Create and work with a Gantt chart

When you switch your sheet or report to Gantt View, tasks appear as bars in a timeline. You see the duration, the start date, and the finish date of your project tasks as project sheet columns.

Apart from that, you can also track the following:

• View Dependencies and track the relationship between tasks.
• View your project's Critical Path.
• Display the % Complete of your tasks.
• Use Hierarchy to create summary rows for further organization of your projects.

Add a Gantt chart 

Before you add a Gantt chart

Make sure your sheet or report has at least two Date columns. 

The columns you add must represent the start date and the end date of your tasks. The length of a task bar represents the span of time between those dates. This is why you need at least two Date columns; otherwise, you cannot switch to Gantt View.

The Gantt View does not recognize Date columns with a Column Formula applied. If you need your dates to autofill rows, use the Cell Formula and Autofill features instead. You could also set up column formulas and use a report to display your Gantt chart.

To add a Gantt chart

• In the toolbar, select Gantt View to switch your view.

The chart appears to the right of your columns. There is also a divider that separates the grid columns from the Gantt chart. 

To widen the display of either section:

1. Hover your pointer over the divider. 
2. When you see the column resize pointer , drag the divider to the right or left.

Edit your Gantt chart

1. In the upper right area of the sheet, select Edit Project Settings.
2. Modify the Project Settings in each tab according to your project needs:
   • Dependency Settings
   • Timeline Display
   • Resource Management

Adjust the timeline display

In the Project Settings dialog, you can modify the units of time you see in the Gantt chart.

An easier way to do that is by using the Zoom In  and Zoom Out  buttons in the toolbar.

Organize your project tasks

Use row hierarchies in Gantt charts to organize rows into sections or phases. 

When you use row hierarchies, child rows display as individual task bars in the Gantt chart based on their start and end dates. If you turn on Dependencies on the sheet, parent rows reflect a summary of their child rows.

The parent row values are calculated automatically in the following columns: 

• Duration
• Start Date and End date 
• % Complete  

You cannot modify parent values. If dependencies are off, you can change the parent row information as needed. 

Other tips in editing your Gantt chart

• Configure a % Complete column in the Project Settings dialog. Any time you enter a value in this column, you see it indicated in the task bar.
• Apply color to the task bars.