Use the plan timeline

The Timeline shows a plan as a chart of bars across the calendar. Each task gets a row, and its bar runs from the day it is scheduled to start to the day it is scheduled to finish. Arrows link tasks that depend on each other, the critical path stands out in red, and a line marks today, so you can see at a glance what comes next and what is slipping.

Use the timeline to put work in order, spot what cannot be late, and move dates by dragging.

Before you start

• You need a plan with at least one task. See Plans: timelines for your rooms.
• The timeline is available on every plan.

How the schedule is worked out

You never have to place a bar by hand. PlexiDesk works out each task's dates from what you tell it:

• When it starts. A task starts on its Planned start, or on the plan's first day if it has none, unless a task it depends on pushes it later. The plan's first day is the earliest planned start among its tasks, or today if no task has one.
• How long it takes. When a task has both a planned start and a planned finish, its length is the working days between them. Otherwise it uses the task's Length in working days, and failing that, one day. A milestone takes no time at all.
• Which days count. Only working days: Monday to Friday unless you change the plan's working calendar. See Baselines, working days, levelling and export.

To set any of these, see Edit a plan task and its dependencies.

Open the timeline

1. Open the plan from the Plans page.
2. Click Timeline in the row of buttons at the top.

A plan with no tasks says This plan has no tasks yet. Click Add task to add one.

Read the timeline

The rows

The column on the left lists the tasks, earliest first. A flag marks a milestone, and a green tick marks a finished task. Click a name to open that task's details.

Dates run along the top, one label per week. The chart always reaches a few weeks past the last task, so there is room to drag work later.

The bars

When the window is wide enough, a key beside the view buttons shows the three bar colours:

• A purple diamond is a milestone, on the day it falls.
• The darker part of a bar shows the task's progress, such as the first half for 50%.
• The task's name appears inside its bar when the bar is long enough.
• A red calendar icon on a bar means the task is scheduled to finish after its deadline.
• An amber warning icon means the task is running late: it is not finished and its scheduled finish has passed.

Rest the pointer on a bar to see its dates, how many days of slack it has (or that it is critical), whether it is running late, and how far through it is.

Arrows, today and the baseline

• Arrows run from the end of a task to the start of the task that depends on it. Arrows along the critical path are drawn in your accent colour, with a moving dash.
• A thin blue line with a dot at the top marks today.
• A dashed line under a bar shows where the task was when you last set a baseline, so you can see how far it has moved. It appears once you click Set baseline. See Baselines, working days, levelling and export.

Move a task by dragging

1. Press on the task's bar (or milestone diamond) and drag it left or right.
2. Let go on the day you want it to start.

The task's Planned start becomes that day. If it also has a Planned finish, the finish moves by the same number of days, so the task keeps its length. The timeline then redraws.

The bar can settle later than where you dropped it. That happens when a task it depends on has not finished by then, when you dropped it on a day that is not a working day, or when the task has a Must start on date, which always wins.

A very short drag counts as a click and opens the task's details instead.

Open a task's details

Click a task's bar or its name. Its details open in a panel on the right, where you can change its dates, length, progress, assignee and links. Click the × at the top of the panel to close it. See Edit a plan task and its dependencies.

With the keyboard, press Tab to move to a bar, then Enter or Space to open its details.

Add a task

1. Click Add task at the top of the plan.
2. Type the title in New task title….
3. Press Enter or click Add. Press Esc to cancel.

The task is created as a desk in the plan's room and opens in the details panel, ready for its dates.

Warnings above the timeline

Two warnings can appear under the plan's name:

• "… task(s) slipped past plan and push later work. Reschedule to shift the timeline." A task finished later than planned and its later work has not moved yet. Click Reschedule to move it. See Baselines, working days, levelling and export.
• "This plan has a circular dependency. Remove a link to restore a valid schedule." Some tasks depend on each other in a loop. Open one of them and remove a link. See Edit a plan task and its dependencies.

Good ways to use it

• Find what cannot slip. Look for the red bars. Those are the tasks to protect.
• Check the week. Find today's blue line and look for amber warning icons to its left.
• Rough out a plan quickly. Add the tasks, give each a length, then link them in order. The bars line up by themselves.

Common questions

Every bar starts on the same day

The tasks have no planned starts and no links yet, so each one starts on the plan's first day. Link them in order, or give them planned starts. See Edit a plan task and its dependencies.

I dragged a bar but it jumped back

Something is holding the task in place: a task it depends on, a Must start on date, or a non-working day. Open the task's details to see what it depends on and what dates it has.

Why is a task red?

It is on the critical path: it has no slack, so any delay to it delays the plan's finish. A task's details show On the critical path or how many days of slack it has.

A bar looks longer than the task's length

A task's length counts only working days, but its bar crosses the calendar, weekends and holidays included. A task that runs over a weekend has a longer bar than one of the same length that does not. To change which days count, edit the plan's working calendar. See Baselines, working days, levelling and export.

Related tasks

• Plans: timelines for your rooms
• Edit a plan task and its dependencies
• Plan views: Overview, Board, Grid, Calendar, Workload and Files
• Baselines, working days, levelling and export