Import Swimlanes or Sub-Swimlanes from Wrike

Overview 

Office Timeline allows you to quickly import your Wrike project into PowerPoint directly as a Swimlane diagram. Additionally, the Pro+ Edition also lets you import Sub-swimlanes (or nested lanes), so you can easily show multiple projects inside a “parent” Swimlane. This guide will show you:

I) How to import Swimlanes from Wrike

II) How to import Sub-swimlanes from Wrike

Read the full guide or, if you are already accustomed to importing Swimlanes, click on chapter (II) above to jump straight to importing sub-lanes.

Before getting started, if you need a quick reminder of our terminology, here are some key timeline components that we’ll be mentioning throughout this guide:

I) How to import Swimlanes from Wrike 

To import your Wrike project as a Swimlane slide, you must first tweak your table in Wrike before loading the data into the add-in. The following steps will show you how to set up your Wrike data to successfully turn it into a PowerPoint Swimlane.

Steps

1. While Office Timeline doesn't require special formatting in Wrike to import a classic Gantt chart or timeline, for importing as a Swimlane diagram, you'll need to add a custom field in your data table and name it "Swimlane". Choose Text for the field type when prompted.

   

2. Now, in the new column, type in the name of the Swimlanes you want your tasks and milestones to belong to. To place multiple items in the same lane, just enter the same Swimlane name in their corresponding rows.

   

   Note: You can also have classic tasks and milestones on your Swimlane diagram – i.e. linked directly to the timescale, not inside a lane. To achieve this, just leave their corresponding Swimlane cells empty in your Wrike table.

   

3. When done formatting, click Import on the Office Timeline tab in PowerPoint and log in to Wrike from the Import Wizard to bring in your data.
   

   Quick tip: You can even import your Wrike data directly into a theme or a Swimlane template. To do so, go to New on the Office Timeline ribbon, pick a design you like, and then select Import.

   

4. After completing the simple steps in the Import Wizard, Office Timeline will make you a professional-looking Swimlane slide that's easy to update or style further.

   

II) Import Sub-swimlanes from Wrike (Pro+ Edition feature)

Once you already know how to import your Wrike Project as a Swimlane slide, creating Sub-swimlane slides from your Wrike data is easy because the process is quite similar. Below you can see an example of how to set up your online project to import nested Swimlanes into PowerPoint:

Steps

1. With your “Swimlane” column already set up in Wrike, add another Text field next to it and name it “Sub-Swimlane”. You will use this new column to define the sub-lanes for your “parent” lanes.

   

   Note: Naming this new column “Sub-swimlane” will help Office Timeline detect and map it automatically when loading your Wrike data into PowerPoint.

2. Now, in the new column, type in the name of the sub-swimlane you’d like each of your tasks and/or milestones to be grouped into. Items that belong to the same Swimlane (“parent” lane) and have identical Sub-swimlane names will be grouped in the same “child” lane when importing.

   

3. To keep some “standard” Swimlanes – without any “child” lanes - simply leave the corresponding Sub-swimlane cells empty:

   
   Note: Inside the same Swimlane, either all tasks can be grouped in sub-lanes or none at all. When importing, if some of the items inside a Swimlane don’t belong to any sub-lane (while others do), we will automatically group them for you into a generic sub-swimlane.

4. When you’re done setting up your Wrike project for nested Swimlanes, follow the usual Wrike import steps in Office Timeline.

   

5. Office Timeline will instantly transform your Wrike project into a visual Sub-swimlane slide, which you can then easily style, edit or update.