Project Management Template
Learn how to use your Project Management Template in Excel or Google Sheets. Follow the quick start steps below, or explore detailed FAQs and troubleshooting tips.
Quick Start
Follow these quick steps to start using your template right away.
Template Overview
Get to know how each tab works. Every sheet in your Project Management Template has a clear purpose — from setup to tracking your project visually.
Setup Tab
Purpose
The Setup Tab is where you define how your project will be organized — specifically, your Priority Levels and Status Options. These settings are referenced throughout the entire template and automatically appear in dropdown lists on the Gantt and Kanban tabs.
Think of it as your project’s control panel — you can adjust how tasks are categorized and tracked before you start planning.
Why It Works
The Setup Tab ensures every project you manage starts with a consistent structure.
By defining your priorities and statuses upfront, you:
Keep your task list clean and standardized.
Make dropdown selections faster and more accurate.
Maintain a shared understanding across your team about what each priority and status means.
Everything stays aligned — no confusion, no messy data, no guesswork.
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Open the Setup Tab before entering any tasks.
Review the Priority Levels section:
You’ll see five default levels — 🔴 Urgent, 🟠 High, 🟡 Medium, 🔵 Low, and 🟢 Optional.
Adjust the labels or descriptions if your workflow uses different naming conventions.
Review the Status Options section:
Default options include ⏳ Not Started, 🚀 In Progress, 🔄 Needs Review, ✅ Completed, ⛔ Blocked, and 🗑 Cancelled.
You can rename, add, or remove statuses to match your team’s process.
Once you’ve finalized your setup, return to the Gantt Tab to start building your task list.
The dropdowns for Priority and Status will automatically update with your changes.
Tips for Success
Avoid leaving blank cells in the Setup Tab — empty fields will show up as blank options in your dropdowns.
You can customize these values at any time, even mid-project — changes update instantly across the entire workbook.
Keep descriptions short but clear, especially if multiple people are using the file.
If you ever make major edits, double-check your dropdowns on the Gantt and Kanban tabs to confirm they’re pulling the correct values.
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Gantt Tab
Purpose
The Gantt Tab is your main project planner — where you map out every phase, task, and milestone along a visual timeline. It’s the foundation of the entire template, powering both the Kanban and Calendar views.
Everything begins here. Once you enter your project details, the other tabs automatically update to reflect your schedule and progress.
Why It Works
This tab keeps your planning simple and visual. Instead of juggling multiple tools, you enter your tasks once — and the Gantt chart does the rest:
Your project timeline builds automatically based on the Project Start Date.
You can control which week your Gantt chart displays — making it easy to focus on a specific time window.
Task durations and progress are displayed in clear, color-coded bars.
Updates instantly flow through to the Kanban and Calendar tabs for consistent tracking.
It’s a full project overview in one clean, dynamic sheet.
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Set your Project Start Date at the top of the sheet.
This is the anchor point for your entire timeline. The Gantt chart uses it to determine the first date displayed.
(Optional) Choose whether to exclude weekends from your schedule.
In the Display Week cell, type a number to adjust which week your Gantt chart begins with:
Enter 1 to start from Week 1, 2 to start from Week 2, 3 for Week 3, and so on.
This lets you easily jump ahead and focus on specific weeks of your project.
Start building your task list:
Use ◯ for Category (e.g., “Design Phase”)
Use ◆ for Task (e.g., “Wireframing”)
Use ★ for Milestone (e.g., “Launch”)
Assign a Priority from the dropdown — 🔴 Urgent, 🟠 High, 🟡 Medium, 🔵 Low, 🟢 Optional.
Set each task’s Status — ⏳ Not Started, 🚀 In Progress, 🔄 Needs Review, ✅ Completed, ⛔ Blocked, or 🗑 Cancelled.
Add a Start Date and End Date for each task — the Duration will calculate automatically.
As you update statuses and dates, your timeline will refresh in real-time, color-coded to show progress.
Adding New Rows
When inserting rows between existing tasks, always make sure to copy the formulas from a working row.
If you simply insert a blank row and start typing, the new task won’t calculate correctly — things like durations, progress bars, and color coding won’t update properly.
When Inserting Rows Between Existing Tasks:
(The example above shows Google Sheets, but the same steps apply in Excel.)
Find where you want the new task to go.
Insert a new row in that position.
Copy an entire existing row (one that already works) and paste it into the new blank row.
Replace the text with your new task details — Category, Task Name, Start Date, End Date, etc.
✅ This keeps all the underlying formulas and formatting active.
When Adding Rows at the Bottom:
Go to the end of your current task list.
Insert a new row below the last task.
Copy an existing row and paste it into the new one.
Fill in your new task details.
✅ Your new task will automatically appear in the Gantt chart timeline.
⚠️ Important: Always copy from a row that already contains working formulas.
If you skip this step, the new row won’t calculate or display correctly.
Tips for Success
The Project Start Date controls what appears in your Gantt chart — updating it automatically shifts your entire schedule.
Use the Display Week option to quickly jump ahead or revisit earlier parts of your project without changing your data.
Hide unused rows, don’t delete them — this preserves all formulas.
To reuse the tracker for a new project, clear the task contents (not the formulas).
If you need a clean version, go to File → Make a Copy.
The Kanban and Calendar tabs both pull live data from this Gantt view — you never have to enter information twice.
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Kanban Tab
Purpose
The Kanban Tab gives you a visual way to track progress across your project. Every task from your Gantt Tab automatically appears here, organized by its current status.
You can customize which statuses appear as column headers, giving you flexibility to focus on specific stages of your workflow.
Why It Works
The Kanban view turns your project plan into an easy-to-scan visual board. Instead of looking through rows of data, you can instantly see where each task stands — what’s not started, what’s in progress, and what’s done.
It’s perfect for spotting bottlenecks, planning team priorities, and keeping your schedule on track — all without duplicating data.
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Open the Kanban Tab to see your visual project board.
Each card represents a task from the Gantt Tab and includes key details like Task Name, Priority, Start Date, and End Date.
Tasks are automatically grouped by Status — ⏳ Not Started, 🚀 In Progress, 🔄 Needs Review, ✅ Completed, ⛔ Blocked, and 🗑 Cancelled.
To move a task between columns, update its Status in the Gantt Tab — the Kanban view will refresh automatically.
To customize your board layout, change the column headers using the dropdowns at the top of each column.
For example, you can replace “Needs Review” with “On Hold” or “Testing” to fit your workflow.
Use this board to visually track progress and manage tasks throughout your project timeline.
Tips for Success
The Kanban Tab is fully automated — all data comes directly from the Gantt Tab.
You can’t edit or update task statuses here; make all changes on the Gantt Tab.
Column headers can be changed anytime without affecting your data.
If you rename statuses in the Setup Tab, the updates will automatically appear here.
Use this board during team meetings or weekly reviews to visualize project progress quickly.
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Calendar Tab
Purpose
The Calendar Tab gives you a monthly overview of all your project tasks. Every task from the Gantt Tab appears here automatically, positioned on the days that match its start and end dates.
It’s a simple, visual way to see what’s coming up, track deadlines, and keep your team on schedule.
Why It Works
The calendar view helps you translate your project timeline into a familiar, date-based format. Instead of reading through task lists, you can quickly see what needs attention each week.
Whether you’re reviewing deadlines or planning workloads, this view helps you stay ahead and prevent last-minute surprises.
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Open the Calendar Tab to view your project schedule in a monthly layout.
Use the dropdown menus at the top to adjust:
Month — select which month you want to display.
Year — set the corresponding year.
Start Week On — choose whether your calendar starts on Sunday or Monday.
All tasks with start and end dates in the Gantt Tab will automatically appear in the correct days on the calendar.
Tasks that span multiple days will appear across several boxes, showing their duration at a glance.
You can hover or review the text in each date cell to see which tasks are scheduled for that day.
When you update task dates or statuses in the Gantt Tab, the Calendar Tab refreshes automatically to reflect those changes.
Tips for Success
The Calendar Tab is fully automated — you don’t need to enter anything manually.
Keep start and end dates accurate in the Gantt Tab; those drive what appears here.
You can switch between months and years at any time to plan ahead or review past work.
If your tasks aren’t showing, double-check that their start and end dates fall within the selected month and year.
Use this tab as your project dashboard for time-sensitive planning and deadline reviews.
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Common Questions Answered Clearly
Still have questions? Here are clear answers to the most common ones.