Bashing Out a Timeline with Excel: A Quick and Dirty Guide
Microsoft Office user Tony Phillips recently demonstrated his Excel skills by creating a dynamic timeline in just 10 minutes. The project started as an experiment, as Excel does not have a built-in timeline chart. However, with some creative thinking and formula magic, Phillips was able to create a visually appealing and functional timeline using a regular line chart.
To replicate the timeline, users need to start by setting up their data in three simple columns: Date, Event, and Y-axis. The date column should be formatted as dates, not text, and all entries should be in chronological order. In the Y-axis column, a specific formula is used to generate a sequence of positive and negative values that clearly space out the data points.
Once the data is set up, users can insert a line chart with markers, which will form the basis of their timeline. However, this still looks more like a line chart than a timeline, so some tweaks are needed to turn it into a dynamic timeline. These include removing gridlines and turning the markers into vertical lines.