Gantt Chart Excel Tutorial - How to make a Basic Gantt Chart in Microsoft Excel

Summary

This tutorial from excelfornoobs.com guides viewers on creating a basic Gantt chart in Microsoft Excel 2013. It starts with entering task data including start dates and durations. Then, it demonstrates how to insert a 3D stacked bar chart, configure it with task data, and adjust the chart's axis to display tasks in the correct order. The tutorial also shows how to remove unnecessary bars and gaps, and adjust the date bounds to match the project's start date. Finally, it suggests exploring more advanced tutorials for automated progress tracking in Gantt charts.

Takeaways

• 📊 **Gantt Chart Definition**: A Gantt chart is a graphical representation that depicts the timeline of a project's tasks.
• 📅 **Data Input**: To create a Gantt chart, first input your tasks, start dates, and duration into columns in Excel.
• 🔑 **Chart Creation**: Insert a bar chart in Excel to start building the Gantt chart.
• 🎨 **Chart Customization**: Select a 3D stacked bar chart for a more visual representation.
• 📑 **Series Data Entry**: Add data series for start dates and duration (days to complete) to the chart.
• 🔄 **Reversing Order**: Use the 'categories in reverse order' option to correctly sequence tasks from earliest to latest.
• 🚫 **Removing Unnecessary Bars**: Format data series to 'no fill' to remove unnecessary bars representing non-working periods.
• 🗓️ **Adjusting Date Bounds**: Format the axis to adjust the date range, ensuring the chart starts on the project's actual start date.
• 🔢 **Understanding Date Numbers**: Excel represents dates with a serial number system; adjust the chart's minimum bound to match your project's start date.
• 🖼️ **Final Touches**: Use the design tab to format the chart with titles, colors, and layout to your preference.
• 🔍 **Advanced Tutorials**: There are more advanced tutorials available for creating automated Gantt charts that reflect task progress.

Q & A

What is the purpose of a Gantt chart in project management?

A Gantt chart is used to show the time frame of an overall project, broken down by each individual task, indicating the start date and duration of each task.

Which version of Microsoft Excel is the tutorial using?

The tutorial is using Microsoft Excel 2013.

How many columns of data are required to create a basic Gantt chart according to the tutorial?

Three columns of data are required: one for task names, one for start dates, and one for the duration of each task.

What type of chart is used as a basis for creating a Gantt chart in the tutorial?

A 3D stacked bar chart is used as the basis for creating a Gantt chart.

How do you add a new series to the chart in the tutorial?

You add a new series by clicking the 'Add' button in the 'Edit Series' dialog box and selecting the appropriate data range.

What does the 'Series Values' field in the 'Edit Series' dialog box represent?

The 'Series Values' field represents the range of cells that contain the data to be plotted for that series, such as start dates or duration of tasks.

How can you change the order of the tasks on the Gantt chart?

You can change the order of the tasks by right-clicking on the axis, selecting 'Format Axis', and then choosing 'Categories in reverse order'.

Why might you want to remove the fill from the bars representing the start date?

You might want to remove the fill from the bars representing the start date to clean up the chart and only show the duration of tasks, not the gaps between them.

How does Excel represent dates in the context of the tutorial?

In Excel, dates are represented by a serial number system, where each day is assigned a unique number.

What is the serial number for May 22nd, 2013, as mentioned in the tutorial?

The serial number for May 22nd, 2013 is 41414.

How can you adjust the date range displayed on the Gantt chart?

You can adjust the date range by right-clicking the date axis, selecting 'Format Axis', and manually entering the minimum and maximum bounds.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Creating a Basic Gantt Chart in Excel

The paragraph provides a step-by-step guide on creating a basic Gantt chart in Microsoft Excel 2013. It begins by explaining what a Gantt chart is and its purpose in project management. The tutorial then instructs viewers to input data into three columns: Task, Start Date, and Days Complete. The Start Date column indicates when each task will commence, while the Days Complete column shows the duration of each task. After entering the data, the tutorial proceeds to guide users on how to insert a bar chart, select data for the chart, and format it to display the tasks in the correct order. The process includes adding series for start dates and duration, editing axis labels to list tasks, and adjusting the chart to display tasks in reverse order and to remove unnecessary date gaps.

05:00

🔧 Refining the Gantt Chart

This paragraph continues the tutorial by addressing issues with the initial Gantt chart setup. It explains how to remove unnecessary bars that do not represent any task and how to adjust the date axis to remove gaps and accurately reflect the project's start date. The tutorial demonstrates converting dates to a serial number format to set the chart's bounds correctly. It concludes with tips on customizing the chart's design, including changing the layout, title, and colors. Additionally, it encourages viewers to explore more advanced tutorials on creating automated Gantt charts that reflect project progress.

Keywords

💡Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. It is used to show the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements which are usually high-level phases, and activities of a project. In the video, the Gantt chart is used to represent the timeline of tasks within a project, with each task's duration and start date clearly marked.

💡Microsoft Excel 2013

Microsoft Excel 2013 is a spreadsheet program that is part of the Microsoft Office suite. It is widely used for data organization, calculations, and creating various types of charts, including Gantt charts. The video specifically mentions Excel 2013 as the platform on which the Gantt chart is being created.

💡Task

In the context of project management, a task is a piece of work that is undertaken as part of a project. The video script refers to tasks as individual components of a larger project, each with a specific start date and duration.

💡Start Date

The start date is the point in time at which a task is scheduled to begin. In the tutorial, the start date is an essential piece of data that determines when each task's bar will appear on the Gantt chart.

💡Days Complete

This refers to the duration of a task, indicating how many days a task is expected to last. In the script, the 'days complete' column in the Excel spreadsheet is used to set the length of each task's bar on the Gantt chart.

💡Bar Chart

A bar chart is a way of displaying data using bars. In the video, the creation of a Gantt chart begins with the selection of a bar chart in Excel, which will be customized to represent the project timeline.

💡3D Stacked Bar Chart

This is a specific type of bar chart where the bars are stacked on top of each other and displayed in three dimensions. The script mentions selecting a 3D stacked bar chart as the starting point for creating the Gantt chart.

💡Select Data Source

In Excel, the 'Select Data Source' dialog box allows users to choose the data that will be plotted in a chart. The video script describes using this feature to link the task data to the Gantt chart.

💡Format Axis

This refers to the process of customizing the appearance and properties of the axis in a chart. The script explains how to use 'Format Axis' to adjust the order of tasks and to remove unwanted gaps in the date axis of the Gantt chart.

💡Date Bound

The date bound is the range of dates displayed on the axis of a chart. In the context of the video, adjusting the date bound ensures that the Gantt chart only shows relevant dates, starting from the project's actual start date.

💡Serial Number System

Excel uses a serial number system to represent dates, where each day is assigned a number. The script explains how to convert a date to its corresponding serial number to set the chart's start date accurately.

Highlights

Introduction to creating a basic Gantt chart in Microsoft Excel 2013

Explanation of what a Gantt chart is and its purpose

How to enter data into Excel for the Gantt chart

Setting up task names, start dates, and duration

Instructions on creating a chart using the Insert tab

Choosing the 3D stacked bar chart option

Accessing the Select Data Source dialog box

Entering the first series for the start dates

Moving the chart to access the data source

Adding a new series for the duration of tasks

Editing the horizontal axis labels with task names

Fixing the order of tasks in the Gantt chart

Removing unnecessary bars representing start dates

Adjusting the date axis to remove gaps

Understanding how dates are represented as numbers in Excel

Setting the minimum bound for the date axis

Finalizing the Gantt chart and customizing its appearance

Invitation to explore more advanced tutorials on creating Gantt charts

Transcripts

guys welcome to excel for noobs.com in

this tutorial i'm going to show you how

to create a basic gantt chart in

microsoft excel 2013 now what a gantt

chart is is a chart that shows the time

frame of an overall project broken down

by the each individual by each

individual task that the project is to

consist of showing the time frame that

each task is uh

to take from start date to finish

all right so you can see here first we

have to enter in our data into excel

before we can even create our chart so

here i have three columns i have a task

column these are all of my task tests

one through eight the project is to

consist of we have the start date

these days dates represent the day that

each task is to start so task 8 will

start on july 15th and then we have the

days complete column

showing how long

each project is to last so pro

or each task is to last task 8 should

last 12 days so if it starts on july

15th

task 8 should urge

task 8 should end on july

27th

okay so we have our data now we can go

ahead and get started creating our chart

what we're going to do is click

the insert button and in the

chart the insert tab and in the charts

group

we're going to select

our insert bar chart which is like a

sideways bar chart basically

okay so we click the insert bar chart

and

we are going to click

on

[Music]

you can do either 2d stacked bar chart

or 3d stacked bar chart

so i'm going to click on the 3d stacked

bar chart

and then you can see that a blank chart

area appears

in the chart area

i will now right click

and in the shortcut menu i'm going to

click on select data

okay so you can see the select data

source dialog box appears you can also

see that our chart area and select data

source dialog box is kind of blocking

our data over here so we're going to

move that out of the way but first let's

enter in our first series

right here in legend entries we're going

to click the add button

and the edit series dialog box will

appear with the box for series name and

series name we're going to enter we're

going to select the start date column

header

and then

in series values we're going to remove

the default data and we're going we're

going to enter in the

we're going to select the range of cells

that has our start dates and then we'll

click ok

ok

now i'm going to click ok so i can move

this out of the way

and so i can also get this chart

out of the way okay now in a blank area

of the chart somewhere up here i'm going

to right click again to get to um the

select data source dia log box and you

can see i'm clicking on select data and

it appears just now i can access my that

over here all right now i need to add a

new series we're going to click the add

button

and in series name i will select days to

complete

in series values again remove the

default data and select the range of

cells that has our data is complete

click ok

and again we're back at our select data

source dialog box now on the horizontal

axis label

click the edit button and i'm going to

select task 1 through task eight

and click ok

now we have all of our data

so we can close our select data source

dialog box

okay so you can see that we're on our

way to having a gantt chart what is

going on

okay you can see we're on our way to

having a gantt chart i'm just kind of

resizing it

now you can see a few problems our tasks

right here in reverse order so we need

to fix that

we have these blue bars here which

represent

um the start date and

then we have our dates

which uh there's a large gap see our

project's gonna start on may 22nd

we don't really want our chart the

bounds of our dates to go all the way to

april 16th so we want to remove that we

want this chart i want to remove those

uh

these boundaries these um

these gaps of dates

so uh the first thing we're going to do

is just get our

we want to get our task in the right

order so just click right here on the

task and then right click

and click on format axis and the

shortcut menu

and then the the axis options will

appear over here to the right the format

axis dialog box and in access position

you're gonna click categories in reverse

order

okay so the first problem is solved now

let's get rid of these bars there's

nothing going on

during this time

for these projects so we don't need any

bars there to represent anything

all we want is to uh we want bars that

represent

the task

when they're going to be um

when they will the time frame of the

task so we click on the bars

which represent the start date

and then we're going to right click

and then click format data series

and the format data series dialog box

appears we will click on the fill button

and then we'll select no fill

then we can close this all right

final problem let's get rid of this gap

in the dates so we just uh

let's get rid of this

padding of the dates i mean you can see

it's more than a month the chart

shows a date that's more than a month

before our startup date so let's get rid

of that

so we click on the dates

then we right click

and again select

format axis

okay you can see over here our bounds

these are our dates these numbers

represent our dates actually let me

close this and kind of explain how dates

work i'm going to copy this date and

enter into another cell may 22nd our

start date now i'm going to convert this

to

a number format

and you can see

that

um our dates are actually represented

by a number and that's how it works

dates in excel are represented by a

serial number system so the uh number

the serial number for may 22nd 2013 is

41 416 and that's where we want our

chart to start

so just we're going to keep that there

so we remember that number so again

click on the dates

right click

format axis and then here in the minimum

bound

we will enter

the date

that we want our chart bounds

to show so we're custom

manually entering in

that number which represents may 22 2013

and we hit enter and there you can see

now our chart starts on may 22nd

22nd 2013.

we can close that

and then

um let me remove this and now you can

see that we have our gantt chart here

now all you have to do is you can change

different um

formatting to the chart so we can go to

the design and we can change the layout

i like this layout

you can

change the title

and you can mess around and change the

color and anything else you want to

change all right thanks for watching

guys now you know how to make a basic

gantt chart in microsoft excel 2013

don't forget to check out all of our

other tutorials and we also have

a more advanced tutorial on how to

create a gantt chart that is that

automatically shows the progress

of a project and each task it shows the

days completed of each task

and it shows the days remaining

for each task

and it's automated using the now

function and a nested if function so be

sure to look that up alright thanks for

watching

and have fun with excel