Office Timeline Review: Is It Worth the Money for Project Presentations?

If you've ever spent hours wrestling with PowerPoint shapes trying to create a decent-looking project timeline, you already know why Office Timeline exists. It's a specialized tool that turns your project data into polished Gantt charts and timelines without the headache.

But is it worth paying for when you could technically build timelines manually? Let me break down exactly what you get, what it costs, and who should actually buy it.

What Is Office Timeline?

Office Timeline is a Gantt chart and timeline maker that works as a PowerPoint add-in for Windows and as a web-based app. It's designed for project managers, consultants, marketers, and anyone who needs to present project schedules to stakeholders without making them fall asleep.

The tool transforms your project data into professional-looking visuals that communicate milestones, deadlines, and project phases clearly. You can import data directly from Excel, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, or Wrike, which saves a ton of time if you're already managing projects elsewhere.

Office Timeline Pricing Breakdown

Here's what you'll actually pay:

Office Timeline Add-in (for PowerPoint)

Office Timeline Online (Web App)

All paid plans are annual subscriptions billed per user. No monthly options. If you need multiple licenses for a team, you'll need to pay for each person individually.

Key Features That Actually Matter

PowerPoint Integration

This is the big selling point. Office Timeline lives inside PowerPoint, so you're not learning a new tool. You get a new ribbon tab, and everything you create is native PowerPoint—meaning you can share slides with anyone, whether they have Office Timeline installed or not.

Data Import & Sync

You can import project data directly from Excel, MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, and Wrike. The sync feature is genuinely useful—update your source file, hit sync, and your timeline updates automatically. No manual re-entry.

Swimlanes

The Plus and Expert plans let you organize tasks by team, phase, or department using swimlanes. It adds clarity when you're presenting complex multi-track projects to stakeholders.

Planned vs. Actual (Expert Only)

The Expert plan includes tracking that shows how actual progress compares to your original plan. This is valuable for project status meetings where you need to visualize delays or ahead-of-schedule work.

Dependencies & Critical Path (Expert Only)

If you need to show task dependencies and critical paths on your timeline, you'll need the Expert edition. This helps teams prioritize tasks, identify bottlenecks, and understand the sequence of work.

What's Good About Office Timeline

Time savings are real. What takes hours manually in PowerPoint takes minutes with Office Timeline. The drag-and-drop interface and templates eliminate the tedious work of positioning shapes and connecting lines.

The output looks professional. The timelines actually look polished enough for executive presentations. Users consistently mention getting compliments on their project slides after switching to Office Timeline.

Familiar environment. Because it works inside PowerPoint, there's almost no learning curve. You already know how to use PowerPoint, so you're just learning a few new menu options.

Easy updates. The sync function with Excel and other sources means you can update project data once and refresh your timeline instantly. This is huge for recurring status reports.

What Sucks About Office Timeline

Windows only for the add-in. The PowerPoint add-in is only available on Windows. Mac users are stuck with the web app, which has different capabilities.

Not real-time collaboration. You can share timelines, but there's no simultaneous editing like Google Docs. For real-time teamwork, you'll need other tools.

Limited support hours. Customer support availability is restricted, which can be frustrating if you're working nights or weekends on a deadline.

Per-user pricing adds up. At $149-199/year per person, team costs escalate quickly. A 5-person project team would pay $745-995 annually.

Not a full PM tool. Office Timeline is for visualization only. Don't expect resource scheduling, budgeting, or task assignment features. It's specifically for creating presentation-ready timelines, not managing projects end-to-end.

Who Should Use Office Timeline?

It's a good fit if you:

Skip it if you:

Office Timeline Alternatives Worth Considering

If Office Timeline doesn't fit your needs, here are some options:

GanttProject - Free and open source, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Good for basic Gantt charts without the cost.

Preceden - Web-based timeline maker starting at $12/month. Easier to use with more customization options according to some users.

Monday.com - Full project management platform with timeline views built in. Better if you need actual project management, not just visualization. Check out our Monday.com pricing breakdown and Monday.com review.

Smartsheet - Another full PM tool with Gantt capabilities. Office Timeline actually integrates with it, so you could use both.

Free PowerPoint templates - If you only need occasional timelines, free templates might be enough. They're just more manual to update.

The Bottom Line

Office Timeline solves a specific problem well: turning project data into professional presentation graphics quickly. If you spend hours building timeline slides manually, the time savings alone justify the $108-199/year.

But it's not a project management tool. It's a visualization tool. If you need task management, team collaboration, or resource planning, look at full PM platforms like Monday.com, Asana, or similar tools.

For project managers and consultants who live in PowerPoint and need to communicate project status clearly, Office Timeline delivers. The free version is genuinely useful for simple timelines, and you can always upgrade when you hit limitations.

Try Office Timeline Free →