Import Excel data as a Swimlane

Overview 

With Office Timeline Online, you can import your Excel data into a Swimlane diagram.

Before diving in, it's helpful to familiarize yourself with some key timeline elements that will be referenced throughout this guide:

Before importing your data, you must first set up your Excel spreadsheet properly so you can bring it into Office Timeline Online directly as a Swimlane visual. Below you can see an example of how your data should be organized (Download the Excel sample here).

How to import Swimlanes from Excel

1. For standard Gantt charts and timelines, your Excel spreadsheet needs only the Title, Start Date, and/or End Date, along with a Row ID for each item. However, when preparing to import data as a Swimlane diagram, you can include an additional column labeled "Swimlane" in your spreadsheet.

   
   
   

   Important Note: You can name this column 'Swimlane' for Office Timeline to automatically recognize it as a Swimlane column. If you choose a different name, (such as Phase or Department), you can still manually assign it to the Swimlane category during the import process.

2. For each milestone and task, type in the name of the Swimlane you want them to belong to. Items that have the same text in the Swimlane column will be automatically placed in the same lane on import.

   
3. If you also want to have some milestones or tasks linked directly to the timescale - not inside a lane - simply leave their Swimlane fields empty.
   
4. Once you've set up and saved your Excel file, you can begin your import into Office Timeline Online following the simple Excel import steps.