Gantt Chart

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Cons → Group Schedule

Command ID: btnDrawGanttChart

License required

This command needs an active DVDAddin account (Standard or PRO). It is fully available during the trial period.

What it does

Draws a construction Gantt chart directly on the Excel sheet from your task table (task name, start / finish dates, % complete…). The command auto-detects the header row and the data range, so you never have to declare the range by hand.

Use it whenever you need a schedule to show the client or the site supervisor without leaving Excel for MS Project. After the first draw, turn on Auto Calc and Auto Draw so the chart keeps itself up to date as you edit.

How to use

1. Open the schedule sheet and put the cursor anywhere inside the task table (or select the data range).
2. Go to the DVD Cons tab → Schedule group → click Gantt Chart.
3. The Draw Gantt window appears with three fields:
   • Chart scale — pick Month, Week or Day. The default comes from your Gantt settings.
   • Column width — width of each time column. Defaults to 24 for Month and 12 for Week; the field is disabled when you pick Day.
   • Start column — the column letter where the chart area begins (for example AD). Leave it blank to let the add-in choose.
4. Click Draw (or Cancel to back out). Invalid input is flagged inline: the width must be a number greater than 0, and the start column must be letters only.
5. The chart is drawn silently — no further prompts — to the right of your data, using exactly the scale and start column you chose.

Example

A structural-works schedule for a 12-storey apartment block: 60 activities from Pile driving to External finishes, with data columns ending at column AC.

Put the cursor on any task-name cell, click Gantt Chart, then set Chart scale = Week, Column width = 12, Start column = AD. Click Draw — the weekly bar chart appears from column AD onward, one bar per activity, with the completed portion shaded according to the % complete values in the table.

Notes

• The options you pick are remembered for later automatic redraws, so Auto Draw will keep the same scale and start column.
• With the Day scale, Column width is locked — the add-in uses a fixed width for daily columns.
• The sheet must contain the schedule columns the add-in recognises (Start / Finish / Duration…). If it does not, start from the Gantt Tpl template or Import XML (P6/MSP).
• Drawing overwrites the previous chart area on the sheet and cannot be undone with Ctrl+Z — save the file before the first draw on important data.
• Do not trigger the command while a cell is in edit mode (cursor blinking inside a cell) — Excel will refuse the operation.

Related

• Auto Calc — turn on so dates recalculate whenever you edit Duration / Start / Finish.
• Auto Draw — turn on so the Gantt redraws itself and you need not click this command again.
• Setup — change the default scale, working calendar and column visibility.
• Gantt Tpl — open a template workbook that already has the column layout this command expects.