OpenOffice is a free, fully featured, office software program with a spreadsheet (OpenOffice Calc) that rivals Excel. It can be downloaded from OpenOffice for free. The OpenOffice Spreadsheet can be used to create a basic Gantt Chart suitable for small projects.
The basis for the Gantt Chart in OpenOffice is the stacked bar chart with two data sets, the days from the start of the project to the start of the task, and the days required for the task. By changing the colour of the first part of the stacked bars then the result looks like the usual task bar in a Gantt Chart. Nice trick!
Step 1 - Start the table
With a blank sheet open, create the initial table by adding column headers for Tasks, Days to Start & Duration. Format the headers as required.
Step 2 - Add tasks to the table
Add the task details, when they are planned to start in days from the beginning of the project, and the expected duration in days. These values can be adjusted later as needed, and even values (tasks) inserted between others or added on.
Step 3 - Select all of the table cells
Drag over the table cells to highlight everything from the headers, starting in the top left, to the end of the data at the bottom right.
Step 4 - Insert a Stacked Bar Chart
Now that the table of tasks and timings is ready and selected then the initial chart can be added. Go to the Insert menu item on the top bar to open the drop down, and select Chart... The new chart will initially be a standard bar chart, with the Chart Wizard open below it. Use the Choose a chart type option to select Bar and then Stacked, then select Finish.
Step 5 - Format the bars to Gantt style
Select the first data series on the chart (the Days to Start part) which are blue in the example. Then select Format at the top to open the drop down menu and select Format Selection..., or use the Format Selection button that should appear in the top menu bar. This will open the Data Series dialogue box where Area and Fill can be set to None. This will make the blue colour disappear leaving just to Duration element of the bar as in a Gantt Chart.
Step 6 - Set Tasks to the correct order
By default the chart will have the Tasks in the wrong order, starting with last at the top.Double click the chart to open it and right click on the Tasks to open the menu, then select Format Axis. Or select the X Axis in the drop down selection in the menu bar above and select Format Selection next to it to open the X Axis formatting dialogue box. Under the Scale option choose Reverse direction and click Ok.
The Gantt Chart can be further customised as needed by removing or changing the titles, or adjusting the colours etc.
Download the example Simple Gantt Chart for OpenOffice.
