Hi everyone, Kevin here. Today, we're going to look at how you can make a super simple Gantt
chart in Excel. A Gantt chart is frequently used in project management to track how a project is
progressing. Let's check out how to do this. Here I am in Excel, and if you'd like to follow along,
I've included a link to this workbook down below in the description. At the Kevin Cookie Company,
we want to bake the largest chocolate chip cookie in the world. Of course, that's going to take a
number of different steps and also tasks. In column A, I've listed out all the different
tasks that will be required to make this happen. In column B, I've listed the date when we need
to kick off all of these different tasks. And in column C, I've also put down an estimate for how
many days I think each one of these tasks will take. In column D, I have the completion date,
but you'll notice it's not simply taking the start date and adding the days needed. It's a
little farther out, and the reason why is we don't work weekends here at the Kevin Cookie Company.
To calculate the completion date, we're going to use a function called workday, and up on top,
you can see it. Let's click into the function helper to see how this works. This opens up
the function arguments, and this function has two required arguments. The way you know that is these
two arguments are in bold. Here, you need to enter in the start date. So, I put in cell B4, which is
the start date for this task. Next, you also need to indicate how many days this task will take. So,
I put a reference to cell C4, which is 15 days. Down below, and this is an optional argument,
you can also indicate if there are any holidays, but we don't celebrate any holidays here,
so I'll leave that blank, and down below, let's click on okay. This now shows me the completion
date that factors in how many days it'll take, and it also includes all weekends. Now that we have
the completion date, we also need to calculate the adjusted length that factors in weekends,
and this one's really simple. Here, I’ll simply take the completion date. So, cell D4,
and I'll subtract cell B4 or the start date, and this tells me what the adjusted length is.
And here I've applied that same formula to all these different cells. The data table here is now
all set, but we need to make one modification to ensure that we're able to get a stacked bar chart.
Within the start date column, let's highlight all of the dates and then on your keyboard,
press the shortcut key control together with one. This opens up the format cells dialogue,
and currently it's set to the date format. Let's click on general up on top and then click on okay.
We're now all ready to insert a Gantt chart, but we don't need all of this data. Let's highlight
all of the different tasks and then also highlight the start date, and then lastly, press the control
key on your keyboard, and we'll also highlight the adjusted length. With all of this data selected,
up on the top tabs, let's click on insert. And over here, let's click on recommended charts. This
opens up the insert chart dialogue, and here we see some recommended charts. Let's click into all
charts and here we have all these different types of charts. We want to use a bar chart. I'll select
this option right here. And then let's click into the second option for a stacked bar. Then click on
this option and down below, let's click on okay. This has now inserted a chart. Down below, you'll
notice that the dates show up as these numbers. Let's now change that back to a date. Here,
I'll move the chart over to the right-hand side and let's again highlight all of these date cells,
press control one on the keyboard, and let's change this back to a date type. Down below, let's
click on okay. And that's looking a little better. This doesn't yet look like a Gantt chart. So, to
change that, let's click on the blue series right here. I'll double click on that, and that opens
up this pane over on the right-hand side, where we can format the data series. Over on the left-hand
side, let's click on the paint bucket. And over here, let's select no fill and down below, let's
click on no line. Then we could close out of this and it's starting to look a little bit more like a
Gantt chart now. We're making some good progress. Of course, when we look over at the task list,
you'll notice that they're not in the same order. Here, I have a event day at the top, but over here
in the table, it's at the very bottom. So, I want to reverse the order, so they both align.
Let's double click on the task list, and this opens up the pane again on the right-hand side
called format axis. Make sure you're in the axis options, and within axis options, scroll down just
a little bit, and here you'll notice a checkbox next to categories in reverse order. Let's check
that box, and here you'll see that they're now exactly the same. That's how I want it.
Let's now zoom out a little bit so we can see the chart a little bit better. Now, right up on top,
the dates run into each adjacent date and we need it to be more readable than that. Here, I'll click
on the dates. Let's go up to the home tab and right in the alignment category, let's click
on this and we can angle the text. I'll select that, and that looks a lot better. Looking down
at our Gantt chart, you'll notice that we have a large gap before the first task actually starts.
Let's double click on the dates up above and over on the right-hand side in the format axis pane,
make sure you're in the axis options category. And right here, we can set the bounds.
Let's highlight this number in minimum. And the first task doesn't start until 8/1. So,
let's set 8/1 as the minimum. I'll type in 8/1/2023 and then hit enter. And that removes
the gap. We can also do the same for the end date or the maximum. I'll highlight this value and I'll
type in 10/2/2023. Then I'll hit enter, and now you'll notice that the Gantt chart fits directly
within the space. That looks better. We can make a few more tweaks to make this look better.
Currently, these major lines, these are all 10 days of time, but let's say I want it to track
each individual week. Over on the right-hand side, instead of having a 10 here, I'll type
in a 7 and then hit enter, and now this tracks each individual week. Down at the very bottom,
in my chart, I can also remove this legend. I don't think it's really necessary. I'll select
that and then click on delete. As a final touch, I also want to update the chart title. I'll move
the chart down and let me move over. Here, I have the title for my table, bake largest chocolate
chip cookie in the world. I'll click on the chart title here and in the formula bar, I can make the
title dynamic. I'll enter in the equals sign. This lets Excel know that I'm about to enter in
a formula and then I'll select this cell that has the title, and then I'll hit enter, and here you
see that it incorporates that title directly into the chart. Now, the neat thing is let's say that I
update the title in the table. So, instead of bake largest chocolate chip cookie in the world, maybe
instead I say biggest chocolate chip cookie in the world, I'll hit enter and here you'll see that the
chart or the Gantt chart automatically updates. That's pretty cool. And check that out. We now
have a beautiful looking Gantt chart, and we were able to do this simply by inserting a stacked bar
chart and then just hiding a portion of the bar chart. All right. Even though Excel has no option
for a Gantt chart, we were still able to make one. Sometimes you just have to be creative. To
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