How to Make a Gantt Chart in Excel

To make a Gantt chart in Excel, create a 2-D stacked bar chart using task start dates and durations, then hide the start-date series. The remaining bars show when each task begins and how long it lasts. Reverse the task order and format the horizontal axis as dates to turn the chart into a readable project timeline.

Excel has no built-in Gantt chart type. This method follows Microsoft's stacked-bar approach and uses five tasks you can enter yourself.

Download the Excel Gantt chart example workbook to follow along with the same dates, formulas, and chart.

1. Prepare the task table

Name your worksheet Schedule. Enter these headers in A1:D1, then enter the five tasks in rows 2–6. The Duration column below shows the expected results; you will calculate those values with a formula.

Enter columns B and C as real Excel dates in a format your regional settings recognize. Apply the number format d-mmm-yyyy to display them as shown. Formatting text as a date does not convert it into a numeric Excel date.

This example counts calendar days, including the start and end dates. Design and Build both include September 21, so their bars overlap on that day. Launch lasts one full day even though its start and end dates match.

In D2, enter:

=C2-B2+1

Copy the formula down to D6 and format D2:D6 as Number with zero decimal places. You should get 3, 5, 7, 3, and 1.

The +1 includes the final day. For Plan, September 16 minus September 14 is 2; adding 1 gives the three scheduled dates: September 14, 15, and 16.

For elapsed time between two precise timestamps, the convention is different: subtract the start from the end without adding a day. Our guide to calculating hours between dates and times explains that approach. Use date-only values for this whole-day Gantt chart.

2. Insert a stacked bar chart

The chart needs task names, start dates, and durations. End Date helps calculate duration, but it must not become a chart series.

1. Select A1:B6 on the Schedule sheet.
2. Open Insert > Insert Column or Bar Chart and choose 2-D Bar > Stacked Bar. The menu wording varies between Windows and Mac; select the horizontal stacked bar option, not 100% Stacked Bar.
3. With the chart selected, open Chart Design > Select Data.
4. Under the series list, choose Add. Set the series name to =Schedule!$D$1 and the series values to =Schedule!$D$2:$D$6.
5. Check that the task labels use =Schedule!$A$2:$A$6. If they do not, edit the category-axis label range in the same dialog.

Your chart should now have exactly these two series, in this order:

If Excel created a different arrangement, edit or remove the unwanted series in Select Data. Keep Start Date first: it supplies the invisible distance before each task begins.

At this stage, the start-date bars may look enormous and the duration segments almost invisible. That is expected because Excel dates are large serial numbers, while these durations are only one to seven days.

3. Hide the Start Date series

Select the Start Date series and open Format Data Series. Under Fill & Line, set Fill to No fill and Border to No line.

If selecting the bars is difficult, use the chart's Format > Current Selection list to select the Start Date series by name.

Keep the series in the chart. Hiding its fill preserves each task's starting position; deleting it makes every duration bar begin at the same point.

4. Put the first task at the top

Select the vertical axis containing the task names and open Format Axis. Under Axis Options, enable Categories in reverse order.

The tasks should now read Plan, Design, Build, Test, Launch from top to bottom. This setting reverses how the chart displays the rows; it does not reorder the worksheet.

Reversing the categories may move the date labels to the top of the chart. You can leave them there. If you prefer them at the bottom, select the horizontal date labels, open Format Axis, and set Labels > Label Position to Low.

5. Set the date range and axis labels

Select the horizontal axis and open Format Axis > Axis Options. For this example, enter:

Under Number, clear Linked to source if necessary, then apply the format code d-mmm.

These bounds use Excel's 1900 date system, which is the default in newer workbooks. To get a serial number for your own schedule, copy a date to a spare cell and format that copy as General. Use the earliest start date as the minimum. For inclusive durations, use at least the day after the latest end date as the maximum.

Here, Launch occupies all of October 1, so its bar ends at the October 2 boundary. Setting the maximum to October 1 would cut off that one-day task.

Although the labels show dates, this is a numeric value axis. The major unit is a number of days: 1 means daily ticks, and 7 means weekly ticks. It does not offer the calendar-month base units used by some category date axes. A major unit of 30 produces fixed 30-day intervals, not calendar months. Microsoft's guide to value-axis scaling describes the bounds and interval controls; in this horizontal bar chart, the value axis runs horizontally.

6. Make the timeline easy to read

Give the chart a title such as Project schedule: September–October 2026. Remove the legend if it adds no useful information, and use one clear color for the visible Duration series.

To make the bars thicker, open Format Data Series for Duration and reduce Gap Width, for example to 50%. Light vertical gridlines can help readers align the bars with the dates.

Check the finished result against the table: Plan should start on September 14, Build should span September 21–27, and Launch should occupy October 1. The Design and Build bars should overlap for one day.

Update the schedule

Change the task names or dates in A2:C6; the duration formulas and linked chart will follow those values. If calculation is set to Manual, recalculate the workbook after editing dates.

The axis bounds you entered are fixed. When your project moves outside September 14–October 1, update the minimum and maximum so the bars remain visible.

To add a sixth task, enter it in row 7, copy the duration formula into D7, and extend all three chart ranges to row 7: task labels, Start Date, and Duration. Adding a row below these fixed ranges does not automatically include it.

For a basic status update, you can keep a separate % Complete column beside the table. That percentage does not change the bars in this chart; the bars represent scheduled duration.

Can the Gantt chart exclude weekends?

This chart uses a continuous calendar axis, so weekends occupy space even if nobody works on them.

The NETWORKDAYS function can count working days between the dates, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and optional holidays. The WORKDAY function can calculate an end date from a starting date and a working-day offset. Those functions help plan the schedule, but the chart's duration must still cover the full calendar span between the resulting dates.

For example, a task scheduled from Friday through Monday covers four calendar days and, with no holidays, two working days. A two-day bar beginning on Friday would end at the start of Sunday on this axis, which would misrepresent the Monday finish.

Keep =C2-B2+1 for the bar width. If you need weekends to disappear entirely, use a worksheet timeline with only working-day columns or a scheduling tool that supports a working calendar.

Common Gantt chart problems

If a copied chart shifts by about four years, check whether the source and destination workbooks use different date systems. The 1900 and 1904 systems differ by 1,462 days. Microsoft's date-system documentation explains the copying behavior and settings. For a workbook that uses 1904 dates, obtain axis serial numbers from cells in that workbook instead of using the example's bounds.

Excel for Windows, Mac, and the web

The desktop instructions apply to Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac; chart menus and formatting-pane labels can differ. The same stacked-bar method also works in supported perpetual desktop versions such as Excel 2024 and Excel 2021.

Microsoft lists 2-D stacked bar charts among its web-ready chart types. In Excel for the web, check the available chart-formatting controls in your version. If you cannot set the series fill or exact axis bounds there, finish that formatting in desktop Excel.

Frequently asked questions

Does Excel have a Gantt chart template?

Yes. Microsoft provides Gantt templates through the resources linked in its Gantt chart guide. You can also use the downloadable example near the top of this article and replace its five tasks with your own. A template saves setup time; the underlying dates and duration convention still need to match your project.

Can I make a Gantt chart with start and end dates?

Yes. Keep both dates in the worksheet and calculate the duration. With Start Date in B2 and End Date in C2, =C2-B2+1 counts both dates. Plot Start Date and Duration; do not plot End Date as another stacked series.

Can I show multiple projects in one chart?

Yes, for a small overview. Give each task a unique label, such as “Website: Design,” and include every task in the chart ranges. This chart will display the dates you enter, but it will not automatically move dependent tasks, resolve resource conflicts, or calculate a critical path.

When is a simple Excel Gantt chart enough?

Use it when you need a timeline for a manageable task list and can maintain the dates yourself. If a delay must automatically reschedule dependent tasks, you will need additional scheduling logic or project-management software. For reporting a changing metric such as weekly sales rather than task start and finish dates, a line graph in Excel is a better fit.