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Home Excel Excel Resources Excel Tools Timeline in Excel
 

Timeline in Excel

Madhuri Thakur
Article byMadhuri Thakur

Updated August 11, 2023

Timeline in Excel

 

 

Excel Timeline (Table of Contents)

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  • Introduction to Timeline in Excel
  • How to Create Timelines in Excel?

Introduction to Timeline in Excel

Timeline in Excel actually represents the time span from the start to end on a bar. So for this, we should have any time frame such as Dates, Months, Minutes, Hours, etc.

To apply the Timeline in Excel, first, we need to create a pivot table. Then from the Insert menu ribbon, select Timeline from the filters section. Then click right on Timeline, and from the Report Connections, choose the fields which we want to connect with Timeline. Now just drag the bar right to left as per the need to filter the data with time.

How to Create a Timeline in Excel?

For adding the timeline feature in Excel, you must have a pivot table first.

Let’s understand the working of creating timelines in excel with some examples.

You can download this Timeline Excel Template here – Timeline Excel Template

Example #1

We have given a list of the number of products sold region-wise and month-wise.

 list of a number of products

Follow the below steps to do this:

  • First, create a Pivot table for the given data.
  • Click on any cell in the table and go to the Insert tab.
  • Click on the Pivot Table option under the Tables section.

insert pivot table

  • Now the Pivot table is created, as shown in the below screenshot.

Pivot table is created

  • Click anywhere in the Pivot table and go to the Insert tab.
  • Click on the Timeline filter under the Filters section. Then, refer to the below screenshot.

Click on Timeline

  • It will open an Insert Timelines dialog box. Refer to the below screenshot.

insert timeline

  • Click on the Month checkbox inside the dialog box and click on OK.

Month checkbox Example 1-6

  • It will show you the timeline, and by default, it’s showing the month’s data year-wise. For example, refer to the below screenshot.

mouth

  • Now with the help of this excel timeline, you can arrange the records in the Pivot table by adjusting and clicking. Refer to the below screenshot.

Timeline adjusting and clicking

  • The above screenshot shows that we have clicked on Feb month under the 2016 year; it is displaying the data accordingly in the Pivot Table.
  • If you want to see the data for a continuous month, you need to drag the bar across those months like the screenshot below. For example, we have selected the data for May & June 2016 month.

Timeline Feb month under

  • We also can see the data day, quarter, and year-wise.
  • For this, click on the drop-down arrow on the timeline box, as shown in the below screenshot.

 drop-down arrow

  • Choose another date component like Quarters.

Quarters

  • It will show the quarter wise data like below:

Timeline Example 1-12

  • If you want to remove the data timeline, click on the icon in the upper right corner, as shown below. You also can use the shortcut key ALT+C for this.

Timeline Example 1-13

You also can customize an excel timeline according to your preference. Follow the below steps:

  • Click on the Timeline window. Then, go to the Options tab.

Options tab Example 1-14

  • Click on any color option under the Timeline Styles section, as shown in the below screenshot.

color option Example 1-15

  • You also can change the size of the timeline window.
  • Finally, you can change the name of the timeline window by clicking on Timeline Captions under the Timeline section.

Example #2

Let’s take another example of a grocery shop.

grocery shop

  • Now we will create a table for the above data. Here, we are inserting the pivot table in the same sheet with the data set.

Timeline create a table

  • Now repeat the same steps of example 1 for creating timelines here. It will show you the timeline.

Refer to the below screenshot:

creating timelines

As we can see that we have clicked for 6 months result (from Jan – June) of the year 2017.

Hence, you can select the months accordingly by clicking on this timeline bar.

Things to Remember about Timeline in Excel

  • If your Pivot Table doesn’t have a field formatted as a Date, Excel displays an error.
  • An Excel timeline is useful for filtering the data in the Pivot table very quickly.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Timeline in Excel. Here we discuss how to create a timeline in Excel, practical examples, and a downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –

  1. Project Timeline in Excel
  2. Timecard Template in Excel
  3. Excel Timesheet Template
  4. Time Function in Excel

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