Build/Generate Cycle Tracker
Build your cycle tracker template to generate a printable tracker! Simply setup what to track, optionally save* to use again, and print for any month or cycle.
*To save, you must be a member and logged in.
How to Setup and Generate Trackers (below)
*Login to save template. Member, not logged in - how to save!
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in these FAQs:
- CD = Cycle Day
- ACL = Average Cycle Length
How to Setup and Generate Printable Cycle Trackers
You can use this page to setup and generate free printable cycle trackers. You can also save templates for future use; To do so, you need to be a logged in member of MyMonthlyCycles, also free!
There are two ways you can setup and save templates:
From this page. All visitors can setup and generate trackers on this page.
From the template editor. Members can access from the manage template page.
What Type of Cycle Trackers Can I Make?
You can generate two types of trackers with the printable template maker. What's really convenient is that you can use the exact same template to produce either!
A Monthly Tracker - A monthly tracker is generated on a Month basis.
With this type of tracker, the month is automatically mapped out for the selected year. However, if using to track your cycles, you need to fill in the cycle days (CD) based on when your period starts, which is CD 1.
If using a monthly tracker to log your period, you will likely need to generate 2 months for a given cycle. For instance, if your period starts on March 20th and typically lasts 29 days, you'd need to print the March and April trackers to record this cycle.
A Cycle Tracker - A printable tracker is generated on a cycle basis. You specify the start date of your period (which is CD 1) and average cycle length, and your entire cycle is mapped out.
Up til now, printables required you to fill in everything, particularly dates. MyMonthlyCycles printables change that! Our cycle printable tracker is similar to MyMonthlyCycles tracking calendar, online since 2003, but in a horizontal layout. By automatically mapping your cycle with dates and cycle days, you are ready to start tracking!
Plus, you can instantly see where you are in your cycle, as you track, along with easily looking ahead at upcoming cycle days and when they will occur.
What is Saved for a Template?
When you save a template, either on this page, or with the Template Manager, everything is saved except the tracker type (monthly or cycle) and specific date or cycle information.
These values - date and cycle info - are used to generate your printable. By not saving, your tracker template can be used at any time, for any cycle or month.
How Do I Generate Tracker for Saved Template?
The Template Manager page shows a list of your saved templates. Locate the saved tracker template to use.
Click or tap the Gen Tracker button for the template.
You are returned to this page, with the templates fields filled out per your tracker's setup.
Continues, next section, Generating Printable Tracker.
Generating Printable Tracker
Once you've selected a saved tracker, or created a new one on this page, you can generate your printable:
Select the type of tracker to generate: Monthly or Cycle
For Monthly, enter the Month and Year.
For Cycle, specify period start date and average cycle length (ACL).
If your cycle varies by a few days...
You may want to specify an ACL that is slightly longer than your usual cycle length. This way, if your cycle is longer than usual, your tracker will contain the additional tracker days. If cycle length is your regular ACL, or a bit shorter, you can always block out the additional cycle day columns - for instance, placing an X over those cycle days.Click or tap Generate Chart. The chart displays at the top of the page. However, this is not the version to print.
Above the chart, click/tap the Preview button to display a new page with just your chart.
On this page, click/tap the Print button or use your browser's print option.
Once done, click Close to return to the main page.
Should I Print Tracker in Portait or Landscape?
In general, you will likely find using your printer's Landscape mode works better with these charts, which tend to be wide.
When you print a Monthly chart, it has as many columns as the number of days in the month*. On a Cycle chart, it has a maximum of 30 cycle days per printed chart page*, with additional cycle days on a new chart.
*In addition to 1 or more columns for descriptions, such as symptom name.
Automatic Tracker Paging
Your tracker may print on multiple pages:
Many Fields - If your tracker has many symptoms and free fields, only a fixed number can fit on a printed page, and one or more additional pages are generated for the additional data fields.
Long Cycles - If your cycle is longer than 30 days, another page is generated for the additional cycle days, which can translate to several pages if there are many fields, as noted above.
Issues Printing? Please let us know.
Paging Issues
These trackers are setup to print as grid-like charts. Many browsers properly format the tracker, even if multiple pages are required due to many fields.
Unfortunately, some browsers lose parts of the the grid lines when the second (or greater) page is printed.
One way to resolve this by splitting your tracker into multiple templates, each of which will print as one page.
For example, create a template for period flow and your usual period symptoms. Then, create a second template for other cycle symptoms, which you might split further: physical symptoms on one template, mood-related on another.
Use the Template Manager to setup each template. Then, use the Gen Tracker button for each template to link to this page and print.
Paging Issues? Please let us know, including what browser you are using.
Printing Tips
Before printing your tracker, use your browser's print preview to get an idea of how your tracker will look. Focus on the right side of the page, making sure all days are visible.
For Monthly trackers, check if all days of the month are shown. For instance, if a month has 31 days, make sure you see day 31.
For Cycle trackers, make sure the number of cycle days for the page, shown in the heading, are visible. For example, if CD 1 - 29 is listed in the heading, cycle days 1 to 29 should be displayed on the chart.
If you find the right side of the page is cut off, try the following:
If your setup shows Portrait Mode, change to Landscape and Preview again.
If available, try using the Shrink to Fit option. Or, use scale to reduce the scale slightly.
Tracker Entry Fields
Build your tracker template with the fields below.
Show Flow Level - Select Yes to add this to your tracker. Use to track each day of your period.
On the Cycle Tracker, this will be the first date column on your tracker, cycle day 1 (CD 1), since the first day of your period starts a new cycle.
On the Monthly Tracker, this is the day of the month you record your period started, which becmoes CD 1. Therefore, in the Cycle Day row, mark 1 on the day your period starts, and increase by 1 on each subsequent cycle day.
On MyMonthlyCycles, we've used H=Heavy Flow, M=Moderate Flow, L=Light Flow, S=Very Light Flow (menstrual spotting). When filling in your tracker, you can use this, or devise a scale of your own.
Show Flow Details - Select Yes to add two rows to your tracker: flow color, and clots.
Show Spotting - Select Yes to add Spotting (non-menstrual bleeding) to your tracker.
Show Lunar Phases - If you add lunar phases to your tracker, the phases are automatically filled in, similar to how they appear on MyMonthlyCycles, except instead of lunar images, the following display: NM=New Moon, FQ=First Quarter, FM=Full Moon, LQ=Last Quarter
Cycle Symptoms - Select cycle symptoms for your tracker. Since 2003, MyMonthlyCycles cycle tracker has used Mi=Mild, Mo=Moderate, Se=Severe along with color coding: green, blue, deep pink, respectively. You can use a similar system, use a scale such as 1 to 5 (1=very mild, 5=very severe), or devise your own.
Your Symptoms - You can specify up to 10 of your own symptoms for you tracker.
If you use the same name for your symptom as a selected cycle symptom, and you save the template, the following will be appended to the name -u. For example, if you add a symptom cramps, it would be saved as cramps-u to distinguish it from the cycle symptom. Note that prior to saving, if you generate the tracker, the name will not be altered.
As these list after the cycle symptoms, you could also use them for other items (such as exercise, or daily meds) by filling in the labels to describe your data.
Free Fields before Symptoms - You can add up to 5 empty fields before cycle symptoms display on your tracker. Use the empty slot in the leftmost column to label your field. For example, use a free field to track your weight.
Free Fields after Symptoms - You can add up to 10 empty fields, to display after symptoms, if any.
Note: You could build a tracker on a monthly or cycle basis entirely with free fields! To do so, set all fields with Yes/No option to No, and do not add any symptoms. Then select how many free fields, such as 5 before, and 10 after. This would generate a blank chart, except for the built-in fields.
Built-In Tracker Fields
The following fields display on each Monthly tracker page:
Selected Month, Year.
Weekday - Saturday thru Sunday, abbreviated, filled in for month, year.
Day # - Day of Month, filled in for month, year.
Cycle Day - Day of Month, blank, for you to fill in, where CD 1 is the day your period starts.
Note that Cycle Day only displays if you opt to show Flow Level. This is useful because if you want to build a blank template, outlined in the preceding section using free fields, you may not want to display anything cycle related.
The following fields display and are automatically filled in on each Cycle tracker page:
Month - Multiple months may display on a page, depending on your cycle start date and length.
Month Day - Day of Month, corresponding to the month listed above it.
Weekday - Saturday thru Sunday, abbreviated, for the date.
Cycle Day - Automatically filled in based on the period start date you entered. If all of the cycle days do not fit on one page, remaining cycle days are on the next page. The tracker heading, to the right of the Cycle Start Date, indicates, in brackets, which Cycle Days appear on each tracker page, which you can also see by viewing the data in this row.
I'm a member, not logged in - how can I save template?
If you've spent time building a tracker template, and you want to save it for future use, you need to be a logged in member.
If you are a MyMonthlyCycles member, but forgot to login first, there's an easy solution!
What you will need to is login to MyMonthlyCycles from a new window, then refresh this page by clicking Generate. That will retain your template and make the Save Button clickable.
Use the steps below to login and save your new template!
Use this link to Login from a new window.
Alternatively, open a new window, and go to MyMonthlyCyCycles login page.
Important: Do not use the login button at the top of this page, as it will move you off the page, and your template will likely be lost.
After login, return to this window. At this point the page does not know you're logged in and the Save button is still inactive.
Click Generate Chart. This not only displays your chart, but also refreshes the page with your template setup, and the Save button is now active!
Note: If the page requests date/cycle info, fill it in to bypass the validation. Date/cycle info is needed to generate the chart. It is not saved with your template.
Click Save.
FYI - to save, make sure to assign a Template Name, in the entry field toward the top of the form.
Once your template is saved, you can edit or use in the future via the Manage Template page.
