Adding a Summary Task to the Task Schedule

Project managers can add a summary task to a project schedule from the Gantt chart.

A summary task is a parent or top-level task that groups together a set of related sub-tasks or leaf tasks. For more information about summary tasks, see the Summary Tasks Overview. Note: Tasks with work logged against them cannot be made into summary tasks.

TO ADD A SUMMARY TASK:

Navigate to the workspace to which you want to add the summary task.
You need to check the schedule out before you can add a summary task.
Click Tasks in the Workspace Menu, then click Check Out Schedule.
If the task schedule is already checked out, a Check In Schedule link displays on the Tasks menu. For more information, see Checking Out the Task Schedule for Editing.
In the Tasks area of the Workspace Menu, click Gantt Chart.
The Gantt Chart displays in a new window.
In the Task Grid to the left of the Gantt chart, click the task number of the task that will be the first child task of the new summary task, then click the Insert button () on the Gantt Chart toolbar.
A new task is added above the existing task you selected.
Type a name for the summary task in the Task column.
The task is added to the Gantt chart with a default duration of 1 day.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click the task numbers of the tasks to be added to the summary task.
The task numbers and names are selected.
Note: These tasks must be adjacent to one another and listed directly below the new summary task.
On the Gantt Chart toolbar, click the Indent Selected Task(s) icon ( ).
The tasks are added to the summary task as sub-tasks. The duration and start and end dates of the summary task are changed automatically.
To remove a sub-task from the summary task, click the number of the task, to select it and then click the Outdent Selected Task(s) icon ( ).
To save your changes, close the Gantt Chart and check in the schedule.