Show All

Hide All

Symptoms

The task (task: An activity that has a beginning and an end. Project plans are made up of tasks.) that you select doesn't move when you click one of the outline (outline: A hierarchical structure for a project that shows how some tasks fit within broader groupings. In Project, subtasks are indented under summary tasks.) buttons (such as Outdent or Indent ).

Cause

If you are unable to indent (indenting: Moving a task to a lower outline level [to the right] in the Task Name field. When you indent a task, it becomes a subtask of the nearest preceding task at a higher outline level.) or outdent (outdenting: Moving a task to a higher outline level [to the left] in the Task Name field.) your tasks:

• You may be trying to outdent a first-level task.
• You may be trying to move a task within a consolidated project.
• You may be trying to indent or outdent assignments, not tasks.
• You may be working in a view that doesn't use the outline buttons.
• You may have your tasks sorted without retaining their outline structure.
• You may have your tasks grouped.

Resolution

Outline buttons work only when the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, or Task Usage view is the active view. Also, make sure that your summary tasks (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.) are displayed by clicking Options on the Tools menu, clicking the View tab, and then selecting the Show summary tasks check box in the Outline options section.

If your summary tasks are displayed and you are still unable to use the outline buttons:

• You may have your tasks currently sorted without their outline structure. If you have your tasks sorted this way, you must change your project settings to keep the outline structure and enable the outline buttons. Point to Sort on the Project menu, click Sort by, and then select the Keep outline structure check box.
• You may have selected a criterion in the Group By box . Outlining is not available for grouped tasks. The Show Subtasks and Hide Subtasks buttons collapse and expand the grouped tasks, rather than the outline structure of the summary tasks and subtasks. To remove grouping, click No Group in the Group By box.

If none of these issues reflect your situation, task outlining may not available:

• Tasks at the first outline level cannot be outdented. Instead, indent those tasks that you want to include as subtasks to the first-level summary task.
• When working with consolidated projects, you cannot outdent a task beyond the level of the subtask of a summary task.
• The Resource Usage and Task Usage views display the task and resource assignments with indentations similar to those of subtasks. Although assignments may be shown or hidden along with subtasks, they cannot be indented or outdented.