How to Make a Gantt Chart for Any Project

Published October 11, 2026

Free tool: Gantt Chart Maker→

A Gantt chart is a project schedule drawn as horizontal bars on a timeline. Each task gets one bar that starts on its start date and ends on its end date, so you can see at a glance what happens when, which tasks overlap, and how far along each one is. The format is named after Henry Gantt, who popularized it in the 1910s, and it's still the most common way to show a project plan. This guide explains how to plan the chart and how to build it with the free Gantt Chart Maker.

When a Gantt chart helps

Gantt charts are most useful when:

• A project has several tasks spread over weeks or months, such as a website launch, an event, a renovation or a school project.
• Tasks overlap or depend on each other, and you need to see how a delay in one affects the rest.
• You need to share the plan with a team, a client or a manager who wants the whole schedule on one page.

For a short to-do list without dates, a simple checklist is enough. For very large projects with hundreds of tasks, dedicated project management software that tracks resources and costs will serve you better.

Step 1: Plan before you draw

A Gantt chart is only as good as the plan behind it. Before opening any tool:

1. List the tasks. Break the project into pieces of work that take days or weeks, not minutes. "Design the home page" is a good task; "Pick a font" is too small for a project timeline.
2. Estimate how long each task takes. Base it on past experience where you can, and add some buffer for the unexpected.
3. Work out the order. Some tasks can't start until another finishes: testing has to wait for development. Others can run at the same time.
4. Set the dates. Give every task a start date and an end date, working forward from the project start, and allow for weekends and holidays.
5. Mark the milestones. Milestones are key moments, such as a sign-off or the launch day. In a simple Gantt chart, you can show one as a short task.

Example: a website redesign

Here is a plan for a 13-week website redesign:

Notice how the plan uses overlap: content writing starts while design is still underway, and testing begins in the last week of development. Development also spans the end-of-year holidays, so it gets six weeks instead of four. Drawn as a Gantt chart, these overlaps are obvious at a glance, which is much harder to see in a list of dates.

Step 2: Build the chart in Graph Maker

1. Open the Gantt Chart Maker. It opens with a sample project, which you can edit or delete to start fresh.
2. Add each task. Under Add New Task, type the task name, choose the start and end dates, and optionally enter the progress (0–100%) and a status: Not Started, In Progress, Completed or Delayed. Click Add Task.
3. Fix mistakes in the task table. Each task has an edit button (the pencil) to change its name, dates, progress or status, a delete button (the bin), and up and down arrows to change its place in the list.
4. Adjust the schedule on the chart. Drag a bar, with the mouse or a finger on a touch screen, to move the whole task (it keeps its length), or drag the right end of a bar to change the end date.
5. Choose the zoom. Day View suits short projects, Week View works well for one to three months, and Month View gives an overview of longer projects. Turn on Show Weekends to shade weekends, which makes working days easier to count.
6. Track progress. Each bar fills in as the progress rises, and the color reflects the status: gray for not started, blue for in progress, green for completed and red for delayed.
7. Export the chart. Export PNG saves an image for slides, documents and emails, and Export SVG saves a vector file that stays sharp at any size. Export JSON saves the task data itself.

Your tasks are kept only while the page is open, so export the JSON before you close the tab. Next time, Import JSON loads the plan back so you can keep updating it.

Tips for a Gantt chart people can read

• Start task names with a verb, such as "Write content" or "Test checkout", so each bar says what happens.
• Keep the chart to about 5 to 20 tasks. If there are more, show the main phases and keep the detail elsewhere.
• List tasks in the order they start. Use the arrows in the task table to move them. The chart then reads from top left to bottom right, like the project itself.
• Build in buffer before deadlines that can't move, such as an event date.
• Update it regularly. A weekly update of progress and status turns the chart from a plan into a tracking tool, and marking a task as delayed early gives everyone time to react.
• Show dependencies through the dates. Graph Maker doesn't draw arrows between tasks, so make sure each task starts after the tasks it depends on finish. If one slips, move the tasks that follow it too.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a Gantt chart and a timeline?

A timeline marks events at points in time, while a Gantt chart shows tasks as bars with a start, an end and a duration. A Gantt chart also shows overlap between tasks and, often, their progress.

What should a Gantt chart include?

At minimum, each task's name, start date and end date. Most also show progress or status, milestones and, in project management software, the dependencies and the person responsible for each task.

How detailed should a Gantt chart be?

Detailed enough that each task takes at least a few days and has a clear end. A chart with hundreds of tiny tasks is hard to read and hard to keep up to date; if you need that level of detail, keep it in a separate task list and use the Gantt chart for the big picture.