Timelines that come from your project plan
Every time the plan moves, someone rebuilds the status slide by hand. Lucen Timeline pulls your schedule from Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira or Excel and, on our Expert plan, refreshes it in one click, with every change listed before it lands.
Free plan available · PowerPoint add-in for Windows · Formerly Office Timeline
Where does your schedule live?
thinkcell is used by all of the world's top 10 consulting firms. It covers more than 40 chart types, including waterfalls and Mekkos, runs inside PowerPoint on Windows and Mac, and can update a chart automatically when its linked Excel range changes. If your deck is mostly charts and your schedule already lives in Excel, thinkcell is the stronger suite. If your plan lives in Microsoft Project, Smartsheet or Jira, Lucen Timeline brings it straight onto the slide and keeps it current.
Lucen Timeline vs thinkcell
How the two compare for project managers who present schedules in PowerPoint.
(Expert plan)
Based on publicly available information on lucensoftware.com, help.lucensoftware.com and thinkcell.com, checked October 19, 2026.
Pricing, side by side
Refresh from every source
Prices per user per month. Lucen Timeline is billed annually; thinkcell is licensed per user for a one-year period. Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked October 19, 2026. thinkcell Suite also includes 40+ chart types beyond Gantt.
Built for the plan you already have
Your plan comes in from where it lives
Import a Microsoft Project file, a Smartsheet sheet, a Jira project, a Wrike project or an Excel sheet, and Lucen Timeline turns it into a timeline made of native PowerPoint shapes. Columns in your plan can become swimlanes. On Expert, Project, Smartsheet, Jira and Excel imports stay linked to their source, so next week's update starts from the same file.
On Expert, refresh with a change list
When the plan moves, click Refresh Data. Lucen Timeline compares your slide with the source and lists every changed, deleted and new item, with the differences highlighted. You pick what lands. Refresh goes one way, so your .mpp, sheet or Jira project is never touched.
Schedule logic that lives on the slide
Link tasks with four dependency types and their dates shift when a predecessor moves. Turn on the critical path and Lucen Timeline calculates it for you. On Expert, planned vs. actual shows each task's baseline under its current dates.
Colleagues can open and edit it
Lucen Timeline draws native PowerPoint shapes, so anyone can open, present and edit the slide in PowerPoint. To keep refresh working, make structural changes with the add-in.
Familiar frustrations, fixed
Votre plan est dans un outil, mais la direction attend autre chose.
Les plans restent dans Microsoft Excel, mais les mises à jour doivent être prêtes à être présentées. Lucen Plan structure le travail, et Lucen Timeline le transforme en une vue claire pour les parties prenantes en un seul clic.
Vous suivez les dépendances, mais les priorités bougent.
Les petits changements se propagent rapidement à travers les plans, les échéances et les parties prenantes. Lucen Plan maintient les dépendances structurées à la source, tandis que Lucen Timeline reflète l'impact instantanément pour que vous gardiez le contrôle à mesure que les priorités évoluent.
Vous passez plus de temps à rapporter qu'à livrer.
Les rapports d’avancement ne devraient pas nécessiter de refaire les présentations. Lucen Timeline maintient des rapports fiables et à jour grâce à des modèles standardisés et une mise à jour en un clic.
Already using thinkcell?
Here's how to think about switching.
What carries over
- Your decks keep working. Existing thinkcell charts stay on your slides as regular PowerPoint shapes.
- Your Excel schedule imports as it is. Adding a Row ID column makes later refreshes more precise.
- Your Project, Smartsheet or Jira plan imports directly, so the Excel step goes away.
What changes
- Gantt charts built in thinkcell don't convert. You re-create each one by importing the plan once.
- Mac users work in Timeline Online and export to PowerPoint.
- Importing from Project, Smartsheet, Jira or Wrike needs the Expert plan.
Our recommendation: build your next status deck in the 14-day Expert trial, from the same plan file you use today.
Bring your plan to the slide
Start free, or try every integration on Expert for 14 days. No credit card required.
Free plan available · Formerly Office Timeline
Common questions
thinkcell is a charting suite with more than 40 chart types, and Gantt charts are one of them. Lucen Timeline is built only for timelines and Gantt charts. It imports the schedule from Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Wrike or Excel and, on Expert, refreshes it when the plan changes (Wrike is import only).
thinkcell's documentation doesn't list a Microsoft Project, Smartsheet or Jira connector. Its project management page advises exporting your plan to Excel and linking the Excel range.
It depends on where your data lives. thinkcell can update a chart automatically when its linked Excel range changes. Lucen Timeline refreshes in one click on Expert, from Excel, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet and Jira, and shows you each change before it's applied.
A Mac add-in, more than 40 chart types such as waterfalls and Mekkos, automatic refresh from Excel, Harvey ball and checkbox columns, an AI assistant for slides and charts, and a longer free trial.
The PowerPoint add-in runs on Windows. On a Mac, you can build timelines in Timeline Online in your browser and export them to PowerPoint.
Yes. Lucen Timeline creates native PowerPoint shapes, so anyone can open, present, and edit the slide in PowerPoint without the add-in. To keep your timeline data and future updates working correctly, use the Lucen Timeline add-in for structural changes.
Lucen Timeline has a Free plan and paid plans at $9, $17 and $21 per user per month, billed annually. thinkcell's Gantt charts are in Suite at $30.90 per user per month for 1 to 4 users, billed annually, with lower prices at higher seat counts.
Yes. You can use the Free plan with no time limit, or try Expert free for 14 days with no credit card. Paid plans also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Lucen Timeline has a SOC 2 Type 2 report, available on request. IT teams can deploy it with Intune, SCCM or Group Policy, and license users automatically from Microsoft Entra ID.
Yes. Office Timeline became Lucen Timeline in May 2026. Same product, same team.