Excel Gantt Chart Template

Manage Your Projects with Our Excel Gantt Chart Template

Are you required to manage project timelines when dates for dependencies are shifting? Do you need to know how the latest resource adjustment will affect the project deliverable dates? Then you need a Gantt chart.

Some managers can’t function without expensive project management software such as Microsoft Project, which offers a range of tools for tracking resources, dependencies, and dates. Other managers need the power of a Gantt chart without the expense of the software. If you’re in the latter group, try the method below to create a Gantt chart in Microsoft Excel.

Set up the Data Table

Divide your project into specific tasks to be completed. For each task, determine:

• Task name.

• Target start date. When do you wish the task to begin?

• Dependency. Does this task depend on the completion of another task?

• Gap. If it depends on the completion of another task, will there be a delay between that task’s completion and the start of this task?

• Duration. How long will this task take?

From those input fields, your spreadsheet formulas can calculate the actual start and end dates.

For example, suppose you plan to have your new conference room painted by June 1, and that you plan to hang pictures one day after painting is complete. Your task “Hang pictures” would depend on the completion of “Paint,” and it would have a gap of one day.

Now suppose that the painting is not complete until June 3. Because “Hang pictures” can’t begin until one day after painting is complete, the calculated Start Date must change to June 4.

Add the Gantt Chart

Microsoft Excel does not have a chart type named Gantt, but we can hack the stacked bar chart and make it function like a Gantt chart.

1. Drag your mouse to highlight your data table.

2. From the Insert ribbon, click Insert Bar Chart and select 2D Stacked Bar.

3. Right-click the chart and choose Select Data. Under Legend Entries, in the lower left-hand section of the dialog box, deselect all of the automatically included columns except Start Date and Duration.

4. Click on Duration and click the down arrow to move it below Start Date.

5. Click OK. Your chart should look like this:

6. Before completing the next steps, take a moment to select a format from the Chart Tools | Design ribbon. This is the same chart after selecting Style 11:

7. Next, get rid of the gray bars. Right-click on one of the gray sections and choose Format Data Series.

8. In Microsoft Excel 2013, in the formatting pane, choose Fill & Line and then Fill; or in Microsoft Excel 2010, choose Fill in the dialog box. Choose No Fill.

9. Next choose Border and No Line.

10. Choose Shadow, Glow, and Soft Edges, and in each case choose none. Now the gray bars are invisible.

11. Your chart should look like this:

12. Click on Chart Title and change it to the title you’d like to display.

13. Click on the legend at the bottom and press the Delete key.

14. To show the first task at the top of the chart, right-click on the vertical axis (which, in this example, displays “Paint 5/31/2014” and “Hang Pictures 6/2/2014”) and click the checkbox for Categories in reverse order.

15. Finally, adjust other formatting to your taste. For example, you can adjust the dates on the horizontal axis to avoid running together, remove some of the white space between the chart rows, and change the format of the text on the axes.