The Timeline View gives you a visual representation of the timelines of all your ongoing projects. It allows you to see in a glance just how long you and your team have to complete a task or project and to plan accordingly. This view works together with the Timeline Column to give you a visual overview of all your important dates and deadlines!
How it works
The Timeline View allows you to see all of your tasks together in one view! The Timeline View is really great to use when you have projects or tasks that span over multiple days. It allows you to get a visual representation of your projects, so you can see who is working on what, and when it's expected to be completed. It's similar to the Gantt chart, but more visually appealing! 😍
How to add the view
Start by adding the Timeline Column! You can check out this article to learn all about it!
After you have entered all of your data into the Timeline column, you're ready to set up your view! Click on the "Add view" button and then select "Timeline" as demonstrated here:
Once you add views to your board, they become tabs that you can easily click to toggle between!
Set as default view
To reach additional settings, click on the three-dot menu to the right of the Timeline View tab. From the resulting menu, you can favorite, rename, duplicate, share, or delete your Timeline View! Click "Set as board default" to jump straight to the Timeline View every time you open up this board!
To learn more about board defaults, check out the "Board Default" section in this article.
Include Milestones
Milestones are important dates, rather than a range of dates associated with a task or event. To set a milestone that will appear on your timeline, simply select one date, and click "Set as milestone" at the bottom of your calendar pop-up window (shown below). Milestones will appear in the shape of a diamond in your timeline and will be colored according to the item's status label!
In your Main Table View, a milestone will appear with a diamond to the left colored according to the group it belongs to.
If your Timeline Column is set in Deadline Mode, the diamond will be colored according to the item's status. This means that if the item was done on time, the milestone will be green, and if it is overdue, it will appear red, like in the example below:
Once in the Timeline View, you can right-click on any timeline bar to turn it into a milestone! Click "Set/remove milestone" turn a timeline bar into a milestone on the final date in the timeline. This means that if the item's timeline was from April 1st until April 4th, the milestone will be set to April 4th by default. You can always change the dates by clicking the item to open up the item card.
If you want to remove a milestone, simply right-click the milestone and click "Set/remove milestone" to change it to a timeline bar of one day.
Customization
- Name the view
Once your timeline has opened, you are given the option to name this view. You can always skip this step and do it later!
Next, click on the cogwheel settings icon at the top right corner of your board to open the View's settings on the right side of your screen.
- Choose time column
If you have more than one time column on your board (Timeline Column, Date Column, or Week Column), then you can choose which ones will be displayed in your Timeline View! Simply check or uncheck the box to the left of your column to indicate whether or not you'd like to see its data on your timeline.
- Group timeline bars
Here, you have the option to organize the bars in your Timeline View however you'd like! You can group them based on some of the columns on your board or by the groups on your board! This can help you manage your tasks, resources, or just give you a visual overview of where everything stands.
Once you've chosen how you'd like to see your timeline bars grouped, you can customize it even further by collapsing and expanding certain groups! Just click the group to collapse, and then click again when you want to expand!
- Color your items however you want
Your timeline automatically color codes your items according to which group they come from. For example, when you see green events, you know they are from your green-colored group, and when you see purple events, you know that they are from your purple-colored group. But you can use the drop-down menu to choose how you want them to be colored! You can choose to color by groups (using the colors of your groups), Status Column (using the colors of your labels), or People!
- Show today indication
The red bar running vertically through your board indicates today's date! This is a great point of reference so that you always know where you stand compared to the start and end dates on your timeline. It'll also always help you recenter and find today's date when you're scrolling back and forth through the calendar. You can also jump to today by clicking "Today" at the top left corner of your timeline.
If you don't like the appearance, you can remove the red bar by deselecting "Show Today indication" as shown in the image above.
Set the first day of the week
You can choose whether you want your timeline to display Sunday or Monday as the first day of the week! Click "Edit" beside 'Set workdays' in the settings panel to be redirected to your account's weekday settings!
Once you are redirected to the admin section, choose either Sunday or Monday as the first day of the week! You can also choose to hide or show weekends in the timeline view and widget across the whole account!
Split View
You can view both your timeline and your board together on the same screen with the Split View! All you have to do is select 'Split View' from the Settings menu on the right panel. Return to see just your timeline by clicking 'Fullscreen View'.
View by day, week, month, or year
You can choose to view the items in your Timeline View by days, weeks, months, quarters, or years! Click the drop-down menu at the top-right corner of your screen to select a time scale. If you get lost, you can always click the 'Today' button to bring you back to today's date on the calendar!
Update your items directly from the Timeline View
All you have to do is click any of the bars in the Timeline View to open up the item's card. From here, you can make any changes and updates without having to go back and forth to your Main Board View!
Right-click
Right-click on any timeline bar to access a quick-actions menu! From here, you can set or remove milestones (as we discussed in a previous section), or you can edit, duplicate, delete, or archive the item!
Filter and sort your timeline
You can filter your timeline to display only the information you want to see! The filters can be applied temporarily, or saved for future reference. We'll click the tornado filter icon at the top of the screen, and then select all of the filters we want to use. We can filter by groups of items or by any of the columns on our board. For example, let's say we are a Marketing company and we need to see all the tasks in the 'Facebook' campaign group that one of our agents is responsible for. We will select the 'Facebook' group and the agent in our People Column as our filters.
Now, our timeline will only show the Facebook-related tasks that our agent is responsible for! If we want to return to this view in the future, we can click "Save to this view" at the top-right corner of the filter window. Now whenever you open your Timeline View, the filter will automatically be applied! You can clear the filters by clicking "Clear".
You can also filter your timeline by typing keywords into the search bar, filtering by person on your board, or by clicking the "Sort" button to sort your items by priority, creation date, or any other column you have on your board.
Export
You can export your timeline to Excel in one easy click! In your Timeline View, just click the 3 dot menu at the top right corner of your screen and then click 'Export to Excel', as shown here:
Share your Timeline View!
You can now share your Timeline View with others! To do so, simply hover over the Timeline View tab and when the three-dot menu appears, click on it and then click 'Share' from the drop-down menu, like this:
Next, you will see a pop-up window allowing you to copy a sharing link or embed code. Send this to anyone you want so that they can see your Timeline View!
Learn more about sharing your board views here.
Check out The Gantt View
If you like the Timeline View, you'll LOVE the Gantt View! It's similar to the Timeline View, in the sense that your items are displayed across a calendar in the form of bars, but the Gantt View shows your items in a descending waterfall scheme for a more comprehensive visual. The Gantt View is a sophisticated and fully customizable tool that works flexibly with your project!
If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us at Support@monday.com!
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