Project Management Templates for Excel and Google Sheets
Project management software is built for teams coordinating dozens of tasks with dependencies and real-time collaboration. A lot of project work doesn't need that: a single-owner project, a recurring status update to a stakeholder, or a decision that needs to be documented and justified is often better served by a spreadsheet that's simple to fill in and easy to send as an attachment.
The templates here cover three recurring project needs: capturing meeting minutes and action items, producing a status report a stakeholder can read in under a minute, and scoring options against weighted criteria with a decision matrix when a choice needs to be more defensible than a gut call.
Free templates
Free Meeting Minutes Template (Excel)
FreeFree Project Status Report Template (Excel)
FreeDecision Matrix Template (Excel + Google Sheets, Free)
RAG status reporting that a stakeholder can actually read
A status report that's mostly narrative paragraphs takes longer to write and longer to read than one built around a Red/Amber/Green status per workstream, with the narrative reserved for whatever's flagged amber or red. The project status report template is structured that way: status, key metrics, and risks up top, so a stakeholder skimming it for thirty seconds gets the answer to 'is this on track' before reading a single sentence of detail.
That structure also makes it easier to compare status across weeks, since the same fields are filled in every time rather than each update being written from scratch in a different format.
Meeting minutes and action items that get followed up
Minutes that just summarize discussion tend to get filed and forgotten; minutes built around explicit action items, each with an owner and a due date, are what actually get followed up on. The meeting minutes template separates general notes from a dedicated action item table, so the next meeting can open by checking that table instead of re-reading the previous minutes in full to figure out what was supposed to happen.
Decision matrices for prioritization and vendor choices
When a decision involves more than one option and more than one factor — choosing between vendors, prioritizing a backlog, picking a project to greenlight — a decision matrix scores each option against weighted criteria and sums to a ranked total. That turns 'we picked this because it felt right' into a documented, reproducible comparison, which matters when you need to explain the choice to someone who wasn't in the room, or revisit it later if circumstances change.
The weighting step is what separates a real decision matrix from a simple pros-and-cons list: not every criterion matters equally, and letting cost carry more weight than, say, aesthetic preference is often the difference between a matrix that reflects your actual priorities and one that just launders a decision you'd already made.
Frequently asked questions
Are these project management templates free?
Yes, meeting minutes, the project status report, and the decision matrix are all free to download in Excel and Google Sheets.
What's a RAG status report?
RAG stands for Red, Amber, Green — a simple status color per workstream or task showing on track, at risk, or off track. It lets a reader assess project health at a glance before reading detailed notes.
How does the decision matrix calculate a ranked score?
You weight each criterion by importance, score every option against each criterion, and the template multiplies and sums those scores automatically to produce a ranked total per option.
Can I use the meeting minutes template for recurring team meetings?
Yes, it's built to be reused meeting to meeting, with a dedicated action item table separate from general notes so follow-up items carry forward clearly.
Do these templates require any project management software to open?
No, they're standard Excel and Google Sheets files with no macros, so they open directly in either tool without any additional software.