This step-by-step Numbers timeline tutorial shows how to make professional timelines inside the popular spreadsheet app for Mac.
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Mac users who want to create visual plans or chronologies in Apple’s Numbers can do so using the tool’s 2D Bubble Chart feature and some manual formatting to create a basic timeline. However, the resulting graphic may lack the flexibility and precision required for professional presentations such as project reports and client reviews.
Get started with a template. To see the version of Numbers on your Mac, choose Numbers About Numbers (from the Numbers menu at the top of your screen). To browse this guide, click Table of Contents near the top of this page. Customize your app. Change the spreadsheet view. Customize the toolbar. Show or hide the sidebar. Best Mac spreadsheet apps. Edit a spreadsheet with others at the same time in Numbers on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iCloud.com. But it includes dozens of templates to help you get started. App templates are production-ready apps for Microsoft Teams that are community driven, open-source, and available on GitHub. Each contains detailed instructions for deploying and installing that app for your organization, providing a ready-to-use app that you can install and begin using immediately. This step-by-step Numbers Gantt chart tutorial explains how to make professional Gantt charts inside the popular spreadsheet app for Mac. Professionals who need to create a Gantt chart in Apple's Numbers can do so using the tool’s Bar Chart feature and some manual formatting.
Those who need to add more details to their timeline or to regularly update it for important meetings can build comprehensive yet clear visuals using an online timeline maker called Office Timeline. Enabling you to quickly generate your graphic from your browser, the tool also lets you download it as a native PowerPoint slide, which can be easily edited, shared and included in presentations. Below, I will demonstrate how to make a timeline both manually in Numbers and automatically with Office Timeline Online. To learn how to make a Gantt chart in Numbers for Mac, please see our Gantt tutorial here.
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How to make a timeline in Numbers
1. Enter your project’s milestones and dates into a table.
Create a new Numbers sheet by selecting the Blank type in the Basic section of the template gallery.
List the key milestones of your project in the first row of the default table displayed in the newly created sheet, as shown in the image below.
Use the row below to add the due dates for each of the milestones.
To start building your timeline in Numbers, you will also need to allot plotting numbers to every milestone in the table to define their vertical placement on the graphic. Therefore, use the third row of the table to enter a sequence of numbers such as 1, 2, 3, and 4 as in the example below.
2. Create a basic timeline using the Bubble Chart feature
Select all the data in your table, click on the Insert tab on the Numbers ribbon and go to Chart.
Choose 2D Bubble chart from the menu that pops up.
A simple bubble chart like the one below will be automatically generated on your Numbers sheet:
3. Format your graphic to optimize legibility and add key data
Depending on the number of milestones you've entered, the auto-generated bubble chart might look a bit crammed, so you may want to resize it to ensure a better fit. To do this, simply select the chart area and drag its sizing handles to reach the desired height and width.
Since only your milestone dates and plotting numbers are the ones taken as reference for the two axes of your chart, there is not much information shown on your timeline right now. To provide the audience with more details, you can manually add milestone descriptions to each bubble on the graphic using the Text feature of the app. To do so:
i.Click on the small “T” icon on the Numbers top taskbar:
ii.Drag and drop the newly inserted text box below or near one of the milestone bubbles.
iii.Double-click on the text box to type in your milestone title and use the Style pane that appears on the right to change the text font, size, style and alignment. In my case, I used black, bold Helvetica Neue for the milestone titles.
I also wanted to remove all the horizontal lines that cut across my timeline as I didn't feel they added any value to the graphic. If you want to make this change:
i.Select the chart area and go to the Axis tab of the Format pane on the right.
ii.Select Value (Y) in order to apply the change to the horizontal axis.
iii.In the Axis Scale section, under Steps, use the up-down controls next to Major to decrease the number to 1.
While in the Axis section, you may want to add vertical lines to better highlight the relative distance between your milestones. To do this, click on the Value (X) tab and:
i.Go to Major Gridlines and set the style, color and width of your vertical lines. In my example, I used a straight, grey line with a width of 1 point.
ii.Repeat the action for Minor Gridlines. I kept the same choices as above for these as well.
iii.Go to the Axis Scale section above and use the up-down controls to increase the value for Minor Steps. In my example, I increased it to 3.
After completing all the steps above, your graphic should look like this:
4. Customize your timeline's milestones
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Now that you've formatted your timeline properly, you can apply a few styling choices to the milestones (chart bubbles) to make them stand out more.
To recolor all your milestones simultaneously, select any of the bubbles and go to the Style tab of the Format pane. Here, click on Fill to choose a new color. In my example below, I went for a dark navy blue.
If you want to color the chart bubbles individually, you'll need to break down your milestones into separate series or categories. To do so, go to your project data table and:
i.Rename the Position row into Color 1 and then add a new line below, which will be called Size. Enter the same number in the Size cell of each milestone to keep all bubbles the same size. In my example below, I used '20' for all.
ii.Right beneath, insert a set of two rows for each new color category you wish to create. You can name them Color 2 & Size, Color 3 & Size etc., just like in the image below.
iii.Once finished, to move a milestone into a new category, cut its Color 1 (former Position) and Size values and paste them into whichever of the newly added pairs of rows. Don't worry if this seems to mess up your graphic – we'll fix it right away, in step 'iv.'
iv.To update the graphic with the different color categories created, select the chart area, click on Edit Data References, and then drag the table select handle to include the new rows as well. Numbers will automatically generate multiple-colored bubbles for your milestones.
Note: Looking at my table, you'll notice that I've kept some of my milestones' Color & Size values on the same rows. This means they'll all belong to the same series, and any styling changes made will apply to all of them at once, while the rest of the bubbles can be customized individually.
v.To change the default colors generated by Numbers for your new milestone categories, select the bubble (or bubbles) you want to customize and use the Fill options from the Style tab. Here is how I set up the colors for my graphic:
From the same Style section, you can also apply various effects to your chart bubbles, like adding shadows or strokes. However, it is recommended that you keep these to a minimum to not burden your visual too much. In my example, I selected all the bubbles with Shift + Click and added a simple outline to them using the Stroke feature.
Note that some of these folders may not be present.com.microsoft.errorreporting.com.microsoft.Excel.com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess.com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2.com.microsoft.Outlook.com.microsoft.Powerpoint.com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService.com.microsoft.Word.com.microsoft.onenote.mac. Warning: Outlook data will be removed when you move the three folders listed in this step to Trash. Uninstall an app from a mac. Remove Office for Mac applications.Open Finder Applications.Command+click to select all of the Office for Mac applications.Ctrl+click an application you selected and click Move to Trash.Remove files from your user Library folder.In Finder, press+ Shift+g.In the window that opens, enter /Library and then click Go.Open the Containers folder and ctrl+click each of these folders and Move to Trash.
If you want to have the exact milestone dates displayed on your graphic, select the chart area, go to the Series tab of the Format pane, and, in the Bubble Labels section, check the box in front of Values. You will then need to choose X from the dropdown menu on the right, so that the dates appear inside the chart bubbles. To change the label placement in relation to the bubbles, use the Location feature beneath Value Data Format.
5. Customize your chart area
To personalize your timeline further, you can also make some changes to the chart area using the customization options available in the Format pane’s Chart and Axis tabs of the Format pane. For instance, you can:
Add a title to your graphic: From the Chart tab, check the box for Title under Chart Options. In my example, I also removed the Legend of my timeline, by unticking its corresponding box.
Customize fonts: While still in the same tab, you can change the font type, style and size for the entire chart using the options under Chart Fonts. I chose to change the style from Regular to Medium to make the text more easily readable.
Note: You can further customize the title or text along the X axis separately by double-clicking on the desired element and then making changes from the pane that appears on the right.
Remove unnecessary labels. In my example, I also wanted to remove the axis labels ('0' and '4') on the left of the graphic because I felt they could create confusion. If you want to do the same, go to the Axis tab in the Format pane, click on Value (Y), and select 'None' from the Value Labels dropdown.
After carrying out all the steps above and trying out several font sizes, my final timeline in Numbers looks like this:
Download timeline template for Numbers
How to make a timeline online automatically
Numbers allows Mac users to build a basic timeline, but some may feel they need a bit more flexibility and customization options to create professional visuals and update them easily for recurring communications.
Professionals who want to make eye-catching timelines more quickly can do so using Office Timeline Online . The browser-based tool helps you automatically generate an appealing graphic that you can customize and update with a few clicks. It also lets you download it as a .pptx file or .png image so you can quickly share it with others. To get started, access the free app here and follow the steps below. To be able to include more than 10 items on your graphic, you will need
1. Enter your project data in Office Timeline Online
From the New tab in Office Timeline Online, select Timeline from scratch or choose one of the pre-designed templates provided to start building your timeline. You also have the option to import a schedule from an existing Excel file. In my example, I chose to make a new timeline from scratch.
After selecting Timeline from scratch, you'll be directed to the web tool's Data View, which lets you enter and edit your project's details.
In the Data View section, list your milestones along with their due dates. Your timeline will be generated in real time as you add your data, and a live preview of it will be shown on the right. The Data tab also lets you make a few preliminary styling choices, such as setting the shape and color for each milestone. Once you finish, select the Timeline tab on the ribbon or click the preview image to the right of your data list to go the Timeline View, where you can see your graphic in full size and personalize it further.
2. Customize and update your timeline with ease
With Office Timeline Online, your newly created visual can be easily customized and updated as often as necessary. From the Timeline View, you can change colors, shapes, sizes and fonts at the click of a button, add details such as Time Elapsed and Today Marker, or move milestones above or below the timeband. In my final timeline below, you can see that I've also added a few more milestones and played with colors, sizes and fonts to draw attention to specific items.
With a free Office Timeline account, your graphic will be automatically saved in the cloud, so you can access it at any time and update it on the fly whenever necessary. You can add or edit data effortlessly from the Data tab, or drag & drop milestones to update their dates instantly directly from your graphic. When finished, your timeline can be downloaded as an editable PowerPoint so you can easily present it or share it with others.
See how easy it is to make timelines with Office Timeline Online
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Ask Away ☆
Ask Away is a Microsoft Teams bot that enables users to conduct Q&A (Question and Answer) sessions within Teams. Using the Ask Away bot, team members can submit and up-vote questions shared by colleagues allowing Q&A hosts to easily gather top-of-mind questions within a channel or chat. The bot can be used to conduct a real-time Q&A session in a Teams meeting and allows attendees to submit questions live via chat.
Associate Insights
Associate Insights is a Power Apps template that empowers firstline workers to directly capture and submit customer opinion, sentiment, and perception. Firstline workers are often the first company representative to engage with customers in a one-to-one point-of contact. The collected data can be shared and used collaboratively by business teams, e.g., via a Power BI Teams tab, for product improvement and enhancing the customer experience.
Attendance
The Attendance app is a Power Apps tab that can be pinned in a team. It is designed to record presence, typically in settings such as learning and training environments. Users can mark or edit attendance for up to 30 days in the past and view summarized attendance reports for an entire group or individual attendees.
Book-a-room
Book-a-room is a Microsoft Teams bot that lets users quickly find and reserve a meeting room for 30 (default), 60, or 90 minutes starting from the current time. The Book-a-room bot scopes to personal or 1:1 conversations.
Building Access ☆
Building Access is a Microsoft Power Platform-based app that supports the administration of building occupancy thresholds and social distancing norms by enabling facilities directors to manage, track, and report employee on-site presence. The app, built using Microsoft Power Apps, and Power Automate, deeply integrates with Microsoft Teams and enables organizations to determine building readiness, establish eligibility criteria for on-site access, and gather insights for future planning.
Celebrations
Celebrations is a Teams app that helps team members celebrate each others' birthdays, anniversaries, and other recurring events. It remembers special occasions of all the team members and sends a friendly message in all the teams selected at the time of event creation, to make the team members feel special on their day.
The app provides an easy interface for all the team members to personally add and view their events and also allows the user to select the teams in which the events gets shared.
Checklist ☆
Checklist is a custom Microsoft Teams messaging extension app that enables you to collaborate with your team by creating a shared checklist in a chat or channel. The app is supported across all Teams platform clients — desktop, browser, iOS, and Android — and is ready for deployment as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Company Communicator
The Company Communicator app enables corporate teams to create and send messages intended for multiple teams or large number of employees over chat allowing organization to reach employees right where they collaborate. Utilize this template for multiple scenarios such as new initiative announcements, employee onboarding, modern learning and development or organization-wide broadcasts.
The app provides an easy interface for designated users to create, preview, collaborate and send messages.
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It provides a foundation to build custom targeted communication capabilities such as custom telemetry on how many users acknowledged or interacted with a message.
Contact Group Lookup ☆
The Contact Group Lookup app provides a convenient and useful approach to creating, accessing, and managing your organization's contact groups (formerly known as distribution lists or communication groups). Users can quickly view and chat with group members, view member status, and create a group chat with selected members in the contact group, all within the Teams environment.
CrowdSourcer
CrowdSourcer is a Microsoft Teams bot that gives teams queried information sourced collaboratively from group members. It's a great way to answer frequently asked questions while enabling participants to actively engage in and contribute to a fun and helpful information resource.
Custom Stickers
Self-expression is core to a healthy team culture. This app template is a messaging extension that enables your users to use custom stickers and GIFs within Microsoft Teams. This template provides an easy web-based configuration experience where anyone with configuration access can upload the GIFs/stickers/images they want their end-users to have, allowing your entire team to use any set of stickers you chose.
This app also enables easy sharing of images/GIFs/stickers across teams without needing access to SharePoint sites or individual channels as storage and sharing mechanisms. For example, product teams can easily share product images and GIFs to social media, marketing and sales teams programmatically. One can also extend this app by triggering a notification flow to specific teams/individuals when new images/GIFs are made available.
E-Prescriptions ☆
E-Prescriptions is a Power Apps-based app that enhances telemedicine and virtual care by automating the process of issuing e-prescriptions to patients. Medical professionals can quickly review appointments, generate e-prescriptions, and send emails with e-prescription attachments to patients directly within the Teams platform.
Expert Finder
Expert Finder is a Microsoft Teams bot that identifies specific organization members based on their skills, interests, and education attributes. Members find experts within an organization that match a keyword search of Azure Active Directory user profiles.
FAQ Plus
Conversational Q&A bots are an easy way to provide answers to frequently asked questions by users. However, most bots fail to engage with users in meaningful way because there is no human in the loop when the bot fails. FAQ bot is a friendly Q&A bot that brings a human in the loop when it is unable to help. One can ask the bot a question and the bot responds with an answer if it is contained in the knowledge base. If not, the bot allows the user to submit a query which then gets posted to a pre-configured team of experts who help to provide support by acting upon the notifications from within the team itself.
Note
The latest release of FAQ Plus supports improved Q&A resolutions by enabling a team of experts to complete the following:
✔ Add new Q&As directly to the knowledge base using message extensions.
✔ Edit and delete Q&A pairs added by a bot.
✔ Track the revision history of Q&As.
✔ Configure an answer with additional details to display as an adaptive card.
Goal Tracker
The Goal Tracker app is a comprehensive solution for your organization to support establishing goals, observing progress, and acknowledging success within Microsoft Teams. The app enables users to set, track, and update objectives on a professional, personal, and team level. Team members also receive timely reminders and status updates to remain focused and stay on track.
Great Ideas
The Great Ideas app supports and empowers innovation and creativity within your organization. The app enables your employees to share ideas with colleagues and leadership, discover new submissions, spotlight contributions for peer consideration, and cast their vote for the best proposals within Microsoft Teams.
Group Activities
Group Activities is a Microsoft Teams app that makes it easy for team owners to quickly create activity groups and manage collaboration workflows within the context of Microsoft Teams. Activity authors are enabled to create activities, randomly distribute team members in groups, and optionally have the bot send reminders until activities are complete.
Grow Your Skills
The Grow Your Skills app supports professional growth and development by enabling employees to contribute to supplemental projects for your organization while simultaneously learning new skills. Employees can use the app to locate opportunities that meet their interests, enjoy meaningful collaboration with peers, and acquire new levels of expertise and capabilities, all within the Teams environment.
HR Support
HR Support bot is a friendly Q&A bot that brings a support professional/expert from the HR team in the loop when it is unable to help. One can ask the bot a question and the bot responds with an answer if it is contained in the knowledge base. If not, the bot allows the user to submit a query which then gets posted in a pre-configured team of experts who are help to provide support by acting upon the notifications from within their team itself. Additionally, the bot suggests links to recommended HR policies/questions by searching for pre-configured tags in the question. These tiles can also be found in the associated tab as a quick reference. HR Support works well for light weight QnA and to provide quick support when launching new projects/initiatives in the organization.
Icebreaker
Icebreaker is a Microsoft Teams bot that helps your team get closer by pairing two random team members up every week to meet. The bot makes scheduling easy by automatically suggesting free times that work for both members. Strengthen personal connections and build a tightly knit community with this app.
In addition to encouraging personal connections across your entire team, the Icebreaker app can help cultivate interest-based communities within your organization. For example, you can use this app for a DevOps interest group to help ideas and best practices organically spread across your organization.
You can also just email a study archive. If the extension is studyarch, and the recipient has Studies installed, the app will open when the attachment is opened, and offer to import it. The easiest way to see how to setup a study archive is to look at an existing one. Studies mac app import. If you have been using Mental Case on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, you can get a 30% discount by downloading Studies from this web site, and using the coupon MCUPGRADE (not available in Mac App Store). Once Studies is installed, you can migrate all of your data, including the study history and scheduling, when you first launch. In the Calendar app on your Mac, if needed, create a new calendar for the events. Choose File Import. Select the file with the events, then click Import. Choose the calendar to add the events to. You can also drag a file with events to Calendar. The events are added to the calendar selected in the calendar list. By syncing your Mac with an iPhone or iPad: If you don’t use iCloud Photos on your Mac, you can sync your Mac and a connected iPhone or iPad to transfer photos. See Sync photos between your Mac and iPhone or iPad. From cameras or mobile devices: Connect a camera, iPhone, iPad, or other mobile device and import photos and videos from the device.
Incentives
Incentives is a Power Apps template that manages and tracks incentivized employee participation in designated activities such as trainings and change management initiatives. Admins use the app to establish designated activities, assign points for completion, and specify required eligibility point levels for rewards. Employees use the app to view their accumulated points and, upon reaching eligibility, request and claim redeemable rewards.
Incident Reporter
Incident Reporter is a Microsoft Teams bot that optimizes the management of incidents in your organization. The bot facilitates automated incident data collection, customized incident reports, relevant stakeholder notifications, and end-to-end incident tracking.
Open Badges
Open Badges is a Microsoft Teams app that enables individuals to earn digital learning credential badges within the Teams context and share them everywhere. Using capabilities from the third-party digital badge issuing authority, Badgr, awarded badges are recorded in a recipient's Badgr profile and available to build and share a rich picture of lifetime learning journeys.
Poll ☆
Poll is a custom Microsoft Teams messaging extension app that enables you to quickly create and send polls in a chat or a channel to gather team opinions and preferences. The app is supported across all Teams platform clients — desktop, browser, iOS, and Android — and is ready for deployment as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Quick Responses
Quick Responses is a Microsoft Teams app that delivers a robust solution for effectively answering users' commonly asked questions (FAQs). Instead of answering each query manually and continuously repeating information, the app will build a library of responses for an interactive user experience via Teams messaging extensions.
Remote Support
Remote Support is a Microsoft Teams bot that provides a focused interface between support requesters throughout your organization and the internal support team. End-users can submit, edit, or withdraw requests for support and the support team can respond, manage, and update requests all within the Teams platform.
Request-a-team
Request-a-team is a Microsoft Teams app that optimizes new team creation for your enterprise organization. The app supports standardization and best practices when creating new team instances through the integration of a wizard-guided request form, an embedded approval process, a request status dashboard, and automated team builds.
Scrums for Channels
Scrums for Channels is a scrum assistant app that enables users to schedule and run scrums in channels within Microsoft Teams. The app is great for remote teams and teams comprised of members from varied geographical locations and time zones to share daily updates and ensure participation in scrum stand-up meetings.
Note
To conduct scrum meetings in a group chat, please see our Scrums for Group Chat app template.
Scrums for Group Chat
Numbers Templates For Mac
Note
The Scrums Status app template has been updated and is now Scrums for Group Chat.
Scrums for Group Chat is a supportive scrum assistant that enables group chat members to run asynchronous stand-up meetings and easily share their daily updates. It allows all members of the group chat to contribute to the scrum and view the updates made by others in the running scrum.
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The Share Now app promotes the positive exchange of information between colleagues by enabling your users to easily share content within the Teams environment. Users engage the app to share items of interest with team members, discover new shared content, set preferences, and bookmark favorites for later reading.
SharePoint List Search
Collaboration in Microsoft Teams quite often references information contained within items in a SharePoint list. Simply pasting a link to the item in question forces everyone to switch context away from the conversation, find the needed information, then return to Teams to continue the conversation. As the conversation continues typically people will have to switch back to the reference item multiple times to verify new comments and refresh their memories of the information contained within the item. This context switching creates a barrier to smooth collaboration, and is a recipe for things falling through the cracks.
To help alleviate this pain, we are happy to bring to you the List Search app template. Millions of users use SharePoint to power some of the core workflows in their organizations. However, collaborating around lists can be especially tedious. Using the List Search app template in Microsoft Teams, users can insert information from SharePoint list items directly within a chat conversation to alleviate the context-switching caused when simply inserting a link into a chat. The information is inserted as an easy-to-read auto-formatted card, helping your users stay engaged in the conversation.
Staff Check-ins
Staff Check-ins is a Power Apps-based app that enables oversight communication between your business and field personnel. Staff can easily provide time-critical information and status updates on either a scheduled or ad-hoc basis directly from Teams. The app supports real-time location, photos, and notes as well as reminder notifications and automated workflows.
Survey ☆
Survey is a custom Microsoft Teams messaging extension app that enables you to create a survey in a chat or a channel to gather data and gain actionable insight. The app is supported across all Teams platform clients — desktop, browser, iOS, and Android — and is ready for deployment as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Visitor Management ☆
The Visitor Management app enables your organization and employees to easily and efficiently manage the on-site visitor process, directly from Microsoft Teams. The app enables employees to create visitor requests, centrally track a request status through the visitor dashboard, and receive real-time notifications when a visitor arrives.
Workplace Awards ☆
Workplace Awards is a Teams app template that provides a positive framework to foster recognition and encourage the culture of employee appreciation in the modern workplace. The app enables you to setup and manage an employee rewards and recognition (R&R) program where employees can easily nominate and endorse colleagues and your R&R leader can view submitted nominations, grant awards, and announce recipients.
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