Gantt Chart Excel

What is a Gantt Chart?

Gantt charts are useful project planning tools that help users visualize their project from start to finish. They consist of a row of dates at the top of the chart and a list of project tasks down the left-hand side of the chart. For each project task, a solid horizontal line is drawn that corresponds with the dates at the top of the page, visually showing the time spent on that particular project task. When done for all of the project tasks in a particular project, a visual representation of the project is created.

Gantt Chart Example

The picture below is an example of a Gantt chart. Note the solid bars indicating time spent on each project task. Please click the image below to enlarge it.

How to Make a Gantt Chart in Excel

Because Gantt charts utilize a grid-like interface to show time spent on project tasks, Excel is the perfect tool for quickly making them.

If you don’t want to spend the time making a Gantt chart yourself, you might want to use a professional Gantt chart template.

If you do prefer to make your own Gantt chart, please follow the steps below to make one in Excel:

1. Open a workbook in Excel – Open a new workbook in a recent version of Microsoft Excel.

2. Create a row of dates – Create a row of consecutive dates across the top of the page. It is best to put one date in each cell. If your project is short, you should increase each date by one day. For longer projects, you should increase each date by one week or one month. Make sure to leave the first cell blank, as your first column will contain a list of project tasks.

3. Create a column of project tasks – Create a list of your project tasks in the first column of the spreadsheet.

4. Fill in spreadsheet cells to show time spent on project tasks – Format the cells where your project tasks intersect with the appropriate dates. Use a vibrant, solid color to show time spent on each task. This will provide you with a graphical illustration of your entire project and the time spent on each project task. You may wish to use more than one color to indicate completed vs. non-completed or in-progess tasks but this is optional.

Use a Gantt Chart Excel Template
The steps above detailing the process of creating a Gantt chart in Excel are fairly rigid, resulting in a lot of work for each project you manage. If you wish to have a flexible, fast way to create Gantt charts in Excel, you should consider using an Excel Gantt chart template. What you spend on a template will pay for itself before your first project is done. And you can easily enter information for subsequent projects in a matter of minutes instead of spending your time on formatting and data entry.