Show All

Hide All

When you assign custom outline codes (outline codes: Custom tags you define for tasks or resources that allow you to show a hierarchy of the tasks in your project that is different from WBS codes or outline numbers. You can create up to 10 sets of custom outline codes in your project.) to tasks (task: An activity that has a beginning and an end. Project plans are made up of tasks.) or resources (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.), you can group (group: To combine or rearrange tasks or resources in a project according to specific criteria, for example, task duration, priority, resource overallocation, or finish date; do not confuse this with the Group field, which is a resource field.) by those codes.

1. On the View menu, click a view that contains the tasks or resources you want to group by outline code.
   • To group tasks, select a sheet (sheet: A spreadsheet-like representation [in rows and columns] of task or resource information. Each row specifies an individual task or resource. Each column [field] specifies a type of information, such as start dates or standard rates.) view such as the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, or Task Usage view. You can also group tasks in the Network Diagram (Network Diagram: A diagram that shows dependencies between project tasks. Tasks are represented by boxes, or nodes, and task dependencies are represented by lines that connect the boxes. In Project, the Network Diagram view is a network diagram.) view.
   • To group resources, select a sheet view such as the Resource Sheet or Resource Usage view.
   • To use a view that is not on the View menu, click More Views, click the view you want to use in the Views list, and then click Apply.
2. On the Project menu, point to Group by, and then click Customize Group By.
3. In the Group By row, in the Field Name column, type or select the outline code field you want to use to group tasks or resources.

   You can choose from up to 10 outline codes with default names such as Outline Code6. Or you can choose the name you entered when you defined it, such as Cost Code (Outline Code1) if you renamed it "Cost Code."

   If you use Microsoft Office Project Server 2003, you can also group by enterprise outline codes.

4. To group on only a particular level of the outline code you chose in the Field Name field, click Define Group Intervals. In the Group on box, click Level to specify that you want to group tasks or resources based on the outline code level. In the Group level box, click the number of the outline code level that you want to group on.

   For example, if you want to group tasks or resources based on the third level of the outline code (3), click 3 in the Group level box.

5. To group on multiple levels of the outline code consecutively, repeat steps 3 and 4. Use the same outline code and select a different number in the Group level box.
6. In the Order column, click Ascending or Descending.
7. To show summary tasks among the tasks after they are grouped in the Task Sheet view, select the Show summary tasks check box.
8. To select the formatting options for the grouped tasks, under Group by setting for, click the options you want in the Font, Cell background, and Pattern boxes.
9. Click Save.
10. In the Name box, type a name for the custom grouping criteria you've set.
11. To display this custom group in the Group By box and the Group by submenu (Project menu), select the Show in menu check box.
12. To return the view to its ungrouped state, in the Group By box , click No Group.