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Lookahead: Read-only Gantt for Jira

Lookahead shows Jira work items on a Gantt timeline, with their hierarchy, "blocks" dependencies and release dates. It works across one project or many, and it can only read your Jira data.

1. Opening Lookahead

For one space (project):

1. Open the space.
2. In the tab row, select More.
3. Select Lookahead Gantt. After the first time, it stays as a tab in that space.

Across spaces: in the left sidebar, open Apps and select Lookahead Gantt. Then choose what to show.

Everyone who can browse a space can open Lookahead there. People only ever see work items they already have access to in Jira.

2. Choosing what to show

Select the source button at the left of the toolbar. It reads Project … or Projects: ….

• Projects: pick one or more. Choose several to see work and dependencies across teams.
• Saved filter: pick one of your Jira filters.
• JQL: type any JQL query. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Enter to apply.

Lookahead shows up to 10,000 work items at a time. If a selection matches more, a message asks you to narrow it.

3. How bars get their dates

Bar edge	First choice	If that is empty	If that is empty too
Start	Start date field	Start of the work item's sprint	Start date of its fix version
End	Due date	End of its sprint	Release date of its fix version

• Dashed bars: any date taken from a sprint or fix version gives a light, dashed bar. Hover over a bar to see exactly where each date came from.
• Parents without dates: a parent, for example an epic, with no dates of its own spans its child work items.
• One date only: a work item with only one date is shown as a single day.
• No dates at all: a work item with no dates is not drawn. The toolbar shows how many there are (N without dates). Select that link for the list, or turn on View → Work items without dates to show them as rows.

Start date field. Lookahead finds your site's start date field automatically. It picks Jira's "Start date" field, or Plans' "Target start", whichever actually has values in the view. To use a different field, select the settings icon (Date settings).

4. Hierarchy

Work items are nested under their parents: initiative, epic, story, then sub-task, or whatever levels your site uses.

• Hidden levels: use Levels to hide some levels. Children of a hidden level move up under the nearest level that is still shown.
• Parents outside the view: a parent that is not part of the selection, for example an epic in another project, is still shown, in grey and italics, so the tree stays readable.
• Expand and collapse: use the arrows next to each row, or the expand-all and collapse-all buttons in the list header.

5. Dependencies and conflicts

• Arrows: "Blocks" links are drawn as arrows from the blocking work item to the blocked one, including across projects.
• Conflicts: a red arrow is a conflict: the blocked work starts on or before the day its blocker ends. The toolbar shows the number of conflicts. Select it to see only the work items involved.
• Distant links: when the other end of a link is far away in the list, a short stub points up or down instead of a long line.
• Hiding arrows: turn arrows off with View → Dependencies.

6. Zoom, grouping and search

• Zoom: Days, Weeks, Months or Quarters. Today scrolls back to today's date.
• Group by: project, assignee, status, sprint or fix version. Grouping by project keeps each project's hierarchy.
• Search: filters by key or summary. Parents of matches stay visible.
• View menu: show or hide done work, releases and dependencies, and sort by start date, end date or key.

7. Working with work items

• Open: select a row or a bar to open the work item in Jira's own issue view. When you close it, Lookahead reloads that work item, so any changes you made show straight away. Those changes are made by you, in Jira, not by Lookahead.
• New tab: the link icon at the end of a row opens the work item in a new browser tab.
• Keyboard: Up and Down move between rows, Right and Left expand and collapse, and Enter opens the work item.

8. Saved views

A view saves the source, zoom, grouping, levels, sort, display options and start date field.

• Save: select Save view and give the view a name.
• Share: turn on Share with everyone on this site to make it a shared view. People still only see work items they have access to.
• Open: open a view from the Views menu.
• Update: if you change an open view, it shows as (edited). Select Save to update it, or Save as… to keep a copy.
• Ownership: only the person who created a view can change or delete it.

Lookahead also remembers your last settings on each page.

9. Export

Select the download icon:

• Download CSV: every work item in the current view, with dates, where each date came from, sprint, fix version, blockers and conflicts. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
• Download image (PNG): the timeline with bars and dependency arrows. Up to 1,500 rows; wide views are zoomed out to fit.
• Copy as CSV: the same data as the CSV download, copied to the clipboard.

Exports include the current filters, grouping and levels, with every group expanded. Files are created in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

10. Reading the timeline

Select the information icon for the legend.

Mark	Meaning
Grey bar	To do
Blue bar	In progress
Green bar	Done
Light dashed bar	Dates come from a sprint, fix version or child work items
Thin bar with end caps	Parent work item, spanning its children
Grey dashed bar	Parent outside this view, shown for context
Grey arrow	Blocks
Red arrow	Conflict: work starts before its blocker is finished
Diamond	Fix version release date, green once released
Blue vertical line	Today

11. Trials and subscriptions

• Trial: a Trial label next to Read-only shows while you are on a free trial. Hover over it to see the end date.
• Inactive subscription: Lookahead shows a notice instead of the timeline. A Jira admin can renew it in Jira settings → Apps → Manage apps. Saved views are kept.

Subscriptions are bought and managed through the Atlassian Marketplace, not on this website. The licence terms cover what you may do with the app.

12. Limits

• Links: only "blocks" links are drawn as dependencies.
• Dates: Lookahead shows dates; it never changes them. To reschedule, open the work item and edit it in Jira.
• Work type icons and avatars: these use Atlassian Design System icons and initials, not the images configured in Jira.
• Size: views are limited to 10,000 work items.

13. Troubleshooting

A work item is missing from the timeline.

It probably has no dates. The toolbar shows N without dates; select it for the list. Also check View → Done work items and the Levels menu, either of which can hide a row deliberately.

Bars use the wrong start date.

Open Date settings, the gear icon, and choose the field your site actually uses for start dates.

I cannot change a shared view.

Only the person who created it can. Use Save as… to make your own copy, then edit that.

The timeline says the subscription is not active.

A Jira admin can renew it in Jira settings → Apps → Manage apps. Your saved views are not deleted while a subscription is inactive.

Someone sees fewer work items than I do.

That is Jira's own permissions working as intended. Lookahead reads with each person's permissions, so a shared view shows each person only the work they can already see.

14. Support

Lookahead is published by Dripwork. For questions, issues or feedback, email support@dripwork.dev. It helps to include the space (project) key, a work item key if one is involved, any message shown in Lookahead, and whether you use Jira's light or dark theme.

Lookahead only reads Jira data, so a problem in the app cannot change or damage your work items.

Atlassian and Jira are trademarks of Atlassian Pty Ltd. Lookahead is an independent app and is not made or endorsed by Atlassian.