Comments on: How to make a Gantt chart in Excel

See how you can quickly make a simple Gantt chart in Excel, where you can download advanced Excel Gantt chart templates or utilize the online Project Management Gantt Chart generator. Continue reading →

Comments page 18. Total comments: 426

  1. Hi Svetlana,

    Your tutorial is awesome and was very helpful!!! Thank you so much

  2. Hi just want to ask if it is possible to have the gantt chart show both the planned timeline and actual timeline in the same chart

  3. This is a fantastic tool! My boss loved it and I showed to my mom as well.Her group was looking for a Gantt project management tool. She showed to her boss and now it is the required template for all their projects going forward.

  4. I am sorry the example did not appear as I typed it. Apparently I had to many blank spaces. Here is another example. The G denotes grazing events.
    Field 1-GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGGGG
    Field 2--------GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGG
    Field 3---------------GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGGGG-------------------
    Field 4----------------------GGGGGGG---------------------GGGGGGG------------

    I hope this is useful.

  5. Hello,
    Thanks for the instructions. They were useful. However it does not do exactly what I want.
    I am trying to create a chart that shows a grazing schedule for a natural resource conservation project. I want to show the timing and duration of each event in a field. For example, say I have 4 pasture. They will be grazed in a sequential manner. The duration of each event will be 7 days. When the fourth pasture has been grazed the animals will return to the first pasture. I want it to look something like this.
    Field 1- xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx
    Field 2- xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx
    Field 3- xxxxxxx xxxxxxx
    Field 4- xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

    Do you have any tips on how this can be done easily? Unfortunately, I am limited to "approved" software. Therefore, it would be best if I can use Excel
    I appreciate any assistance you can provide.

  6. Madam Svetlana Cheusheva

    First of all thank you for sharing your Experience and Articles with all .The articles you share with the Screen shots is very helpfull to me in doing my work in excel .As of today(11-Jan-2015) when i was in need to know how to make drop down list in excel i google it i got ablebits site and im very happy i can find what all i want to do in excel with more foemating.

    Thanks

    Mohammed Shabbir Ali

  7. congratulations! you've got many followers bcoz of your gantt chart simple and practical explanations.My question no is How can i reflect percentage completion in the gantt chart that we just created. Thank you and more power!

  8. Excellent demonstration and great for people like me.

    Thanks for posting this

  9. Thank you so much for the instructions! They were really clear and easy to follow!

  10. Thanks a lot! its very easy to understand

  12. Having had it 'suggested' that I include a GANTT chart in my latest university assignment, I first of all panicked! Then, I downloaded a GANTT tool, then I had to get the hubby to uninstall all the rubbish that came with it, then I uninstalled the tool itself as it was terrible. After stressing a bit more I did a quick search online and found this guide. I can now happily report that I have a GANTT chart ready to submit. It might have taken me hours but I'm impressed :-) thank you.

  13. If a task ends on a certain date and restarts after an interval of few days, how can we do it using the same method. I tried duplicating the task in a new row and it worked, but I want to have the interval shown in the same row. Can anybody help?

    1. Hello Ahmar,

      I am sorry, it is not possible to fulfill your task using the standard Excel features. Most likely you would need some special program.

  14. Thanks for the instructions! However, I'm having a problem in Excel 2011 for Mac - after I've selected the Start series, when I click on Add I get a warning under the data range window saying the Chart Data Range is "too complex to be displayed" and that adding a second series will delete the first (which it does). I've googled around and other people seem to have this problem but no-one has a solution. Please help! Thanks

    1. Oops, never mind, I was confused at first by the differences in the Mac version of the Select Data window but now I see how to select the data range in the box in the lower half. I see that the image you show also has that message about being too complex.

  15. This is really helpfull stuff. kudos :)

  16. Very good information! Excelville has an easy to use template "Easy Gantt Chart Project Scheduler" that also does a good job without using Visual Basic.

  17. Omgg thankyou very much!!!

  18. please how do u enter a sub task in Excel 2013

    1. If you mean including a subtask in a Gantt chart that has its own execution flow, sorry I am not aware of any way to do this.

  19. This was absolutely brilliant. I used it to do an assignment and I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you!

  20. Hello. How can I create a Gantt Chart style Portfolio Dashboard which would display multiple projects on top of one another, with test windows/milestones moving across each individual timeline?

    Example;

    Project 1 start 1/1/15, end 5/30/15. RD1 2/15-2/20, RD2 3/15-3/30, Go-live 5/1/15.

    So Project 1 would show a solid bar all the way across and RD1, RD2, and Go-live would sit on top of that solid bar. Thus, if you changed any of the milestones/test windows (RD1, RD2, Go-live), they would auto-adjust along that specific project timeline.

    From here, you would have as many or as few projects stacked on top of one another, essentially creating a Gantt style portfolio dashboard.

    Can this be done in Excel?

    Thanks in advance,

    Jim

    1. Hello Jim,

      Unfortunately, there is no way to do this in Excel. You can place three charts one under another, but it is not a very good solution. In your case it would be easier and more convenient to use special software for managing and building Gantt charts.

  21. I changed dates in my chart and the bars no longer show on my Gantt chart. The select data still shows start date and duration data. Do I have to create the chart every time I change data?
    This was a great way to create and display a Gannt chart. Thanks

    1. Hello Sue,

      This is really strange. The Gantt chart I created as an example for this article updates just fine, you can download it at the end of the article and see for yourself.

  22. Is it possible to do "track changes" inside Gantt Project/ free software - the concern is working with multiple users and maintaining integrity in who's updating what sections/ making changes to sections within project

  23. Thanks a bunch!I was struggling to make a Gantt chart for days and your simple instructions saved me...and my job!

    Just one question, i added a few more tasks after completing the chart and selected the data accordingly but the chart does not show the bars for the new tasks. Could you help me out with that?

    Thanks once again

  24. In Excel 2013, how do you do Gantt chart, so that it shows what has been done so far?

  25. Hi. I want to make a chart that represents the start date and duration days. How is it possible?

    1. Hi Ram,

      As I understand, this is exactly what a Gantt chart displays. If you want something different, please explain in more detail.

  26. Hi, am also trying to build the gantt chart by following the instructions but in my case the duration squeezes too much merely i can see that.. :(
    need urgent help

      1. Thank you so so so so much for that Template Gant chart! it amazing! thanks Svetlana :)

  27. how to download it

  28. Just completed the Gantt Chart for my PhD studies with your help. Thanks

  29. thank you!!! you are a life saver!!!

  30. Hi Svetlana,

    Thank you for such clear description to generate the Gantt chart. It fitted my requirements perfectly.

    Regards
    Vikas

  31. Hello,

    I have a couple questions about editing the Gantt chart in Excel.

    1. Is there a way to add a milestone to a task? I don't want the "go-live" milestone to be it's own task, I want it to show on the same line as the task before.

    2. Is there any way to have fix dates in the Gantt chart? Instead of the date, have June, July, etc.

    3. Is there an easy way to have a "today" line showing where we are at a moment in time?

    Thanks,
    Courtni

    1. Hello Courtni,

      It's very problematic to add milestones and the today line to the Gantt chart in Excel. You can try out these instructions to achieve the result shown in the last 2 images on that page. Although, I'd rather go with special project management software like this free tool - GanttProject. The video on their home page makes a good job of explaining the main features, including adding a today line to the Gantt chart.

      As for displaying dates, yes, it is possible to show months on the chart labels. You will just need to display only months in the Start Date column in your source table (Format cells > Number > Custom > mmm). After that adjust the number of dates on your Gantt chart via the 'Format Axis' window, as explained in the article. For the Gantt chart you see in the image below, I set Major Unit to 31 and Minor Unit to 6.
      Excel Gantt chart

  32. Hello,

    With the gantt project planner in excel 2013, is it possible to change the timeline to be longer and in date format? i.e. instead of there being 60 days, could I have a calender year?

    thanks
    Matt

    1. You can change the time line to be longer. I make mine 90 days and do my project plans for each quarter. I then format and change the category to date.

      1. Sarsha, how do you make the time line longer?
        Thx

        1. Got it in the meantime. :)

    2. Hello, thank you for these very well written instructions. I have read through the other questions but did not see what I was hoping to do. Is it possible in the chart to exclude weekend dates automatically or would I have to adjust the chart manually by adding rows to skip over them?

      Thank you again!
      Mark

    3. Actually it is customizable - there aren't formulas because it's all conditional format based, you can update those however you'd like. You can manipulate it to be date formatted via conditional formats as well, no problems. It can be extended simply by clicking and dragging it further, the only thing I haven't figured out is how to change the "period selected" tool but that's not that important for my needs.

    4. Hello Matt,

      Regrettably, this is not possible. This Gantt project planner template does not allow any customization.

      1. Hi,
        How does the project planner template in excel 2013 work? Why I do not see any formula in it? Only see some conditional formatting there. It does not allow customization, but if I know the tricks i can make one myself from scratch.
        thanks,

        1. Hi Joey,

          I am afraid I cannot answer this question because this Project planner template is created by Microsoft and only they know what is lying under the hood. Most likely the formulas reside somewhere on hidden sheets protected with password.

          1. Thanks for your answer, OK, then I have to ask MS service but they are very slow in respond to questions. Ablebits is an amazing website. Always support!

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