How Can I Create A Timeline In Excel

Want to acquire how to create a timeline in Excel ?

A projection timeline is a record of all the of import events and milestones in a project.

And like it or not, Microsoft Excel is still a unremarkably used tool for this purpose.

Note, we said unremarkably used, not ideal.

Either way, if you lot're lost in the maze of Excel'due south rows and columns, hither's your way out.

In this article, you'll learn about what a project timeline is, how to create one in Excel, and a better culling to the process!

Let'due south go started!

What Is A Projection Timeline?

A project timeline nautical chart is a visualization of the chronological gild of events in a project. It's a series of tasks (assigned to individuals or teams) that demand to be completed within a set time frame.

Here's what a comprehensive project timeline nautical chart contains:

• Tasks in various phases
• Get-go appointment and end date of tasks
• Dependencies betwixt tasks
• Milestones

In curt, it'due south something your project team will refer to track what's washed and what needs to exist done.

And as a project manager, information technology'due south the most of import tool in your kit.

With so much riding on it, it's a project certificate that y'all admittedly must get correct.

Want a headstart on other project-related documentation? Cheque our detailed guides on:

• Projection plan
• Project charter
• Project direction lifecycle

Got these covered?

Then striking that curlicue bar to learn how to make your project timeline chart on an Excel spreadsheet!

How To Create A Project Timeline In Excel?

In that location are two main approaches to create a timeline in Excel.

Let's swoop right in.

1. SmartArt tools graphics

SmartArt tools are the best pick for a bones, to-the-indicate projection timeline in Excel.

Here'south how yous tin create an Excel timeline nautical chart using SmartArt.

• Click on the Insert tab on the overhead task pane
• Select Insert a SmartArt Graphic tool
• Under this, choose the Process pick
• Observe the Basic Timeline chart blazon and click on it
• Edit the text in the text pane to reflect your project timeline

Add every bit many fields equally you desire in the SmartArt text box by simply hitting Enter in the text pane to open up the respective dialog box.

Excel also lets y'all modify the SmartArt timeline layout subsequently you've inserted the text.

You can modify information technology to a:

• Line nautical chart
• Basic bar chart
• Stacked bar chart

And of course, feel free to play around with the Excel chart colour schemes in the SmartArt Design tab.

A SmartArt graphic is perfect for a loftier-level project timeline that displays all the important milestones. Withal, it may not be sufficient to display all the tasks and activities that lead up to them.

For this, your Excel dashboard volition need something more complex: similar a scatter plot Excel nautical chart.

2. Scatter plot charts

Besprinkle plot charts display every complex data signal at i glance.

First, lay the foundation for the chart past making a data tabular array with bones information such as:

• Task (or milestone) name
• Due date
• Priority level (1-four, in increasing gild)

When you lot add dates, make sure your cells are formatted to reverberate the correct date format. For example, DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, etc.

Here's what a sample information tabular array looks like:

To generate a scatter plot chart from this:

• Drag and select the information table
• Click on the Insert tab in the top card
• Click on the Besprinkle chart icon
• Select your preferred chart layout

Format this basic scatter nautical chart to show your information fifty-fifty more clearly:

• Select the chart
• Click on the Chart Design tab on the overhead task pane
• Click on the Add together Chart Chemical element icon in the top left corner
• Add a Data Label and Information Callout
• Edit the chart championship

Keep exploring to customize the scatter plot chart further.

While scatter plot charts are slightly more complex than a SmartArt graphic, they may still non be enough for your horizontal timeline.

And let's not forget that the purpose of a project timeline is to manage fourth dimension on a project. How's one supposed to practice that while attention Excel 101 classes to create a unproblematic chart?

The answer lies in using a project timeline template:

3 Excel Project Timeline Templates

Don't we all know an Excel wizard?

Someone who makes us feel like we skipped a form?

Well, now y'all can be one of them too!

Thankfully y'all won't have to read moth-eaten books and sit in aboriginal libraries to go an Excel skillful.

Just let an Excel project timeline template do the magic.

one. Excel Gantt nautical chart timeline template

Download this Excel Gantt nautical chart timeline template and larn more about making Gantt charts in Excel.

two. Excel timeline template for milestones

Download this Excel milestone chart template.

iii. Excel project schedule template

Download this Excel project schedule template.

An Excel template should ease your project timeline worries. For some fourth dimension . 👀

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the long-term issues of Excel project management:

three Limitations Of Using Excel To Create A Project Timeline

Excel is similar the old t-shirt that you lot never want to give abroad.

Why should you?

Information technology fits you just right and has the coolest hashtags!

Just if you want to achieve audacious goals, you lot'll need to move beyond both of them. 💔

Here'south why you lot demand to move on from Microsoft Excel for your project timeline needs.

1. No private to-do lists

Sure, being able to admission gigantic spreadsheets and data series with provisional formatting is great.

But you know what's better?

Something that tells you what y'all need to do.

After all, Excel can't help you build a functional to-do list and assign it to individual team members.

Unless your thought of a team meeting is looking into your spreadsheet's soul with a magnifying glass, Excel won't cutting it for to-do lists.

Even so, let'southward say yous physically type out each person's deliveries in a sheet, you lot still have the trouble of…

two. Manual follow-ups

In the age of customized app notifications and uber-smart reminders, Excel project management depends on manual follow-ups.

What volition your strategy be? Email colleagues, conduct hourly check-ins, or tap on anybody's shoulders to enquire if they're washed with their task. 🤯

Not only is it terribly inconvenient (and frankly annoying) information technology gives you no thought about your projection's progress.

three. Not-collaborative

Do you work in a non-hierarchical Agile surroundings where the whole team is involved in the decision-making process?

Well, approximate what?

An Excel file can't handle this.

Microsoft Excel (and other MS tools like Powerpoint) believe in single ownership of documents with limited support for collaboration.

And that's hardly the complete list of why Excel tin can't deliver.

Read all near why Excel project management SHOULDN'T be your go-to solution .

Luckily, we can point y'all in the direction of smoother workflows and efficient projection direction.

Check out ClickUp!

Create Effortless Project Timelines With ClickUp

Excel is a smart, handy tool that's besides occasionally clunky and very intimidating.

But what if you could have a tool that can do everything Excel does, except far meliorate?

The answer is ClickUp!

It's an award-winning projection management tool that ensures end-to-terminate project management without the need to toggle betwixt windows.

Just apply the Timeline view, Gantt Chart, and Table view to get a consummate picture of your project timeline on ClickUp.

1. Timeline view

ClickUp's Timeline view is for those who want more from their timelines!

It gives you more than tasks per row and more customization options than you tin can imagine.

The Timeline view may look like regular rows and columns like in good old Excel on the surface. Merely it lets you do so much more.

Use it to:

• Add tasks past clicking anywhere on the timeline!
• Drib existing tasks into the timeline and arrange their duration
• Assign these tasks to team members correct from your spreadsheet

No matter how many Excel crash courses you accept, it'll never let for such smooth task management.

Now y'all can:

• Grouping tasks by Assignees or Priority
• Notice equally of yet unassigned tasks
• Runway unscheduled or overdue tasks
• Adjust the fourth dimension window you want to view tasks in

Wondering almost those customizing options? Yous can:

• Adjust the number and nature of notifications
• Hide or show weekends on the timeline
• Hibernate or show subtasks
• Choose to run across airtight/completed tasks
• And so much more!

Finally, a living, breathing projection timeline!

2. Gantt chart view

If you're plotting a project timeline, chances are you lot're also plotting a Gantt chart.

Information technology's one step above a linear timeline every bit it lets you lot visualize project progress (as opposed to just the scheduled tasks) and trace dependencies conspicuously.

Learn how project timelines differ from a Gantt chart .

And with ClickUp on your side, information technology's never been easier to create a Gantt chart!

Here's how you add together the Gantt view in ClickUp:

In your Workspace:

• Click on the + sign in any Listing, Binder, or Space
• Select Gantt
• Rename it
• You may choose to get in a Personal
• Pivot the view for quick access

ClickUp uses data on your scheduled Tasks, Subtasks, Assignees, and Due Dates to generate a comprehensive Gantt chart for your projection. Yous can check all this information by clicking on the sidebar of your Gantt chart.

Make the most of your Gantt chart experience by managing Dependencies.

• Depict lines between tasks to schedule dependencies
• Reschedule them with drag and drop deportment
• Delete them past hovering over and clicking on the dependency line and then selecting Delete

Find out the progress percent of your projection by hovering over the progress bar.

Y'all tin customize the Gantt chart further past changing its color scheme and adding different colors for various Priority levels.

Right-click on whatsoever Task on the nautical chart and turn it in a bright, diamond-shaped Milestone. And when the chart is ready, download information technology as a PDF or share information technology directly from your Workspace!

Yous can even use it to calculate your project'southward critical path.

It'due south the minimum number of tasks yous need to finish to wrap your project successfully.

Just follow these steps:

• Open a Gantt view
• Click the Path Calculations icon
• Hover on Critical Path
• Hover on Testify Slack Time

This will aid y'all identify what work areas can exist adjusted without affecting the project'south borderline.

iii. Table view

You may be wondering, "Hey, that all sounds good, simply Microsoft Excel feels similar home."

That's why we have the Table view.

It'due south a condensed look at your project timeline.

But y'all can also enhance it to bear witness as much background data as yous want.

Amp up your spreadsheet feel with these functions:

• Elevate to copy your table and paste information technology into whatsoever Excel-type software
• Pin columns and change the row superlative for handy information analysis
• Navigate the spreadsheet with keyboard shortcuts

Only about importantly, you lot can share your Table publicly to interact with others. All of this without ever quitting your projection management space!

That's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this chart tools views.

You can access your projection as a List, Board, Calendar, and other flexible views!

And we're still non done. Look at what else ClickUp has in store for you:

• Native Time Tracking: rail every minute spent working on each project
• Automation: choose from over 50+ ways to become ClickUp to perform repetitive tasks automatically
• Goals: organize your project targets in Goals and easy to achieve Targets
• Dashboards: stay updated on of import metrics with tons of unlike charts and reports
• Integrations: integrate third-party apps, like Zoom and Google Drive, into your ClickUp workspace
• Pulse: keep in touch on with your team's activeness throughout the twenty-four hours
• iOS and Android mobile apps: to collaborate seamlessly even on the go

The Fourth dimension'due south Up For Excel Projection Timelines!

Deadlines, coordination, reviews.

Projection fourth dimension direction is an endless struggle.

And your projection timeline is the one tool that helps you consistently navigate this.

Then you desire to be careful with where and how you build your project timeline.

Excel may seem similar a simple style out, merely it's non the friendly, long-term companion it promises to exist.

ClickUp, on the other manus, volition allow you expertly juggle multiple projects and manage fourth dimension efficiently.

And then stop looking for Excel tips and only get ClickUp for gratuitous today.

It's your ticket to projection direction heaven!

Related readings:

• How to create a timesheet in Excel
• How to create a class in Excel
• How to make a agenda in Excel
• How to create a Kanban board in Excel
• How to create a mind map in Excel

Source: https://clickup.com/blog/create-a-timeline-in-excel/

Posted by: ballardmationsills.blogspot.com

Share this post