Your project plan already has a home. Don't keep a second one for PowerPoint.
Lucen Timeline imports the plan you already manage in Microsoft Project, Jira, Smartsheet, Wrike or Excel and turns it into native, editable PowerPoint shapes. On our Expert plan, refresh it in one click when the plan changes and review every change before it lands.
Free plan available · PowerPoint add-in for Windows · Formerly Office Timeline
Where does your schedule live?
Project Plan is a Gantt app for Microsoft Teams that also puts the same plan on a PowerPoint slide and in Excel, and keeps every copy in sync. It runs on Windows, Mac, iPad and the web, and a license is $99 per user per year. If your team plans inside Teams and wants one high-level plan everywhere, Project Plan fits. If your schedule already lives in Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira or Excel, Lucen Timeline brings it straight onto the slide as native PowerPoint shapes and, on Expert, keeps it current.
Lucen Timeline vs Project Plan
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, project-plan.com and Microsoft's app certification page, checked November 9, 2026. "Not in their documentation" means we found no mention on Project Plan's public pages.
Pricing, side by side
Prices per user. Lucen Timeline is billed annually. Project Plan sells a 1-year subscription or a 3-year one-time license, and people who only view plans don't need one. Prices exclude local taxes. Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked November 9, 2026. Project Plan's site documents no import or refresh from other tools.
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.
A real slide, not an embedded app
Lucen Timeline draws native PowerPoint shapes, so anyone can open, present and edit the slide in PowerPoint, with nothing to install. To keep refresh working, make structural changes with the add-in.
Familiar frustrations, fixed
A second plan to keep in sync
Project Plan's site documents no import today. If your schedule already lives in Microsoft Project, Jira or Smartsheet, someone types it in again and keeps both versions current. On Expert, Lucen Timeline reads the Project file, the sheet or the Jira project directly.
An add-in object in the deck
A Project Plan slide holds an add-in object, and people you share the deck with are prompted to install the add-in. Lucen Timeline leaves native PowerPoint shapes that open like any other slide.
Bars without the schedule logic
Project Plan links tasks with one dependency type that only schedules forward, a choice its tutorial explains. Lucen Timeline has four dependency types, a calculated critical path and, on Expert, planned vs. actual.
Already using Project Plan?
Here's how to think about switching.
What carries over
- Your plan carries over. Export it from Project Plan to Excel and import that sheet into Lucen Timeline.
- 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
- Project Plan charts 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
Both build Gantt charts and project timelines in PowerPoint. Project Plan is built around a plan you create in Project Plan and keep in sync across Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Excel and the browser. Lucen Timeline works alongside the tools your team already uses: it imports the plan from Microsoft Project, Jira, Smartsheet, Wrike or Excel and builds the timeline as native PowerPoint shapes.
Not today. Project Plan's site documents no import, so you build the plan in Project Plan. It can export a plan to Excel, PDF and PNG.
It depends on where your plan lives. If it lives in Project Plan, edits carry to every copy of that plan in Teams, PowerPoint and Excel. If it lives in Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira or Excel, Lucen Timeline refreshes from that source in one click on Expert and shows you each change before it's applied.
An add-in that runs inside PowerPoint on Mac, iPad and the web, one plan mirrored across Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint and Excel, free read-only access for viewers, and a lower price for a single editor at $99 per user per year.
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.
With Lucen Timeline, yes. It 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. Project Plan's FAQ says people you share a document with are prompted to install its add-in.
Lucen Timeline has a Free plan for up to 10 tasks and milestones, and paid plans at $9, $17 and $21 per user per month, billed annually. Project Plan is free for plans up to 10 items. A license is $99 per user per year, or $219 for three years, and people who only view plans never need one.
No. Keep managing the detailed project where your team works. Lucen Timeline turns that data into PowerPoint timelines, Gantt charts and roadmaps for stakeholder reporting.
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.