How to Make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets

Google Sheets has no Gantt chart type, but you can get one from a stacked bar chart or from conditional formatting, and both work in any Google account. Some Google Workspace plans also have a timeline view that does a similar job. This guide walks through all three, then shows how to bring the same spreadsheet into Preceden if you outgrow them.

Set up your data

Start with one row per task, with its start and end dates. Here is a small website launch plan we'll use as the example:

Task	Start	End
Research	3/2/2026	3/13/2026
Design	3/16/2026	4/3/2026
Build	4/6/2026	5/15/2026
Testing	5/11/2026	5/22/2026
Launch	5/26/2026	5/27/2026

Put the headings in row 1, so that Task is in column A, Start in column B and End in column C. Then select the Start and End columns and click Format, Number, Date. A date that stays left-aligned after that is usually being treated as text, so retype it before you go on.

Option 1: Build a stacked bar chart

This is the classic method. Each task gets two bars stacked end to end: an invisible one that pushes the visible bar out to the task's start, and a visible one as long as the task.

First add two columns:

• Start day in column D, with the formula =B2-$B$2 in the first row. This is how many days after the first task each task begins.
• Duration in column E, with the formula =C2-B2 in the first row. This is how many days each task lasts.

Fill both formulas down and format the two columns as plain numbers, so they show days rather than dates. Your sheet should now read:

Task	Start day	Duration
Research	0	11
Design	14	18
Build	35	39
Testing	70	11
Launch	85	1

Then make the chart:

1. Select the Task, Start day and Duration columns (hold Ctrl, or Cmd on a Mac, to skip the columns between them).
2. Click Insert, then Chart. In the Chart editor, set the chart type to Stacked bar chart.
3. In the Chart editor, open Customize, then Series. Choose the Start day series and set its fill opacity to 0%.

The bars that remain are your Gantt chart. Under Customize you can also add a chart title, change the bar color and turn off the legend, which otherwise still lists the invisible series.

The horizontal axis counts days from the start of the project rather than showing dates, which is the main drawback of this method. The chart redraws when you change a date, but it can't show dependencies between tasks or how much of a task is complete.

Option 2: Use conditional formatting

This method colors the cells of the sheet itself, so the Gantt chart sits right beside your task list and each column is a labeled date. It works best with weeks as the columns, though you can use days for a short project.

If you already tried Option 1, start from a new tab with just the Task, Start and End columns, because this grid uses column D onward.

1. In cell D1, enter the Monday of your first week, 3/2/2026 in our example.
2. In cell E1, enter =D1+7, then fill that formula right until you pass the last date in your plan. Our example needs 13 weeks, which ends at column P.
3. Select the empty grid under those dates, D2:P6 in our example.
4. Click Format, then Conditional formatting.
5. Under Format cells if, choose Custom formula is and enter =AND(D$1<=$C2, D$1+6>=$B2).
6. Choose a fill color and click Done.

The formula colors a cell when any part of that week falls between the task's start and end dates. Narrow the columns so the grid looks like a chart, and format the top row as dates if the numbers look wrong.

To use days instead of weeks, change the 7 in cell E1 to 1 and the formula to =AND(D$1<=$C2, D$1>=$B2). Expect a lot of columns.

Because the bars are only colored cells, they scroll and sort with your tasks, but the result is harder to paste into a slide than a chart.

Option 3: Use the timeline view

If you have a Google Workspace plan that includes it, the timeline view gets you close to a Gantt chart with no formulas. It shows each row as a card on a scrollable calendar, one card per task, and it can group the cards by another column, such as the person responsible.

Select your data, including the headings, then click Insert, Timeline and confirm the range. Sheets adds the timeline on its own tab, where you choose which columns hold the card title and the start and end dates.

The timeline view isn't available on free personal Google accounts. Our guide to building a timeline in Google Sheets lists the plans that have it and covers its settings.

Option 4: Import your sheet into Preceden

Spreadsheet methods get harder to manage as a plan grows, and neither of the first two can draw dependencies. If you need those, or a chart with real dates that looks good on a slide, you can bring the same data into Preceden.

Preceden imports files rather than links, so first click File, Download in Google Sheets and choose Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-separated values (.csv). The file needs eight columns with these headings, in this order: layer_name, event_id, event_name, notes, start_date, end_date, icon and color.

Only layername, eventname and startdate need values. For the example plan, you could put "Website" in every layername cell, copy the Task column into eventname and the dates into startdate and end_date, and leave the other columns empty.

Create a new timeline with the Gantt Chart layout. Then click Share above your timeline, choose Spreadsheet, expand Spreadsheet Import and click Import a Spreadsheet. Our CSV and Excel import guide covers the format in detail.

Importing is part of our paid plans. On the free plan you can create timelines with up to 10 events each and add them by hand or with the Bulk Editor, which works like a spreadsheet.

Once the tasks are in, you can make a task start when another one ends, shade each bar by its percent complete, add milestones, and share the chart with a link or export it as a PDF, an image or a PowerPoint file. Our guide to creating Gantt charts covers each of these. Preceden is built for communicating a schedule rather than running the work, so you can't assign tasks to people or calculate a critical path in it.

Which one should you use?

• If you want a chart to paste into a document and your plan is short, use a stacked bar chart.
• If you want to keep the schedule and the task list together in one sheet, use conditional formatting.
• If your Workspace plan has it and you want to group tasks by owner, use the timeline view.
• If you need dependencies, progress shading or real dates on a chart you can present, import your sheet into Preceden.

Working in Excel instead? See our guide to making a Gantt chart in Excel.