# Timeline Give tasks a duration in working days, see them as bars on one axis, drag them to plan, and view every project on one timeline at once. 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]().