Create High-Level Timelines to Keep Your Projects on Track

Preceden is an intuitive web-based timeline maker that helps you gain clarity, align your team, and reach your project milestones on time.

A Preceden project timeline with website and advertising layers, showing task bars, percent complete and milestones

Trusted by project managers at organizations including

As a project manager I need to make a lot of timelines to communicate plans and progress to clinicians, administrators, and managers. Creating timelines in other tools just takes too long, and the results are often disappointing and difficult to update. With Preceden I can visualize a complex project plan in minutes, share it with my team and stakeholders, and keep it updated as the project progresses. Read More

Paul S

Paul S

Project Manager, Digital Transformation

Visualize Complex Projects in Minutes

Preceden's easy-to-use interface lets you create, collaborate on, and share timelines quickly, so your time goes into the project instead of into learning heavyweight project planning or Gantt chart software.

A project timeline with Web and Platform layers, green and blue task bars labelled Mockups, Dev, Design, Testing and API Documentation, each with its date range printed under it, and a red vertical marker line running through the chart

Gain Insights and Align Your Team

Track progress and identify gaps so you and your team can see where the project stands and what needs to change to reach your milestones on time.

Three layers of a project timeline stacked under Jul and Oct axis labels: blue Development, Beta Testing and Bug Fixes bars joined by a dependency line, a green layer showing 20% and 100% complete alongside a milestone icon, and a gold Develop Personas bar at 33% complete

Collaborate With Ease

Avoid time-consuming back and forth over email and Slack by inviting your coworkers to contribute directly to your timelines.

The Collaborators dialog listing three invited email addresses marked Invitation Sent, each with Resend and Remove links, above an email field and a Send Invitation button

Advanced Features for Project Managers

Preceden's project timeline maker is simple on the surface but powerful underneath. Dependencies, percent complete, milestones, bulk editing, and more let you build professional timelines, roadmaps, and Gantt charts.

The event editor with the Dependent box checked and a This event starts after menu open, listing other events to start this one from, beside an End Date and a 20% Percent Complete field

Share in a Variety of Ways

When you're ready, share your timeline as a link, a PDF, an image, or an HTML embed, export it to PowerPoint or a spreadsheet, or present it in our built-in presentation mode.

A Preceden timeline exported into PowerPoint, filling a slide titled Product Roadmap with three colored layers of labelled task bars

Everything Project Managers Need to Create Project Timelines

Here's what you can do with Preceden.

Drag and Drop

Update dates and reposition events in seconds as your project progresses.

Zoom

View all events at once or zoom in to focus on a specific time period.

Connections

Draw connecting lines between related events to show how they fit together.

Bulk Editor

Add and edit many events at once in a spreadsheet-like grid, instead of one at a time.

Dependencies

Make events start when other events end to minimize updates when plans change.

Time Support

Specify the exact times events start and end to build more granular timelines.

Privacy Controls

Control who can see your timeline by making it private, password-protected, or accessible via a secret URL.

Percent Complete

Visualize the status of events by indicating the percent completed.

Legends

Add a legend to inform viewers what the colors you've chosen represent.

Spreadsheet Import

Create professional timelines in a flash by importing data directly from XLSX or CSV files.

Images

Upload images or search the web for Creative Commons photos to display on your timelines.

Themes

Apply one of our built-in themes to change how a timeline looks.

Approximate Dates

Mark event dates as approximate to signal to viewers that there's no exact date yet.

Duplication

Save time by quickly duplicating events, layers, or even entire timelines.

Search & Filter

Search a crowded project timeline to show only the events you care about.

Durations

Save time by entering a duration like "3 weeks" as the end date and Preceden will calculate the actual date for you.

Optional End Dates

Events with an end date appear as a bar; events without one appear as a single icon.

Icons

Choose from over 4,600 icons, from shapes to social media icons, to enhance the presentation of your timelines.

Notes

Attach notes to an event, a layer, or the timeline as a whole to record extra detail.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Build project plans faster by using keyboard shortcuts instead of your mouse.

Date Picker

Pick a date from the calendar, or type it in when you want control over the format.

What Project Managers Are Saying About Preceden

Preceden lets us see an overview of what’s happening in sales, marketing, production, and R&D. By visualizing all of the moving parts, Preceden helps us identify any gaps and plan accordingly. Read More

Guillaume Fouquet

Guillaume Fouquet

Marketing Manager, FullSave

One of the greatest benefits of Preceden's timeline maker software is when I use a timeline in a contract for a new client. By including a timeline that shows a detailed scope of work in the contract, I set the exact expectations that I’m going to fulfill, increasing client satisfaction with my consulting services. The timeline creator and timeline templates are very intuitive and quick, so it contributes to a more efficient use of my time. Read More

Josemaria "Chema" Mora

Josemaria "Chema" Mora

Owner, La Bodega de Chema

Unless you're a Certified Associate in Project Management, using project management software like Microsoft Project or Merlin Project is complicated at best. If you want to get similar results with software you can start using with virtually no learning curve, this is it. I bought Preceden today and quickly produced an impressive, very detailed marketing action plan for a client that even included our logo. The Gantt charts it produces on the fly look not only professional (even beautiful?) but they are also functional with the ability to create dependencies as well as incorporate detailed notes that show up on hover as well as being listed below the chart. But the clincher for me is that Preceden not only lets me send a link to the timeline, it also lets me download it as a PDF that I can share with my clients.

No other timeline maker out there has been as easy to use to structure the schedules for our teams and paint a clear picture for executives. Preceden saves me time and helps improve communication across the board. I've been waiting for a tool like this for years!

Nick Maselli

Nick Maselli

Operations Lead, Comcast

In my role as a strategic communications coordinator at a large organization, Preceden allows me to clearly and beautifully communicate a campaign plan by highlighting key dates, milestones, themes, as well as other events to keep in mind (in a separate layer). I usually have to take a moment to respond to people's questions about how I made the timeline before getting to the campaign itself. It's really that striking. Preceden is gold and here's the best part about it: it's super easy to use.

Timira Cobbs

Timira Cobbs

Strategic Communications, Cambia Health Solutions

Preceden is exactly what I have been looking for to create beautiful and informative timelines for my projects and business. It's a much more user-friendly version of Gantt charts without having to use more advanced project management tools to quickly create and share timelines.

Aliya Amershi

Aliya Amershi

CEO, AskaTechie.com

I tried several other timeline makers and they were all very complicated. Preceden is extremely intuitive. There are a lot of project management tools out there but I didn’t need such a heavy solution for presenting our roadmap to the team. Read More

Paul Geler

Paul Geler

President, AHK Solutions

Preceden's timeline creator makes it incredibly easy for a project lead to post an integrated timeline to the team. I highly recommend Preceden as a project management tool for anyone who values clear communications as a key ingredient to success.

Michael Oas

Michael Oas

President, Communicating IT Inc

As a construction marketing professional, Preceden is a great tool that allows me to easily manage and track various activities including events and conferences, community involvement, public relations, advertisements, promotional campaigns, and project milestones. It allows me to effectively communicate upcoming tasks and workload to my team in a visual format, so we can execute our marketing strategy and achieve results.

Alexis Raterman

Alexis Raterman

Senior Marketing Specialist, JE Dunn Construction

Our agency was in need of a simple way to create and show clients a marketing timeline for our proposed services. Our intern came across Preceden and we haven't looked back. We use the timeline to give clients a high level overview of our marketing plan for their business. They love being able to easily visualize what otherwise would look like a very complex plan in a written proposal.

Jason Eagleson

Jason Eagleson

Founder at Eighty6

The timelines that Preceden helps me create are perfect for my managers and executives who only need to see a high level overview of tasks and milestones. Simple and intuitive, I love using this tool!

Allen Lai

Allen Lai

Technical Program Manager, Box

As a Release Manager, I use Preceden to plan our high level release schedule as well as the detailed level release hardening activities. Preceden gives me a great overview of what is happening when and the simple user interface makes the job of setting it up simple and intuitive. My team of 100+ software developers can easily visualize where we are by finding the relevant timelines embedded in our internal knowledge-base.

Dagfinn Rosnes

Dagfinn Rosnes

Manager, Software Development at Tieto

Preceden helps us better serve our clients. It is well thought through and the perfect balance of simple with solid functionality. It's just super smart.

Richard Reising

Richard Reising

Founder, Artistry Labs

We have been looking for a while to have an easy way to create timeline overviews that are also easy to maintain while projects are progressing. An easy way to export the timelines to PowerPoint helps a lot in keeping the project owners informed how the progress of the tasks and overall project. Preceden will be of great benefit for us as we expand our business into other countries.

I created my first timeline in no time with dependency logic, layers, and relationships. It looks fantastic. There are several export options including CSV and presentation mode. It's really a great product and it provides the great visual solution. If you have to make such timelines for project planning and progress, this is a fantastic product and worthy of your consideration!

Preceden has all the features I was expecting in an online timeline maker and more. For example, I wasn't expecting to be able to allocate percent complete, although I'm glad that is an option as it helps with sharing status. You can also add project dependencies, which is a nice touch, as some roadmap tools just create the bars without allowing you to link between them. It also has plenty of personalization options that make it well suited for project management and teams looking to create visual roadmaps.

Let me save you a ton of time! I was doing a volunteer project back in January of this year and spend literally the better part of an entire week looking for a good timeline solutions (free ones, paid ones, and crazy attempts with PowerPoint, Google Slides, and spreadsheets). The Preceden team has created the best timeline software out there. Full stop. It is nice to look at, flexible, and they are continually making it even better. If you need to create a timeline, you're going to love Preceden.

Kim Hoyer

Kim Hoyer

Founder & CEO, Stand Up Now

FAQs about Preceden

What is a project timeline?

A project timeline is a project plan laid out on a date axis. Each phase, task and milestone sits where it falls in time, so a reader can see what runs in parallel, what has to finish before something else can start, and which dates the work is heading toward. In Preceden you build one by adding events with start and end dates, grouping them into layers for your teams or workstreams, and marking the fixed dates as milestones.

How do I make a timeline with Preceden?

After you sign up, you'll pick a starting layout and color theme, then name the timeline. As you add events, Preceden updates the timeline visualization automatically.

Why choose Preceden?

Project managers choose Preceden for its straightforward interface and visualization features, which make a project timeline quick to build. There is no complex software to learn, so you will be up and running in minutes.

Can I create a timeline for free?

Yes, you can sign up and create unlimited project timelines with up to 10 events each for free. We have paid plans that let you add unlimited events and also provide more advanced functionality.

What if I have more questions?

Browse our support docs for answers, or drop us a note anytime and we'll get back to you shortly: [email protected]

Preceden for Other Kinds of Timelines

Preceden is built for more than one kind of timeline. Here's what else people use it for.