A multiple project tracking template puts every project on one row, so you can compare them at a glance: start and end dates, days left, priority, progress, status and owner, plus the money side with budget, expenses, revenue and profit. In our project management spreadsheet for Google Sheets and Excel, that list is the project manager tab, and an overall dashboard sums up whichever month you choose. It suits freelancers with several clients, small studios and managers who need one view of everything in flight.
What This Multiple Project Tracking Template Shows
The project manager tab holds one row per project with:
- Who and what: project name, description, category and owner.
- When: start and end dates, with days left.
- How it is going: priority, progress and status.
- Money: budget, expenses, revenue and profit.
- Housekeeping: a done checkbox for finished projects, and a search box that highlights matching projects when the list gets long.
Around that list sit three views. The overall dashboard shows how projects and tasks stand for a month you pick, with a small calendar and a running list of tasks. The project overview tab zooms into one project with its tasks, deadlines and key numbers. The monthly and weekly calendars can show project due dates instead of tasks, and both print.
Worked Example: Six Projects at a Monday Review
Here is a small design studio’s list at its Monday review on October 19, 2026. Days left counts calendar days to the end date. Time elapsed is the share of each project’s calendar days already gone, which is the number to hold progress against.
| Project | Owner | End | Days left | Priority | Time elapsed | Progress | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinic website redesign | Ana | Nov 13 | 25 | High | 58% | 55% | In progress |
| Bakery rebrand | Ben | Oct 30 | 11 | High | 82% | 80% | In progress |
| Trade show booth graphics | Ben | Oct 23 | 4 | High | 88% | 70% | Delayed |
| Annual report layout | Cara | Dec 4 | 46 | Medium | 23% | 20% | In progress |
| Studio website refresh | Ana | Dec 18 | 60 | Low | 23% | 0% | On hold |
| Newsletter templates | Cara | Oct 9 | Done | Medium | 100% | 100% | Completed |
The money columns for the same projects, with profit so far as revenue minus expenses to date:
| Project | Budget | Expenses | Budget used | Revenue | Profit so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinic website redesign | $6,900 | $3,150 | 46% | $10,100 | $6,950 |
| Bakery rebrand | $4,200 | $3,900 | 93% | $6,000 | $2,100 |
| Trade show booth graphics | $2,600 | $2,050 | 79% | $3,800 | $1,750 |
| Annual report layout | $3,500 | $600 | 17% | $5,200 | $4,600 |
| Studio website refresh | $1,500 | $0 | 0% | $0 | $0 |
| Newsletter templates | $1,800 | $1,650 | 92% | $2,700 | $1,050 |
| Total | $20,500 | $11,350 | 55% | $27,800 | $16,450 |
Read together, the two tables set the agenda for the meeting:
- The trade show graphics come first. 88% of the time is gone but only 70% of the work, with 4 days left. The choice is to cut scope or agree a new date with the client today.
- The bakery rebrand is on time but not on budget. Progress (80%) matches time elapsed (82%), yet 93% of the budget is spent, leaving $300 for the last fifth of the work.
- Ben owns both of those projects, and both end this month. Cara’s annual report is on track with 46 days left, so she is the one to lend him a few days.
- Profit so far can flatter an open project. The clinic shows $6,950, but most of its costs are still ahead. If it lands on budget, the real profit is $10,100 minus $6,900, or $3,200.
- The on hold project needs a decision. An internal project with no revenue and no date to restart tends to sit there for months. Give it a restart date or tick it off the list.
How to Set Up the Tracker in the Spreadsheet
- On the setup tab, set your currency and add your people, project categories, priorities and statuses.
- On the project manager tab, add one row per project with its start and end dates, owner, category, priority, status and a one-line description.
- Add each project’s tasks on the variable tasks tab, tagged with the project, so the calendars, the Gantt chart and the Kanban board can filter by it.
- At each weekly review, check that progress, status and the money columns are current, and tick done when a project closes.
- Open the overall dashboard and choose the month to see what is due and what is running.
- When one project needs a closer look, open it in the project overview tab.
The Method: One List and One Weekly Review
Tracking several projects comes down to two habits. First, one master list: every commitment goes on it, including internal projects that never send an invoice, because they use the same hours. Second, a short weekly review that asks the same questions every time. What is behind? What is over budget? Who is overloaded? What can wait or be dropped? Our guide on how to manage multiple projects covers the review, a capacity check and when to say no.
Progress needs a yardstick. Comparing percent complete with time elapsed, as in the example, is the simplest one that works; how to track project progress covers other ways to measure it and a one-page status report. When too many projects are marked high priority, the ranking methods in how to prioritize tasks apply to projects too.
The budget column is only as reliable as the estimate behind it. How to estimate project costs builds one from labor, materials and fixed costs, and the project budget template tracks it task by task. For each project’s timeline, the Gantt chart template draws it from the same tasks.
Build Your Own Multiple Project Tracker
Columns: A: Project, B: Owner, C: Start, D: End, E: Priority, F: Progress, G: Status, H: Budget, I: Expenses, J: Revenue, K: Profit, L: Done (a checkbox), M: Days left, N: Time elapsed. Format F and N as percentages and M as a plain number.
Row formulas, identical in Google Sheets and Excel:
- Days left in M2:
=IF(L2=TRUE, "", D2-TODAY()) - Working days left instead:
=IF(L2=TRUE, "", NETWORKDAYS(TODAY(), D2)) - Time elapsed in N2:
=IF(C2="", "", MIN(1, MAX(0, (TODAY()-C2)/(D2-C2)))) - Profit in K2:
=J2-I2 - Budget used:
=IF(H2=0, "", I2/H2)
Behind-schedule flag. Select A2:N50 and add a conditional formatting rule with =AND($L2<>TRUE, $F2<$N2-0.1). It colors any open project more than 10 points behind its calendar. The rule is the same in Google Sheets (Format > Conditional formatting) and Excel (Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule).
Search highlight. Type a word in P1 and add a second rule on A2:N50: =AND($P$1<>"", ISNUMBER(SEARCH($P$1, $A2))). SEARCH ignores case, so “clinic” finds “Clinic website redesign”.
Open projects sorted by end date. This is where the two apps differ:
- Google Sheets:
=QUERY(A1:L50, "select A, B, C, D, E, F, G where A is not null and L = false order by D", 1) - Excel:
=IFERROR(SORT(FILTER(A2:G50, (A2:A50<>"")*(L2:L50<>TRUE)), 4, 1), "No open projects")
Both return columns A to G for every project not ticked done, soonest end date first. The QUERY version keeps the header row; the Excel one starts with the first project.
Month summary, the same in both: with the first day of a month in P2, =COUNTIFS(D2:D50, ">="&P2, D2:D50, "<"&EDATE(P2, 1)) counts the projects that end that month.
Who This Tracker Suits
It works well for:
- freelancers juggling several clients who want deadlines and profit in the same row;
- small studios and agencies running a handful of projects at once;
- managers who need a weekly view of everything without asking each owner for an update.
It is not the right tool if your projects depend on each other, if you need to plan capacity hour by hour across a large team, or if work has to pass formal approvals. Our comparison of spreadsheets and project management software helps you tell when you have outgrown a spreadsheet. And if you only run one big project, the Gantt chart and project budget will serve you better than a portfolio list.
Before every review, sort the list by end date. The projects at the top are the ones that can still surprise you this week.