(bright music)
- In this step-by-step tutorial,
I'll guide you through how to create a Gantt chart in Excel
that maps out dates on your project timeline.
Here's a breakdown of the steps we'll go through
in this tutorial.
And just a quick note here,
I performed the following steps
in Microsoft Excel 365 for Mac,
but the basic workflow should be the same on a PC
or in any version of Excel with minor changes.
Let's get started.
Let's start with a blank spreadsheet in Excel.
Then create columns for task name,
start date, end date, and duration,
and fill those cells with the basic details
of your project tasks.
Format the Name column as text,
the Start and End Date columns as dates,
and the Duration column as a number.
If you wanna organize your chart into phases with subtasks,
add a row before the first task in each project phase
and enter the dates for each task group.
For the start date,
enter the start date of the first task
or milestone in the phase.
For the end date,
enter the end date of the last task
or milestone in the phase.
Next, we'll use a simple formula
to subtract the start date from the end date.
That way, your worksheet will automatically calculate
the length of each task in your Gantt chart.
For example, we entered C2 minus B2 into the Duration field
for our first task.
If you started in different cells in your worksheet,
be sure to adjust this formula accordingly.
Place your mouse accordingly on the right corner of D2
until you see a black plus sign
and drag your mouse down to paste the formula
into the remaining cells in column D.
Now, we'll add the chart that will become our Gantt chart.
Click the Insert tab and select the bar chart icon.
Choose Stacked Bar from the 2-D Bar section
to add a chart to your worksheet.
This chart most closely resembles a Gantt chart.
You should see a blank chart in your Excel worksheet.
Right-click the chart and choose Select Data.
Click the plus sign
under the Legend entry section to add the first data set.
Name it Start Date, then click on the Y values field
and select the data in the Start Date column.
Repeat this process to add a second entry called Duration,
making sure to select the data in the Duration column
for the Y values.
Click the Horizontal axis labels field
and select the entire Task Name column.
Make sure you check
the Show data in hidden row and columns checkbox,
so your Excel Gantt chart will still work
if you decide to hide any of the columns or rows
in the worksheet.
Double-click the Chart Title text box
to select the full title,
then enter the name of your project
to replace the generic placeholder text.
Copy the start date for the first task in your project
into a blank cell below your task list
and format that cell as a number rather than date.
Repeat this process for the end date
for the last task in your project.
Because Excel stores dates as numbers,
Excel will convert the start date for our first task
from 9/1/22 to 44,805.00.
While the end date for our last task
becomes 44,865.00 instead of 10/31/22.
Now, select the horizontal axis of your Gantt chart.
Right-click and choose Format Axis.
Under Bounds, there are fields for minimum and maximum.
These are the first and last dates in the chart.
Change the minimum value to the number you got
when you converted the first task date into a number
and the maximum value to the number for your last task date.
Hit Enter to remove the extra time
from the beginning of your chart.
If the labels on the horizontal axis of your Gantt chart
show numbers instead of dates,
click the Number section
of the Format Axis window to expand it.
Change the category from number to date.
Now, the horizontal axis will show readable dates.
Under Units in the Axis Option section,
you'll find Major and Minor fields.
These determine the timeline intervals
for your Excel Gantt chart.
Enter 7.0 into the Major field to set the project timeline
in your Excel Gantt chart at weekly intervals.
And if you want a monthly Gantt chart,
set the Major field to 30.0.
Select the vertical axis, right-click it,
and choose Format Axis.
Tick the categories in reverse order checkbox.
This also moves the date axis to the top of the chart
where it's a little more useful.
Click on the first portion of a task bar with two colors
to select all of the bars in your first data series.
In this chart, our first data series
is represented by the blue task bars.
Then, click the paint bucket tab
and expand the Fill section.
Select No Fill to remove the blue bars
that precede your task's start dates.
Click on a single bar twice, but don't double-click it.
Click it once to highlight all the bars in that color
then click it again to highlight a single bar
click the paint bucket icon
and choose the color you want from the Color Fill options.
It might help to differentiate project phases from subtasks
by giving phased task bars a neutral color like gray.
You may also wanna color milestones yellow or gold,
so they stand out easily from other tasks.
Repeat this process for the rest of your bars
in your newly-made Gantt chart to change their colors.
And that's it.
You've created your very own weekly Gantt chart in Excel.
That was probably a few more steps than you bargain for
especially if you have to do that
every time you need to create a new Gantt chart
for a new project.
That's where TeamGantt comes in.
Gantt charts that are simple, beautiful,
and super easy to manage and update
is exactly what TeamGantt was designed
from the ground up to do.
Forget having to keep track
of multiple Excel Gantt chart files for each project
and wasting time making sure
all your charts are presentation-ready.
TeamGantt makes it easy to create and manage your projects
with shareable online Gantt charts.
You can create a beautiful project plan in just minutes
with TeamGantt.
And because everything happens online,
it's easy to track project progress
and collaborate with your team in real-time.
So sign up for free today.
That's it for this video
on how to create a Gantt chart in Excel.
I hope you found it helpful.
If you did, I'd love it if you could return the favor
and hit the like button.
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel,
so you don't miss any of our videos.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time.