I've been looking for a replacement for MS Project for a long time. I haven't found an acceptable native app on the Mac that works well enough and opens/saves Microsoft Project files. The best i've found up to now is Gantter, which is web based and integrates with Google Docs. Surprisingly good. By logging you are agreeing to gantter.com Terms and Privacy Policy. Gantter is a Gantt chart based Project Management software that allows you and your team to create and edit project plans and is fully integrated with google. Gantter is one of the best CPM project management tools in the Google Chrome Web Store that has all the power of leading desktop project management and project scheduling desktop software.
This step-by-step Pages Gantt chart tutorial demonstrates how to make professional Gantt charts inside the popular word processor for Mac.
Mac users wanting to visually present plans or schedules in Pages can tweak a default 2D Stacked Bar chart to build a basic Gantt chart. Because formatting the graphic in Pages can become time-consuming, those who need to regularly create and update such visuals may find it simpler to use a dedicated Gantt chart maker instead.
This page will show you two ways to get your Gantt chart: either build it manually in Pages, or use the web-based Gantt chart maker called Office Timeline Online, which generates a professional visual automatically and lets you download it as a PowerPoint slide for easy sharing. If you wish to learn how to make a timeline in Pages for Mac, please see our timeline tutorial here.
Which tutorial would you like to see?
Gantter For Macbook Air
How to manually make a Gantt chart in Pages
1. Enter your project data into a table in Pages
- Open Pages and double-click on Blank Landscape under the Basic category of the template gallery. This is recommended for an optimized layout of your presentation.
- Add a table to your document by going to Insert → Table on the Pages ribbon or by clicking on the Table button on the taskbar above your page.
- List the main phases or tasks of your project in the first row of the newly inserted table, as shown in the picture below. You'd keep their names short and concise to make sure they'll fit well on the graphic.
- Use the second row to enter the start week for each of your project phases, setting the first task (which begins in week 1) as the reference point in determining the beginning of the remaining ones. See the following image for a better illustration of how I set the start time series for my chart.
- In the third row of the table, add each task’s duration (amount of time required to complete that task) in weeks. Here are the calculations for my duration series:
2. Add a 2D Stacked Bar Chart to your Pages document
Now that you have sorted out your data, you can start building your graphic.
- Go to Insert → Chart on the Pages ribbon.
- Click on 2D Stacked Bar from the menu that appears.Pages will automatically generate a basic stacked bar chart that looks like this:
3. Input your project data into the chart
- Select and copy (Cmd + C) all the rows of your project data table.
- Click on the Edit Chart Data button that appears after selecting the chart area.
- Select the first cell in the top-left corner of the Edit Chart window that shows up and paste the copied items. Pages will replace the placeholder data with your own and the graphic will be instantly updated to display the new details.
4. Turn your graphic into a Gantt chart
Now that that your chart has the right data in, you need to format it to make it look more like a Gantt. This means making the blue bars transparent so that only the green ones remain visible (these will represent the tasks of your project schedule). To do so, you need to select the chart area and:
- Double-click on any of the blue bars of the graphic, which will select the whole series.
- Go to the Style tab of the Format pane on the right side of the Pages document.
- Click on the color indicator next to Fill and select No Fill.The resulting graphic will look like the one below:With your Gantt chart properly set up, you can now make further customizations to add meaning and help it stand out better.
![Gantter Gantter](/uploads/1/3/4/5/134542305/147009749.png)
5. Customize the tasks bars of your Gantt chart
- If you want to recolor your tasks simultaneously, click on the chart area and then on any of the bars to select all of them at once. Then go to the Style tab of the Format pane and use the color indicator next to Fill to choose a new hue. In my example, I picked a pale blue.
- Currently, your tasks are seen as a single series, and that's why you can edit them only all at once. To recolor your chart bars individually, your tasks need to be distributed in separate series, which will require you to:i.Insert a few extra rows beneath Duration, which you can name Color 2, Color 3, Color 4 and so on. As you can see in the image below, the newly added lines will generate different hues for your graphic that you can further customize afterwards.ii.Now, to move a task into a separate series or color category, cut its Duration value from its original row and paste it into one of the new lines, keeping the same column (the same goes for the rest of the tasks). Here is how I set up the new color palette for my graphic:Note: As the image above shows, the tasks that have their Duration values on the same row are considered as a single series with the same color (e.g. Preparatory Phase and Testing Phase), which means they'll all be customized at once. The tasks with their duration values distributed on different rows are considered distinct series that can be customized separately - as shown in the following step.iii.To further customize any of your task bars’ colors, double-click on the desired element and use the color indicator next to Fill on the Style tab to choose whichever new nuance you prefer. This is how I changed my Gantt chart's default colors:
- While in the Style section, you may also want to apply a few effects such as strokes and shadows. Because I felt shadows were a little distracting and made the graphic more difficult to follow, I chose to add only a simple black outline to my task bars using the Stroke feature.
- To display your tasks’ duration on the Gantt chart, select all the bars (Shift + Click), go to the Series tab, and choose Number from the dropdown menu under Value Labels. To change the placement of the value labels on the task bars, use the Location feature. In my example, I chose to have the labels displayed in the middle.
6. Customize the chart area
Once you’ve finished customizing the task bars, you can also make changes to the chart area of your graphic. Select it and use the features within the Chart and Axis tabs of the Format pane as follows:
- Add titles and borders: Tick the boxes for Title and Border under Chart Options. I also unchecked Legend as I considered it redundant in my case.
- Customize fonts: Use the options under Chart Font to modify the font type and size for the entire graphic. In my example, I changed the font from Helvetica Neue to Helvetica and I increased it a bit.Note: You can customize the task descriptions or title independently by double-clicking on them and making the desired changes from the pane on the right.
- Adjust the gap between the task bars: Use the up-down controls under Gaps to increase or decrease the space between chart bars. I increased it from 40% to 70% for my graphic.
- Add more vertical lines to the chart: Click on the Axis tab of the Format pane, go to Minor Gridlines, and select the type of gridline you want to use. For my graphic, I used a straight grey line.After carrying out all the steps above, trying out several font sizes, and increasing the size of the chart area, my Gantt chart looks like this:
Download Gantt chart template for Pages
How to make a Gantt chart online automatically
Apple's Pages does let you build a Gantt chart, but the formatting process can become cumbersome especially if you need to regularly create and edit such visuals for recurrent communications. Below I'll demonstrate how to make professional-looking Gantt charts more easily using Office Timeline Online.
Allowing you to automatically create an eye-catching graphic directly from your browser, Office Timeline also lets you update it quickly and download it as a .pptx file or .png image. To get things started, access the free online tool and carry out the following steps.
1. Add your project’s details in Office Timeline Online
- To start building your Gantt chart, click on Timeline from scratch from the web tool's New tab or choose one of the templates available. In my case, I went for the first option, so you can see how to make a Gantt from top to bottom.Selecting the Timeline from scratch option will open the Data View, where you can add and edit data.
- Use the Data View tab to list your project’s tasks and their due dates and make a few styling choices such as choosing the shapes and colors of your items. Office Timeline will instantly transform this data into a graphic and display a live preview of it on the right. When you’re ready, open the Timeline View to see your graphic in full size and start customizing it. You can do this by either clicking on the preview image or selecting the Timeline tab above your data list.
2. Customize and update your Gantt Chart with ease
- At this point, you can customize any detail on your newly created Gantt chart with just a few clicks. From the Timeline tab, you can change any color, shape and font, adjust the tasks' position and spacing, or choose to show details such as Task Duration or Percentage Complete. Whenever you want to add more tasks, you can instantly switch back to the Data View and enter their details. You can see on my final Gantt chart below that I have included some milestones too, which will help in tracking my project.
- If you have a free Office Timeline Online account, the Gantt charts you make will be instantly saved in the cloud, which means you can return to them at any time and adjust them as plans change. The Timeline View lets you update task and milestone dates right on the graphic with a simple drag & drop, while the Data tab makes adding and editing items fast and easy. Once finished, turn your Gantt chart into an editable PowerPoint slide so you can easily include it in presentations.
See how easy it is to make Gantt charts with Office Timeline Online
5 Must-Have Gantt Chart Generators for Successful Projects
NancyGantt charts can be considered as the combination of some bar charts that indicate different schedules, especially for project management. Gantt charts illustrate several important elements like task time periods, project progress and breakdown frameworks. Let’s shart right now for the 5 must-have Gantt Chart generators!
Edraw MindMaster (Free Download Right Now!)
The software covers great advantages, such as the Gantt Chart tool for easily managing tasks; the night mode user interface for overnight projects; and the libraries where you can add and edit preset marks or symbols for your Gantt Chart. If you are tired of straight lines, you could try the hand-drawn features. Edraw MindMaster has both free and full versions, and for the free version users can export work without watermark, but so far only PDF format is available for exporting Gantt Charts.
- Main Features: Night Mode Interface; SlideShow Function for Meetings; Rich Pre-set Icons
- Price: Free; Full Version Starts from $5 monthly
- Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Gantter For Mac Os
Gantter
Gantter is a free tool that fully integrates with some dominant Cloud services such as the Google Drive. The software is web-based and easy to start for multi-users. It also allows creating Gantt diagrams. Sadly, the printing function is poor for large projects, so you need to export to MSP at the beginning. What’s more, when I return to update, my settings are not the same as my previous version. Actually, it is mainly due to the problem with Google Docs integration.
- Features: Integrates with Google Drive; Easy to Use
- Prices:Free Version Available
- Platforms: Web-based
Ganttic
For Ganttic users canschedule multiple members on the same project or task. You can also easily check project progress weeks ahead of the deadline. The user dashboard is quite convenient to read and understand. The software gonna benefit both technical and nontechnical individuals. On the other hand, it is not quite easy for me to manage timeline for one task without affecting the others. You have to delete the task and create a new one to show your selected working days.
- Features: Forecast Project Progress; Easy User Interface
- Prices:Free; Full Version Starts from $25 monthly
- Platforms: Windows, Mac
TIEMCHART
It is a quite good software with all aspects you need for project management. You can use it for project planning, monitoring or Gantt Chart creations. TIEMCHART even has a financial tool for analyzing project progress so you can do daily project accounting and cost statements. It has enterprise version but the software is not as professional as some other advanced Gantt Chart generators such as Oracle Primavera.
![Gantter for macbook air Gantter for macbook air](https://media.bnextmedia.com.tw/image/bn/2016-09/img-1474273254-61911.jpg)
- Features: Financial Tool; Project Planning and Monitoring
- Prices:Free; Full Version Starts from $40 monthly
- Platforms: Web-based
iGantt
Gantter For Macbook
Normally, the software is suitable for very large scale organizations since its price is quite high for individual users or middle-sized business. I think the price may be mainly inputted as advanced visual features such as the 3D reporting tool as you can see below. Additionally, the software is also a good tool for teaching students who are studying B.Tech in JBIET. Generally, some of its functions need to be improved for better drilling effects.
- Features: 3D Effects; Suitable for large Complex Projects
- Prices:Free; Full Version $910 monthly
- Platforms: Web-based
Gantter For Macbook Pro
Gantt Chart Generators Final Thoughts
Good Gantt Chart generators should have the following important features: drag and drop; milestones, color-coding, setting tasks relationships and teamwork. These features and functions bring great benefit to both single and multi-users from small to large scale business. All of your Gantt Chart details will be presented at-a-glance. Interactive Gantt chart generators facilitate your collaboration in order to keep the overall team on the same page.