How is task duration calculated?

Duration is the number of calendar days between the start and end dates, inclusive of both. The builder parses the two dates, computes the difference, and shows the result in days for every task.

Can I show dependencies?

Yes. Each task has a 'depends on' field where you name the predecessor task. The outline prints the dependency next to the task so reviewers can see the critical path at a glance.

What is a milestone in this tool?

A milestone is a zero-duration checkpoint marking a key deliverable, like a launch or sign-off. Tick the milestone box and the task is rendered with a marker so it stands out in the timeline.

Does it sort tasks by date?

Yes. The generated outline sorts tasks by start date so the timeline reads top-to-bottom in chronological order, even if you entered them out of sequence.

Is this a real Gantt chart?

It is a text-based Gantt outline — phases, tasks, dates, durations, and dependencies in copy-friendly form. It is ideal for plans, emails, and tickets where an image chart would be overkill.

Project Timeline / Gantt Outline Builder

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A project timeline you can paste anywhere

Heavyweight Gantt tools are overkill for many plans. This builder turns a list of tasks — with owners, dates, dependencies, and milestones — into a clean, chronological text outline that drops straight into a doc, ticket, or status email, with durations computed for you.

How it works

Each task records a name, owner, start date, end date, an optional dependency, and a milestone flag. The tool parses the start and end dates and computes the inclusive duration in calendar days. It then sorts all tasks by start date so the timeline reads in order, and renders each line with its dates, duration, owner, and any dependency. Milestones are marked distinctly because they represent checkpoints rather than work spans. The output is plain text, so it survives copy-paste into any tool without formatting loss.

Tips and example

Use ISO dates like 2026-07-01 for unambiguous parsing across locales.
Name dependencies exactly as the predecessor task so the critical path is easy to trace.
Mark sign-offs and launches as milestones to make the key dates jump out.
A task running 2026-07-01 to 2026-07-05 shows a duration of 5 days (both ends counted).