Timeline: Tasks & Milestone

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    • #5176
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      I am having trouble displaying multiple tasks & milestones in the timeline. Currently all the milestones are displayed at the bottom or the top of the timeline bar. Whereas, I would like it shown over the task itself. The tasks are also scattered along the timeline but I would like it to be 1 per row. For example in the timeline I would like for it to show: Task 1 – Milestone 1 – Milestone 2 – Milestone 3 – ETC Task 2 – Milestone 1 – Milestone 2 – Milestone 3 – ETC Task 3 – Milestone 1 – Milestone 2 – Milestone 3 – ETC And the milestones would overlap the task. Additionally, I would like the milestones to all be different colors. This will help our group distinguish the status of each project from start to finish. This is my first time using project and would like your help

    • #6875
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      And if there are easier ways to accomplish this please do let me know. I have reached out to my peers and they were able to do this in 2007 but I am using Project 2010.

    • #6876
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      Sarah, I can start with a few answers. About tasks on the timesheet, each overlaying task will take a new line on the timetime. The only way to put all on one line is to make sure that the timelines of each task don’t overlay. Milestones aer always on the top or bottom as a callout. Tasks can be either task bars or a callout.

      There are lots of options for formatting the task fill and text. Use the Format tab that shows while selecting the timeline view.

      One question I’m not sure about. You said that others could easily do this in 2007 but not in 2010. The timeline view is new with 2010 so I’m not sure what you meant with this. Additional information would be helpful. Let me know if you need more. There are a lot of articles that might help. Check this out from Microsoft: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/01/project-2010-introducing-the-timeline-view.aspx

    • #6878
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      Thanks Larry for your quick response.

      No, I don’t want the tasks all in one line. I want one task per row. If you look at Step 1 in the article you sent me, it shows a picture with multiple tasks in a row which I don’t want. I know I can manually move each tasks so it displays in a separate row but can this be done automatically?

      Also, I have played around with the callouts but it doesn’t seem to overlap the task. Like you said it resides at the top or bottom of the timeline. Again if you look at Step 1 of the article, it shows milestones at the bottom. For example, it shows ‘production complete’ as a milestone. I will need to create about 50 of these same milestones, some of which might have the same date. When doing so, it looks very messy even if I use callouts and it is confusing as to which task has reached that milestone. Does that make sense? I am trying to organize all of the projects within my org, each project being a task and each milestone being something like ‘training, release date, etc.’ which is going to be the same across all projects. If the milestones cannot overlap the tasks, what is another way to accomplish this? I have been researching and playing around with Project for a week now and still haven’t found a solution.

    • #6880
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      You are welcome. As far as functionality within MS Project it is what it is. Another option would be to copy the timeline to either Word or PowerPoint and format it there. Copy and paste into another office product copies the individual shapes. It’s not all automatic but I think you’ve exhausted your options within Project. Hope that helps.

    • #9872
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      I believe what you’re asking about relates to “Roll-up” to Summary Tasks. If true, you can perform this the same way in 2010 as in 2007. Milestones will overlay within that summary task… One series for each set (Summary and related milestones). Leave your Timeline feature for other future opportunities.

    • #9873
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      Yes, thank you! That is what I was looking for.

      Another question: is there a feature in timeline to expand/collapse views? For example, there are different types of tasks I am creating (lets say confidential/non-confidential). Is there a way to expand or collapse if I didn’t want to see all the tasks? I know you can select in the Gantt chart what you want added to the timeline but I wanted something more user friendly. If this is not possible, I think I will stick to the roll-up.

    • #9874
      lucas madeira
      Keymaster

      You can create multiple timeline views. The UI is a bit weird and not as intuitive as you might like but you can create the timeline, copy it, and then add or remove tasks from the copy.

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