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A Gantt chart template for Excel will allow the user to schedule tasks in a specific project that will chart it from the start date to the completion of each task. A Gantt chart will make it easier to visualise a project from start date to completion, with each task of the project will have its own bar on the chart that will mark when it is completed. You can make a Gantt chart as simple or as complex as you require, but once you have created your first you can save it as a Gantt chart template in Excel.
You start by creating a table that will list all the task in the project from beginning to end, then you add the starting date for each task, the duration and then the completion date.
Once you have completed the table, you need to create your chart. Click on the insert tab and then on bar chart. From the bar chat options, choose the stacked bar. Click on the select data button and then enter the data series from your table. Now your stacked bar chart represents each task with its start date, duration and completion date. Now you can format your chart.
The first thing you will notice is that your tasks are listed in reverse order, to change this click on the list of tasks on the axis to highlight them and then right click to bring up the Format axis dialogue box, then in axis options tick the Categories in reverse order box.
You now want to delete the starting date part of the bar chart. Right click on that part of the bar and that will bring up the Format data series dialogue box. In the Fill section, click on No fill, then on Border colour click on No line. Now you can get rid of all the white spaces in between the bars by right clicking on the top bar to bring up the Format series dialogue box and then on series format set the gap width to 0.
You can now save this as a Gantt chart template in Excel for you to use on any other projects you have. There are many more sophisticated Gantt charts templates that you can download that will allow you to use on more varied and complex projects.
