How to Create a Timeline in PowerPoint? 2 Proven Methods

(Note: This tutorial on how to make a flowchart in PowerPoint is suitable for PowerPoint 2013 and later versions including Office 365)

Timelines are a great way to represent a sequential flow of events. Timelines are used from a high school to corporate events to show the progression of certain events, processes, and projects. 

In presentations, representing data in the form of a timeline easily helps the reader to understand the flow of the process and keep track of the progress.

In this article, I will show you how to create a timeline in PowerPoint using the 2 easy ways.

You’ll Learn:

• How to Create a Timeline in PowerPoint?
  • Using SmartArt Design
    • Add Text
    • Add Additional Points
    • Move or Resize the Timeline
    • Additional Customization
  • Creating a Timeline in PowerPoint Using Shapes
    • Add Text
    • Move or Resize the Timeline
    • Additional Customizations

How to Create a Timeline in PowerPoint?

1. Using SmartArt Design

You can use the SmartArt option to create a timeline in PowerPoint. This is an easy process where you can select an existing template and customize them to fit your requirements.  

To create a timeline in PowerPoint, first, create a slide. You can click on the New Slide option in the Home or Insert from the main menu, or right-click on the slide pane and select New Slide.

It’d also be better to get rid of the “Click to add title” and “Click to add text” text boxes for better visibility of the slide. Click on the text box, press the Esc key, and click on the Delete key to remove the text boxes.

Now, let us begin to create the timeline in PowerPoint using the SmartArt design.

Navigate to Insert. Under Illustrations, select SmartArt. 

This opens up the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box. You can scroll down and select the required design or you can click on Process and choose your design for the timeline.

I will show you how to create a timeline using a Basic Timeline template. Once you click on the template, you can see the description of the selected design and its use cases towards the right of the dialog box.

Click OK.

A basic layout of the selected template will appear at the center of the slide. Now, you can customize the design as per your needs.

Add Text

In a timeline, you have to add the text to the data points which represent progress.

From the template, you can see the points which mark those events. You can add the text directly by clicking on the [Text] block above the points. 

While adding the text, the text automatically adjusts its font size to that of the timeline. If you want to change the size, font, or color of the text, double click on the text and edit them using the text edit dialog box. 

Or, you can add text to the timeline using the Text Pane. To access the text pane, navigate to SmartArt Design and click on the Text Pane. You can also do this by clicking on the small arrow to the left of the timeline chart. 

Add Additional Points

The basic template of the timeline in Powerpoint only represents three data points to show the progress. But in some cases, there might be a need for more than 3 data points that need to be showcased. In that case, you can add additional points.

Navigate to SmartArt Design and select Add Shape. Once you click on it, you can see an additional point created on the timeline. If you need another shape, click on the Add Shape button again.

Note: Another simple way to add additional points along with the text is by using the text pane. When entering text in the text pane, click Enter to add another shape and add text to the selected shape.

Move or Resize the Timeline

Moving or resizing a timeline is similar to moving a graph or a chart in PowerPoint. You can use the anchor points and outline of the chart to resize or move the timeline respectively. 

To move or resize the whole chart, click anywhere just outside the shape. You can see a square shape outlining the whole timeline chart. When you place your mouse pointer on the line, you can see the normal mouse pointer turn to a four-sided pointer. Click and drag to move the whole timeline.

You can also resize the timeline in a similar way. Hover over the anchor points, this changes the mouse pointer to a double-sided pointer. Click and drag to resize the timeline.

You can also move and resize the data points and the text using the same method. Click and drag on the outline or the anchor points to move or resize the design respectively. 

Additional Customization

Using SmartArt Design and Format options in the main menu, you can make some additional customization to the timeline in Powerpoint.

• When you feel like the current template does not portray your idea in a precise way, you can always change the layout of the timeline by keeping the customization intact. Just select any other template from the Change Layouts option. This way, you can choose a timeline that represents your idea more precisely. 

Change color and styles:

You can also use the SmartArt Styles and Change Colors option to change the color of the timeline chart to suit your presentation style. 

You can also use the Format main menu to make the timeline or its elements larger or smaller. Also, you can change the shape of the whole timeline or its elements using the Change Shape option. Additionally, you can add colors, fill colors, change the WordArts style of the text, and resize the chart using the options in the Format menu.

2. Creating a Timeline in PowerPoint Using Shapes

This is an additional way to create a timeline in Powerpoint. While using this option, you’ll be building the timeline from scratch. Though a little time-consuming, this option allows for a variety of customizations based on your needs. 

Let me show you how to create a timeline in Powerpoint using shapes.

First, create a new slide. For better clarity, delete the “Click to add title” and “Click to add text” textboxes. 

In the empty slide, set the gridlines. They help you easily design and align the shapes you create.

To set the gridlines, right-click on the empty screen and select Grid and Guidelines. This opens up a Grid and Guide dialog box. Select the Display grid on screen and click OK.

This enables the gridlines which help you draw the shapes more efficiently.

Let us now draw the shapes. Navigate to Insert and click on Shapes.

Now, select any shape you want and design the timeline based on your ideas.

In this case, I have used lines to represent the flow of the timeline, and upward and downward arrows to represent the events of the timeline. You can use any shapes or curved lines to represent the flow of the timeline depending on your choice. 

If you want to add additional data points, you can create or draw a new shape. You can also add additional customization to give the timeline a more artistic touch. 

Add Text

You can add text to the timeline using the text box in Powerpoint.

Navigate to Insert. Under the Text section, select the Text Box option.

Now, click and drag anywhere to create the textbox. Type relevant content to add the events to the timeline. Double-clicking on the text helps you to customize the font, size, and other attributes of the text. 

Move or Resize the Timeline

Now the basic layout of the timeline is ready, you can move and resize the flowchart based on your preference. 

Click on any shape or text. The selected text or shape shows up with a selection box with anchor points. You can use the anchor points to resize the shape and move the outlines.

Additional Customizations

You can customize the text by navigating to Home. Use the options under Font, Paragraph, and Drawing sections to edit the text.

To edit or customize any shape, click on the shape. Then navigate to Shape Format. Under Shape Format, you can use the Shape Styles, WordArt Styles, and Arrange options to stylize or add customization to the shapes. 

Thus, we have successfully created and formatted the timeline in Powerpoint using shapes manually.

Closing Thoughts

Timelines play an important role in depicting the progression of events which helps in better readability and understanding of the process.

Creating the timeline using a SmartArt template might be an easier and faster way to create a timeline. However, manually creating the timeline using Shapes gives you more flexibility for customization. Depending on your content and requirements, choose the method which suits you the best.

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