ProGantt User Guide

1. What is ProGantt?

ProGantt is a custom Gantt chart visual for Microsoft Power BI. It renders project schedules directly inside Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service, giving project managers, program leads, and stakeholders a timeline-based view of tasks, dependencies, milestones, baselines, and critical paths — all driven by a flat data table without requiring any external project management tools.

What ProGantt solves:

• Project schedule data lives in spreadsheets or databases but Power BI has no built-in Gantt chart.
• Stakeholders need timeline visibility inside the same report where other KPIs live.
• Large programmes need hierarchy (phases within releases), swimlane grouping by work stream, and comparative baselines to show schedule drift.

Feature tiers:

• Free: Core rendering, up to 1,000 tasks, task bars, hierarchy, milestones, dependencies, tooltips, color-by-field, status indicator, group bands. (Includes a watermark in Power BI Service).
• Pro: Unlocks unlimited tasks (up to 500,000 rows), baseline comparison, critical path analysis, swimlane grouping, advanced category styling (up to 32 slots), bar patterns, and the legend strip. No watermark in Power BI Service. Includes a 1-month free trial via Microsoft AppSource.

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2. Visual Layout Overview

ProGantt consists of two main panels separated by a draggable splitter:

┌──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┐
│                      │  Timeline header (Year/Qtr/Month) │
│   Task Grid          ├───────────────────────────────────┤
│   (left panel)       │                                   │
│                      │   Gantt Chart Area                │
│   ← splitter →       │   (task bars, milestones,         │
│                      │    dependencies, baselines)       │
│                      │                                   │
├──────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┤
│  [Legend strip — optional, below chart]                  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Task grid (left): Shows task hierarchy with expand/collapse arrows (▼▶), sortable columns for Task Name, Start, End, Duration, Resource, % Complete, baselines, deadline, critical flag, category, and status indicator circles. Column widths are resizable by dragging column borders.

Splitter: Drag left/right to change the width ratio between grid and chart.

Timeline header (top-right): Up to 3 configurable rows (Year / Quarter / Month / Week / Day), with vertical grid lines and weekend highlighting.

Gantt chart area: Horizontal task bars, progress overlays, milestone shapes, dependency connectors, baseline bars, swimlane background bands.

Legend strip (optional): Horizontal color swatch row above or below the chart, showing one entry per configured category.

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3. Preparing Your Data

ProGantt reads from a single flat Power BI table. Each row is one task. The hierarchy is built from Task ID and Parent ID values — no nested tables or special data models are required.

3.1 Required Columns (4)

All four columns must be present and bound for the chart to render.

Column	Type	Notes
Task ID	Text or Whole Number	Unique identifier per task. Used in dependency strings (e.g. 3FS means “Task 3, Finish-to-Start”). Cannot be blank.
Task Name	Text	Display label for the task row and bar.
Start Date	Date	Actual task start date. Must be typed as Date in Power BI (not Text).
End Date	Date	Actual task finish date. Must be ≥ Start Date. Equal dates = milestone.

3.2 Optional Columns (17)

Bind any combination of these to unlock additional features.

Column	Type	Feature unlocked
Parent ID	Text or Whole Number	Hierarchy. Match a Task ID in the same table. Blank = root task.
% Complete	Decimal (0–1) or Whole Number (0–100)	Progress overlay on bar.
Resource	Text	Shown in Resource grid column and optional bar label.
Milestone Type	Text	Any non-blank value renders the task as a milestone shape.
Dependencies	Text	Dependency connectors. Format: 3FS, 7SS+2d, 21FF, 28SF-3d. Comma-separated for multiple.
Baseline Start	Date	Baseline 1 start — thin bar below actual bar.
Baseline End	Date	Baseline 1 finish.
Baseline 2 Start	Date	Baseline 2 start.
Baseline 2 End	Date	Baseline 2 finish.
Critical	Any non-blank	Per-task critical flag (overrides CPM calculation for that task).
Deadline Date	Date	Inverted triangle ▼ marker above bar; turns red when End Date > Deadline Date.
Color Field	Text	Drives bar color via Color Rules slots (Format panel → Tasks & Summaries).
Status Indicator	Text	Drives traffic-light circle in grid via Status Indicator slots.
Task Category	Text	Category grouping for per-category styles, swimlanes, and legend.
Tooltip Fields	Any	Extra columns shown in hover tooltip (multiple fields allowed).

3.3 The Category Column

The Task Category column is the key to ProGantt’s category-driven features. Assign a category name to every task row. Tasks with the same value are treated as one group.

Rules:

• Up to 32 distinct category values are fully supported (mapping to Category Style slots 1–32 in the Format panel). More than 32 values still render, but only the first 32 configured styles apply.
• Category names in Format panel slot settings are automatically generated from your data values. No manual matching is required.
• Leave the category blank for root summary tasks if you want them unstyled.
• Category drives three features simultaneously: bar/row styling (Category Style cards), swimlane header rows (Swimlanes card), and the legend strip (Legend card).

Recommended naming: Use clear business-domain names — “Engineering & Build”, “Quality & Testing”, “Project Management” — so the swimlane headers and legend are immediately readable by stakeholders.

3.4 Dependency String Format

The Dependencies column accepts one or more dependency codes, comma-separated.

Format: [Predecessor Task ID][Type][+/-][Lag][d]

Code	Meaning
3FS	Task 3, Finish-to-Start (most common — B starts after A finishes)
7SS+2d	Task 7, Start-to-Start with 2-day lag (B starts 2 days after A starts)
21FF	Task 21, Finish-to-Finish (B finishes when A finishes)
28SF-3d	Task 28, Start-to-Finish with 3-day lead (B finishes 3 days before A starts)
12FS,15SS+1d	Two dependencies on one task (comma-separated)

Lag (positive number): a delay after the relationship point. Lead (negative number): overlap — successor can begin before the predecessor completes.

IDs in dependency strings must exactly match Task ID values in the table.

3.5 Milestone Detection

A task renders as a milestone shape (instead of a bar) if either of these is true:

1. Start Date = End Date (zero duration) — inherent milestone regardless of field binding.
2. Milestone Type column has a non-blank value — any text, even a single space, triggers milestone rendering.

Both conditions independently cause milestone rendering. If you remove the Milestone Type field binding, tasks that relied on condition 2 will revert to bars — but tasks with equal dates will remain milestones.

3.6 Hierarchy Rules

• Parent ID must match an existing Task ID in the same table.
• Circular references (A is parent of B, B is parent of A) are detected and skipped — the child’s parent link is removed.
• Tasks with no Parent ID (or a blank value) are root-level tasks.
• Hierarchy depth is unlimited but deep nesting (>6 levels) reduces readability.
• When Auto-calculate summary dates is enabled (Format panel → Visual), parent task Start/End are computed as min/max of all descendants; % Complete is the duration-weighted average of direct children.

3.7 Data Type Requirements

Power BI’s type system matters for ProGantt:

Column	Required type in Power Query
Start Date, End Date, Baseline dates, Deadline Date	Date (not Date/Time, not Text)
Task ID, Parent ID	Text or Whole Number (both work; stay consistent)
% Complete	Decimal Number (0.0–1.0) or Whole Number (0–100); ProGantt normalizes both
All other columns	Auto-detected type is fine

To change types in Power Query: click the column header → Transform ribbon → Data Type → select Date.

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4. Setting Up in Power BI

4.1 Import Data

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Click Home → Get data → Text/CSV.
3. Select your tab-delimited data file → click Open.
4. In the preview dialog, confirm Delimiter = Tab and the correct column and row count.
5. Click Transform Data to open Power Query Editor.

4.2 Set Date Column Types

In Power Query Editor, for each date column (Start Date, End Date, Baseline Start, Baseline End, Baseline 2 Start, Baseline 2 End, Deadline Date):

1. Click the column header.
2. On the Transform ribbon, click Data Type → Date.
3. If prompted about changing the type, click Replace current.
4. When all date columns are set, click Close & Apply.

4.3 Install ProGantt

1. In the Visualizations pane, click the three dots (…) at the bottom-right.
2. Click Import a visual from a file.
3. Accept the custom visual warning.
4. Browse to the ProGantt dist/ folder → select the .pbiviz file → click Open.
5. Click OK on the success dialog. The ProGantt icon appears in the Visualizations pane.

4.4 Bind All Fields

1. Click the ProGantt icon in the Visualizations pane to add it to the canvas.
2. Resize the visual to fill most of the page.
3. With the visual selected, open the Build visual tab (bar chart icon) in the Visualizations pane.
4. Drag each column from the Fields pane into its matching role slot:

Column in your data	ProGantt role slot
Task ID	Task ID
Task Name	Task Name
Start Date	Start Date
End Date	End Date
Parent ID	Parent ID
% Complete	% Complete
Resource	Resource
Milestone Type	Milestone Type
Dependencies	Dependencies
Baseline Start	Baseline Start
Baseline End	Baseline End
Baseline 2 Start	Baseline 2 Start
Baseline 2 End	Baseline 2 End
Critical	Critical
Deadline Date	Deadline Date
Color Field	Color Field
Status Indicator	Status Indicator
Task Category	Task Category
Budget, Planned Hours, Risk Score	Tooltip Fields (drag each separately)

4.5 Recommended Initial Settings

After binding fields, configure these settings in the Format panel for the best first view:

• Visual → Auto-calculate summary dates: On
• Tasks & Summaries → Bar labels: On; Label content: Task Name; Position: Inside
• Milestones → Show milestones: On; Shape: Diamond
• Dependencies → Show dependencies: On
• Baselines → Show Baseline 1: On; Show Baseline 2: On; Deviation highlight: On
• Critical Path → Show critical path: On; Show near-critical: On; Near-critical threshold: 3
• Status Rules → Show status indicator: On; configure Green/Amber/Red rules
• Table Layout → Show Category: On (if Category is bound)
• Category Styles → Once Task Category is bound, this section appears automatically with one group per category value. Expand each group and assign a distinct bar color (Legend and Swimlanes sections also appear when Category is bound)
• Legend → Show Legend: On; Position: Top
• Swimlanes → Show Swimlanes: On; Sort order: As Data

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5. Feature Guide

5.1 Task Bars and Progress

Task bars are horizontal rectangles whose left edge aligns to Start Date and right edge to End Date on the timeline.

Progress overlay: The left portion of the bar is filled with a darker shade proportional to the task’s % Complete value. A fully filled bar (100%) means the task is complete.

Bar appearance settings (Format panel → Tasks & Summaries):

• Bar color: default fill color for all tasks (overridden by category styles and color-by-field rules)
• Bar height ratio (0.1–1.0): bar height as a fraction of the row height
• Corner radius: rounded bar ends (0 = square, higher = more rounded)
• Bar labels: toggle on/off; choose what to display:
  • Task Name, Task ID, Duration (days), % Complete, Resource, or None
• Label position: Inside bar, Right of bar, or Left of bar
• Summary bar style: Bracket-style (two end caps with connecting line) or Chevron (solid arrow shape pointing right)

5.2 Summary Tasks and Hierarchy

Summary tasks are parent tasks that contain child tasks. They display in a bracket or chevron style (not a normal bar) to distinguish them visually.

Expand/collapse: Click the ▼▶ arrow to the left of a summary task in the grid to show or hide all its descendants. Collapsing a group also removes that group’s task bars, dependency lines, and baseline bars from the chart area — keeping the view focused.

Auto-calculate summary dates (Format panel → Visual → Auto-calculate summary dates):

• On: Parent Start = earliest descendant start; Parent End = latest descendant end; Parent % Complete = duration-weighted average of direct children.
• Off: Parent dates come from your data as-is.

5.3 Milestones

Milestones are zero-duration events shown as shapes (not bars) at a point in time.

Detection rules (either condition independently triggers milestone rendering):

1. Start Date = End Date
2. Milestone Type column has any non-blank value

Shape options (Format panel → Milestones → Milestone shape):

• Diamond ♦ (default)
• Triangle ▲
• Circle ●
• Star ★

Per-category override: Each Category Style slot can override the milestone shape for tasks in that category (see §5.9).

Milestone labels: Toggle on/off independently from task bar labels; configure font family, size, bold, italic, and color.

5.4 Dependencies

Dependency connectors are rectilinear (right-angle) SVG lines with arrowheads drawn between task bars.

Supported types:

Type	Code	Meaning
Finish-to-Start	FS	Successor starts after predecessor finishes
Start-to-Start	SS	Successor starts after predecessor starts
Finish-to-Finish	FF	Successor finishes after predecessor finishes
Start-to-Finish	SF	Successor finishes after predecessor starts

Lag and lead: Positive lag (e.g. +2d) delays the relationship; negative lead (e.g. -3d) allows overlap. Lag values appear as labels at the midpoint of the dependency line.

Critical dependencies: When Critical Path mode is on, dependency lines connecting two critical tasks render in the critical color. Non-critical dependency lines fade when critical path mode is active.

Rendering modes (Format panel → Dependencies → Render range):

• Buffered (default for large datasets): only renders dependencies within a configurable number of rows above/below the viewport.
• Full: renders all dependency lines for all visible tasks (can be slow with many dependencies).

Only visible (non-collapsed) tasks have dependency lines rendered.

5.5 Baselines

Baselines are historical snapshots of originally planned dates. ProGantt supports two independent baselines.

Rendering: Baseline bars appear as thin horizontal strips below the actual task bar.

• Baseline 1: 40% of task bar height, directly below the task bar.
• Baseline 2: thin strip below Baseline 1.

Deviation highlighting (Format panel → Baselines → Deviation highlight):

• Orange indicator: actual start is later than baseline start (delayed start).
• Red indicator: actual end extends beyond baseline end (extended duration).

Multi-layer equal-height mode (Format panel → Baselines → Multi-layer mode):

• All bars (actual, baseline 1, baseline 2) render at equal height in a stacked layout — useful for side-by-side comparison when exact heights matter.

5.6 Critical Path

ProGantt calculates the critical path using the Critical Path Method (CPM) — forward and backward passes through the dependency network.

How it works:

1. Forward pass: computes Earliest Start and Earliest Finish for every task.
2. Backward pass: computes Latest Start and Latest Finish working backwards from the project end.
3. Total Float = Latest Start − Earliest Start. A task with zero float is on the critical path.
4. Circular dependencies are detected and their edges are excluded from the calculation.

Visual indicators:

• Critical tasks (zero float): bar rendered in the critical color (default: red).
• Near-critical tasks (float ≤ threshold, default 3 days): bar rendered in the near-critical warning color.
• Float bar: thin extension to the right of the task bar, showing the float days visually. Length = float days × pixels-per-day.
• Total Float column: shown in the task grid (integer days with d suffix); sortable.
• Dependency fade: non-critical task bars and dependency lines are dimmed when critical path mode is on, drawing attention to the critical chain.

Per-task critical override: Bind a column to the Critical role. Any task with a non-blank value in that column is treated as critical regardless of CPM result — useful when you want to manually flag tasks without needing a dependency network.

5.7 Color-by-Field

Color-by-Field maps a categorical text column to bar colors via configurable rules.

Setup:

1. Bind a column (e.g. “Color Field” with values like “Complete”, “At Risk”) to the Color Field role.
2. In Format panel → Task Bars → Color Rules 1–8, configure up to 8 value/color pairs.
3. Each slot: type the exact value string in “Rule Value” and pick a color in “Rule Color.”

Color priority chain (highest to lowest):

1. CPM critical path color
2. CPM near-critical color
3. Category Style bar color (if Task Category is bound and a matching slot is found)
4. Color-by-Field rule color
5. Default bar color

5.8 Status Indicator

The status indicator is a colored circle displayed in a dedicated column in the task grid, providing a traffic-light view of each task’s health.

Setup:

1. Bind a column to the Status Rules role (values like “Green”, “Amber”, “Red”).
2. In Format panel → Status Indicator → Rule 1–8, configure up to 8 value/color pairs.
3. Each slot: type the value string and pick a color (typically green, amber/orange, red).

Summary task rows can have blank Status Indicator values to keep the summary rows clean.

Toggle: Format panel → Status Rules → Show Status Indicator.

5.9 Task Categories and Category Styling

Task categories let you group tasks by work domain and apply consistent styling across all tasks in a group.

Setup:

1. Bind a column to the Task Category role (e.g. “Category” with values “Engineering & Build”, “Quality & Testing”, etc.).
2. As soon as a category field is bound, the Format panel shows a Category Styles section. It contains one collapsible group per distinct category value found in the data (up to 32 groups). The groups are named automatically after the category values — no manual text entry required.
3. Expand any group and configure its settings:

Setting	Description
Bar Color	Override bar fill color for tasks in this category
Progress Color	Override progress overlay fill color
Bar Border Color	Optional border line color around the bar
Bar Opacity	0–100; reduces bar transparency (useful for background tasks)
Bar Pattern	Solid / Diagonal Stripes / Crosshatch / Dotted
Row Background	Background tint color for grid rows and Gantt row bands in this category
Font Color	Text color for task names and grid cells in this category
Font Bold	Bold font weight for grid cells in this category
Milestone Shape	Inherit (use global shape) / Diamond / Circle / Star / Triangle

Capacity: Supports up to 32 distinct category values. If your data has more than 32 distinct values, only the first 32 are configurable; the remaining categories use the default bar color and no row styling.

Bar patterns are implemented as SVG <pattern> elements in the chart’s <defs> section. They are layered over the bar fill color as a transparent texture. Useful for black-and-white printing — different categories remain distinguishable without color.

Color priority chain: CPM critical > CPM near-critical > Category Bar Color > Color-by-Field > default bar color.

5.10 Swimlanes

Swimlanes group tasks by category with a visual header band separating each group.

Enable: Format panel → Swimlanes → Show Swimlanes.

What it does:

• Injects a full-width “header sentinel row” before each category group in both the task grid and Gantt chart area.
• The header row shows the category name (and optionally task count).
• Rows within each category have a faint background tint from the category’s Row Background setting.
• Separator lines appear at category boundaries.

Sort order options (Format panel → Swimlanes → Sort Order):

• As Data: categories appear in the order they first appear in the data.
• Alphabetical: categories sorted A–Z by category name.
• By Earliest Start Date: categories sorted by the earliest start date among their tasks.

Additional options:

• Show Task Count: header shows “Category Name (N tasks)”.
• Header Background / Font Color / Font Size / Font Bold: style the header band.
• Border Color: color of the separator lines between categories.

5.11 Legend

The legend is a horizontal strip showing one color swatch + label per configured category.

Enable: Format panel → Legend → Show Legend.

Position options:

• Top: legend appears between the legend area and the timeline header.
• Bottom: legend appears below the Gantt chart area.

Swatch shapes: Rectangle, Circle, Line.

Settings: Legend title, font size, font color, background color, swatch size, max rows (legend wraps to multiple rows if too many categories fit in one line).

Swatches use the bar color from each Category Style slot. Categories without a configured slot appear with the default bar color.

5.12 Grid Column Layout

Grid columns are configured entirely through the Column Layout section in the Format panel. There are 16 pre-declared slots, displayed as collapsible groups. Each slot has a Dropdown selector — choose which data column (or special column) to place in that position.

To add a column: Open Format panel → Column Layout → expand an empty slot → select a column from the Dropdown.

To remove a column: Set the slot’s Dropdown to “(none)”.

To reorder columns: Change which slot each column is assigned to (lower slot number = further left).

To resize a column: Drag the right edge of any column header. The last column also has a resize handle on its right side. Widths are saved automatically and survive report refreshes.

Available columns:

Column	What it shows
taskName	Task name (indented per hierarchy level)
startDate	Task start date
endDate	Task end date
duration	Computed duration in days
resource	Resource assignment
percentComplete	% completion
baselineStart / baselineEnd	Baseline 1 start / end dates
baselineStart2 / baselineEnd2	Baseline 2 start / end dates
deadlineDate	Deadline date
critical	Critical flag value
__rowNumber	Sequential row number (#)
__statusIndicator	Status circle (traffic light)
__totalFloat	Total float days (e.g. 5d) — only meaningful when Critical Path is enabled
categoryValue	Task category value
tooltip:*	Any column bound to the Tooltip data role
extra:*	Any column bound to an Extra Column data role

Default layout (slots 1–6): Task Name → Start Date → End Date → Duration → % Complete → Resource.

Auto mode: If all 16 slots are set to “(none)”, all data-bound columns are shown in their natural order.

Minimum column width: 40 px.

5.13 Timeline Navigation

Zooming:

• Hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel over the timeline to zoom in/out (pointer-centered zoom).
• Click the Zoom to Fit button (toolbar) to fit all tasks within the viewport width.
• Click the Zoom to Selection button to zoom to the selected task’s date range.
• Click the Scroll to Today button to jump the timeline to today’s date.

Timeline header rows (Format panel → Timeline Scale → Header Row 1/2/3):

• Each row independently configurable: None / Year / Quarter / Month / Week / Day.
• Rows stack vertically at the top of the chart area; up to 3 rows at once.
• Vertical grid lines align to the minor unit of the bottom-most row.

Weekend highlighting: Non-working day columns (Saturday/Sunday) are shaded with a configurable color and opacity.

Today line: A red vertical line marks today’s date. Toggle and color configurable in Format panel → Timeline Scale.

Status date line: A dashed vertical reference line at a configured date (useful for “as-of” reporting). Set date, color, and visibility in Format panel → Timeline Scale → Status Date.

5.14 Sorting

Clicking a column header cycles through three states:

1. Ascending ▲ — tasks in A→Z / earliest-first order
2. Descending ▼ — tasks in Z→A / latest-first order
3. Reset — all rows return to their original data-source order

Row Sort Mode (Format panel → Table Layout → Row Sort Mode) controls how sorting applies across the hierarchy:

Mode	Behaviour
Data Order	Sorting is disabled; all levels are pinned to data-source order. Sort indicators are hidden and column headers are not clickable.
Within Groups (default)	Only leaf task siblings within the same parent are sorted. Summary tasks keep their original data-source order so the group structure remains stable.
All Levels	Every task node — summary and leaf alike — is sorted uniformly by the chosen column. The hierarchy structure is preserved but summary tasks can reorder relative to each other.

Tiebreaker: When two tasks compare equal on the sorted column, they are ordered by their original data-source position, ensuring stable, predictable results.

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6. Format Pane Reference

ProGantt’s Format panel contains approximately 21 cards. Below is a reference for every card and its key settings.

Canvas & Behavior

Setting	Description
Row Height	Height in pixels for each task row (grid and Gantt)
Show Grid Lines	Horizontal lines between rows
Alternating Row Color	Toggle alternating row background shading
Alternating Row Color value	Color for alternate rows
Auto-calculate Summary Dates	Parent dates/progress derived from children
Show Deadline Markers	Toggle ▼ deadline triangle markers
Missed Deadline Color	Color for missed deadline triangles (default red)
Show Progress Line	Toggle vertical today-line overlay across all bars
Progress Line Color	Color of the progress line

Tasks & Summaries

Setting	Description
Bar Color	Default bar fill color
Summary Bar Color	Summary task bar fill color
Bar Height Ratio	0.1–1.0 fraction of row height
Corner Radius	Rounded bar ends (px)
Summary Bar Style	Brackets or Chevron
Show Bar Labels	Toggle task labels on bars
Label Content	Name / ID / Duration / % Complete / Resource / None
Label Position	Inside / Right / Left
Inside Label Color	Color for labels rendered inside the bar
Label Font Family/Size/Bold/Italic	Label text style
Color Rule 1–8	Value + Color for color-by-field mapping

Milestones

Setting	Description
Show Milestones	Toggle milestone rendering
Milestone Shape	Diamond / Triangle / Circle / Star
Milestone Color	Fill color for milestone shapes
Milestone Size	Size multiplier
Show Milestone Labels	Toggle labels next to milestone shapes
Label Font Family/Size/Bold/Italic/Color	Milestone label text style

Dependencies

Setting	Description
Show Dependencies	Toggle dependency connector lines
Line Color	Dependency line color
Line Width	Line stroke width (px)
Arrow Size	Arrowhead size
Stroke Style	Solid or Dashed
Render Range	Buffered (viewport + buffer) or Full
Buffer Count	Rows above/below viewport to include in buffered mode
Show Lag Labels	Toggle lag value labels at dependency midpoints

Timeline Scale

Setting	Description
Header Background	Timeline header row background color
Grid Line Color	Vertical grid line color
Show Today Line	Toggle red today marker
Today Line Color	Today line color
Show Status Date Line	Toggle dashed reference line
Status Date	Date for the reference line
Status Date Color	Reference line color
Show Non-Working Days	Toggle weekend shading
Non-Working Day Color	Weekend column shading color
Non-Working Day Opacity	Shading opacity (0–100)
Header Row 1/2/3 Scale	None / Year / Quarter / Month / Week / Day
Header Row 1/2/3 Height	Height in pixels per header row

Baselines

Setting	Description
Show Baseline 1	Toggle Baseline 1 bar rendering
Baseline 1 Color	Baseline 1 bar fill color
Show Baseline 2	Toggle Baseline 2 bar rendering
Baseline 2 Color	Baseline 2 bar fill color
Deviation Highlight	Toggle orange/red deviation indicators
Multi-layer Mode	Equal-height stacked bar mode

Critical Path

Setting	Description
Show Critical Path	Toggle CPM calculation and highlighting
Critical Path Color	Color for critical task bars and dependencies
Show Near-Critical	Toggle near-critical task highlighting
Near-Critical Color	Warning color for near-critical tasks
Near-Critical Threshold	Float threshold in days (default: 3)
Show Float Bars	Toggle float extension bars
Float Bar Color	Float bar color
Fade Non-Critical	Dim non-critical tasks when CPM is on
Fade Opacity	Opacity for dimmed non-critical elements

Note: The Total Float column’s visibility is controlled via Column Layout (assign __totalFloat to a slot).

Table Layout (structural)

Setting	Description
Row Sort Mode	dataOrder / withinGroups (default) / allLevels — controls which tasks participate in column-header sorting. See §5.14.
Resizable Columns	Allow users to drag column borders
Default Column Width	Default width (px) for columns with no explicit width
Indent Size	Pixels of indent per hierarchy level

Column Layout

16 slot-based Dropdowns — select which column appears in each grid position. Drag any column border to resize; widths persist across sessions. See §5.12 for the full column reference.

Status Rules

Setting	Description
Rule 1–8	Value (text) + Color for each traffic-light mapping

Note: The Status column’s visibility is controlled via Column Layout (assign __statusIndicator to a slot).

Row Bands

Setting	Description
Show Group Bands	Toggle colored background bands behind the Gantt bars
Band Opacity	Opacity of band shading (5–100%)
Band colors (JSON array)	JSON array of hex colors that cycle across groups, e.g. ["#EFF6FF","#F0FDF4","#FFFBEB"]. Leave blank to use the built-in 6-color pastel palette

How bands are assigned: one band is drawn per summary task at the grouping level. If your data has a single top-level project node (one root task), the bands are drawn for that root’s direct children — the natural phase/workstream groups. If your data has multiple top-level tasks (no common parent), each top-level task gets its own band.

Note: Leaf tasks (tasks with no children) never receive a band. The feature has no visible effect if all tasks are flat (no hierarchy / Parent ID field not bound).

Category Styles (dynamic — only visible when Task Category field is bound)

This section appears automatically when a Task Category field is bound. It contains one collapsible group per distinct category value found in the data (up to 32). Groups are named after the actual category values — no manual text entry required. Each group contains:

Setting	Description
Bar Color	Override bar fill color for tasks in this category
Progress Color	Override progress overlay fill color
Bar Border Color	Optional bar outline color
Bar Opacity	0–100 opacity for bars in this category
Bar Pattern	Solid / Diagonal Stripes / Crosshatch / Dotted
Row Background	Row background tint color for grid rows and Gantt row bands
Font Color	Grid text color for this category’s rows
Font Bold	Bold font weight for this category’s grid text
Milestone Shape	Inherit / Diamond / Circle / Star / Triangle

Legend (only visible when Task Category field is bound)

Setting	Description
Show Legend	Toggle the legend strip
Legend Position	Top or Bottom
Legend Title	Optional title text above the swatches
Font Size	Label text size
Font Color	Label text color
Background Color	Legend strip background
Swatch Size	Size of color swatch shape
Swatch Shape	Rectangle / Circle / Line
Max Rows	Maximum rows before legend truncates

Swimlanes (only visible when Task Category field is bound)

Setting	Description
Show Swimlanes	Toggle swimlane header rows
Sort Order	As Data / Alphabetical / By Earliest Start Date
Header Height	Height of the swimlane header row (px)
Header Background	Header band background color
Header Font Color	Header text color
Header Font Size	Header text size
Header Font Bold	Bold header text
Border Color	Separator line color at category boundaries
Collapse by Default	Start with all swimlane groups collapsed
Show Task Count	Append task count to the header label

Typography → Table Header (text style)

Font family, size, bold, italic, and color for grid column header row labels.

Typography → Table Body (text style)

Font family, size, bold, italic, and color for regular (leaf) task rows in the grid.

Typography → Summary Rows (text style)

Font family, size, bold, italic, and color for summary task rows in the grid.

Timeline Scale — Header (text style)

Font family, size, bold, italic, and color for timeline header labels (year/quarter/month/etc.).

Tooltip (text style)

Font family, size, bold, italic, and color for hover tooltip content.

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7. Keyboard and Mouse Controls

Action	Effect
Click task bar or grid row	Select task (highlights bar and row)
Ctrl + Click	Add to / remove from multi-selection
Click empty chart area	Clear selection
Right-click task	Open Power BI context menu (cross-filter, drill-through)
Arrow Up / Down	Move selection to previous/next visible task
Arrow Left / Right	Scroll timeline left/right
Ctrl + Mouse Wheel	Zoom timeline in/out (pointer-centered)
Drag column border (grid header)	Resize that grid column
Drag splitter	Resize grid/chart panel ratio
Scroll grid	Gantt area scrolls vertically in sync
Scroll Gantt	Grid scrolls vertically in sync
Zoom to Fit button	Fit all task date range in viewport width
Scroll to Today button	Jump timeline to today’s date
Zoom to Selection button	Zoom timeline to selected task’s date range

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8. Performance Tips

• Data limit: ProGantt Pro supports up to 30,000 rows (the Power BI data reduction limit). The Free tier is limited to rendering a maximum of 1,000 tasks.
• Large-data mode: Activates automatically when >4,000 tasks or >8,000 dependency edges are present. In large-data mode, dependency rendering detail is reduced.
• Virtual scrolling: Only rows within the visible viewport are rendered in the DOM. Scrolling is smooth even with thousands of rows.
• Cached model: The data model is re-parsed only when the data or field binding changes, not on every visual update.
• Dependency performance: For reports with >1,000 dependencies, use Buffered render mode (Format panel → Dependencies → Render Range) to limit rendering to the visible rows plus a configurable buffer.
• Bar patterns: SVG patterns are registered once during construction and reused — they do not add rendering time per row.

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9. Troubleshooting and FAQ

Q: My task bars are not showing up. A: Ensure all four required fields are bound: Task ID, Task Name, Start Date, End Date. Check that date columns are typed as Date in Power BI (not Text). If all four are bound and dates are correct, look for data quality issues: Start Date > End Date, or null values in required columns.

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Q: Tasks appear as milestones when they should show bars. A: ProGantt renders a milestone for any task where Start Date = End Date. Ensure End Date is strictly after Start Date for non-milestone tasks. Also check whether the Milestone Type field is bound — any non-blank value in that field triggers milestone rendering regardless of dates.

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Q: My dependency lines are not appearing. A: The dependency string must be formatted as [ID][Type] or [ID][Type][+/-][N]d. Examples: 3FS, 7SS+2d. IDs must match Task ID values exactly (including data type — if Task ID is stored as text “001”, the dependency string must reference “001”, not “1”). Multiple dependencies are comma-separated: 3FS,7SS+2d.

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Q: Category styles are not applying to my tasks. A: First, verify that the Task Category role is bound — drag your category column to the Task Category slot in the Build visual tab. The Category Styles section only appears in the Format panel once a category field is bound. If the section is visible but styles have no effect, check that your data has non-blank Task Category values. Styles are automatically assigned per category value; no manual name entry is needed.

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Q: Color-by-Field rules are not coloring my bars. A: Verify that Color by Field is turned ON in Format panel → Tasks & Summaries. Then check Format panel → Tasks & Summaries → Color Rules 1–8 — each active slot needs a Rule Value that exactly matches the value in your data (case-insensitive, but whitespace must match). Leave unused slots blank.

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Q: Swimlane header rows are not appearing. A: Swimlanes require the Task Category role to be bound. Enable Show Swimlanes in Format panel → Swimlanes. Ensure your data has non-blank Task Category values — rows with blank categories are grouped but may not generate a visible header if there are no category-named groups.

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Q: The legend shows grey swatches instead of colors. A: The legend reads colors from the Category Styles section. Once the Task Category role is bound and you have a Pro license, expand the autogenerated groups under Category Styles and set a distinct “Bar Color” for each category to have them reflected in the legend.

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Q: The chart shows “Add the required fields” even though I bound everything. A: The visual shows partial-binding guidance when only some required fields are bound. If you see “Almost there — please also add: [fields]”, bind those remaining required fields. If all four required fields are bound and you still see an error, check for data quality issues: null Task IDs, all rows having parsing errors, or date values that Power BI is reading as text.

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Q: My hierarchy is not showing correctly — tasks appear at root level. A: Verify that Parent ID values in your data match Task ID values exactly (case-sensitive; same data type). If Parent ID is stored as a number but Task ID is text (or vice versa), the match fails and all tasks appear at root level. Ensure both columns are the same data type in Power Query.

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Q: The critical path calculation doesn’t match my expectations. A: CPM uses the dependency network you’ve defined. If you have tasks not connected by dependencies, they form isolated chains that may not be on the overall critical path. Also verify that dependency strings reference correct Task IDs — a typo causes that dependency to be silently ignored. Use the Total Float column in the grid to inspect float values for each task.

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Q: % Complete values aren’t showing correctly on bars. A: ProGantt accepts either decimal (0.0–1.0) or whole number (0–100) for % Complete. If your values are 0–100 integers and bars show fully filled or empty, check the detected type in Power Query. If Power BI detects it as a decimal, a value of “75” will be treated as 7500% (normalized to 1.0 = full). Set the column type to Whole Number in Power Query if needed.

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Q: Exporting to PDF/PNG doesn’t capture the full chart. A: ProGantt integrates with Power BI’s Rendering Events API for PDF/PNG export. For best results, scroll the Gantt to the beginning and use Zoom-to-Fit before exporting. Very large datasets may require export at a lower zoom level to capture all tasks in one export.