A Timeline view draws each record as a bar from a start date to an end date, one row per record. Think of a planning wall where every project is a strip of tape across the weeks. You scroll along time and see the bars side by side.

Here is the test: do people need to see how long things take and where they overlap? If yes, Timeline is the view. If tasks depend on each other and a slip should push the rest, use Gantt View. If the day matters more than the length, use Calendar View.

Example: a Vendor Management solution with a Contracts table. The Security lead builds a public Timeline view called Fieldwork timeline. The bars come from Audit Fieldwork Window, a Date Range, so one field gives the start and the end. The rows are grouped by Vendor, the scale is Weeks during the audit and Months for the year plan, and the auditor reads it from a shared link.

The Fieldwork timeline on the Weeks scale: one bar per contract across its fieldwork window, grouped by vendor, with today marked.

Plan Availability	Team, Professional and Enterprise. Signature provides the same capabilities as Enterprise, but this is where our GRC and IT Service Delivery products can be licensed. These products can not be licensed for Team, Pro or Enterprise plans.
Permissions	Full Access members and Solution Managers create and change public views; every member creates private views.
Platform	Web
Related Reading	Date Range Field Gantt View Calendar View Timeline view widget.

Creating a Timeline view

In the View Panel on the left, hover over Create New View at the bottom. Select the + next to Timeline. Selecting the button instead opens the Explore View Types window, where the Timeline View card opens the same dialog.
The Create New Timeline View dialog opens. Type a name in place of the prefilled "Timeline View". In this article it is Fieldwork timeline.
Choose Public or Private. Public: "Members with full access and above can edit and save changes to this view". Private: "Only you can edit and save changes to this view". Public is selected to start.
If the table has folders, Choose a folder where you'd like to place the View lists them. It reads No folder until you pick one.
Select Create View.

The dialog asks for no date field. The new timeline takes the first date field of the table and opens on the Days scale. The first toolbar button reads By : followed by that field's name. Change the field there, as the next section explains. The table needs a date-type field: a Date, Due Date or Date Range field, or the First Created and Last Updated fields every table has.

The Create New Timeline View dialog with the name Fieldwork timeline and Public selected.

The Timeline view by panel

Select By : <field> in the toolbar. The panel is titled Timeline view by, with the line "Choose date fields to be displayed over the timeline", a Need help link and a Done button. Every change applies to the timeline at once.

Start and end

The first dropdown picks the field the bars come from. It lists the table's date-type fields; on the Contracts table that is Renewal Date, Audit Fieldwork Window, First Created and Last Updated. An x at its right clears it.

What happens next depends on the field type.

A Due Date or Date Range field holds a start and an end in one field. Pick one and the bar spans both dates. The end-date control disappears, because the field already has an end. Fieldwork timeline uses Audit Fieldwork Window this way.
A Date field holds one date. Pick one and a second dropdown, + Add End date, lists the table's other single-date fields. Pick the end field and the bar runs from the first date to the second.

Note: A Date field needs a second date field for the end of the bar. Fields with an end built in, Due Date and Date Range, need nothing more.

Color

The color button at the right of the row opens the same palette as Spotlight, 40 swatches in four rows of ten. Pick one and every bar takes it. Bars start light blue.

The Timeline view by panel open with Audit Fieldwork Window as the field, no end-date control, and the color button.

The timeline controls

A row under the toolbar holds the timeline's own controls. Today jumps to the current date. The previous and next arrows step back and forward, and the title between them names the period in view, such as a pair of months or a year. The scale switcher offers Hours, Days, Weeks and Months; Days is the default. The last button, Record Listing, opens the panel described below.

Each record takes its own row. Its bar spans the start and the end and carries the record's name. Choose Weeks for a quarter and Months for a year. The scale is part of the view, so on a public view with Autosave on it is saved for everyone.

Tip: Set the scale most readers need and save it with the view. Hours suits a packed schedule of one or two days, Weeks a quarter, Months the year plan.

The controls row with Today, the arrows, the period title and the Hours, Days, Weeks and Months switcher, Weeks selected.

The Record Listing panel

Select Record Listing at the right of the controls row. A panel opens on the right, titled with the record name and "Listing", for example Contract Listing, with a close x. It shows one card per record with the title, the date field's label, the dates and the status icon. Every record is listed, with or without dates. Drag a card onto the timeline to set the record's dates.

The toolbar's Sort, Filter and Group act on this panel and on the timeline together, so a filter trims both.

The Record Listing panel open beside the timeline, with contract cards showing Audit Fieldwork Window.

The toolbar in a Timeline view

Left to right: By, Sort, Filter, Group, Spotlight, Find and Share View. There is no Fields to Display, because the By control chooses what the timeline shows, and no Row Size.

By opens the Timeline view by panel above.
Sort orders the rows. See Sort records in a view.
Filter hides the records that do not match your conditions, on the timeline and in the panel. See Filtering records using conditions.
Group puts the rows under headings by a field's value, such as Vendor, so each vendor's contracts sit together. See Group records in a view.
Spotlight colors bars by a rule or by a Status or Single Select value. See Spotlight.
Find highlights the records that contain the text you type. It is never saved. See Find in a view.
Share View opens the window for a read-only link. See Shared Views.

Permissions

Public and private views. Full Access members and Solution Managers create public views and save changes to them. Every member creates private views that only they see and edit. See View Panel: create, organize and lock views.

Autosave. The view menu holds an Autosave changes checkbox, checked to start. With it on, a change to the date field, color, scale, filter or group is saved to the view for everyone as it is made. Build a public timeline on a duplicate first.

Locked views. A locked view keeps its settings fixed. A change made in it lasts only for the session of the member who made it. Records inside it stay editable by whoever has permission. See Locked Views.

Folders and sharing. Folders group public views in the View Panel, and a folder can be limited to selected members; see Folder Permissions. A shared link opens the view read-only for people outside the workspace; see Shared Views.

Using the view

Read the bars left to right to see what overlaps. To move a fieldwork window, drag its bar along the row. To make it longer or shorter, drag one end. Select a bar to open the record and edit it. The New Contract button at the right of the view header adds a record; give it dates and its bar appears.

Timeline View also runs in the SmartSuite mobile app on iOS and Android, with the same fields and colors as on the web.

Print the view or export it from the three-dot menu; see Print or export a saved view. Share it read-only with Share View; see Shared Views.

Editing a Timeline view

Select the chevron next to the view name. The view menu lists Rename View, Add Description, Duplicate View, Change View Type, Public View, Delete View and the Autosave changes checkbox.

Rename View edits the name in place. Add Description opens a window with a Show Description switch, a text box, and the choice Below View Name or As a Tooltip.
Duplicate View makes a copy named after the view plus "Copy", public or private.
Change View Type offers Grid View, Card View, Kanban View, Calendar View, Timeline View, Gantt View, Map View and Chart View. Change Fieldwork timeline to Calendar View and the same windows show as bars across the days; the filters and sorts stay. Gantt View needs a Dependency field in the table.
Public View opens the panel for Public View, Private View and the Lock View switch.
Delete View moves the view to the Recycle Bin. The last public view of a table cannot be deleted.

Frequently asked questions

Which fields can set the start and the end?

A Due Date or Date Range field sets both from one field. A Date field sets the start, and + Add End date picks a second date field for the end.

Why does a record show no bar?

Its date field is empty. Open the Record Listing panel, where every record is listed, and give the record its dates.

How do I change the scale?

Select Hours, Days, Weeks or Months in the controls row under the toolbar. Days is the default.

Can I color the bars by a field?

The color button in the Timeline view by panel sets one color for every bar. To color by a Status or Single Select value, use Spotlight in the toolbar.

Can I group the rows by team or vendor?

Yes. Select Group in the toolbar and pick the field. The rows sit under a heading per value.

Which plans include Timeline View?

Team, Professional and Enterprise. Signature provides the same capabilities as Enterprise, but this is where our GRC and IT Service Delivery products can be licensed. These products can not be licensed for Team, Pro or Enterprise plans.

Last verified 30 Oct 2026.