How to create a cross-project timeline in Jira (in just 5 minutes!)

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Jira's built-in timeline has a frustrating limitation: it only shows one project at a time.

Atlassian's solution is Jira Plans, but that requires a Premium licence. While it’s an excellent option, you'll need to dedicate time to configuring it, if you expect to get meaningful benefits from it.

Thankfully, there's a faster, more affordable option, and in this post, you’ll learn how to set up a live, cross-project timeline in under five minutes using our Jira Cloud app, Hierarchy for Jira. There's no scripting or complex configuration needed, and you can follow along with a free 30-day trial.

Three workarounds for cross-project timeline visibility (and why they might not be for you)

Most teams eventually look for a solution, and the options typically fall into these three categories:

1. Upgrade to Jira Premium

Jira Plans does give you a cross-project roadmap, but it requires a Premium or Enterprise licence.

Source: The timeline view in Jira Plans

Premium/Enterprise does unlock a whole host of other useful features, but if timeline visibility is your main gap, you're paying enterprise prices for a single capability.

2. Build something yourself

Export your data to Excel, build a dashboard, or write scripts to pull data from multiple projects into a single view…

It works... Until someone forgets to update the spreadsheet, or you rename a Jira field and reports stop working. Then, your source of truth becomes a source of confusion, and you're back where you started.

3. Request screenshots and status updates

The manual route: ask team members to screenshot their Jira boards or message you with key updates. Then, paste everything into a slide deck, and you've got something to present.

But, it’s only accurate for a moment, creates friction for your team, and your stakeholders end up waiting for information that could (and should) be self-serve.

None of these really give you what you need: a live, unified timeline that looks at your existing Jira data, tells you what's happening across your projects, and doesn't require hours of maintenance every week.

How to set up your cross-project timelines in under five minutes with Hierarchy for Jira

If you haven't tried it before, Hierarchy for Jira is a Jira Cloud app (also available on Atlassian Government Cloud) that lets you build custom work type hierarchies beyond Jira's default epic, story, and subtask structure. It shows you how all your work connects in a nested tree view with custom levels above and below epics, and then, you can switch to the timeline view to plan and track work on a Gantt-style timeline.

You can try it free with a 30-day trial, so you can install it and follow along with the rest of this guide.

Step 1. Start with JQL to pull in multiple projects

Once you've installed the app, open Hierarchy for Jira from your apps sidebar.

Your projects will unfold in a nested tree view, showing you how every work item connects beyond the native epic, story, subtask links you've already created. 

To pull in multiple projects, create a quick filter using JQL.

 

For example, if we wanted to pull in two projects, we'd use this JQL filter:

'project IN (“Healthcare Telemedicine”, “Healthcare Unit”)

Then, layer on additional filters for work item types, assignee, status, or whatever else you need. Hierarchy for Jira reads the parent-child and existing linked work items, then brings everything matching your filter together into a tree view.

Step 2. Switch to the cross-project timeline

Click the 'Timeline' toggle on the top-right of the app, and you'll immediately see your work items transform into a Gantt-style timeline.

Switch between weekly, monthly, or quarterly views depending on whether you're planning a sprint or preparing for your monthly portfolio review.

In your timeline settings, you can choose which date fields drive your timeline: so whether your team uses 'Start Date' or 'Due Date','Target Start' or 'Target End', your timeline will always reflect how you actually work.

That's it: you've got a cross-project timeline view without needing to upgrade your Jira plan, without exporting to spreadsheets and wrangling with charts, and without a multi-month setup process!

Step 3. Track drift with baselines

Ever had a stakeholder ask a simple question like 'Why are we behind our planned schedule?' and found yourself digging through Slack, Jira notifications, and opening multiple work items, just to piece together an answer?

Baselines help you solve that. Enable baselines in your timeline settings and a grey bar appears beneath each work item, showing how your original plan compares to your current progress.

Here's a view without baselines:

And the same project with baselines added:

When something drifts, you can show exactly when and where the schedule shifted, making it easy to have a real conversation with your team and stakeholders about what to do next.

Step 4. Make your important work and dates stand out

Not every task matters equally to your stakeholders, so there are a couple of ways to highlight which ones do in your cross-project timeline.

Milestones let you turn key deliverables into diamond markers on the timeline, so release dates and external commitments don't get lost in the noise.

These align your whole team around key dates, so no one's ever surprised or wondering why your key project due dates are set up as they are.

In a busy timeline, the priority items that can't slip can easily get lost. Critical scope fixes this: select which priority levels to flag in your timeline view settings, and then matching work items are instantly highlighted with a red glow.

When leadership wants a heads-up on delivery risks, the answer is already visible.

More you can do with the timeline

Once you've got your cross-project timeline up and running, there's still more to explore.

You can drag timeline bars to reschedule dates instantly (the underlying Jira work item updates automatically, so no need to update things separately).

Use dependency lines to spot scheduling conflicts before they surface in your daily standup, and add milestone markers so release dates and external commitments stand out clearly.

You can also save your timeline views for later, share a live URL with stakeholders, or embed them in a Confluence page for self-serve reporting. If you need to add an update to a deck, just export your timeline view with up to 100 work items as a PNG snapshot and drop it into your slide.

Want to see what Hierarchy for Jira's cross-project timeline can do in more detail?

Watch our detailed walkthrough videos, check out this blog post where we go into more detail on each feature, or get technical in our docs!

Ready to see your Jira projects clearly?

Managing delivery across multiple teams shouldn't mean juggling browser tabs, exporting to spreadsheets, or sitting through endless status meetings just to piece together a picture that already exists in your Jira data.

With Hierarchy for Jira's cross-project timeline, you pull everything into one view, see how work connects, and spot problems before they derail your deadlines. Your stakeholders get a live link instead of a stale slide deck, and you get your valuable time back to focus on helping your team hit their milestones.

Already using Hierarchy for Jira? The cross-project timeline view is live and ready to use! Just click the 'Timeline' toggle on the top-right of your board and watch it appear!

Haven't tried Hierarchy for Jira yet? Head to the Marketplace, try it for free to see how cross-project timelines can transform your project visibility today.