Troubleshooting the Task List
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This topic is designed to help you troubleshoot problems
encountered when working with the Tasks application. Click a link below
for help with a specific problem:
Some tasks are missing in the Task List
- The view may have a filter or QuickView applied to it.
The Task List
can be filtered to limit the displayed tasks using the Filter or one of the QuickView tabs (My Tasks or Overdue). To show all tasks in the list, clear the Filter box and click All Tasks.
I cannot add or edit tasks
- You may not have
permission to add or edit tasks.
To add or edit all tasks, you need the project-level permission (given to project managers by default). To edit tasks assigned to you, you need the permission.
- The task schedule
may be locked by ProjectTransit.
When a schedule is synchronized with Microsoft Project it is locked. You cannot add, edit
or delete tasks in PPM until synchronization is turned off. For more information,
see Overriding ProjectTransit Schedule Synchronization.
Important: Turning off ProjectTransit synchronization is an irreversible step and should only be done if the schedule will not be used with ProjectTransit in the future.
- The schedule may be checked out by another team member.
You cannot edit tasks in the Task List when someone else has the schedule is checked out. When the task schedule is checked
out a message displays at the top of the Task List:
- You may be trying to edit a read-only field.
Some task fields are read-only (for example, Planned Start on a summary task, or a custom calculation field). These blink when you attempt to put them into edit mode in the Task List.
I cannot add or paste tasks where I want
- The task(s) you are pasting may violate an existing constraint or dependency. If this is the case, your task is added at the bottom of the schedule.
I cannot indent or outdent tasks
- The task may have logged against it.
Tasks with work logged cannot become summary tasks (you cannot outdent them).
Note: This will not prevent you from indenting a task.
- You may be trying
to work with tasks that cannot be indented or outdented. The following
restrictions apply when working with summary tasks and sub-tasks:
- Top level tasks
cannot be outdented.
- The first task
in the task list cannot be indented.
I cannot delete or insert tasks
- The selected task may have actual work logged against it.
Tasks with work logged against them cannot be deleted.
Note: This will not prevent you from inserting tasks.
- You may not have the project-level permission. Without this permission, you cannot delete or add tasks.
I cannot change task dates
- There may be constraints
on the task.
A constraint is a restriction on the task start or finish
date. If a task has a constraint, you may not be able to change its start or finish date.
To remove a constraint, edit the task. For more information, see Task
Constraints.
- There may be restrictions
on the task start/finish dates. Tasks that are linked to other tasks with
a dependency may have restrictions on their start and finish dates.
For example, if a finish to start dependency links two tasks, the start
date of the successor task must be after the finish date of the predecessor
task. For more information,
see Task Dependencies.
Task duration changes when I add or remove
task resources
- Tasks are effort-driven tasks.
Tasks that are marked as effort-driven have their duration
automatically updated when team members are assigned or removed from the
task. To remove effort-driven scheduling for a task, edit the
task. For more information, see Effort-driven
Tasks.
Task properties (duration, planned work,
or dates) are changing automatically
Editing a task causes PPM to recalculate the schedule. See (popup).
- When task properties are changed,
other properties change to reflect the impact on the project schedule. The changes
made depend on the task type. For more information, see the Task Types Overview.
- If you have changed a schedule-related property (Planned Start, Planned Finish, Duration or Planned Work) this can cause a change in another property.
- If you have changed a property that does not directly relate to the schedule (Description, for example), there may be other factors that are causing changes in the task. See (popup).
I cannot display critical path for my schedule
If you are trying to display critical path for a project schedule and the Display Critical Path button is disabled, PPM is unable to calculate the critical path for the schedule. There are several reasons why this might be the case:
- The schedule includes a circular reference. Where this is the case, you can correct the dependency and PPM will be able to calculate the critical path.
For example, a task might have a Must Finish Before dependency on a task that has a Must Finish After dependency on the first task. The most common reason these types of problems exist is when a schedule has been imported from Microsoft Project or is synchronized with a Microsoft Project schedule using ProjectTransit.
- The schedule may be complicated, with numerous levels of indentation and dependencies. In this case, you may not be able to use PPM to calculate critical path.
Note: This should be a rare occurrence.
I get a message telling me my selection is too large to copy
There is a limit to how much you can copy and paste at one time. The limit is based on the maximum amount of data, not the number of tasks.
You can still copy and paste all the tasks, but you may need to do so in steps. If you see a message indicting that your selection is too large to copy, try copying 1/2 the number of tasks you initially selected. If this works, you can add more to the selection.
Note: This should be a rare occurrence.
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