This guide summarizes “Create a Basic Gantt Chart” but should be much faster to follow than watching the YouTube video.

Input the Data

  1. Open Microsoft Excel.

  2. Create three columns labeled Labels, Start Time, and Duration.

      A B C
    1 Labels Start Time Duration

  3. Fill in the label and duration for each task – e.g.,

      A B C
    1 Labels Start Time Duration
    2 T1   10
    3 T2   15
    4 T3   10
  4. Fill in the start times. These values are calculated from the dependencies among the tasks. For example, if T2 is dependent on T1, then T2 has a start time of 10. Repeat for all the start times.

Create the Chart

  1. Create a graph with the keyboard shortcut Alt + F1.
  2. Select “Change Chart Type” in the top left-hand corner under the Design Tab. Next, select the stacked bar type under the graph options. Click the OK button.
  3. Click “Select Data” to the right of the chart type. A box will appear; click the “add” button under the legend entries.
  4. For the series label, select the duration header, in this case C1. For the data, select the values under the header.
  5. Repeat the same process for the start time values by clicking the add button and selecting the start time header as the series name and the subsequent values as the series values.

  6. Change the order in which the series appear and re-label the axes.

    With the “start time” series selected, click the up arrow above the series and then the “Edit” button to the right. For the range, select the labels in the “Labels” column of the spreadsheet (in column A in our case). The horizontal labels will now be labeled T1, T2, ….

  7. With the axis labeled, we now need the values in ascending order from top to bottom. Right click on the axis and select “Format Axis.” Click the check box labeled “Categories in reverse order” and close the dialog box.
  8. The start dates are included as part of the bar graph, which is not desired. Right click on the start date portion of the bar graph, click “Format Data Series,” click on the Fill tab and select the “No fill” radio button.
  9. Delete the legend from the graph.