How to Create a Gantt Chart in Microsoft Teams (Complete Guide)

If you’ve ever tried to track a project inside Microsoft Teams and ended up juggling a spreadsheet in one window and a chat in another, you know how frustrating that gets. A Gantt chart fixes that by giving your whole team one visual timeline — who’s doing what, when it starts, when it ends, and what’s blocking what.

The good news? You don’t need to leave Teams to get this done. In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through the main ways to create a Gantt chart in Microsoft Teams — from using the built-in Planner Timeline view (the most powerful method) to a lighter approach using Microsoft Lists. I’ll also cover third-party apps if you need something more advanced.

Let’s get into it.

What Is a Gantt Chart (and Why Should You Care)?

A Gantt chart is basically a bar chart that shows your project tasks on a timeline. On the left, you have a list of tasks. On the right, you have a horizontal bar that represents how long each task takes and when it happens.

What makes it genuinely useful:

• You can see at a glance which tasks overlap
• You can spot bottlenecks before they happen
• You can set dependencies — so Task B doesn’t start until Task A finishes
• Everyone on the team can see the same picture of the project

Inside Microsoft Teams, the Gantt chart isn’t a single button you click. Instead, Teams gives you a few different tools that produce a timeline view. I’ll explain each one below. If you’re still setting up the workspace itself, start with how to use Microsoft Teams for project management.

Method 1: Using Microsoft Planner (Timeline View) — The Best Built-In Option

This is the most fully-featured way to get a Gantt chart inside Teams. Microsoft Planner now includes a Timeline view that works as a proper Gantt chart — complete with task dependencies, milestones, and progress tracking.

Quick note on licensing: The Timeline view, dependencies, and milestones only work in a premium plan, and creating one needs a Planner Plan 1 (formerly Project Plan 1) or higher license, such as Planner and Project Plan 3. Basic plans, which come with regular Microsoft 365 business licenses, have no Timeline view at all. Check with your IT admin if you’re not sure what you have.

Here’s how a basic plan looks in a Teams channel. My demo plan, Website Redesign 2026, offers Grid, Board, Calendar, and Charts, but no Timeline. If that’s what you see, skip ahead to the Planner Calendar view or Method 2.

Step 1: Add Planner to Your Teams Channel

First, you need to pin Planner inside the right Teams channel. Here’s how:

1. Open Microsoft Teams and go to the channel where your project lives
2. Click the + (Add a tab) icon at the top of the channel and select Apps
3. In the search box, type Planner and select it from the list
4. Click Save

A new Planner tab will appear at the top of your channel. From here, choose Create a new plan or Add an existing plan.

Step 2: Create a New Premium Plan

Once Planner opens inside your tab:

1. Click Create a new plan
2. Under Start from scratch, choose Premium plan (this is what unlocks the Timeline/Gantt view)
3. Give your plan a name — something like “Product Launch Q3” — and click Create

If you don’t have a premium license, Planner offers a free 30-day premium trial or lets you request a license from your admin instead. My demo tenant only has basic plans, so I stopped at this screen.

You’ll land on a grid view by default. Think of this as your task spreadsheet before switching to the chart.

Step 3: Add Your Tasks

Now start entering your project tasks directly into the grid:

1. Click on an empty row and type your task name
2. Set a Start date and Due date for each task — this is critical, because the Gantt chart draws bars based on these dates
3. Assign the task to a team member using the Assigned to column
4. Optionally, set a Priority (low, medium, high, urgent)

For a project like a website redesign, your tasks might look like this:

Task	Assigned To	Start	Due
Define requirements	Priya	Nov 2, 2026	Nov 6, 2026
Design wireframes	Sam	Nov 5, 2026	Nov 11, 2026
Build homepage	Dev team	Nov 10, 2026	Nov 20, 2026
QA testing	QA team	Nov 19, 2026	Nov 25, 2026
Launch	All	Nov 30, 2026	Nov 30, 2026

Notice how tasks overlap slightly? That’s intentional. The Gantt chart will show those overlaps visually, which is exactly where it becomes useful.

Step 4: Switch to Timeline View

Once you’ve added at least a few tasks with dates:

1. Look at the navigation bar at the top of your Planner plan
2. Click Timeline (you’ll see options like Grid, Board, Charts, Timeline)
3. Your tasks will now appear as horizontal bars on a calendar

You’ll immediately see your project laid out visually. Tasks with longer durations will have longer bars. Tasks with no dates set won’t appear here — so always make sure you’ve set start and due dates.

Step 5: Add Task Dependencies

This is where Premium Planner really earns its keep. A dependency means “Task B can’t start until Task A is done.”

To add a dependency:

1. In the Timeline view, hover over a task bar
2. You’ll see a small circle appear at the end of the bar
3. Click and drag from that circle to the next task
4. A connecting line appears between the two tasks
5. Prefer the keyboard? Hold Shift, select both tasks, right-click, and choose Add dependency

Now if Task A gets delayed, Planner moves Task B’s dates out automatically. Premium plans support finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish dependencies. This is exactly how traditional project management tools like Microsoft Project work — just without the complexity.

Step 6: Add Milestones

Milestones are key dates in your project — like a product launch or a client presentation. They show up as a diamond symbol on the timeline, making them easy to spot.

To add a milestone:

1. Open any task’s detail panel by clicking on it
2. Set its Duration to 0 days
3. The task will now show as a diamond on your Gantt chart

No Premium License? Try the Planner Calendar View First

If your plan is basic, you can still see your work on dates without paying for anything. Open the plan tab in your channel and select Calendar. Every task with a date shows up on the calendar, and tasks without dates wait in the Unscheduled tasks pane on the right. Drag one onto a day to schedule it.

Switch between Week and Month at the top. It isn’t a true Gantt chart, since tasks appear as cards rather than bars and there are no dependencies, but it shows a small team what’s due when. For more ways to slice your plan, see how to view tasks in Microsoft Teams.

Method 2: Using Microsoft Lists — A Simple, Free Alternative

If your team doesn’t have a Premium Planner license, Microsoft Lists is a solid backup. It doesn’t give you the dependency lines of a true Gantt chart, but it does let you visualize tasks on a calendar timeline — which is more than enough for simpler projects.

Step 1: Add Microsoft Lists to Your Channel

1. In your Teams channel, click the + tab icon
2. Select New list (or Existing list to pin a list you already have)
3. On the How would you like to start? page, pick a blank list, an import, or a template

Step 2: Start From a Blank Calendar List

When creating a new list, Teams offers templates such as Issue tracker and Work tracker, but none of them comes with both a start date and an end date column. The quickest route is Create from blank > Calendar. Give it a name and click Create, and you get a list with Title, Start, and End columns plus a ready-made calendar view. I named mine Website Redesign Timeline.

If you start from a plain blank list instead, just make sure you add:

• A Start Date column (type: Date)
• A Due Date column (type: Date)
• A Title column (already there by default)
• A Status or Progress column (type: Choice)

Step 3: Add Your Tasks

Fill in your task list the same way you would in a spreadsheet. Keep it simple — task name, who it’s assigned to, start date, and end date.

Step 4: Switch to Calendar View

Here’s where you get the visual layout:

1. Click + Add view next to the view names at the top right of your list
2. Type a view name, and under Show as, select Calendar
3. Pick a Default layout (Month, Week, Work week, or Day), then set Start date on calendar to your start date column and End date on calendar to your due date column, and click Create

Your tasks will now appear as bars that stretch from each start date to its end date. You can toggle between month view and week view depending on how much detail you want to see.

It won’t show dependency arrows, but for a small team managing a launch or a campaign, this is genuinely good enough — and you don’t need to pay anything extra.

Method 3: Third-Party Gantt Chart Apps Inside Teams

If neither Planner nor Lists gives you what you need, Teams has a marketplace where you can install dedicated Gantt chart apps. These run as tabs inside your channel, so your team never has to leave Teams.

A few popular options:

• Gantt Chart Pro — built specifically for Teams. Lets you create interactive Gantt charts with tasks, subtasks, milestones, and color coding. Good for teams that need more visual control without paying for full Project.
• Project Plan (by cherryware) — a Teams app for high-level project plans, Gantt charts, and roadmaps. Handy when you want a quick visual plan without setting up premium Planner.
• Wrike — if your team already uses Wrike, the Teams integration shows your project timeline inside channels and sends notifications directly to chats.

To install any of these:

1. Click Apps in the left sidebar of Teams
2. Search for the app name (or just “Gantt”) in the Teams Store
3. Select the app and click Add
4. To use it in a channel, open the channel, click + > Apps, pick the app, and finish setup

These apps are worth considering if you’re managing large projects with many team members or if you need to report timelines to stakeholders outside your team. Check each app’s pricing and your organization’s app policy first; your admin may need to approve it.

Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Gantt Chart in Teams

A Gantt chart is only useful if your team actually uses it. Here are a few habits that make a real difference:

• Always set both start and due dates. Tasks without dates don’t show on the timeline. Make this a rule for everyone on the team.
• Break big tasks into subtasks. In a premium plan, you can create subtasks under a parent (summary) task. This keeps the main timeline clean while still tracking detailed work underneath.
• Update progress regularly. In a premium plan, you can set each task’s % complete (25%, 50%, 75%, and so on). This fills in the task bars on the timeline, so you can see at a glance how far along each item is.
• Use milestones for deadlines that matter. Not every task needs to be a milestone. Save them for things like client review dates, go-live dates, or end of sprint.
• Check the timeline in your weekly standup. If you share your screen in a Teams meeting and pull up the Planner timeline, the whole team can see the same view in real time. This replaces a lot of the “where are we with X?” back-and-forth. Want the whole team to own it? Here’s how to assign tasks in Microsoft Teams.

Why Isn’t the Timeline View Showing?

If you can’t find Timeline in your plan, it’s almost always one of these:

• The plan is a basic plan. Timeline only exists in premium plans. A basic plan shows Grid, Board, Calendar, and Charts even if you hold a premium license, so create a premium plan instead.
• You don’t have a premium license. Ask your admin for Planner Plan 1 or higher (Planner and Project Plan 3 or 5).
• Your tasks have no dates. A task without a start and finish has nothing to draw, so it won’t show as a bar.
• You’re on your phone. Planner in the Teams mobile app is limited; open the plan in Teams on desktop or the web.

Which Method Should You Use?

Here’s a quick way to decide:

• Your team has a Planner Plan 1 (formerly Project Plan 1) or higher license? → Use Planner Timeline view. It’s the closest to a proper Gantt chart you’ll get without leaving Teams.
• You’re on a basic Microsoft 365 plan? → Use Microsoft Lists with a calendar view (or the Planner Calendar view for a quick look). It’s free, it’s built in, and it gets the job done for most small projects.
• You’re managing a complex, multi-phase project with lots of dependencies? → Look at a third-party app like Gantt Chart Pro or Project Plan from the Teams Store.

The goal is to keep your project timeline visible to everyone, right inside the same tool where your team communicates. That’s the whole point. Once you stop emailing spreadsheets around and start working from a shared timeline inside Teams, you’ll wonder how you managed projects any other way.

Frequently Asked Questions

A few more guides you might find useful:

• Need a shared view of deadlines too? Learn how to create a shared calendar in Microsoft Teams.
• Not sure whether a project needs its own team or just a channel? Here’s Microsoft Teams team vs channel explained.
• Starting a project from scratch? See how to create a team in Microsoft Teams.
• For a tidier workspace overall, check these Microsoft Teams best practices.