Working the Schedule

You can view the project schedule and manage elements such as tasks, milestones, and constraints.

This task shows you how to:

Change the Schedule View

Use the controls and slider above the timeline to adjust the view:

Control Description
Centers the schedule on today's date, indicated by a vertical red line.


Reframes the view by changing the zoom and the center of the screen so all elements in visible rows display at the same time. If you select a project, this applies to the selected project. If no project is selected, the whole schedule is reframed.
Zooms the timeline in and out. The time range can span up to 100 years. To scroll the timeline left or right, click inside the schedule and drag in either direction.
Shows or hides these elements:
  • Schedule Highlights. Only for enterprise projects. Shows highlight tasks in a view above the schedule view. For more information, see Managing Projects and Tasks.
  • Expanded View that expands the root project and all subprojects. When disabled, only the root project is expanded.
  • Dependencies
  • Tasks
  • Assignees in the tree column.
  • Compression of tasks.
Expands or collapses the tree pane and schedule view. You can also drag the vertical line that splits these views.

Use these icons in the upper-right corner to expand/collapse the project card and edit objects:

Control Description
Expands/collapses the project card in the header.
Lets you edit the properties for the object you have selected in the schedule. This applies to tasks, milestones, and projects.

Add Elements to a Project

To add new elements under the selected project, click above the schedule and choose:

Element Description Link
Project Creates another project under the project. Create a Project
Milestone Adds an event. Create a Milestone
Task Creates a task Create a Task in the Schedule
Constraint Adds dependencies between selected elements (tasks/milestones). Create a Constraint
Add Existing Project Adds an existing project that you select.
Note: Type-ahead shows projects not having parents, but you can search for and select projects that have parents.
 Add an Existing Project

For all elements, you can do the following:

  • In the search box on the global toolbar, click then Search in Current Tab to search for projects, tasks, and milestones. For more information, see Restricting Your Search to the Current Dashboard Tab or Community Page.
  • Add user-defined 6WTags to an element in the schedule by selecting the element and clicking . The added tags for the element display in 6WTags. Select the tags that you want. For more information, see Filtering with 6WTags.

    • If you assign coloring to elements in the schedule, the colors display as follows:
      • For projects, tasks, and milestones: the color tag chip displays to the left of the object label.
      • For milestone group elements: the color tag chip displays to the left of the milestone diamond in the milestone pop-up.
    • You can drag objects, one at a time, in the project tree to reorder them. When you drag a project or task object over the project tree, a blue line shows you where to drag the object. To make an object the last one in the project tree, drag it on top of the project or subproject object. To make it the first object in the tree, drag it on the blue line directly under the project or subproject. To drag a subproject between two other expanded objects, you must first collapse the trees of the two expanded objects and then drag the subproject on the blue line between the two collapsed objects.

Task and Milestone Scheduling

Tasks and milestones are scheduled when there is a change in the current date or when you make a change to the schedule.

Tasks and milestones are scheduled from the project start date or from today's date, taking into account dependencies and resource assignments ("Time and Resource" mode for a project).

You can define task and milestone planned dates by dragging inside the timeline. However, such a change results in planned end dates that are fixed for tasks, which makes the schedule less flexible.

You can change a task's start or end date by hovering over the task and then dragging its start or end date to another date in the schedule. You cannot change the duration of a summary task since its duration is determined by its child tasks.

You can edit a task or milestone by clicking it in the schedule. Then click to edit its properties.

Parent Task Maturity and Progress

A parent task's maturity and progress are defined by its child tasks. If all subtasks are in the "To Do" state, the parent is also in the "To Do" state. If all subtasks are "Completed," the parent task becomes "Completed." Otherwise, the parent task is "In Work."

The parent task progress equals the sum of (child task estimated duration * progress) / sum of (child task estimated duration). the result is calculated in a multiple of 10.

Subtask Scheduling

When a task is decomposed, its start and end dates are defined by its children. Dependencies and constraints of the parent task are applied to its child tasks. Start and end dates are not rolled up if these dates are fixed (planned or actual) on the parent task.

A constraint between any level of a child and its parent is not allowed. For example you cannot make contraints from a child to its parent or from a grandchild to its grandparent. Attempting to do so displays an error message.