard – A visual summary of content status by category and deadline urgency.
• Content Orders – The central tracking table where all content requests are logged, assigned, and monitored.
• Publishing Calendar – A monthly grid view for visualizing publication dates across platforms.
• Status Key – A reference sheet defining color codes and status meanings for easy interpretation.
• Print_View – A formatted, printer-optimized version of the Content Orders sheet with margins, headers, and footers pre-configured.

TABLE STRUCTURES & COLUMNS

The core table is located in the Content Orders sheet and includes the following columns:

FORMULAS REQUIRED

• In column M (Days Until Due): =IF(G2="", "", G2-TODAY()) — Calculates remaining days, blank if no date set.
• In column N (Priority Level): =IF(M2<=3,"High",IF(M2<=7,"Medium","Low")) — Auto-assesses urgency based on days left.
• In column A (Order ID): Uses a custom macro or manual entry formula: "C-"&TEXT(TODAY(),"YYYYMMDD")&"-"&TEXT(COUNTA(A:A)+1,"000") — Ensures sequential, date-based IDs.
• In the Dashboard: Use SUMIFS to count total orders per status and PERCENTAGE formulas to show completion rate: =COUNTIF(Content_Orders!J:J,"Published")/COUNTA(Content_Orders!J:J)

CONDITIONAL FORMATTING

• Status Column (J):
  • Not Started → Gray (#D3D3D3)
  • In Progress → Yellow (#FFF9C4)
  • Review → Orange (#FFCC80)
  • Approved → Light Green (#C8E6C9)
  • Published → Dark Green (#4CAF50) with white text
• Days Until Due (M):
  • Less than 3 days → Red background with bold text
  • 3–7 days → Yellow background
  • More than 7 days → No formatting
• Publish Date (H): Highlight if past today’s date and status is not “Published” → Red border.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USER

1. Begin by populating the Content Orders sheet with your content requests. Use dropdowns for consistent data entry.
2. Update the Status column daily to reflect progress. The Dashboard and conditional formatting will auto-update.
3. Use the Publishing Calendar sheet to visualize your monthly publication schedule—drag and drop dates as needed.
4. For printing, always use the Print_View sheet. It includes page breaks, a header with your logo/team name, footer with “Confidential – Content Planning Order Tracker”, and optimized font sizing (10pt Calibri).
5. Do not delete rows in the Content Orders sheet—instead, mark as “Published” or archive by filtering.
6. Refresh the Dashboard daily to monitor bottlenecks. Use filters to sort by priority, assignee, or content type.

EXAMPLE ROWS

RECOMMENDED CHARTS & DASHBOARDS

The Dashboard sheet includes:

• Pie Chart: Distribution of Content Types (Blog vs. Video vs. Social). Helps balance content mix.
• Bar Chart: Number of Tasks by Status—visualizes workflow bottlenecks.
• Gantt-style Timeline: Horizontal bars showing Due Dates vs. Publish Dates to track alignment between creation and distribution timelines.
• KPI Cards: Total Orders, Published This Month, Average Days to Complete (calculated via AVERAGEIF).