Project management templates are an essential ingredient in replicating successful projects. With free Microsoft Excel templates, you can turn your simple spreadsheets into powerful project management tools.
In this article, you'll find some of the most useful and free Microsoft Excel project management and project tracking templates that you'll want to use for your next project.
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Let's take a look at the best Microsoft Excel project management templates.
Note: Here we cover native and third-party templates. To find the pre-installed Excel spreadsheet templates, open Excel and search for the respective keyword in the New Document screen. If you're already in Excel, go to File>New to bring up the template search. See the Managing Microsoft Excel Templates section below for more details.
Excel includes several timeline and Gantt chart templates provided by Microsoft, but also integrates templates from Vertex42, one of the most popular third-party resources for spreadsheets.
The work plan timeline template is suitable for a basic project with several phases. When you enter your data in the worksheet, the roadmap will update automatically.
This template comes pre-installed with Microsoft Excel 2016.
Gantt Charts Need a Gantt chart template for Excel or PowerPoint? Here are 10 Unique Options Do you need a Gantt chart template for Excel or PowerPoint? Here are 10 unique options You don't need Microsoft Project to track progress. These Gantt chart templates for Excel and PowerPoint will help you manage your project too. Read More They help you visualize the flow of your tasks and track progress.
With this template, you can create a complete Gantt chart with minimal effort. Just enter each task, complete with a description, who it's assigned to, a percentage to indicate progress, a start date, and allotted days until completion.
This template is a Microsoft Excel default.
If you want to integrate milestones into a basic timeline, this template provided by Vertex42 is ideal. It combines the best elements of a Gantt chart, namely the task flow visualization, with milestones looming over the timeline. You just have to fill in the respective tables to populate the visual..
You can find this template by searching in Excel.
A project plan is a document How to Manage Your Project with Word Templates How to Manage Your Project with Word Templates In project management, preparation is half the battle. To organize and document your project, you may need many different reports, forms, or plans. We've compiled a selection of Word templates to get you started. Read More For basic projects, however, you can get away with just a Microsoft Excel document.
When you search the Excel template repository for project plan templates, you'll mostly find different variations of the Gantt chart, including this simple Gantt chart from Vertex42. What sets it apart from the Gantt chart above is the inclusion of project phases.
This template is included in Microsoft Excel..
A project plan isn't really something you normally put together in Excel. But if your project is simple enough, like planning a party, a solid one-page template that lists essential tasks and lets you set a timeline and budget is all you need. This template from Office Templates Online is a great start.
A tracker search will open a wide variety of business-related and personal Excel spreadsheet templates for tracking. You can narrow your search by selecting the categories that relate to the project management task you are dealing with.
This tracking template can help you get an overview of direct, indirect, general and administrative costs of products.
This Vertex42 template is essential if you are handling multiple different clients, projects, and/or deliverables. Combine project details, expenses, task statuses, and due dates.
Microsoft Office has its own category for business plans How to Write a Business Plan How to Write a Business Plan Are you about to start your own business? Start with a plan! Follow our business plan outline or use one of the templates we've compiled. Read more . Use the suggested business search and select the Business Plans category to the right.
You will find the following Microsoft Excel templates:
For More Business Plan Templates The Best Business Plan Templates The Best Business Plan Templates Every business needs a plan. These templates will make writing your business plan easy. Clever structure, guiding questions, and clever design will give you a head start in your new career. Read more, take a look at our dedicated article.
Couldn't find the exact project management template you need within Excel? Go to a third-party online resource for a larger selection of Excel spreadsheet templates. We recommend the following sites..
This website has some great project management templates for Microsoft Office 2003 and up. The site notes that its templates are primarily related to project scheduling. Anything more complicated may require Microsoft Project or other project management software.
On the page dedicated to project management, you will find a list of useful material, including but not limited to the following:
Each page contains a quick summary of what the template does, one or more templates, and more tips and tricks for the corresponding project management tool. It's a great resource for budding project managers.
TidyForm has a respectable selection of Microsoft Excel project management templates. The most popular categories are listed on the home page. If you can't immediately spot what you need, switch to Business section or try the search function.
When you scroll to the bottom of a section, you'll see a list of popular categories and related categories. This can be helpful when trying to find the right template.
We recommend the following pages:
Still looking for the perfect template? You may need to create custom Excel templates How to Quickly Create a Custom Excel Template to Save Time How to Quickly Create a Custom Excel Template to Save Time Excel templates are universally useful; they can help you keep your finances in order, manage a project, and organize your life. We show you how to create your own custom template. Read More
First, let's see what templates you already have installed in Microsoft Excel. For the purpose of this demonstration, we have used Excel 2016, but the procedure is similar in Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 2019.
When you start Microsoft Excel, the first window you see will contain a search field for online templates. When you are starting from an existing workbook, go to File>New get to the same view.
Microsoft Excel comes with a selection of pre-installed templates. They are listed below the search field. You can bookmark favorites by clicking the corresponding symbol at the bottom right of the list.
The fastest way to find the type of template you need is to search for it. Once you start a search, for example for the term project You will also see the template categories listed next to the templates that match your search.
One cool feature is that you can narrow your search by selecting multiple categories. This helps you exclude templates that may match your keyword, but not your desired category. On the downside, the perfect template may not be available in Microsoft Excel.
When you click on a template, you will see a preview with a brief description of what the template provides. You can also pin the template from its preview; the symbol is at the top right.
To download and use a template, click Create button, which will open a new Microsoft Excel workbook with the template preloaded.
While you're at it, check out our list of useful office templates. 10 Office Time-Saving Templates 10 Office Time-Saving Templates Are there documents you write over and over again? Whether it's agendas, invoices, or meeting status reports, templates can make your job easier. We've collected 10 template ideas to save you time. Read more and shop business letter templates. 15 Business Letter Templates for Microsoft Word to Save Time. 15 Business Letter Templates for Microsoft Word to Save Time. Templates save time. Here we compiled 15 business letter templates, from letters of intent, through thank you notes, to references. These templates will communicate with confidence. Read more.
We have covered many project management tips and tricks from the past. Once you're good with templates, you may want to consider additional tools and solutions. For example, did you know that Outlook is great for project management? How to Use Outlook for Simple Tasks and Project Management How to Use Outlook for Simple Tasks and Project Management Outlook can function as a simple tool for managing projects and tasks. Here's how to set up Outlook Tasks to set reminders and due dates, assign to-dos, and track links. Read more ? Similarly, you can use OneNote for project management. How to use Microsoft OneNote for project management. How to use Microsoft OneNote for project management. OneNote is the ideal collaboration tool for managing simple projects in small teams. And it is absolutely free. See how OneNote can help get your projects off the ground! Read more . And you could integrate OneNote with Outlook for project management Turn Outlook into a project management tool with OneNote Integration Turn Outlook into a project management tool with OneNote Integration OneNote can do more than you think. We'll show you how to turn your Outlook task list into a powerful project management tool with the OneNote for Outlook add-in. Read more ? The possibilities are endless.
Whatever you do, before starting a project, prepare a Work Breakdown Structure How to organize any project with a Work Breakdown Structure How to organize a project with a Work Breakdown Structure A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Every complex project consists of multiple components. The Work Breakdown Structure can help you identify all the steps and put them in sequence. Read more.
