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Symptoms

When you move some tasks (task: An activity that has a beginning and an end. Project plans are made up of tasks.), the task dependencies (task dependencies: A relationship between two linked tasks; linked by a dependency between their finish and start dates. There are four kinds of task dependencies: Finish-to-start [FS], Start-to-start [SS], Finish-to-finish [FF], and Start-to-finish [SF].) change.

Cause

When you copy or move an entire task or resource (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.), the associated information is copied or moved with it. This information includes:

• Subtasks (subtask: A task that is part of a summary task. The subtask information is consolidated into the summary task. You can designate subtasks by using the Project outlining feature.) (if the selection is a summary task (summary task: A task that is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. Use outlining to create summary tasks. Project automatically determines summary task information [such as duration and cost] by using information from the subtasks.))
• Notes
• Linked or embedded objects (embedded object: Information [the object] inserted in a file [the destination file]. Once embedded, the object becomes part of the destination file. When you double-click an embedded object, it opens in the program it was created in [the source program].)

In addition, Project, by default, automatically creates task dependencies for new tasks that you insert within a series of consecutively linked tasks. If all of the following criteria are met, your dependencies will change to include the inserted task in the linked series:

• The surrounding tasks are part of a series of consecutively linked tasks.
• The dependencies for the surrounding tasks are finish-to-start.
• The Autolink inserted or moved tasks check box is selected on the Schedule tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu).

When you move a task within a group of linked tasks, Project links that task within the group's sequence (for example, A>B>C>D becomes A>B>D>C).

When you move a task from one group of linked tasks to another, the task is inserted into the sequence of the new group (for example, A>B>X>C>D), and the remaining tasks are adjusted (W>Y>Z).

When you move a task from a group of linked tasks to an area with no linked tasks, the moved task is unlinked, and the remaining tasks are adjusted (for example, A>B>C>D becomes A>B>D).

When you move a task from an area with no linked tasks to a group of linked tasks, the moved task is inserted into the sequence (for example, A>B>X>C>D).

Resolution

You can maintain task dependencies between any predecessor (predecessor: A task that must start or finish before another task can start or finish.) and successor (successor: A task that cannot start or finish until another task starts or finishes.) tasks, regardless of where you move the task, if at least one of the following criteria is met:

• The task is not being moved from or pasted into a series of consecutively linked tasks.
• The task being moved contains task dependencies other than finish-to-start.
• The Autolink inserted or moved tasks check box is not selected on the Schedule tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu).

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