Editorial calendar template
An editorial calendar with 6 columns, from Pitches to Published. It's built for teams that commission work: a newsletter, a magazine, a blog with outside writers. Every piece is one card, with its brief, its writer, its next deadline and its comments in one place.
Free for 3 projects, forever. No credit card.
The real cost of a 4-day week
Interview: the night-shift nurses
Remote hiring, one year on
A guide to the new parking rules
Spring issue: letter from the editor
Readers' questions, answered
Winter issue round-up
The 6 columns
What each one is for. Rename, reorder or add columns whenever the work needs it.
- Pitches
- Ideas and pitches from writers or the team. Nothing here is promised yet.
- Commissioned
- Agreed, with a writer, a word count and a deadline for the draft.
- Drafting
- The writer is working on it. The due date is the draft deadline.
- Editing
- With an editor: structure, facts, then a copy edit.
- Scheduled
- Finished and slotted in. The due date is now the publish date.
- Publishedcounts as done
- Live. Counts as done.
How to run an editorial calendar on it
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Step 1
Collect pitches in one column
Writers and editors add pitches as cards: a working title, the angle in a line or two, and who's pitching. On Pro, a pitch emailed to the board's own address becomes a card.
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Step 2
Commission the ones you want
Move a pitch to Commissioned, assign the writer and set the due date to the draft deadline. Put the brief in the description: angle, length, sources and fee.
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Step 3
Mark issues and big dates with milestones
A newsletter send, a print deadline or a launch sits beside the board with today marked, so every piece can be lined up against it.
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Step 4
Move the date as the piece moves
Once a piece reaches Scheduled, change its due date to the publish date. Focus then lists what's due this week, across every board.
With your AI agents
An agent can sort incoming pitches, draft a brief for a commissioned piece from the board's style notes, and tell you which drafts are late.
Agents connect over MCP or the REST API, on every plan, and act as you.
agentcreate_project("Spring issue", template: "editorial-calendar")
agentget_card_prompt("Remote hiring, one year on")
agentget_focus()
Keep it working
- Write the house style and the publication's voice in the board brief. Agents read it, and Copy as prompt includes it.
- Tag pieces by section or desk, like News, Features or Opinion, and filter the board by tag.
- Set a WIP limit on Editing. A queue of drafts waiting for an editor is where most calendars stall.
- Keep the editing checklist on each card: structure, facts, copy edit, headline, image.
Questions
About this template
Is the editorial calendar template free?
Yes. It's on the Free plan, with 3 projects and unlimited cards, forever. No credit card. Working with other editors and writers on the same board needs Pro.
How is it different from the content calendar template?
The editorial calendar adds Pitches and Commissioned, for teams that commission writers and edit their drafts. The content calendar is simpler, for one team writing and posting its own pieces.
Is there a calendar view?
No. craaft shows pieces as cards in columns, with dates on the cards and milestones for issues. Focus lists what's due today and this week.
Can writers outside the team see it?
You can share a read-only public link to the board, on every plan. To let writers move their own cards, invite them as teammates on Pro.
Other templates
Start from this template
Free for 3 projects, with no credit card to enter. Every board exports as JSON or CSV whenever you want to leave.