Free Timeline Maker - Create Timelines Online

A timeline shows events in chronological order as points on a line, focusing on when things happened. A Gantt chart shows task duration with horizontal bars, displaying how long each task takes and dependencies between tasks. Use timelines for historical events and milestones; use Gantt charts for project management with task durations.

5-10 events works best for most timelines. This keeps the visualization readable while conveying the key information. For longer histories with more events, consider breaking into multiple timelines (e.g., by decade or category) or using a vertical layout that can accommodate more events.

Yes! The SVG export is vector-based, meaning it prints at any size without losing quality—perfect for posters, reports, and presentations. PNG exports are high-resolution (2x) and suitable for standard printing. For large format printing, we recommend SVG.

Horizontal timelines work best for presentations since they fit naturally on a slide and readers scan left-to-right. Keep to 5-7 events maximum per slide. For more events, use multiple slides or consider a vertical layout in a handout document.

Start with our Education Timeline template, then customize it: (1) Enter your topic as the title, (2) Add your events with dates and descriptions, (3) Use colors to categorize different types of events, (4) Download as PNG to insert into your document or presentation. Keep descriptions brief but informative.

Use PNG for: websites, social media, PowerPoint/Google Slides, email, and quick sharing. Use SVG for: high-quality printing, large posters, professional documents, and when you need to scale the timeline to any size without quality loss.

Yes, timelines you create are yours to use commercially. You can include them in client presentations, business reports, marketing materials, and other commercial work without attribution required.