How to create a timeline with LaTeX

Question

In history-books you often have timeline  where events and periods are marked on a line in the correct relative distance to each other  How is it possible to create something similar in LaTeX

User · Answer

I have been struggling to find a proper way to create a timeline, which I could finally do with this modification. Usually while creating a timeline the problem was that I could not add a text to explain each date clearly with a longer text. I modified and further utilized @Zoe Gagnon's latex script. Please feel free to see the following:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{snakes}
\usepackage{rotating}

\begin{document}
    
\begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        % draw horizontal line   
        \draw (-5,0) -- (6,0);
    
    
    % draw vertical lines
    \foreach \x in {-5,-4,-3,-2, -1,0,1,2}
    \draw (\x cm,3pt) -- (\x cm,-3pt);
    
    % draw nodes
    \draw (-5,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 0 $} node[above=3pt] {$  $};
    \draw (-4,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 1 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45}
            All individuals vote
        \end{turn}$};
    \draw (-3,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 2 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} 
        Policy vector decided
        \end{turn}$};
    \draw (-2,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 3 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45}  Becoming a bureaucrat \end{turn} $};
    \draw (-1,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 4 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Bureaucrats' effort choice \end{turn}$};
    \draw (0,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 5 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Tax evasion decision made \end{turn}$};
    \draw (1,0) node[below=3pt] {$  6$} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} $p(x_{t})$ tax evaders caught \end{turn}$};
    \draw (2,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 7 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} $q_{t}$ shirking bureaucrats \end{turn}$};
            \draw (3,0) node[below=3pt] {$ $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Public service provided  \end{turn}   $};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center} 
\end{document}

Longer texts are not allowed, unfortunately. It will look like this:

User · Answer

If you are looking for UML sequence diagrams  you might be interested in pkf-umlsd  which is based on TiKZ  Nice demos can be found here

User · Answer

I have been struggling to find a proper way to create a timeline, which I could finally do with this modification. Usually while creating a timeline the problem was that I could not add a text to explain each date clearly with a longer text. I modified and further utilized @Zoe Gagnon's latex script. Please feel free to see the following:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{snakes}
\usepackage{rotating}

\begin{document}
    
\begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        % draw horizontal line   
        \draw (-5,0) -- (6,0);
    
    
    % draw vertical lines
    \foreach \x in {-5,-4,-3,-2, -1,0,1,2}
    \draw (\x cm,3pt) -- (\x cm,-3pt);
    
    % draw nodes
    \draw (-5,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 0 $} node[above=3pt] {$  $};
    \draw (-4,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 1 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45}
            All individuals vote
        \end{turn}$};
    \draw (-3,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 2 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} 
        Policy vector decided
        \end{turn}$};
    \draw (-2,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 3 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45}  Becoming a bureaucrat \end{turn} $};
    \draw (-1,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 4 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Bureaucrats' effort choice \end{turn}$};
    \draw (0,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 5 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Tax evasion decision made \end{turn}$};
    \draw (1,0) node[below=3pt] {$  6$} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} $p(x_{t})$ tax evaders caught \end{turn}$};
    \draw (2,0) node[below=3pt] {$ 7 $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} $q_{t}$ shirking bureaucrats \end{turn}$};
            \draw (3,0) node[below=3pt] {$ $} node[above=3pt] {$\begin{turn}{45} Public service provided  \end{turn}   $};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center} 
\end{document}

Longer texts are not allowed, unfortunately. It will look like this:

User · Answer

Tim Storer wrote a more flexible and nicer looking timeline sty  Internet Archive Wayback Machine link  as original is gone    In addition  the line is horizontal rather than vertical   So for instance    begin timeline  2008  2010  50  250     MonthAndYearEvent 4  2008  First Podcast     MonthAndYearEvent 7  2008  Private Beta     MonthAndYearEvent 9  2008  Public Beta     YearEvent 2009  IPO    end timeline    produces a timeline that looks like this   2008                              2010        April  2008 First Podcast                 July  2008 Private Beta               September  2008 Public Beta                    2009 IPO    Personally  I find this a more pleasing solution than the other answers   But I also find myself modifying the code to get something closer to what I think a timeline should look like   So there s not definitive solution in my opinion

User · Answer

Also the package chronosys provides a nice solution  Here s an example from the user manual

User · Answer

The tikz package seems to have what you want    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary snakes    begin document      begin tikzpicture  snake zigzag  line before snake   5mm  line after snake   5mm        draw horizontal line         draw  0 0  --  2 0        draw snake   2 0  --  4 0        draw  4 0  --  5 0        draw snake   5 0  --  7 0          draw vertical lines      foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7         draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt          draw nodes      draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt                draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10          draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20          draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50          draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60          draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n        end tikzpicture    end document    I m not too expert with tikz  but this does give a good timeline  which looks like

User · Answer

There is timeline sty floating around   The syntax is simpler than using tikz       In LaTeX       begin timeline  length  start stop                               end timeline          in plain TeX      timeline length  start stop                               endtimeline     in between the two  we may have       item date  description       item sortkey  date  description       optrule         the options to timeline are           length The amount of vertical space that the timeline should                    use            start stop  indicate the range of the timeline  All dates or                    sortkeys should lie in the range  start stop           item without the sort key expects date to be a number  such as a          year        item with the sort key expects the sort key to be a number  date          can be anything  This can be used for log scale time lines          or dates that include months or days      putting  optrule inside of the timeline environment will cause a          vertical rule to be drawn down the center of the timeline    I ve used python s datetime data toordinal to convert dates to  sort keys  in the context of the package

User · Answer

There is timeline sty floating around   The syntax is simpler than using tikz       In LaTeX       begin timeline  length  start stop                               end timeline          in plain TeX      timeline length  start stop                               endtimeline     in between the two  we may have       item date  description       item sortkey  date  description       optrule         the options to timeline are           length The amount of vertical space that the timeline should                    use            start stop  indicate the range of the timeline  All dates or                    sortkeys should lie in the range  start stop           item without the sort key expects date to be a number  such as a          year        item with the sort key expects the sort key to be a number  date          can be anything  This can be used for log scale time lines          or dates that include months or days      putting  optrule inside of the timeline environment will cause a          vertical rule to be drawn down the center of the timeline    I ve used python s datetime data toordinal to convert dates to  sort keys  in the context of the package

User · Answer

Firstly  I prefer tikz guided solution  because it gives you more freedom  Secondly  I m not posting anything totally new  It is obviously similar to Zoe Gagnon s answer  because he showed the way   I needed some year timeline and it took me some time  what a surprise   to do it  so I m sharing the results  I hope you ll like it    documentclass tikz  standalone   usepackage verbatim   begin document   newlength yearposx  begin tikzpicture  scale 0 57    timeline 1990-2010- gt        define coordinates  begin  used  end  arrow       foreach  x in  1990 1992 2000 2002 2004 2005 2008 2009 2010 2011            pgfmathsetlength yearposx   x-1990  1cm            coordinate  y x    at   yearposx 0            coordinate  y x t  at   yearposx  3pt            coordinate  y x b  at   yearposx -3pt               draw horizontal line with arrow      draw  - gt    y1990  --  y2011         draw ticks     foreach  x in  1992 2000 2002 2004 2005 2008 2009           draw  y x t  --  y x b         annotate      foreach  x in  1992 2002 2005 2009           node at  y x   below 3pt    x        foreach  x in  2000 2004 2008           node at  y x   above 3pt    x        begin comment        for use in beamer class      only lt 2 gt       fill       y1992  circle  5pt         only lt 3-5 gt     fill       y2000  circle  5pt         only lt 4-5 gt     fill       y2002  circle  5pt         only lt 5 gt       fill red   y2004  circle  5pt         only lt 6 gt       fill       y2005  circle  5pt         only lt 7 gt       fill red   y2005  circle  5pt         only lt 8-11 gt    fill       y2008  circle  5pt         only lt 11 gt      fill       y2009  circle  5pt         end comment   end tikzpicture   end document    As you can see  it s tailored to beamer presentation  select part and also scale option   but if you really want to test it in a presentation  then you should move  newlength yearposx outside of the frame definition  because otherwise you ll get error veritably stating that command  yearposx is already defined  unless you remove the selection part and any other frame-splitting commands from your frame

User · Answer

If you are looking for UML sequence diagrams  you might be interested in pkf-umlsd  which is based on TiKZ  Nice demos can be found here

User · Answer

There is a new chronology sty by Levi Wiseman   The documentation  pdf  says      Most timeline packages and solutions for LATEX are used to convey a lot of information and are therefore designed vertically  If you are just attempting to assign labels to dates  a more traditional timeline might be more appropriate  That s   what chronology is for    Here is some example code    documentclass article   usepackage chronology   begin document    begin chronology  5  1983  2010  3ex   textwidth   event 1984  one   event 1985  1986  two   event  decimaldate 25  12  2001   three   end chronology    end document    Which produces this output

User · Answer

The tikz package seems to have what you want    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary snakes    begin document      begin tikzpicture  snake zigzag  line before snake   5mm  line after snake   5mm        draw horizontal line         draw  0 0  --  2 0        draw snake   2 0  --  4 0        draw  4 0  --  5 0        draw snake   5 0  --  7 0          draw vertical lines      foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7         draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt          draw nodes      draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt                draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10          draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20          draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50          draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60          draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n        end tikzpicture    end document    I m not too expert with tikz  but this does give a good timeline  which looks like

User · Answer

Just an update   The present TiKZ package will issue  Package tikz Warning  Snakes have been superseded by decorations  Please use the decoration libraries instead of the snakes library on input line       So the pertaining part of code has to be changed to    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary decorations   begin document   begin tikzpicture   draw horizontal line  draw  0 0  --  2 0    draw decorate decoration  snake pre length 5mm  post length 5mm    2 0  --  4 0    draw  4 0  --  5 0    draw decorate decoration  snake pre length 5mm  post length 5mm    5 0  --  7 0     draw vertical lines  foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7   draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt     draw nodes  draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt            draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10      draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20      draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt           draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50      draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60      draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt           draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n      end tikzpicture    end document    HTH

User · Answer

Tim Storer wrote a more flexible and nicer looking timeline sty  Internet Archive Wayback Machine link  as original is gone    In addition  the line is horizontal rather than vertical   So for instance    begin timeline  2008  2010  50  250     MonthAndYearEvent 4  2008  First Podcast     MonthAndYearEvent 7  2008  Private Beta     MonthAndYearEvent 9  2008  Public Beta     YearEvent 2009  IPO    end timeline    produces a timeline that looks like this   2008                              2010        April  2008 First Podcast                 July  2008 Private Beta               September  2008 Public Beta                    2009 IPO    Personally  I find this a more pleasing solution than the other answers   But I also find myself modifying the code to get something closer to what I think a timeline should look like   So there s not definitive solution in my opinion

User · Answer

There is a new chronology sty by Levi Wiseman   The documentation  pdf  says      Most timeline packages and solutions for LATEX are used to convey a lot of information and are therefore designed vertically  If you are just attempting to assign labels to dates  a more traditional timeline might be more appropriate  That s   what chronology is for    Here is some example code    documentclass article   usepackage chronology   begin document    begin chronology  5  1983  2010  3ex   textwidth   event 1984  one   event 1985  1986  two   event  decimaldate 25  12  2001   three   end chronology    end document    Which produces this output

User · Answer

Just an update   The present TiKZ package will issue  Package tikz Warning  Snakes have been superseded by decorations  Please use the decoration libraries instead of the snakes library on input line       So the pertaining part of code has to be changed to    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary decorations   begin document   begin tikzpicture   draw horizontal line  draw  0 0  --  2 0    draw decorate decoration  snake pre length 5mm  post length 5mm    2 0  --  4 0    draw  4 0  --  5 0    draw decorate decoration  snake pre length 5mm  post length 5mm    5 0  --  7 0     draw vertical lines  foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7   draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt     draw nodes  draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt            draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10      draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20      draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt           draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50      draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60      draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt           draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n      end tikzpicture    end document    HTH

User · Answer

Firstly  I prefer tikz guided solution  because it gives you more freedom  Secondly  I m not posting anything totally new  It is obviously similar to Zoe Gagnon s answer  because he showed the way   I needed some year timeline and it took me some time  what a surprise   to do it  so I m sharing the results  I hope you ll like it    documentclass tikz  standalone   usepackage verbatim   begin document   newlength yearposx  begin tikzpicture  scale 0 57    timeline 1990-2010- gt        define coordinates  begin  used  end  arrow       foreach  x in  1990 1992 2000 2002 2004 2005 2008 2009 2010 2011            pgfmathsetlength yearposx   x-1990  1cm            coordinate  y x    at   yearposx 0            coordinate  y x t  at   yearposx  3pt            coordinate  y x b  at   yearposx -3pt               draw horizontal line with arrow      draw  - gt    y1990  --  y2011         draw ticks     foreach  x in  1992 2000 2002 2004 2005 2008 2009           draw  y x t  --  y x b         annotate      foreach  x in  1992 2002 2005 2009           node at  y x   below 3pt    x        foreach  x in  2000 2004 2008           node at  y x   above 3pt    x        begin comment        for use in beamer class      only lt 2 gt       fill       y1992  circle  5pt         only lt 3-5 gt     fill       y2000  circle  5pt         only lt 4-5 gt     fill       y2002  circle  5pt         only lt 5 gt       fill red   y2004  circle  5pt         only lt 6 gt       fill       y2005  circle  5pt         only lt 7 gt       fill red   y2005  circle  5pt         only lt 8-11 gt    fill       y2008  circle  5pt         only lt 11 gt      fill       y2009  circle  5pt         end comment   end tikzpicture   end document    As you can see  it s tailored to beamer presentation  select part and also scale option   but if you really want to test it in a presentation  then you should move  newlength yearposx outside of the frame definition  because otherwise you ll get error veritably stating that command  yearposx is already defined  unless you remove the selection part and any other frame-splitting commands from your frame

User · Answer

The tikz package seems to have what you want    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary snakes    begin document      begin tikzpicture  snake zigzag  line before snake   5mm  line after snake   5mm        draw horizontal line         draw  0 0  --  2 0        draw snake   2 0  --  4 0        draw  4 0  --  5 0        draw snake   5 0  --  7 0          draw vertical lines      foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7         draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt          draw nodes      draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt                draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10          draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20          draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50          draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60          draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n        end tikzpicture    end document    I m not too expert with tikz  but this does give a good timeline  which looks like

User · Answer

The tikz package seems to have what you want    documentclass article   usepackage tikz   usetikzlibrary snakes    begin document      begin tikzpicture  snake zigzag  line before snake   5mm  line after snake   5mm        draw horizontal line         draw  0 0  --  2 0        draw snake   2 0  --  4 0        draw  4 0  --  5 0        draw snake   5 0  --  7 0          draw vertical lines      foreach  x in  0 1 2 4 5 7         draw   x cm 3pt  --   x cm -3pt          draw nodes      draw  0 0  node below 3pt     0    node above 3pt                draw  1 0  node below 3pt     1    node above 3pt     10          draw  2 0  node below 3pt     2    node above 3pt     20          draw  3 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  4 0  node below 3pt     5    node above 3pt     50          draw  5 0  node below 3pt     6    node above 3pt     60          draw  6 0  node below 3pt         node above 3pt               draw  7 0  node below 3pt     n    node above 3pt     10n        end tikzpicture    end document    I m not too expert with tikz  but this does give a good timeline  which looks like

User · Answer

Also the package chronosys provides a nice solution  Here s an example from the user manual

[latex] How to create a timeline with LaTeX?

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