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What's a good native Mac app for making timelines on Macs? I'm looking for an easy-to-use program that I can use to create timelines easily without delving into graphics programs like Illustrator. (Which I can use, but would be quite time consuming.)

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4 Answers

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Revised because of edited question...

OmniPlan can create very nice looking Gantt charts and timelines out of project plan data. It is a full-on project planning tool, which might be overkill. But the output is quite lovely.

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I use OmniPlan and really like it. – ericgorr Mar 3 '11 at 22:16
I second OmniPlan. Latest update works with 2007 and 2010 Project files, no one at work even notices that I work in another program. Omnigroup builds solid apps and they are working on an iPad version. – john busteed Mar 4 '11 at 15:39
Yep, I have OmniGraffle but it is quite time intensive to create a timeline. (I was using OmniGraffle actually to create a timeline recently for a mini-project before.) – JFW Mar 6 '11 at 8:36
What I'm looking for, however, is an application that can create a event timeline... for example, one that would be used in History classes. (Dates, figures, ...) – JFW Mar 6 '11 at 8:36
@JFW: that's good info. I'd recommend the OmniGroup's other product for that: OmniGraffle. It's like Visio for Mac and I've drawn history-class type timelines (for s/w planning) with it. – Ian C.♦ Mar 6 '11 at 16:09
up vote 4 down vote

Merlin is a fairly user-friendly tool for making Gantt charts. It's commercial software, so it is going to set you back. The interface is a clean "Mac" interface.

OpenProj is another possibility, and it is free.

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I thought OpenProj was the answer to my Gantt needs, but the behaviour is just so quirky that i gave up. – anthonyg Mar 4 '11 at 1:51
up vote 3 down vote

Bee Docs Timelines might suit your needs. The marketing is towards the 3D functionality, but I've had good results generating 2D timelines. Doesn't do Gantt charts, though.

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up vote 1 down vote

I've been looking for a replacement for MS Project for a long time. I haven't found an acceptable native app on the Mac that works well enough and opens/saves Microsoft Project files. The best i've found up to now is Gantter, which is web based and integrates with Google Docs. Surprisingly good.

For serious Gantt charts, nothing beats Microsoft Project, so i often end up running that in a virtual machine (Parallels) on my Mac. Oh the pain!

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