How-to
      Back to home
      1. Office Timeline Online Support
      2. How-to articles
      3. How-to

      How to use templates

      Overview 

      One of the fastest ways to create an eye-catching timeline in Office Timeline Online is to use the tool's built-in template gallery. The following guide will show you how to save time and effort using templates. You will learn to:

      A) Create a new timeline from a template
      B) Import data into a template
      C) Apply a template to any existing timeline

      Read the full guide or click on the links above to jump to the topic you're interested in.

      A) How to create a timeline from a template

      1. From the New tab in Office Timeline Online, select one of the pre-defined designs you can see on the screen, or click on More templates or From template to go to the full template gallery (both buttons will get you to the same place).find-more-templates

      2. In the gallery, you'll find a variety of template categories you can choose from. Browse through the categories on the left or use the Search field to find the template that suits your needs. templates-gallery

      3. Click on the preferred template to open its Preview and then select Use, which will take you to the Data View.use-template

      4. Here, replace the placeholder data with your own or add new milestones and tasks if needed. That's it!add-your-own-data-to-template

      NOTE: Free accounts can Use only the templates marked as “Free”, which don’t exceed 10 tasks and milestones. They can, however, Import a maximum of 10 data rows into any template available in the gallery.

      B) How to import Excel data into a template

      Importing existing data from Excel, Project or Smartsheet will have your timeline ready in seconds. Here's how it works:

      1. From the built-in gallery, select your preferred template to open its Preview and then click on Import.import-into-template

      2. Choose the tool you want to import from and follow the simple import steps to quickly get your project data into Office Timeline Online.imported-excel-data

      3. And done! You've got a beautiful timeline, which you can edit further or update as you please.timeline-made-by-importing-into-template

      NOTE: Importing Swimlanes from Excel or Smartsheet is not yet supported, so choosing to import into a Swimlane template might not work ideally. To quickly get your Excel or Smartsheet data looking nicely, first import it as usual (as a regular timeline or Gantt chart), then add Swimlanes to it from the Data or Timeline View, and then apply a Swimlane template to it.

      C) How to apply a template to any existing timeline

      Office Timeline lets you change the overall look of any existing timeline at the click of a button. To do so, click the Change timeline style button from the Slide menu in the Style Pane, and select a template from the gallery. The web tool will instantly apply that template to your existing timeline.

      change-timeline-style

      Using Change timeline style, you can try a variety of designs in seconds, so it’s easy to find the perfect look for your timeline. If you don't like what you see, you can always click Undo (Ctrl + Z) to go back to the previous layout.

      NOTE: For the best results when changing your timeline's style, we recommend choosing a template that has a similar structure to your visual. For instance, for timelines that contain Swimlanes, it's best to choose one of our Swimlane templates, while for standard timelines and Gantt charts (without lanes), a standard template will be the most fitting.

       

      If you ever need assistance using templates, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our friendly customer support representatives will be happy to help.