Splitting Up a Large Timeline

You may find yourself in a position where you want to split a single timeline into several smaller timelines.

Common situations where this happens include:

You've run into Preceden's 1,500 events per timeline limit
You have 500+ events and your timeline is getting very slow or you're running into issues exporting it
The timeline is just too large visually and you want to split it up to make it easier to view and work with

In the examples below we'll split this timeline of 11 events across 2 layers. You probably wouldn't split a timeline this small in practice, but it makes the steps easier to follow.

The example timeline before splitting: 11 events across a Develop layer and a Design layer, spanning January to July 2020

Option 1: Create Duplicates of Your Timeline, Then Delete Duplicate Content

The idea is to create several identical copies of your timeline (we'll call it the Original Timeline), then delete content from each copy to make it unique.

1. Create a backup of your Original Timeline by downloading it as an Excel file.

Just in case you accidentally delete something during this process.

To download it, click the Share button above your timeline, then the Spreadsheet item. In the dialog that opens, set File Type to Excel (.xlsx) and click Download Now.

2. Decide how many timelines you want at the end of this process.

In this example, let's say we want to split the Original Timeline into 2 timelines.

3. Load the Original Timeline, click its name at the top left of the page, then click the Duplicate button.

This will create an identical copy of your Original Timeline. When it's ready, click View the Copy to open it. You'll know you're on the duplicate because its name includes "(Copy)".

At this point we have two timelines with the same content: "Original Timeline" and "Original Timeline (Copy)". To split the Original Timeline into more than 2 timelines, repeat this step for each additional copy.

Common issues:

"The duplication timed out." The page only waits a minute for the copy, and duplicating a large timeline often takes longer than that. The copy is usually still being made in the background, so check your Timelines dashboard a few minutes later for a timeline whose name ends in "(Copy)" before you try duplicating it again.
Any other error. If you see a message about a problem duplicating the timeline, or one asking you to reload the page and try again, then Preceden ran into an issue it could not recover from. Reload the page and try once more. If it fails again, use the spreadsheet method below (it requires a paid plan) or email [email protected].

4. Delete duplicate content so each timeline is unique.

For example, after creating a copy of the timeline above we could make it so one timeline just has the "Develop" layer and the other timeline just has the "Design" layer.

You can delete content in a few ways:

Recommended: Use the Bulk Editor to quickly delete layers and events: Bulk Editor.
Alternatively, you can delete layers by clicking the layer name and clicking the Delete button, or delete events by clicking an event and clicking the Delete button.

In the end you should wind up with two or more small timelines:

Timeline 1:

The first smaller timeline, holding only the seven events from the Develop layer

Timeline 2:

The second smaller timeline, holding only the four events from the Design layer

Option 2: Spreadsheet Wrangling

Instead of using the Duplicate option, you can also split a large timeline into smaller ones by taking advantage of Preceden's spreadsheet features.

This option requires a paid plan, since importing a spreadsheet is not available on the free plan. Option 1 above works on any plan.

1. Create a backup of your Original Timeline by downloading it as an Excel file.

Set it aside and don't touch it. It's your backup if something goes wrong in the steps that follow.

As in Option 1, that's the Share button above your timeline, then Spreadsheet, with File Type set to Excel (.xlsx).

2. Decide how many timelines you want at the end of this process.

As in Option 1, let's say we want to split the Original Timeline into 2 timelines.

3. Download your Original Timeline as an Excel file.

This is the copy you'll edit. The file you downloaded in step 1 stays untouched as your backup.

Use Excel rather than CSV, because Excel automatically reformats dates, which can cause problems when you reimport it.

I'd recommend moving the file into its own folder too.

A folder named Timeline containing the single downloaded file original_timeline.xlsx

4. Create multiple copies of the spreadsheet, one for each smaller timeline you want to create.

In this case, we want to split our original timeline into 2 smaller timelines so we'll create 2 copies:

The same folder after copying the spreadsheet twice, now holding original_timeline_1.xlsx and original_timeline_2.xlsx alongside the original

5. Edit each copy to only include the events you want on that timeline.

For example, we'll open original_timeline_1 (which starts with all the events) and delete the events in the Design layer, leaving only the Develop ones:

Initially:

The exported spreadsheet listing all 11 events under layer name, event id, event name, notes, start date, end date, icon and color columns

Then we delete the events we don't want in this new smaller timeline:

The four Design rows selected in the spreadsheet with the right-click menu open on Delete

Leaving just the events we want to keep in this timeline:

The first copy of the spreadsheet after the deletion, with only the seven Develop events left

Save it, then repeat this process for original_timeline_2, but this time keeping only the events in the Design layer:

Select the events in the Develop layer and delete them:

The second copy of the spreadsheet with the Develop rows selected and the right-click menu open on Delete

After deleting the events in the Develop layer:

The second copy after the deletion, with only the four Design events left

Then save it.

At this point you should have one Excel file per smaller timeline, each containing only the events you want on it.

6. Create a new blank timeline in Preceden, then import the Excel file containing its events.

For example, create a new timeline then import original_timeline_1:

The File Upload form with original_timeline_1.xlsx chosen, above the Import button

The timeline created by importing the first spreadsheet, showing the seven Develop events

Then create another new timeline and import original_timeline_2.

The File Upload form with original_timeline_2.xlsx chosen, above the Import button

The second imported timeline, named Smaller Timeline 2, showing the four Design events

Your timeline is now split into smaller ones. You can keep the original large timeline or delete it.

One downside compared to the duplicate option is that the new timelines won't inherit the settings from your original timeline. Once they're created you may want to adjust the date formats, layer background colors, and so on to match the original.

As always, if you run into any challenges along the way don't hesitate to reach out to us.