How to make a timeline!

Hi marinnn,

"a timeline" can be many different things. A more detailed description of what you want yours to include and to look like might make it easier to provide assistance.

Regards,
Barry

m,

If you search the discussions for "Timeline" in Numbers over the past year, you will find several interesting discussions. I particularly liked this one:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10212987&#10212987

You may find some ideas there that we can help you with.

Regards,

Jerry

marinnn wrote:
Doesn't really help. I need instructions, like what to press, where to place my numbers, etc.

I need help making a regular timeline - one with dates and info ontop/below the dates.

Does the timeline in the message linked in Jerry's post look like you want yours to look?

If it does, then it's possible to give instructions on how to make one looking like that.

If not, then we need to know what's different between that time line and the one you want to create.

As Badunit said in the linked discussion, there's a lot of description needed to set this up. Before heading down that road, it would be handy if you'd supply some information about where we're going.

Regards,
Barry

marinnn,

You'll have to meet us at least half way.

Good luck,

Jerry

marinnn wrote:
Yup it looks exactly like the one in Jerry's link. I tried going through that link again but it's full of cluster, and it's difficult to read & find instructions.

Start by downloading the sample file from Badunit's iDisc by clicking the link. Refer to that file when going through this message.

The File opens with Print View turned on. You may find navigation easier if you go to the View menu and Hide Print View.

In the Sheets list at the left, click on the Chart icon to select the chart and bring it into view on the screen.

Scroll down to view the Timeline table. If you've left the chart selected, you'll see that it's built from values in columns A and C of the Timeline table.

This table has three columns:
A: A list of dates
B: the event to go on the timeline for that date
C: A list of numbers used to position the marker for each date a convenient distance above the timeline.

I would start with an initial value of 20 in all of the active cells in column C. You might want to leave them as is for the moment.

Replace the years in column A with the years, dates or times for your timeline.
Replace the events with your events.

If you have more or fewer events, adjust the number of rows in this table to fit your data, then adjust the size of the rectangles showing the data selected for the chart.

No time for more at the moment, but that should give you enough to get started. More later tonight from either Jerry or me (or both).

Regards,
Barry

marinnn,

What makes it difficult to tell you how to make a timeline in Numbers is that it's not a great tool for making a timeline. It's rather like having only a large hammer, a screwdriver and water pump pliers when you set out to repair a watch. I must say that badunit's result is remarkably good, but not easy to do or describe. If you're going to be doing a lot of this timeline making, you could look into TimelineMaker (timelinemaker.com) or other such special purpose software. A Google search will give you plenty of hits.

When looking at templates and instructions for making timelines in Excel I came to the conclusion that they could take a lesson from badunit. I also came to the realization that automating the process in any way may not be all that important.

After downloading badunit's file, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Jerry