Is there a way to ONLY display the Gantt chart in my dashboard widget?

bdchapin

For this particular use case, we only want to see the Gantt cart and don't care about the data in the left pane.



I want to be able to show a real time timeline display in the dashboard. But the widget not only displays the sheet view of the data, but it seems to favor it as well limiting my ability to set the pane size allowing a decent view of my Gantt chart.



The only way I have found to get JUST the Gantt data is to print it to a file, but that eliminates the real time aspect.



I've seen another post or two asking, but only generic replies telling somebody how to view the Gantt data. It seems like there should be a way to do what I want. 

-b

MichelleMWatkins

Hello,

Since its a report that you display on the dashboard and it can be different than the underlying sheet(s), have you played around with hiding the columns in the report to minimize what is displayed on the dashboard besides the gantt chart?

It may require you to show at least 1 column, but its worth a shot.

bdchapin

That was a nice idea, but it didn't really change anything. the columns went away, but the primary column just got wider. It feels like the dashboard widget is hard coded so that the sheet details are at least 65% of the display.

 

 

 

bdchapin

This post/question didn’t get much attention and I had to dive into this a bit on my own. It doesn’t appear to allow me to do what I want, so I am punting for now. However I thought I would share my conclusions in case anybody else is looking to do the same thing.

 

The problem is that I want a live or real time display of the project timeline (gantt). We want a nice crisp view of this data that can be used on a dashboard, as well as captured in a screenshot and posted on update slides.

 

1.  Smartsheet doesn’t seem to let you ONLY use a gantt for a live view.
   1. In the live views (both reports and dashboards) you must at least have the primary column displayed in the sheet portion.
      1. On the dashboard (best option for live viewing) you have minimal control over width of the gantt, it seem to be predetermined by the duration of the tasks and the zoom level (more below).
      2. In reports you have lots of control over the slider between the sheet and gantt views and may be able to find a good balance.
   2. You can get a gantt only image by going into the report and printing to a file, it gives you the option to ignore the sheet columns.
2. The width of the gantt seems to be set based on the duration of the items and the zoom level, it doesn’t seem to ‘zoom to fit’.
   1. On a dashboard, if you are zoomed out so you can see the whole project, this may force your sheet portion of the view to be extra wide, like in capture 1.  
   2. If you zoom out you can no longer set see the entire gantt on the view, but you can now adjust the pane divider like in capture 2.

SLatchford

I also need this feature (showing the Gantt only), and when I try to use minimal columns and the Gantt, I too do not like the limitations on sizing. 

I decided to show the date columns to provide clear indication on the timeline (since my Gantt shows only quarters). I found I needed to do two things: 

First, if I keep adjusting the width of the date columns in the report, then slide the Gantt divider way over to the left in the widget (appearing to obscure the date columns) it shows a little better. I had to do this several times until I got the Gantt the best size possible. 

Second, then shrink the report w/Gantt widget's width very small. I found I can slide the Gantt to the left even more. I go back to the dashboard and view, then pull the widget width until the desired size. This bought me a little more room on the Gantt side. 

David Ungar

Another way around this (not super elegant, but another option) is to publish the report and add it to the dashboard as a Web Content widget.  That comes with its own set of ugliness (eg can't remove formatting, some control objects appear in the view) .. and you still have to show at least one data column .. but you CAN make the gantt fill up nearly the whole width of the dashboard even if the dates don't extend that far.

 

KW Xero

I wanted to second that this is a feature I would get use out of (and would make me look good for our stakeholders) if Smartsheet did invest in allowing us to show just the Gantt chart.

John Dickens

The  best solution would be a chart that picks up the dates and lays them out as a Gant timeline.

Andrew Goldberg

I would like to add a related point to this thread. I am not aware of a way to display a gantt on a dashboard including the relationship between tasks and subtasks. This task/subtask view is available within the project plan sheet but not in the project plan report which must be created to source a dashboard. This would be a nice feature to consider for future enhancement.

Matt M.

I also need this requested feature.

Amy Kerr

Thanks for the helpful comments. Adding one more request: the dashboard should respect "Open to today's date" setting in the Timeline Display in Project Settings. It works in Gantt view but it's gone when viewed in a dashboard.