Office Timeline Online Quick-Start

Overview 

Welcome to Office Timeline Online - we're glad you're here! Office Timeline Online is a web-based graphical application that allows you to create beautiful timelines, Gantt charts and roadmaps in your browser and export them as PowerPoint slides or .png images. The following guide provides instructions and tips to get you started quickly.

A) Start a new timeline or roadmap
B) Add or edit your data
C) Rearrange or update anything by Drag & Drop
D) Style your timeline
E) Download as PPT or PNG
F) Manage your timelines (only registered users)
G) Share your timelines

Read the full guide to learn how to get the most out of the online timeline maker, or click on any of the links above to skip to the section you’re most interested in.

A) Start a new timeline or roadmap

With Office Timeline Online, there are 3 ways to start your new timeline, and all are done from the New tab:

• Select From scratch to manually type in your data and customize your timeline.

• Choose one of the built-in timeline & Swimlane templates and update it with your data. 

• Click the Import button to import existing data from Excel, MS Project, Smartsheet or Jira and instantly turn it into a timeline.

Choosing one of these 3 options will take you to the next step. In our example, we will make a timeline from scratch.

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B) Add or edit your data

After you click on the From scratch button, you will be automatically directed to the Data View tab, which allows you to enter and edit milestones milestones or tasks. This is also the place where you can define Swimlanes to create a neatly structured roadmap.

1. For each item you want to add to your timeline, enter its Title, choose its type – Task or Milestone – and select a Start date and End date. You can also add % Complete and a Status to any item, or assign tasks and milestones to people.

   
   ^{Note: Free users can manage up to 10 tasks and milestones per timeline, while premium accounts can add as many items as needed.}

2. To create Swimlanes, click +Add Swimlane and enter a name for your brand-new lane. 

   

3. To add tasks and milestones inside a Swimlane, click on +Add task or milestone within the lane and enter your data, or simply drag & drop existing items into it.

   
   As you add, edit and move data, you can easily switch between the Data and Timeline tabs to see how your timeline progresses. You'll notice that items you haven’t included in a Swimlane will be linked directly to the timescale.

   

Pro tips:

• Use keyboard shortcuts to move faster when adding or editing items in Data View. To see all shortcuts available, click on your initials in the upper-right corner of the screen to open the Account menu and then go to Help -> Shortcuts list.
  

• For ultra-fast data management, use the checkmarks on the left to select multiple rows in your data table. This will open a menu that will let you quickly delete, hide, or duplicate them all at once, or even shift all their dates simultaneously when plans change.
  

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C) Rearrange and update anything by Drag & Drop

After you've entered your project's data in the Data view, you can easily arrange your layout from the Timeline view.

This is where the real magic happens. The online timeline maker’s visual Drag & Drop editor lets you instantly move, reorder, edit and update anything on your timeline or roadmap.

Here are just a few changes you can do in the Timeline view to quickly adjust your layout or update data:

1. Drag milestones and tasks from the timescale to any Swimlane.

2. Drag items vertically to change their order.

3. Drag items horizontally to instantly update their dates.

4. Drag task bars by their corners to change their duration.

5. Group milestones and tasks on one row or even place milestones on tasks.

6. Rearrange whole Swimlanes or split them above and below the timescale.

7. Drag items from one lane to another or move them outside Swimlanes.

8. Change the position of any text or date.

9. Resize task bars and text boxes for a better fit.

10. Drag the timescale to move the whole timeline higher or lower on the slide.

11. Resize Swimlane headers for a better fit.

12. Add, edit, hide, or remove data directly from your graphic.

13. Delete, duplicate or hide multiple items at a time.

14. Shift the dates of multiple tasks simultaneously.

It makes it incredibly easy to find the perfect layout or update your plan on the fly.

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D) Style your timeline

From the Timeline tab in Office Timeline Online, you can personalize every detail on your graphic using the Style Pane on the right side of the screen. This is where the real magic happens. Simply select any object on the graphic to open its styling options in the pane.

The Style Pane allows you to customize absolutely everything in multiple ways - from shapes, sizes, colors, and positions to texts, date formats, or the timescale. You can even add extras such as multiple timescale tiers, task duration, elapsed time, or percent complete, or hide dates and other details. Every object can be customized from the Style Pane, so you can get your timeline exactly how you want it.

Pro tips:

• Use the Change timeline style button from the Style Pane to apply a template to any existing timeline and instantly change its overall design.

• To personalize your timeline further, include a logo, title and footnote on the slide.  

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E) Download as a PowerPoint slide or PNG image

Once you’ve finished styling your timeline, you can download it as a .png image or as a native .pptx slide that you can then edit in PowerPoint, include in presentations or share with colleagues. To do so, click the Download button in the top-right corner of the screen and select your desired file format.

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F) Manage your timelines

Registered users can easily duplicate, delete or download visuals saved in their timeline gallery:

1. To quickly access the My Timelines gallery from your current graphic, click on the small Office Timeline logo in the top left corner of the screen.

   

2. Here, hover over any timeline, click on the small Options icon in the bottom-left corner, and choose whether you want to delete, duplicate, rename, download or share the graphic. 

   

Quick tips:

• Office Timeline Online lets you create folders where you can keep your timelines organized, so you can find everything more easily.

• With an Office Timeline Online subscription, you can recover any deleted timeline within 30 days after deletion. To do so, simply navigate to your Trash folder in Office Timeline Online, select the timeline you want to get back and then click the Restore button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

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G) Share your timeline

If you wish to share or collaborate on a timeline with others, you can do it easily from the Share window. From your timeline, click on the Share button in the top-right corner of the screen and choose whether you wish to invite collaborators by email or simply create a shareable, view-only link to your timeline, which you can quickly send to anyone.

To find out more about collaboration and sharing in Office Timeline online, please see our detailed how-to guide.