Make a Biography Timeline

A biography timeline lays out one person's life in order: when they were born, where they studied, the work they are known for, and what was happening in the world while they did it. It is a common school assignment, and it is also a good way to organize your research before writing a biography, an essay or a presentation about someone.

Seeing a life on a date axis answers questions a list of dates does not: how old the person was when they did their best-known work, which parts of their life overlapped, and who else was alive at the same time.

What to include

Their lifespan. One event from birth to death, so the whole life shows as a single bar. For someone who is still living, set the end date to Present and the bar runs up to today.
Education and early life. Schools, teachers, apprenticeships and the moves that shaped them.
Their work. Books, discoveries, inventions, offices held, seasons played. Give anything that took time a start and an end date, such as a term in office, and give a single moment, such as a publication, just a start date.
Personal life. Marriages, children, illnesses and the places they lived.
Recognition. Awards and honors, including the ones that came after they died.

Split the life into layers

Put related events on their own layer so the timeline stays readable: one for their personal life, one for their work and one for world events. Each layer can have its own color.

Click the Add Layer button above the timeline to create each one. If you started from the Simple layout, its empty "Events" layer is removed when you add your first layer, so there is nothing to rename. The other layouts start with two or three layers called "Layer", which you can rename by clicking a name in the list below the timeline. When you add an event, choose its layer from the Layer menu.

The world events layer is what turns a list of dates into a biography. A scientist's discoveries read differently next to the war they were working through, and a writer's books read differently next to the politics of the time. Make a Comparative Timeline covers setting one set of events beside another in more depth.

Mark the turning points

Most lives have a few moments that changed everything after them: a first big success, an exile, an election, an accident. For those, open More Options in the event dialog and check Make this event a milestone. Preceden draws a milestone as a vertical line across the full height of the timeline, so you can see what was happening on every layer at that moment.

Dates you only know roughly

For historical figures, some dates are uncertain. Preceden accepts a year on its own, such as 1564, or a month and year, such as April 1564. Supported Date Formats covers the rest. When a date is an estimate, check Approx. next to it in the event dialog so readers can tell it apart from the dates you are sure of.

Keep your sources with the events

Every event has a Notes field that accepts Markdown, including links. Use it to record where each date came from, such as a book, an archive or a website, which saves time when you write your bibliography or a teacher asks for sources.

You can also add an image to an event, such as a portrait or a photo of the house where the person was born.

Start from an AI draft

If your subject is well known, Timeline Maker AI on Preceden's homepage can draft a timeline of their life for free, without an account. Enter the person's name and it generates the main events. It is most accurate for famous people and less reliable for anyone obscure, so check every date against your own sources. Hallucinated Events explains what to look for.

Editing the draft requires a free Preceden account. Generated timelines usually have more than the free plan's 10 events, and while a timeline is over that limit, adding your own events and renaming the generated ones require a paid plan. Timeline Maker AI FAQs covers the details.

To see what a finished biography timeline can look like, browse examples such as Marie Curie or Abraham Lincoln. If you use one in schoolwork, Cite a Timeline shows how to reference it.

New timelines are private until you change that. When you are ready, you can share a link with a teacher or classmates, or save it as a PDF to print or hand in. Adjust Timeline Visibility explains each option.

The free plan allows up to 10 events on each timeline, which is enough for a short assignment. A detailed biography usually needs more, and our paid plans lift the event limit.