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Gantt Charts in Microsoft Excel

by Jon Peltier, MVP

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts are a special kind of bar chart used in scheduling and program management. A set of tasks

or activities is listed along the left hand axis, and the bottom axis shows dates. The bars indicate when

each task begins and ends, and which tasks are in progress at any given time.

Let's use the following data for an example:

Start Duration End

Task 1 4/5/2004 14 4/19/2004

Task 2 4/12/2004 21 5/3/2004

Task 3 4/25/2004 14 5/9/2004

Task 4 4/25/2004 28 5/23/2004

Task 5 5/15/2004 14 5/29/2004

Task 6 5/18/2004 28 6/15/2004

Task 7 5/18/2004 35 6/22/2004

Task 8 5/25/2004 35 6/29/2004

Task 9 6/5/2004 24 6/29/2004

A Simple Gantt Chart Using Worksheet Formatt ing

The simplest kind of gantt chart involves a worksheet range, with the tasks listed as above, and dates in

the top row. If a date along the top falls between the start and end dates for that task, the cell in the same

row as the task is shaded a different color:

4/5 4/12 4/19 4/26 5/3 5/10 5/17 5/24 5/31 6/7 6/14 6/21 6/28

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Task 6

Task 7

Task 8

Task 9

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Not very fancy, but sometimes all you need is a quick graphic. The cells can be shaded manually as

illustrated below, or with conditional formatting.

To implement conditional formatting, my example worksheet had the first table in A3:D12, and the second

table in F3:S12. I selected the range G4:S12, selected Condi t i onal For mat t i ng from

theFor mat menu. Under Condi t i on 1, I selected For mul a I s in the dropdown, and I wrote this

formula in the space to the right:

=AND( G$3>=$B4, G$3

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A Simple Gantt Chart Using an Excel Stacked Bar Chart

We'll use the same starting worksheet range to make our next chart. The top left cell is blank to remind

Excel to use the first row as series names and the first column as category labels. Select the first three

columns in the data range (omit the End dates), and create a stacked bar chart.

Okay, it's not yet ready for sharing with your project team members. But it only takes a few steps to fix up.

First, double click the category axis (the task names along the left edge of the chart). On the Scale tab,

check the Categor i es i n Reverse Or der and the Val ue ( Y) Axi s Cr osses at Maxi mum

Cat egory options, and type a 1 in the Number of Cat egor i es Bet ween Ti ck Marks box. Double

click the Value axis (the times across the bottom), and pick a better set of parameters on the Scale tab.

I've chosen a minimum of April 1, 2004, and changed the major spacing to 14 days (2 weeks).

Quick Trick: Even though Excel expects a number (for example, April 1, 2004 = 38078) in the axis scale

parameter boxes of a value axis, you can type in a date, and Excel will convert it for you. This works if

you are entering times, as well.

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Now format the other elements of the chart. Most important, double click on the Start series, and click on

the Patterns tab. Select None for Border and Area, to make this series disappear. Format the Duration

series and the plot area the way you like them. And delete the legend.

On my web site I have amassed a collection of links about Gantt Charts in Excel. These are divided into

floating bar charts (above) and worksheet formatting (beginning of article). There are hundreds more such

links out there; I've merely included the first several of each type that seemed reliable.