Timeline

The timeline puts the tasks of a project on one calendar axis, so you see what runs when. A task that runs for a few days is a bar from its start to its end date; a task with only a date is a point on the day it is due. You plan by dragging, and the counting is done in working days, so a weekend is a gap in the bar and not work.

The timeline shows and moves dates. It does not plan for you: there are no dependencies between tasks, and nothing shifts along when you move something else.

Which plan you need#

	Free	Plus	Pro	Business
Timeline of a project, and start dates on tasks	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
One timeline across all your projects	No	No	Yes	Yes

• The timeline of a project follows the plan of the project owner. Everyone in that project sees it, whatever their own plan.
• The timeline across all your projects follows your own plan, because it belongs to no single project.
• The free trial works as Pro, so both are there during the trial.

On a plan without the timeline, the timeline button on a project reads Timeline, in Plus and Pro and explains what it does.

Give a task a duration#

Open a task. When the project has the timeline, the date field is called End date, with + Runs for below it.

1. Pick the End date: the day the task has to be finished.
2. Click + Runs for and type how many working days the task takes.

The start date is counted back from the end date, and shown under the field (Starts with the date). Without an end date there is nothing to count from, so the field asks you to Pick an end date first.

• A milestone: a task with an end date and no duration (or a duration of one day). It shows as a diamond on the day it is due.
• A bar: a task that runs for more than one day. It shows as a bar from its start date to its end date.

Runs for is how long a task is on the calendar. The Estimate is how much work is in it, which is something else: a task can run for a week and hold one afternoon of work. See Time and invoicing.

Open the timeline of a project#

At the top of a project, the view switch has three buttons: List, Board and Timeline. Click Timeline. The rows are the sections of the project, with their tasks underneath.

On the timeline:

• Earlier and Later scroll the axis; Today brings today back into the middle. A dark line marks today.
• Zoom switches between Weeks and Months.
• No date yet also lists the tasks without any date, so you can plan them.
• The project deadline, when set, is a red line across the axis.
• Completed at the top of the project also shows finished tasks on the timeline.

The project settings have a Default view, if you want a project to open on the timeline.

Plan by dragging#

Whoever may edit a task can move it on the timeline.

• Move a bar or milestone: drag it left or right. The task keeps the number of working days it runs, so a four day task moved to a Thursday grows over the weekend.
• Make it longer or shorter: hover over a bar and drag the handle at its start or end. Only that date moves. Pulling the edge of a milestone turns it into a bar.
• Plan a task without a date: turn on No date yet, then click the empty row of the task on the day it belongs. It becomes a milestone on that day.
• Open a task: click its bar or diamond.

After each move a message says the new dates, with Undo to put it back.

Working days and your work week#

Everyone sets their own work week under Settings, Profile, Work week. Pick the days you work; at least one is needed.

Your work week is used for exactly two things:

• The duration of a task: Runs for counts working days, not calendar days. Ten working days from a Monday end on the Friday of the next week.
• Keeping that duration when you drag: a bar that is moved steps over days off instead of shrinking.

A task follows the work week of the person it is assigned to, because they are the one doing the work. A task that is assigned to nobody follows your own work week. On the timeline, your own days off are shaded in the Weeks zoom, and a bar that runs over days off shows them as a gap.

There are no holidays, capacity or schedules per person: the work week is only there to count days.

The timeline across all your projects#

Click Timeline in the sidebar to see every project you work on together, one row per project with its tasks. It works the same way as the timeline of a project: the same buttons, the same dragging, and each project brings its own deadline line.

This page needs Pro or Business on your own account. On a smaller plan the page says so, with a link to View plans.

The timeline shows at most 300 tasks at once. If there are more, it says so; open a single project to see the rest.

Start dates elsewhere#

• Today also shows tasks that have already started, not only the ones that are due. A task running from yesterday until Friday is on your list today, without being overdue.
• Calendar feeds can publish a task with a start date as one long event. See Calendar feeds.

When the plan changes#

If the project owner moves to a plan without the timeline:

• The start dates stay on the tasks. Nothing is lost.
• A project that opened on the timeline opens as a list instead.
• The task shows a plain Due date again, without Runs for.

Back on a plan with the timeline, everything is where it was. See Plans and limits.