Where Gantt Charts should be used. Our Gantt Chart Templates can be easily used when planning any project for which you will need time estimations. Time estimations are an essential part of Gantt chart; you can’t make a true Gantt chart without accurately knowing how much time each process in the overall project will take. Present your data in a Gantt chart in Excel. To add elements to the chart, click the chart area, and on the Chart Design tab, select Add Chart Element. To select a layout, click Quick Layout. To fine-tune the design, tab through the design options and select one. To change the colors for the chart, click Change Colors. Download and open our Gantt Chart Excel Template for Excel 2007, 2010, or 2013. Add the list of tasks to the table, under the Task Name column. If you need to delete a row, right-click on the cell in the row you’d like to remove. I created this template for a Gantt Chart in Excel because of the endless searches of me trying to find one when I need it. This Excel Gantt Chart will come in handy for those quick and dirty project plans you need to create and show some visual timelines. A Gantt chart is often used in a project schedule to show how the project will run. A Gantt chart illustrate the overall timeline, the expected completion date, durations of each individual task and their relationships.
Download a simple project scheduling tool for Microsoft Excel® - by Jon Wittwer, PhD | Updated 6/2/19
A Gantt chart is a tool for project management developed originally by Henry Gantt in the early 1900s. It is a type of bar chart that shows the start and end times for each task in a project schedule. The tasks are usually categorized using a work breakdown structure with summary tasks for the main project deliverables and sub-tasks that break the project down into a detailed and manageable task hierarchy. If you use Excel or Google Sheets, you can create this type of project schedule with almost no learning curve by downloading Vertex42's free Gantt Chart Template.
For complicated project management activities, you may need a tool such as Microsoft Project or other specialized software. But, if you want to create a simple Gantt chart quickly and easily, you only need some basic Excel skills to use this template (such as knowing how to copy and insert rows).
'No installation, no macros - just a simple spreadsheet' - by Jon Wittwer
License: Private Use (not for distribution or resale)
This template is the original Excel Gantt Chart created by Vertex42 over a decade ago. Over 3 million downloads so far. That is a LOT of projects.
Download⤓ Excel (.xlsx)⤓ Google SheetsGo Pro! Older VersionsOpenOffice (.ods)Description
This template contains the core functionality needed to create a simple Gantt chart easily. Each row of the worksheet represents a separate task. All you need to do is define the start date and duration of each task.
While planning a project, you may also want to use a yearly calendar or project budget worksheet.
Free Gantt Chart Excel Template
License: Private Use (not for distribution or resale)
⤓ Download
This download provides the same functionality as the original free gantt chart template above. The main difference is the formatting. The WBS, End, and Work Days columns are highlighted gray to indicate that they contain formulas.
Note: This new design is available for the Pro version as well, but only as an alternative to one of the main files.
Creating Dependent Tasks in a Gantt Chart with Excel
One of the reasons why Excel is a useful tool for creating Gantt Charts is that task dependencies can be defined by using Excel formulas. Gantt Chart Template Pro is designed to make this easier than entering your own formulas, but here are a few simple examples you can try:
1. Start a Task the Day After a Predecessor Task
where end_date is a reference to cell (e.g. D10) containing the END date of the predecessor task.
2. Start a Task on the Same Day as another task
=start_date
where start_date is a reference to cell containing the START date of the other task.
3. Start a Task the next WORK day after a Predecessor task (excludes Sat & Sun)
Use the WORKDAY.INTL() function in Excel 2010+ to define a custom work week (days other than only Sat & Sun)
The problem with only using formulas is that you can't see the dependencies between tasks when you view or print the chart. Other Gantt chart software may show dependencies as lines connecting the bars in the gantt chart, but I've never found a simple way for Excel to do that (and the lines can get really messy).
The simple approach is to list the WBS number of the Predecessor in another column, like in the critical path example above. In the CPM template and in Gantt Chart Template Pro, formulas calculate the start dates based on what you enter. If you want to try doing this on your own, here is a formula to get you started:
4. Start a Task the next day after a Predecessor task listed in another column
=INDEX(range_of_end_dates,MATCH(predecessor_wbs,wbs_range,0))
Gantt Chart Pro uses a formula like this, but it allows up to three predecessors and it accounts for work days.
Showing Critical Tasks in a Gantt Chart
Some Gantt charts are designed to show the critical path and available slack or float time for each task. If every task must be done in sequence, every task is critical and there is no slack time (because if one task is delayed, it delays the entire project). However, if some tasks can be done in parallel and have some available slack time, then the project manager may be able to free up some resources to devote to the more critical tasks.
Currently, the only template I have so far that uses the Critical Path Method (CPM) algorithm to show critical tasks and available float time is the CPM Template shown in the image on the left. The Gantt chart in this example shows the critical tasks in red and the available slack time in gray.
The CPM algorithm requires a fully defined task dependency structure, meaning that every task must have a successor (another task that depends on it). A simple Gantt chart may not need to have the dependencies between tasks fully defined, which is why you will see many project schedules with tasks defined only with a start and end date.
More Free Excel Gantt Chart TemplatesGantt Chart Excel Template HourlyCommercial Gantt Chart Software
There are hundreds of software applications for creating gantt charts and project schedules. Some of the most popular are those that allow easy online collaboration such as SmartSheet.com and ProjectManager.com. And of course there's Microsoft:
Free Gantt Charts In Excel
Gantt Chart Excel TemplateOther Free Gantt Chart Spreadsheets
References
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