microsoft office project timeline template

The vertical positions of the tasks and milestones are adjusted by the user. The length of the leaderlines for the tasks can be defined by the user to show task dependencies. The durations are created using X Error bars. This project timeline uses two different scatter chart series to display milestones above the timeline and tasks with durations below the timeline. Colors are modified by just changing the background colors of the cells in the spreadsheet. Want More Flexibility / Ease of Use? If you don't care about automation and just want a simple way to create a high-level project timeline, you might want to try the Project Schedule Template. Right-click on the axis and select Format Axis. Update the list used for the data validation drop-down box in the Color column to include the new label.ĭates Not Changing in the Chart? To edit the range of dates shown in the chart, you need to edit the Minimum and Maximum bounds of the horizontal axis.Add some data to see what color the new column uses and then update the column label.

Select the timeline and drag the range marker to the right to include the new column.Copy the formulas in the previous column into the new column.Add a new column to the right of the current data table.Some general steps to follow to attempt adding more colors: Adding more colors is possible, but that would require more Excel experience. Adding more is possible but would require you to create the new data series yourself (you can't just insert rows for more milestones like you can with the tasks).Ĭan I Add More Colors? This project timeline is set up to allow up to 6 different color choices. The template lets you show up to 4 milestones. You can edit the milestone labels and dates via the data table.

In the above example you will see 3 milestones as vertical lines. Milestones: With any project timeline, you will most likely want to define at least a couple key milestones. Another common way to group tasks within a project timeline is by key organization function, such as Marketing, Design, Testing, Manufacturing, Finance, Sales, Quality Assurance, Legal, etc. However, there are other ways to use this type of timeline. The example above shows some of the steps in a product development cycle (Concept Development, System Design, Detail Design, Testing and Refining, Production, etc.), with different colors representing different phases of the cycle. You can insert and delete tasks by just inserting or deleting rows in the spreadsheet's data table. This makes it easy to identify the different phases or categories of tasks. Grouping Tasks Using Different Colors: One of the key features of this template is the ability to choose a different color for the bars in the timeline via a drop-down box in the Color column.

Microsoft office project timeline template