Set up your sheet for timeline view

Access timeline view

In any sheet, navigate to the view switcher in the top toolbar and select Timeline.

Timeline view is only available if your sheet includes at least one date column that isn’t backed by a column formula.

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Configure your sheet for timeline view

Timeline view is available when your sheet has one or more date columns:

• One date column: Items with a date appear as milestones (diamonds). Items without a date are not shown.
• Two or more date columns: The first two date columns become the default start and end dates in sheet settings.
  • Items with both dates appear as bars.
  • Items with only one date appear as milestones.
  • Items without any dates won’t appear in the timeline.

Adjust sheet settings

Select the settings icon  Brandfolder Image  in the top toolbar. Use the Sheet tab to set up or edit:

• Start and end date columns
• Dependencies (duration and predecessor)
• Month that the fiscal year starts
• Day the week starts
• Working hours in a day
• Working days and non-working days (including company holidays)
• % Complete

Learn more about each tab in sheet settings.

Switch to grid or Gantt view to adjust Resource Management settings. 

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Item stack order

On the timeline, bar and milestone stack order is determined by:

1. Hierarchy level
2. Start date
3. End date
4. Grid row order

Create and edit items

Timeline view displays your data as:

• Bars for multi-day items.
• Milestones for items with only a start or end date, or the start and end dates are the same day. Learn more about milestones. 

If dependencies are enabled in project settings, the timeline uses duration values to determine bar (+1 day duration) or milestone (0 day duration) formatting. 

Hover over an item to see its title, start date, and end date.

Changes made by others are updated in real time.

Create a new item

Users with Editor or Admin permissions can add items.

1. Select anywhere on the timeline where your cursor shows a blue addition sign  Brandfolder Image .
2. Enter the item’s:
   • Title
   • Start date (required)
   • End date (optional)
3. Select Add.

Providing a start and end date creates a bar. Providing only a start date creates a milestone.

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Delete an item

To delete an item,

1. Open the item options menu  Brandfolder Image
2. Select Delete item.

Or, you can right-click the item and select Delete item.

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View and edit item details

To open an item’s details:

• Double-click the item
• Hover over an item, open the item options menu  Brandfolder Image ,  and select Open item details.
• Right-click on the item

From the details panel, you can edit any visible field.

Any hidden columns in grid view do not appear in the details panel.

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Edit timeline item fields displayed and title

You can display the title and up to four additional fields on bars. Only the title displays on milestones. By default, item titles use values from the primary column.

1. On the toolbar, select Show fields.
2. Toggle the fields you want to display.
3. Select the text/number or auto number column you want to use as the title. 

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You can also set how the text is displayed on the item. Use the overflow icon  to set:

• No overflow  Brandfolder Image
• Partial overflow  Brandfolder Image
• Full overflow  Brandfolder Image

Edit item colors

Task bar colors assigned in Gantt, card, or calendar views carry over into timeline view. To edit item colors, switch to Gantt, card, or calendar view and either:

• Manually apply a task bar color by right-clicking on the color bar
• Apply conditional formatting rules, specifically setting the task bar color

If your sheet has at least one conditional formatting rule that sets task bar color, then all bars on the sheet that don’t meet your conditional formatting rule are grey.