Excel Timeline Template

TimelineExcel Timeline Templatehttp://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/create-a-timeline.html 2005-2013 Vertex42 LLC
Vertex42: See the Terms of Use worksheet.Instructions 1. Do not insert or remove entire rows (This will mess up the labeling order in the chart). 2. Edit the cells with white background and light grey borders. You can copy and paste, delete, insert, and sort, as long as you do not insert or delete entire rows. 3. Change the title by editing cell D29.

To change the x-axis scale 1. Right-click on the x-axis and select "Format Axis..." or go to the Chart Tools Format tab > Current Selection group > and select "Horizontal (value) Axis" from the drop-down box and click on the Format Selection button. 2. In the Format Axis dialog box go to Axis Options and edit the Minimum and Maximum values.

To delete an event 1. Do not delete a row. 2. Instead, clear the values in the Year, Mo, Day, Event, and Height cells for that row (by selecting the cells and pressing Delete). Do not delete the formulas in the Axis and Label columns.

Printing just the timeline To print just the timeline and not the table or header, first select the chart and then go to File > Print, or press CTRL+p.

Title:Events in the Life of Benjamin FranklinSuggestions for Height values The heights must be entered manually. That may be easier to do if you select Row 28 and go to View > Freeze Panes so that you can scroll through the data table and keep the timeline in view. Also, try using one of the following patterns for the heights: (100, 75, 50, 25) or (100, -100, 75, -75, 50, -50).YearMoDayEventHeight
Vertex42: Height:This column controls the vertical position of the data labels in the timeline. The vertical axis of the Chart has been set to 100, so enter values for the Height between +100 and -100.

Note: Using fixed limits for the vertical axis allows you to change the height values without worrying about the entire chart changing. If you want to change the vertical axis limits (so that the horizontal axis appears at the bottom of the chart for instance), first Turn ON the vertical axis and then format the axis to change the minimum and maximum values. Go to Layout > Axes > Primary Rertical Axis > Show Default Axis. Then, right-click on the axis and select Format Axis.Axis
Vertex42: Axis:This column is used for the horizontal X-axis of chart series. To allow the use of dates prior to 1900, the Axis value is calculated as a decimal year based on the Year, Mon (month), and Day columns.Label1706117Born in Boston(1/17/1706)501706.0465434634Born in Boston(1/17/1706) 1718Apprentices at Printing Shop-751718Apprentices at Printing Shop 1724Moves to London-401724Moves to London 1728Opens Printing office in PA1001728Opens Printing office in PA 1732Poor Richard: An Almanack751732Poor Richard: An Almanack Get fancy with pictures You can insert a picture into the chart by clicking on the Chart and going to Insert > Picture and selecting a picture from your computer. It is also possible to format a single data point so that instead of a normal marker, you display an image. After selecting a single data point, right-click on the data point and go to Format Data Point > Marker Options and select the image icon from the Marker Type drop-down box. For example, you could use a tiny image of an explosion to mark battles if you were creating a timeline for a war period.1737Appointed Postmaster of Phil. PA501737Appointed Postmaster of Phil. PA 1751Book on Electricity Published in London-751751Book on Electricity Published in London 1752Famous Kite Experiment-401752Famous Kite Experiment 1769Elected Pres. of Amer. Phil. Society1001769Elected Pres. of Amer. Phil. Society 1776Declaration of Independence-1001776Declaration of Independence 1778Treaty of Alliance with France751778Treaty of Alliance with France 1782Treaty of Peace with Great Britain-751782Treaty of Peace with Great Britain 1783Sees Montgolfier Brothers 1st to Fly in Balloon501783Sees Montgolfier Brothers 1st to Fly in Balloon 1787Delegate to Constitutional Convention-501787Delegate to Constitutional Convention 1790417Dies in Phil. PA (4/17/1790)201790.295687885Dies in Phil. PA (4/17/1790) Sharing your timeline After you create your own timeline, you can copy and paste the timeline chart as an image or picture into another document using Paste Special. Sharing your timeline by first converting it to an image is acceptable, and attribution is appreciated. But, this spreadsheet file should not be shared beyond what is allowed in the Terms of Use. To do otherwise is a violation of copyright law.0000000000000000To add more events (not easy) The chart currently allows up to 40 events to be listed. If you need to add more events ... 1. Insert new rows above the last row in the table. 2. Add some temporary data so that you can see the new events in the chart. 3. Edit each data point label to reference the correct cell in column G. This is done by selecting just the data label that you want to edit (click slowly on that data point twice). With the data point selected, type "=" then select the cell containing the Label for that point in column G.0000000000000000000000000000000000

ExampleExcel Timeline Templatehttp://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/create-a-timeline.html 2005-2013 Vertex42 LLC
Vertex42: See the Terms of Use worksheet.Instructions

This timeline shows an example of what you can do with images and formatting. It takes some time to fine-tune everything to be exactly how you want it, but in the end you can have a very nice looking timeline.

Inserting images into a chart You can insert a picture into the chart by clicking on the Chart and going to Insert > Picture and selecting a picture from your computer. The portrait in the upper left part of the chart is an example of an image inserted this way.

Customizing the data labels 1. Sometimes it is necessary to change the relative position of the data labels (left, right, above, below) to get the final timeline just right. 2. In this example, the background of the data labels has been set to a solid fill color with 30% transparency. 3. When the automatic wrapping doesn't do exactly what you want, you can insert a line break manually by editing the label in the Event column and pressing Alt+Enter to insert the line break.

Using an image as a marker (data point) It is possible to format a single data point so that instead of a normal marker, you display an image. This is what we did with this example. 1. After selecting a single data point, right click on the data point and go to Format Data Point > Marker Options and select the image icon from the Marker Type drop-down box. 2. The image will be inserted at its true size and cannot be resized. You would need to resize the image outside of Excel first. 3. It may be easier in some cases to just insert the images using Insert > Picture and then manually move the images around to where they need to be. However, the benefit of making the marker an image is that you can easily change the height position afterward.

Title:Events in the Life of Benjamin FranklinYearMoDayEventHeight
Vertex42: Height:This column controls the vertical position of the data labels in the timeline. The vertical axis of the Chart has been set to 100, so enter values for the Height between +100 and -100.

Note: Using fixed limits for the vertical axis allows you to change the height values without worrying about the entire chart changing. If you want to change the vertical axis limits (so that the horizontal axis appears at the bottom of the chart for instance), first Turn ON the vertical axis and then format the axis to change the minimum and maximum values. Go to Layout > Axes > Primary Rertical Axis > Show Default Axis. Then, right-click on the axis and select Format Axis.Axis
Vertex42: Axis:This column is used for the horizontal X-axis of chart series. To allow the use of dates prior to 1900, the Axis value is calculated as a decimal year based on the Year, Mon (month), and Day columns.Label1706117Born in Boston(1/17/1706)401706.0465434634Born in Boston(1/17/1706)1718Apprenticesat PrintingShop-751718Apprenticesat PrintingShop1724Moves toLondon501724Moves toLondon 1728Opens Printing office in PA951728Opens Printing office in PA Sharing your timeline After you create your own timeline, you can copy and paste the timeline chart as an image or picture into another document using Paste Special. Sharing your timeline by first converting it to an image is acceptable, and attribution is appreciated. But, this spreadsheet file should not be shared beyond what is allowed in the Terms of Use. To do otherwise is a violation of copyright law.1739Poor Richard:An Almanack-551739Poor Richard:An Almanack 1737AppointedPostmasterof Phil. PA501737AppointedPostmasterof Phil. PA 1751Book on Electricity Published in London201751Book on Electricity Published in London 1752Famous KiteExperiment-501752Famous KiteExperiment 1769Elected Pres. of Amer. Phil. Society801769Elected Pres. of Amer. Phil. Society 1776Declaration of Independence-1001776Declaration of Independence 1778Treaty of Alliance with France951778Treaty of Alliance with France 1782Treaty of Peace with Great Britain-521782Treaty of Peace with Great Britain 1783Sees Montgolfier Brothers 1st to Fly in Balloon501783Sees Montgolfier Brothers 1st to Fly in Balloon 1787Delegate to Constitutional Convention-301787Delegate to Constitutional Convention 1790417Dies in Phil. PA (4/17/1790)201790.295687885Dies in Phil. PA (4/17/1790) 00 00 00000000000000000000000000Note: All images used in the above timeline are either Public Domain (found via commons.wikimedia.org) or from the Office clipart collection.

ProjectExcel Timeline Templatehttp://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/create-a-timeline.html 2005-2013 Vertex42 LLC
Vertex42: See the Terms of Use worksheet.Instructions

This version of the Timeline Template uses a date-based axis, and only works for dates after 1/1/1900. It also uses X-error bars to show duration and completion of events.

The timeline is an example of a "Combination Chart" because it uses both a XY Scatter Chart and Line Chart. The XY Scatter Charts allow the use of error bars to define the Duration and Completion of tasks. The line chart is a "dummy" series with the markers turned off and its only purpose is to allow you to use a date-based axis, which makes it easier to define the limits and the intervals for the axis labels.

IMPORTANT: The events must be listed in order by date (because of the use of the line chart). You can sort the events by selecting the table and using the Data > A-Z button to sort by the date.

To change the x-axis scale 1. Right-click on the x-axis and select "Format Axis..." or go to the Chart Tools Format tab > Current Selection group > and select "Horizontal (value) Axis" from the drop-down box and click on the Format Selection button. 2. In the Format Axis dialog box go to Axis Options and edit the Minimum and Maximum values. 3. The Base Unit should be set to "Days" 4. Set the Major Unit to 3 "Months" if you want the x-axis labels to show quarters of the year.

Title: Project Timeline ExampleToday: 5/4/13DateTaskDuration% DoneHeightCompletionAxisLabel1/3/13Proposal Due90041277Proposal Due1/10/13Funding Granted74041284Funding Granted1/10/131. Main Task7590%5467.5412841. Main TaskTo delete an event 1. Do not delete an entire row. 2. Instead, clear the values in the Date, Event, Duration, %Done, and Height cells for that row, by selecting the cells and pressing Delete. Do not delete the formulas in the Axis and Label columns.1/10/131.1 Subtask20440412841.1 Subtask1/30/132. Main Task6810%-406.8413042. Main Task1/30/132.1 Subtask20-600413042.1 Subtask2/9/131.2 Subtask20340413141.2 Subtask3/1/131.3 Subtask20200413341.3 Subtask3/1/132.2 Subtask20-700413342.2 SubtaskSuggestions for modifying Height values The heights must be entered manually. That may be easier to do if you select Row 28 and go to View > Freeze Panes. This will let you scroll through the data table and keep the timeline in view. Also, try using one of the following patterns for the heights: (100, 75, 50, 25) or (100, -100, 75, -75, 50, -50).3/31/132.3 Subtask20-800413642.3 Subtask3/31/133. Main Task10050%8050413643. Main Task3/31/133.1 Subtask20700413643.1 Subtask4/20/134. Main Task10020%-5020413844. Main Task4/20/134.1 Subtask20-600413844.1 Subtask4/30/133.2 Subtask20600413943.2 Subtask5/20/134.2 Subtask20-700414144.2 SubtaskFormatting data points and labels You can format individual data points and labels if you need to. For example, you may want to highlight an important milestone or change the background colors for specific data labels. To display a picture in place of the data point, after selecting a single data point, right click on the data point and go to Format Data Point > Marker Options and select the image icon from the Marker Type drop-down box.5/30/133.3 Subtask20500414243.3 Subtask6/19/134.3 Subtask20-800414444.3 Subtask6/19/135. Main Task8010%408414445. Main Task6/19/135.1 Subtask20300414445.1 Subtask7/9/136. Main Task70-200414646. Main Task7/9/136.1 Subtask20-300414646.1 Subtask7/19/135.2 Subtask20200414745.2 Subtask8/8/136.2 Subtask20-400414946.2 Subtask8/18/135.3 Subtask20100415045.3 Subtask9/7/136.3 Subtask20-500415246.3 SubtaskChanging the Today line The vertical "Today" line in the chart is based on the date listed in cell D29. The height above and below the axis is set in the cells listed below the data table in column E.

0ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A0Modifying the Vertical Axis scale Currently, the vertical axis scale is set to -100 and +100. To display and edit the vertical axis, go to Layout > Axes > Primary Veritcal Axis > Show Default Axis. Then right-click on the axis, and select Format Axis.

0ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A0To add more events (not easy) The template currently allows up to 50 events to be included in the timeline. If you need more than that you will need to add more rows. 1. Insert new rows above the last row in the table. 2. Add some temporary data into the new rows so that you can see the new events in the chart. 3. Edit each data point label to reference the correct cell in column H. This is done by selecting just the data label that you want to edit (click slowly on that data point twice). With the data point selected, type "=" then select the cell containing the Label for that point in column H.0ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A00ERROR:#N/A0

Values to help control the chart1/1/13
Vertex42: This chart series named "DateRanges" refers to the Minimum and Maximum values here. If you want the timeline to start on the first of a month, and the first event in the timeline is 1/5/2013, then you can set the Minimum value to 1/1/2013.Minimum Value for Horizontal AxisToday (+)9010/1/13Maximum Value for Horizontal AxisToday (-)-84

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