Free Project Timeline Templates for Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and More

A project timeline template is a tool that displays the project schedule, including individual tasks, key milestones, and due dates. Use the template to plan your project, and to keep team members and other stakeholders up to date on progress.

Project managers, project sponsors, team members, and clients know that having an accurate project plan is crucial for ensuring that you proactively define the project’s objectives and goals, anticipate individual project tasks, as well as how you will implement the project. While a project plan defines all project work and the individuals who will complete it, a project timeline puts all of this information into a visually dynamic, chronological format so that you can better track and manage your project.

Project timeline templates also include your project’s key milestones, task owners, start and end dates, and individual task statuses. A thorough project timeline template provides project managers, team members, and project sponsors with phase-by-phase and task-by-task details and their current – and collective – status, so that the project can be successfully completed on time.

While project timeline templates may vary, most of them include the following components:

• Project Name: Enter the name of the project.
• Project Manager: List the name of the project manager ultimately responsible for managing project day-to-day tasks and ensuring successful project delivery. 
• Start Date: Set the project start date.
• End Date: Set the project end date.
• Phase Title: Enter a name for each phase or stage of your project timeline.
• Task Name: List each individual task. 
• Assigned To: List the team member responsible for completing each individual project task.
• Task Start and End Dates: Set the date the task owner is scheduled to begin and finish working on each individual task.
• Duration: Review the task duration to ensure that the task owner has sufficient time to complete it.
• Status: Provide the status for each individual task (e.g., not started, in progress, on hold, complete, etc.). 

Additionally, some project timeline templates include the following additional components:

• Milestones: List the project’s key milestones.
• Project Scope: Provide brief details of the scope of the project (i.e., product or project features). 
• Objectives and Goals: List the project’s key goals or objectives.  
• Task ID: Provide a unique task ID for each project task for easier task-by-task status tracking.
• Department: List the department responsible for each project phase or individual task.  To keep track of the time spent by individual teams or department members, use one of our free timesheet templates.
• At Risk: Mark tasks that are at risk of not being completed on time, and whether this jeopardizes project delivery. 
• Sprint: If your project timeline is structured according to Agile sprints, enter the name or number of the sprint. 
• Project Notes: Provide any notes about schedule, budget, resources, risks, or other issues that may affect successful project delivery.
• Status Key: Provide a color-coded status for each project phase, feature, or task (e.g., planning, approved, development, launched).
• Risk Level: Provide a level for any particular project phase, feature, or task that is at risk of not being completed (e.g., high, medium, low).