CNET Editors' review
Gantt charts aren't essential to project planning; it just seems that way. Project Gantt Chart is a free template for Microsoft Excel. It's specifically designed to address some of the shortcomings of other free Excel templates for creating Gantt charts, such as the need to enable Macros. The Lite template is a free version of a premium template, Excelindo Gantt Chart. The premium software adds several features, including custom color options and Flexible Work Days, Custom Holidays and Leave Dates, and Smart Workday Calculations. But the free template offers plenty of features itself. In fact, it's actually available in four versions, each with its own download: Team Projects: Week View; Team Projects: Day View; Personal Projects: Week View; and Personal Projects: Day View. We looked at the Team Projects: Week View template, but we also verified the other downloads. All require Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010.
We downloaded the template and clicked the file, which opened Excel with the template displayed. The template includes sample data that helps illustrate how it works with the help of fictitious employees bearing names like "John Wayne" and "Bruce Jenner." The sample project is titled New Product Package, and it runs for four weeks, with the option to select Saturday and Sunday hours. Some write-protected cells are grayed out in the template and require a password to enable via the Unprotect Sheet command under Changes on the Review tab. We started by saving a copy of the template under a new name and then filling our new template with our own data by clearing cells of sample data. The template includes a Holiday List worksheet and a sheet describing the premium tool's features. All Excel controls and features worked normally with the template. When we'd entered all our data and cleared everything we didn't want, we simply saved our workbook normally.
Project Gantt Chart certainly simplifies the process of making custom Gantt charts suitable for a wide range of projects. We recommend creating a clean copy and then using the sample template side-by-side as a guide. If you need more, the for-pay version is there.
Publisher's Description
From Musadya:
Project Gantt Chart template is a useful tool to design your project plan using Microsoft Excel as its platform. It is created to help any project managers and team creating consistent project plans based on available people and time resources. It has plenty of options to make this Gantt Chart suit your needs. It has flexibility to personalize its layout, to set custom workdays, to calculate number of work days automatically, and many more. Several examples of project plans that can be created using this template are construction, consulting, marketing development, renovation, product development, event etc. It is a very good alternative tool to Microsoft Project and other Excel Gantt Chart template you found in internet.
What's new in this version: Remaining workdays correction
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All versions:
2.7 starsout of 3 votes
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Current version:
2.7 starsout of 3 votes
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My rating:
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Results 1-3 of 3
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"I am put off by the malware that came with it."
Version: Project Gantt Chart 3.12
Pros
Did not use it due to the malware
Cons
Malware, malware-Watch out for search-delta.com I also thought C/NET downloads would be safe. Much more wary now. Why can't C/NET fix this security issue??
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"Best Gantt Chart for Excel"
Version: Project Gantt Chart 3.12
Pros
Easy to use
Compatible with Mac
CheapCons
No duration option
Summary
I have searched over many sites finding Excel Gantt Chart and this one is the best Gantt Chart template I've ever used. I can use and share it among my team members without any compatibility problem on their computers which running different Excel and Operating System. With the available features, I think it is worth of money, compared with Microsoft Project, that offer more features that I don't think I need it for my projects.
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"Full of malware, doesn't work very well"
Version: Project Gantt Chart 3.12
Pros
Nice clean interface, intuitive to use
Cons
Doesn't track task-to-task dependencies, a major fail. Download contains adware, search hijacker, and who knows what other goodies that it took me all day to clean off my PC.
Summary
I was looking for a lighter equivalent of MS Project without all the bloatware. Unfortunately, this isn't it.
