Create subtasks and summary tasks

Indent and outdent tasks to show hierarchy — that is, to make your task list an outline. An indented task becomes a subtask (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.) of the task above it, which becomes a summary task (summary task: A summary task has more than one subtask below it. Subtasks are indented below the summary task in the project frame. The summary task bar has special markers (inverted yellow triangles) to indicate that it has subtasks.). A summary task is made up of subtasks, and it shows their combined information.

1. Go to the Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name column, click the task you want to indent.
3. Click Task > Indent . The task becomes a subtask.
4. Click Outdent to move the task back to the level of the task above it. It’s no longer a subtask.

Work with summary tasks

• To create a high-level view of a project’s phases, you can hide some or all of the subtasks.
• When you move or delete a summary task, Project moves or deletes all of its subtasks. Before you delete a summary task, outdent the subtasks you want to keep.
• You can change the duration of a summary task without changing each subtask. But be careful — changing the duration of the summary task does not necessarily change the durations of the subtasks.
• Don’t forget to link tasks after you make an outline. Subtasks and summary tasks create structure, but they don’t create 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].).
• Avoid assigning resources to summary tasks. Assign them to the subtasks instead, or you might not be able to resolve overallocations.

 Note    Summary tasks don’t always add up. Some summary task values (cost (cost: The total scheduled cost for a task, resource, or assignment, or for an entire project. This is sometimes referred to as the current cost. In Project, baseline costs are usually referred to as "budget.") and work (work: For tasks, the total labor required to complete a task. For assignments, the amount of work to which a resource is assigned. For resources, the total amount of work to which a resource is assigned for all tasks. Work is different from task duration.)) are the total of the subtask values, others (duration (duration: The total span of active working time that is required to complete a task. This is generally the amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the project and resource calendar.) and baseline (baseline plan: The original project plans [up to 11 per project] used to track progress on a project. The baseline plan is a snapshot of your schedule at the time that you save the baseline and includes information about tasks, resources, and assignments.)) aren’t.

More about subtasks and summary tasks

• If you need a work breakdown structure (WBS: A hierarchical structure that is used to organize tasks for reporting schedules and tracking costs. With Project, you can represent the work breakdown structure by using task IDs or by assigning your own WBS code to each task.) instead of a simple outline, Project can help you add WBS codes to your task list.
• Summary tasks are an important tool in top-down planning.