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Viewing tasks (task: An activity that has a beginning and an end. Project plans are made up of tasks.) with long durations (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.) can help you make various improvements to your project. You can see the tasks that represent greater risk (risk: An event or situation that may negatively affect project scope, schedule, budget, or quality.) to the project finish date and 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."). If you're looking to adjust your project's schedule (schedule: The timing and sequence of tasks within a project. A schedule consists mainly of tasks, task dependencies, durations, constraints, and time-oriented project information.), budget, or resource workload, adjusting lengthy tasks can make the biggest impact. Assess whether the amount of time is really appropriate to see whether you can break the task into more manageable segments that can be scheduled more flexibly.

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. If necessary, click AutoFilter  to turn on AutoFilters (AutoFilter: A way to filter information in a field [column]. By default, AutoFilters are off, but you can turn them on by clicking AutoFilter. Selecting a filter does not delete any information from your project; it only filters it from your view.).

   When AutoFilters are enabled, an arrow is displayed to the right of each field (field: A location in a sheet, form, or chart that contains a specific kind of information about a task, resource, or assignment. For example, in a sheet, each column is a field. In a form, a field is a named box or a place in a column.) heading.

3. Click the AutoFilter arrow in the Duration field, and then click > 1 week.

   To filter for a specific length of time, click Custom. In the upper-left box, click is greater than or is greater than or equal to. In the upper-right box, click the period of time that represents the duration of tasks you want to examine, for example, 10d or 3w. Click OK.

   You can also create an AutoFilter to compare scheduled durations with other duration fields, such as Baseline Duration or Actual Duration. In the Custom AutoFilter dialog box, instead of entering a duration value in the upper-right box, click a field name from the list.

4. To show tasks whose durations fall within a range, repeat step 3, selecting Custom from the AutoFilter list. Click And, click a criterion in the lower-left box (such as is less than), and then enter a duration in the lower-right box.

Note  If you create a custom AutoFilter and think you might use it frequently, save it for future use. In the AutoFilter menu, click Custom. Enter the settings you want, and then click Save. In the Name box, type a name for your new AutoFilter. Select the Show in menu check box, and then click OK.