Set up a Gantt view

Gantt view is a user-friendly way to visualize your project schedule, split into two parts:

• On the left, table view lays out your project tasks and details as a grid, keeping all table-view sheet capabilities available. Learn more in Introduction to table view.
• On the right, the Gantt chart outlines your tasks and milestones as horizontal bars and diamonds, aligned chronologically from left to right. Each bar represents a task's duration, making it easy to see how tasks align and overlap at a glance.

Hover over any bar or milestone to see its details. You can also select a row in the table to highlight its bar. 

Smartsheet currently supports two versions of Gantt view, legacy and new. Until legacy Gantt view is retired, both versions appear in the view switcher. A few capabilities are not yet available in the new version. To use them, switch to legacy Gantt view. See this table for specific features not yet available.

Gantt view also allows you to:

• View dependencies and track task relationships.
• Show your project's critical, summary, and driving paths.
• Display the % Complete of your tasks.
• Use hierarchy to create summary rows of your project’s details. 
• Set a baseline and track variance.

Switch to Gantt view

To use Gantt view, your sheet or report must have at least two date columns that aren’t backed by column formulas. 

Reports do not yet support the new Gantt view. Reports continue to appear in the legacy Gantt view.

In the view switcher, select Gantt view to switch your view. The Gantt timeline visualization appears to the right of your sheet’s columns.  You can widen the display of either section by hovering over the divider line and dragging it to the right or left.

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Gantt view displays a:

• Single-day bar for rows where the start date and end date are the same.
• Multi-day bar for rows with an end date after the start date.
• Milestone diamond for rows where only the start or end date is provided, or for any row with a zero-day duration when dependencies are enabled.

Configure your Gantt view settings 

Only the sheet's Owner and Admin can modify sheet settings.

Use sheet settings to configure your Gantt view and enable dependencies. To access the sheet settings panel, select the settings icon   at the far right of the toolbar. Learn more about Sheet settings in table, board, and timeline view.

To configure legacy Gantt view, you must modify your sheet’s Project Settings. Refer to project settings in grid and Gantt view for more information.

Adjust the Gantt view timescale

Gantt view has many zoom levels, spanning from days to quarters and years. Use the Zoom In or Zoom Out icons to adjust the view. 

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In the new Gantt view, you can use the drop-down menu to toggle between zoom levels. 

Changes made to the Gantt view timescale appear when exported.

Modify tasks directly from Gantt view

To change the dates of your task:

• Select and drag the center of a task bar to move the task to new start and end dates.
• Drag just the start or the end of the bar to change its start or end date (and the resulting duration). 

If you select a bar in the Gantt chart, you can double-click it or press Enter to open the task's details panel.

Customize your Gantt task bars

You can apply color to the task bars. To add color:

1. Right-click on the task bar.
2. Select Set item color.
3. Choose your desired color.

You can also apply color to taskbars automatically by using conditional formatting.

Row hierarchies in Gantt view

You can use row hierarchies in the grid portion of the Gantt view to organize rows into sections or phases. Child rows are displayed as individual task bars in the Gantt chart based on their start and end dates.

If you use hierarchies and turn on dependencies on the sheet, parent rows reflect a summary of their child rows. The parent row values are automatically calculated in the Duration, % Complete, Start Date, and End Date columns; they can't be manually modified. However, if dependencies are off, you can change the parent row values as needed.

Critical path, summary, and driving paths

You can use the critical path, which is the longest sequence of tasks that must be completed on time to stay on schedule and avoid delays. You can also enable the driving path to quickly identify tasks that affect your task’s start date. Additionally, you can activate the summary path to identify the subtasks impacting the end date of their parent summary task. Learn more about configuring these paths in Gantt view.

Use baselines

Use baselines to compare a project’s scheduled times against actual completion. To enable baselines:

1. Add Start Date and End Date columns.
2. Switch to Gantt View, then select the Baselines button in the toolbar.

Learn more about baselines.

Compare New Gantt view and Legacy Gantt view

The new Gantt view is built for large-scale sheets, real-time collaboration, and improved task dependency creation and visualization.

Both legacy and new Gantt views are available. Most row, column, cell, and sheet actions work the same in both views, but some features are not yet available in the new Gantt view. Switch between the legacy and new Gantt views at any time to access the features you need.

Refer to Compare table view and grid view for a comprehensive list of feature differences between new views and legacy views.