Gantt Chart - how to create a Gantt chart with multiple dates in to one single row. ie. leave dates or same tasks each month different dates.

Question

"I'm creating a spreadsheet to track my employees' current tasks, recurring tasks, and leave dates. Since some employees have multiple leave dates and recurring tasks, how I set this up to show in the Gantt chart in a single row per person instead of using multiple rows?"

Answer 1

Hi @Louise C
Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. I understand your requirement:

• Each employee should appear on a single row in the Gantt chart.
• You need to display multiple leave periods or recurring tasks for the same employee.
• All employees should be included in one consolidated view.

Important Clarification

Excel does not have a built-in Gantt chart feature. The default stacked bar approach assumes one start and end date per row. To show multiple intervals on the same row, you need creative data structuring and additional chart series, which can become complex as the number of intervals grows.
Below are two Excel-based workarounds I could recommend for you:

Option 1: Calendar-Style Grid with Conditional Formatting

How it works:

• Rows = Employees, Columns = Dates
• Conditional Formatting highlights cells for each date range (leave or task)
• Unlimited intervals supported without adding extra chart series

Pros:

• Scales well for many employees and frequent date changes
• Easy to maintain and update
• No complex chart series management Cons:
• Does not look like a traditional Gantt chart
• Limited ability to show dependencies or milestones

Option 2: Classic Gantt with Stacked Bar Chart

How it works:

• Each employee is a category on the Y-axis
• Use alternating “Gap” and “Duration” series for each interval
• Works best when each person has a small, fixed number of intervals (e.g., ≤5)

Pros:

• Looks like a traditional Gantt chart
• Good for small teams or few intervals per person Cons:
• Complex setup: requires extra columns for each interval
• Hard to maintain if intervals change frequently
• Limited scalability for large teams or recurring tasks

Recommended Microsoft Solution

If you need a true Gantt experience with recurring tasks, dependencies, and resource views, consider:

• Microsoft Project
  • Native Gantt charts with drag-and-drop scheduling.
    • Supports recurring tasks, milestones, and resource allocation.
      • Integrates with Microsoft 365 for collaboration.
• Microsoft Planner
  • Great for simple task tracking (Kanban boards), but does not provide full Gantt functionality.

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Answer 2

I would also like to know how to incorporate all the employees into one chart

Answer 3

Thanks Alex. Seems very complicated to do.

Here is a snip of what I'm trying to achieve.

Each employee has their own tab. I want all the leave dates to be in one row, some with some of the recurring tasks i.e Week 1 and Week 2 activities.

Then I would like to create one Gannt chart for all in the employees into one, to be able to see of any overlapping leave and tasks.

Is this possible?

Thanks

.