Chart & Visualization Issues

How to Create an Excel Workload Area Chart by Date

Camila Milosovich Sep 25, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to create a Gantt-style area chart to display total daily project workloads across a continuous timeline.

How to Create an Excel Workload Area Chart by Date

Product: Microsoft Excel 365
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Tracking and visualizing workloads across multiple projects that have different start dates, durations, and specialized working schedules.
Observed behavior: Requires a dynamic chart that accurately calculates active working hours per day, accounting for weekends and holidays, and plots them on a horizontal date axis.

Before you start

Ensure your project dataset is structured as an Excel Table with clear columns for project names, start dates, budgeted hours, and a separate list of company holiday dates.

Solution 1Recommended

Build a Workload Area Chart using Power Query and Power Pivot

Use Excel's advanced data modeling tools to automatically expand project durations into daily rows and calculate accurate daily working hours before charting.

To accurately distribute a project's budgeted hours across its active timeline, you must account for non-working days like weekends and holidays. Power Query seamlessly handles the date expansion, while Power Pivot aggregates these daily hours into a clean area chart.

Load Data into Power Query

Select any cell in your project table, navigate to the 'Data' tab on the Excel ribbon, and click 'From Table/Range' to launch the Power Query Editor.

Expand Dates and Calculate Daily Hours

Create a custom column using the formula {Number.From([Start Date])..Number.From([End Date])} to generate a list of dates. Expand this list to new rows, then apply a conditional formula to filter out weekends (using Date.DayOfWeek) and your holiday list, dividing the total budget by the remaining active days.

Load into the Data Model

On the Home tab of Power Query, click 'Close & Load To...'. Select 'Only Create Connection' and explicitly check the box for 'Add this data to the Data Model'.

Insert the Area Chart

Go to the 'Insert' tab and click 'PivotChart'. Choose your Data Model as the source. Change the chart type to 'Area', drag your expanded 'Date' field to the Axis (Categories) area, and drop your calculated 'Daily Hours' into the Values area.

Build a Workload Area Chart using Power Query and Power Pivot

Dynamic Updates: Your workload area chart will now dynamically recalculate and update visually whenever you change project durations or start dates in the original source table.

Simplify Project Tracking

Create Workload Area Charts Easily in WPS Spreadsheet

WPS Office provides powerful charting tools and built-in templates to visualize project workloads without the steep learning curve of complex data modeling. You can easily plot daily hours using intuitive spreadsheet formulas and rich charting options.

1. Prepare your timeline data: Open WPS Spreadsheet and organize your calculated daily workload data with 'Date' in one column and 'Total Hours' in the adjacent column.
2. Highlight the dataset: Select the cells containing your dates and daily project hours that you wish to visualize.
3. Insert an Area Chart: Navigate to the 'Insert' tab on the ribbon, click the 'Chart' icon, select the 'Area' category from the left pane, and choose your preferred area chart style.
4. Format the date axis: Right-click the horizontal axis on your new chart, select 'Format Axis', and under Axis Options, ensure it is set to 'Date axis' to display the timeline chronologically.

Seamless compatibility with Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) file formatsRich library of built-in charts and free business templatesLightweight architecture for fast loading and smooth data processingFree alternative offering a highly familiar ribbon interface

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I exclude weekends and holidays from my project chart calculations?

If you are using formulas instead of Power Query, use the NETWORKDAYS or NETWORKDAYS.INTL function. These functions automatically calculate the number of working days between two dates, allowing you to exclude standard weekends and specific custom holiday dates before charting.

Why is my Excel area chart not displaying dates in chronological order?

This happens when Excel reads your date column as text rather than actual serial date values. Select your dates, ensure they are formatted properly as 'Short Date', and right-click the horizontal axis on the chart to explicitly set the axis type to 'Date axis'.

Can I display multiple projects as a stacked area chart?

Yes. When building your PivotChart from the Data Model, drag the 'Project Name' field into the Legend (Series) area. Change the chart type to 'Stacked Area' to visualize how individual projects combine to form your total daily workload.

Excel & Data Problems