This guide covers every format people actually search for: a daily log you fill in one row at a time, a weekly sheet for catching short-term patterns, a monthly calendar for spotting bigger trends, and a CBT-style worksheet if you want to track triggers and thoughts alongside your mood. It also covers how to find free clinical-grade versions, what scale to use, and the mistakes that make people quit tracking after a few days.

Download the Free Printable Mood Tracker PDFs

Our own printables — free, no sign-up, no email required. Weekly (mood, energy, sleep and a note each day) and monthly (31 days of mood + anxiety on a 1–5 scale). Portrait US Letter (prints fine on A4).

Weekly Mood Tracker (PDF) Monthly Mood Tracker (PDF)

Quick Answer

A free printable mood tracker PDF is a downloadable chart you fill in by hand to log how you feel over time. Use a daily or weekly layout to catch short-term patterns tied to sleep, work stress, or social plans; use a monthly calendar layout to spot longer trends, like a mood dip that shows up around the same time each month. Grab a template with a clear rating scale (no email required), print a few copies, and keep it somewhere you’ll actually see every day.

Download the Free Printable Mood Tracker PDF

Our printable comes in two layouts, both free with no sign-up and no email required, sized for portrait US Letter (it prints fine on A4 too).

The weekly sheet has one row per day of the week, with columns for an overall mood rating (1-5), an energy rating, hours of sleep, and a short note field for what happened that day or what might have triggered the mood. Because each day gets its own row, this layout works equally well as a simple daily mood tracker: just fill in that day’s row before bed and move on, rather than waiting for a full week to pass.

The monthly sheet is a 31-box calendar grid, one box per day, with a 1-5 mood rating and a 1-5 anxiety rating in each box plus a small legend at the bottom so you can color-code at a glance. It fits an entire month on one page, which makes it easy to flip back through several months at once.

What to Look for in a Mood Tracker Template

Not all templates are equally useful. Look for one with a simple, consistent rating system: a 1-5 or 1-10 scale, a set of mood words (great, good, okay, low, rough), or a color-coding key you fill in with colored pencils. Overly complex scales tend to get abandoned after a week.

A good template also leaves room for a short note next to each entry: a few words on sleep, what happened that day, or a trigger you noticed. The mood rating alone tells you what you felt; the note tells you why, which is what actually helps you spot patterns.

For a clinically-oriented option, Therapist Aid publishes a free Weekly Mood Chart built the way therapists use mood logs in practice: jot a short note in each day’s square so the entry has context, not just a number. Dr. David Burns’ Daily Mood Log, described on the official Feeling Good site, is another well-known option if you want to pair a mood rating with identifying the thoughts behind a low mood.

Mood Tracker vs. Mood Tracking Worksheet: What’s the Difference

A plain mood tracker just logs a rating over time: a number, a color, or a word, day by day. A mood tracking worksheet usually goes a layer deeper, adding columns for the situation or trigger, the thought that went with the feeling, and sometimes a coping strategy you tried, which is closer to how CBT and DBT worksheets are structured.

If you just want to see your mood trend over weeks or months, our weekly or monthly PDF is enough on its own. If you want to connect specific thoughts or triggers to mood dips, add a “trigger” or “thought” column to the note section of the weekly sheet, or look at a dedicated CBT-style worksheet like PsychPoint’s Daily Mood Chart, which is built specifically around identifying triggers and emotion words alongside the rating.

Weekly vs. Monthly Trackers: Which One to Use

A weekly tracker usually has a row or column per day, with space to log mood two or three times a day if you want that level of detail (morning, afternoon, evening). This format is useful if you’re trying to connect mood swings to daily habits, like poor sleep, skipped meals, or a specific recurring stressor at work.

A monthly tracker is typically a calendar grid, one box per day, where you fill in a single color or number to represent your overall mood that day. Because it fits an entire month on one page, it’s the better format for noticing bigger-picture trends, like whether your mood consistently dips in the days before a period, gets worse in winter, or improves after starting a new routine.

Many people use both: a weekly or daily sheet for the day-to-day detail and a monthly calendar as a rolled-up summary they can bring to a therapy appointment or just glance at for a quick self-check.

Tips and Common Mistakes

Fill it in at the same time each day. Tracking works best as a habit attached to something you already do, like right after brushing your teeth or before bed, rather than something you try to remember at random.

Rate honestly, not aspirationally. It’s tempting to round a ‘meh’ day up to ‘good,’ but the value of a tracker comes from accurate data, not a flattering-looking chart.

Don’t skip a day and then leave it blank forever. If you miss a day, just pick the tracker back up the next day rather than abandoning the whole sheet. Gaps are normal.

Review it periodically instead of just filling boxes. Set a weekly or monthly reminder to actually look back over the sheet and ask what pattern stands out.

Treat a mood tracker as one input, not a diagnosis. It’s genuinely useful for spotting patterns and giving a therapist concrete detail to work with, but research on mood monitoring as a stand-alone treatment is mixed: some people find it clarifying, others find constant self-rating adds pressure, and reviews of monitoring-only approaches haven’t shown a clear effect on relapse rates by themselves. If low mood is persistent, intense, or interfering with daily life, use the tracker as a conversation starter with a mental health professional rather than a substitute for one.

Photos

Free Printable Mood Tracker PDF FAQs

Is a printable mood tracker as good as a mood tracking app?

Both work; it comes down to preference. A printed PDF has no notifications, screens, or logins, which some people find easier to stick with, while apps can graph trends automatically. If you like writing things by hand and want zero setup, print a PDF.

What scale should I use to rate my mood?

A simple 1-5 scale or five mood words (great, good, okay, low, rough) is easiest to keep up daily. You can always add detail with a short note; the scale itself should stay simple so you don’t overthink each entry.

How long before I notice patterns?

Give it at least two to four weeks of consistent entries before drawing conclusions. A single bad day doesn’t mean much, but a recurring dip on the same day of the week, or around the same point in a cycle or season, usually shows up within a month of honest tracking.

Can I bring my mood tracker to therapy?

Yes, and most therapists welcome it. A filled-in weekly or monthly sheet gives your therapist concrete, dated detail instead of a vague ‘this month has been rough,’ which makes it easier to spot patterns together and adjust treatment.

Does mood tracking actually help mental health?

It helps most as a self-awareness and communication tool rather than as a treatment on its own. Research on mood monitoring by itself shows limited evidence that it reduces relapse or symptom severity, but it’s widely used alongside therapy or medication because it turns vague feelings into a trend line you and a provider can actually discuss.

What’s the difference between a mood tracker and a mood tracking worksheet?

A tracker is just a rating over time (a number, word, or color per day). A worksheet usually adds columns for the trigger, situation, or thought behind that rating, similar to a CBT thought record. Add a trigger note to a simple tracker if you want that extra layer without switching templates.

Can I use the weekly tracker as a daily mood tracker?

Yes. The weekly sheet has a full row per day, so filling in just that day’s row works exactly like a standalone daily mood log. You don’t need a separate daily-only template unless you want multiple check-ins within the same day.

Skip the Spreadsheet — Track It in ZenDuel

Habit streaks, mood tracking, and accountability duels in one free app — no template maintenance required. Get ZenDuel.

Want a calmer inbox? Subscribe to the free newsletter.

The post Free Printable Mood Tracker PDF: Daily, Weekly & Monthly appeared first on ZenDuel.