Project Tasks › Create Project Tasks › Shift Tasks

Shift Tasks

You can manually change a task's schedule by dragging its Gantt bars to a new position. When you move Gantt bars, a pop-up window displays the new dates. The task's start and finish dates change to reflect its new position in the Gantt. Changes you make to the start and finish dates automatically update the task's start and finish dates. To view this information, open the General tab on the Task Properties dialog.

You can also shift task start and finish dates interactively on the Gantt chart in the following ways:

• You can shift the start or finish dates, extending the task duration relative to the surrounding time frame.
• You can shift the entire task to a new position relative to the surrounding time frame, keeping the task duration intact.

When shifting tasks, note the following:

• Dependency relationships may impact your ability to change the task start and finish dates, and their duration.
• You can shift only one task at a time.
• You cannot:
  • Shift tasks if you have selected the Freeze Gantt Bars check box in the Gantt dialog.
  • Move completed tasks.
  • Set the start dates of tasks to begin after the start date of their resource assignments. A task's start date can only be before or on the assignment start date.
  • Set the finish date of tasks to end before the finish date of their resource assignments. A task's finish date can only be on or after the last assignment date.
  • Change the end date of a variable-duration task to a date later than the end date of the last end date of the assignments, regardless of the loading pattern. You can, however, change the end date on fixed-duration tasks.
  • Change the start and finish dates of variable-duration tasks that have resource assignments with ETC. Instead, you can move these tasks.
  • Change the start date of tasks that have actuals entered against them, unless the task is of a fixed duration and the start date is earlier than the earliest actuals entered.
  • Set task durations longer than the recalculated duration if the variable tasks have resource assignments with ETC. However, you can drag Gantt bars to new positions on the Gantt chart, changing task start and finish dates.

More information:

Define the Time Scales

Define the General Properties

Lock Tasks in Place

Configure a Gantt Chart

How to Develop Project Schedules