Calendar View of MS Project 2003

[NAtaSchA]

Hi,

I have two questions regarding the CALENDAR VIEW of Microsoft Project 2003:

1) How can I color the task bars assigned to resources differently? eg
Resource Fred = Task Bar in blue; Resource Linda = Task Bar in red?
If this is not possible; Can I color each task bar manually?

2) How can I change the size of the monthly calendar, so that all my tasks
(about 20 in 1 month) fit on the monthly calendar view printed sheet?

Thank you very much for your help,
Natascha

 

[JulieS]

Hello Natascha,

No, sorry to both. The formatting for tasks in the calendar view is
limited to what you can modify through Format > Bar Styles. Instead of
changing colors for resources, I'd suggest filtering the calendar view
to only show Fred's Task or only show Linda's tasks. You cannot color
bars individually in the Calendar view.

What you see printed in the calendar view can be *slightly* modified
by dropping fonts but I sincerely doubt you'll be able to ever print
20 tasks per day. The max seems to be around 6-8 per day.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[NAtaSchA]

Hi Julie,

thank you very much for the quick response!

Since both is not working with MS Project 2003 is there any update that I
can download? Or does any other MS Project Program (2007, Standard or
Professional) change colors of task bars individually and show many tasks in
one day in one month?

Thanks again,
Natascha

 

[JulieS]

Hello Natascha,

You're welcome. Sorry to say this but to your new question -- no,
sorry again. The Calendar view has similar limitations in Project
2007. You might try using the copy picture button to create a gif
file of the calendar view and then printing the gif file to fit all
tasks to one month, but the individual task coloring is still going to
be a limit.


I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[cmulder]

i am having trouble with calendar views too -- i have a project with 4 tasks
per day, all starting at different times in the day -- most of the tasks are
short (2 hours or so) and they all 4 tasks for each day show up on the same
line on each day in the calendar -- and mostly, there is one character of the
task name displayed (at very most -- sometimes no character at all) -- how
can i change the format so that each task shows up on a different line in the
cell for the day and also so that there are at least 6-8 characters of the
task name that can be read? thanks SOO much for your help!

 

[JulieS]

Hi cmulder,

The calendar view is quite limited as you've discovered. The length
of the bar (as with the Gantt chart) depends upon the task duration.
With 2 hour tasks, the bars are only going to be very small. I'd
really suggest trying the Gantt chart view.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[cmulder]

thanks julie --ok -- sounds like the only way i can expand the length of the
bar is to expand the length of the task -- or maybe wrap the text -- is
there any way to force the tasks to show up on different lines in the cells
on the calendar, independent of how long the bars are?
alternatively, is there a way to remove the summary task bars from the
report view that looks like a calendar (in custom reports) -- this view
actually looks pretty close to what we need -- its just that there are so
many summary task lines that it makes it confusing to see what is happening

 

[JulieS]

Hi Carol,

You can manually move tasks around in the Calendar view, however you
need to be very careful not to move the task to the left or right as
you will change the start date/time and constrain the tasks.

To you question about the report:

You could create a filter (Project > Filtered for > More Filters,
New) that does not display summary tasks. The filter definition
would be
Field: Summary
Test: Equals
Value: No

Then in the report definition, set that filter.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[cmulder]

hi julie -- i created the filter in my project -- then i went to custom
reports and selected base calendar, created a new report and selected my new
filter (ie no summary task) -- and the calendar still contains the summary
tasks -- the only place where the summary task disappeared from view was the
gantt chart -- is there something else i need to do to "apply" or otherwise
activate the filter for the custom report/base calendar? thanks
carol

 

[JulieS]

Hi Carol,

I would create the new report based upon the Monthly calendar, not
the base calendar. Select the custom selection in the View >
Reports dialog. Select New and choose Monthly calendar. Then set
the filter in the dialog. In testing the report no longer shows any
summary tasks.

Double check your filter definition. If you apply the filter to the
Gantt chart view, do the summary tasks disappear?

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[cmulder]

hi julie -- thanks so much for your continued help -- i feel like i am soooo
close but it still is not working as you describe -- the filter DOES work in
the gantt chart view (ie the summary tasks disappear when i apply the filter)
-- i did create a new report based on the "monthly calendar" as you suggested
-- and the summary tasks still show up -- is there a way i can send you my
project file so you can look at it and tell me what is missing? or perhaps
you can send me the file you tried it on and i can build from that? thanks
again
carol

 

[JulieS]

Hi Carol,

Go ahead and zip the file and send it to me. My email is prjng AT
maine.rr.com. (Replace the AT with @ and remove spaces.) I'm going
to be out for awhile but I'll take a look as soon as I can.

By the way, what version of Project (including service pack) are you
using?

Julie