Write date | title | note, like 1969-07-20 | Moon landing. Dates: 1969, 1969-07, 20 Jul 1969, 44 BC or -44. A range like 1914-1918 | World War I becomes a bar. No date? The event keeps its place in the list. You can paste columns from a spreadsheet.
Advanced options
About the timeline maker
A timeline shows events in the order they happened, on one line. It is the quickest way to tell a story with dates: the history of a country, the steps of a project, or the big moments of your own life.
This free timeline generator works without an account. You type your events, one per line, and the picture is drawn while you type. Make it horizontal or vertical, place the events evenly or to scale with the real time between them, and turn date ranges into bars. Pick one of eight styles, then download a sharp PNG or an SVG for slides, posters, reports and school projects.
Features
- Type or use a table — write lines like 1969-07-20 | Moon landing, or fill in rows; paste columns from a spreadsheet
- Many date formats — 1969, 1969-07, 20 Jul 1969, Jul 20, 1969, Q3 2026, 44 BC or -44
- Ranges as bars — 1914-1918 | World War I becomes a bar on its own lane
- Even or to scale — the same gap between events, or the true time between them with a time scale
- No overlapping labels — labels go above and below on as many levels as needed, with thin lines to their dot
- Eight styles — from a clean line to a dark screen look, each with its own colours
- Sizes for every use — automatic, slide 1920 × 1080, A4 or Letter, square, or tall for phones
- PNG and SVG — a PNG at twice the size (also with a transparent background) or a vector SVG
How to use it
- Type one event per line: date | title | note, for example 1989 | World Wide Web | Tim Berners-Lee proposes it
- Or click an example: Project plan 2026, History of the internet, My life, Apollo missions or Ancient Rome
- Choose Horizontal or Vertical, and Even or To scale
- Pick a style and a picture size, and change the text size if you like
- Turn on the Today line for a project plan
- Click Download PNG or Download SVG — or Fullscreen to show it on a big screen
Writing your events
- Date — a year (1969), a month (1969-07 or July 1969), or a day (1969-07-20, 20 Jul 1969, Jul 20, 1969). Years before Christ: 44 BC or -44
- Range — two dates with a dash, to or .. between them: 1914-1918, 2026-02-02 - 2026-03-13, 2008 to now
- Title and note — the note is the small text under the title. Long text wraps by itself, also in Chinese, Japanese and Korean
- Colour — add a fourth part like #e11d48 or red to give one event its own colour
- No date — just write the title. The event keeps its place between the events around it
If a line cannot be read, the tool tells you which line and why, and draws all the others.
Even or to scale?
| Spacing | Good for | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Even | stories, school posters | the same gap between all events |
| To scale | history, project plans | real time gaps, a time scale, ranges as bars |
With to scale, events that are close in time get their labels on more levels, above and below the line, so nothing covers anything else. Even 50 events fit: the text gets a little smaller or the picture gets taller.
Eight styles
- Clean line — coloured dots on a light grey line
- Milestones — big circles with the year inside
- Arrow — a dark arrow with diamond markers and cards
- Roadmap — rounded cards on a colourful band, great for project plans
- Dark — glowing dots on navy, for dark slides
- Pastel — soft colours and round labels
- Handwritten — a hand-drawn look with a dashed line
- Minimal — black and white, thin lines, saves ink
The style only changes the look. Your events stay the same.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a timeline online for free?
Type each event on its own line as "date | title", for example "1969-07-20 | Moon landing". The timeline appears at once. Pick a style and download it as PNG or SVG. There is no sign-up and no watermark.
Can I make a vertical timeline?
Yes. Set Direction to Vertical. The labels sit left and right of the line, or all on one side. The Tall (phone) size is good for stories and phone screens.
How do I show years before Christ?
Write 44 BC or -44. A range like -264 - -146 or 264 BC to 146 BC works too. The labels show "44 BC".
Can I use it as a project timeline maker?
Yes. Use dates like 2026-03-16 for milestones and ranges like 2026-04-06 - 2026-08-14 for phases. Choose To scale, the Roadmap style and the Today line. For tasks that depend on each other, the Gantt Chart Maker is better.
Can I paste my events from Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes. Copy the columns date, title and note, and paste them into the text box or into a box of the table. A header row is skipped.
Is my data saved or uploaded?
No. The timeline is drawn in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Only your chosen style is remembered on this device.
Good to know
- The PNG is made at twice the size, so it stays sharp on slides and in print
- The SVG opens in Inkscape, Illustrator, Figma and most office apps, and you can still change it there
- Fonts are the ones on your device. The Handwritten style looks a little different on Windows, Mac and phones
- Dates written like 03/04/2026 are read as month/day on the English page; write 2026-04-03 to be sure
- Very long texts are cut after a few lines with "…"
Related tools
- Gantt Chart Maker — plan tasks with lengths, phases and "after" links
- Family Tree Maker — draw your family over the generations
- Chart Maker — bar, line and pie charts from your numbers
- Printable Calendar — a calendar to print for any month or year
- Date Calculator — count the days between two dates
