establishing tasks without dates in MS project

[MLR]

I have a master MS project plan / list. There are some projects that do not
have a firm date associated with it and I would like to be able to list the
project however not have a data associated with it. Is there a way?

 

[JulieS]

Hello MLR,

No sorry. Tasks in Project will always have a start and finish date.
Suggested in the past was to change the font color for the dates for
such tasks to white, but that merely hides the display of the date.

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

 

[davegb]

I have a master MS project plan / list. There are some projects that do not
have a firm date associated with it and I would like to be able to list the
project however not have a data associated with it. Is there a way?

While there are some convoluted ways to hide the dates so you don't
see them, the answer is no. Project will always have a Start and
Finish date for every task.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[MLR]

Thanks, Julie. Looks like I will have to fudge dates. There should be a
better way.

 

[MLR]

Thanks for the input.

While there are some convoluted ways to hide the dates so you don't
see them, the answer is no. Project will always have a Start and
Finish date for every task.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[John]

Thanks, Julie. Looks like I will have to fudge dates. There should be a
better way.

MLR,
Let me jump in with my two cents. Even though Project always provides
dates in the Start and Finish fields, it is very normal to not know
specific dates when first developing a plan. Rather than hide or "fudge"
the dates, I suggest you put in your best guestimate (that's a little
different than "fudging") and then use the Adjust Dates utility, found
on the Analysis toolbar, when you get the dates firmed up.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[davegb]

MLR,
Let me jump in with my two cents. Even though Project always provides
dates in the Start and Finish fields, it is very normal to not know
specific dates when first developing a plan. Rather than hide or "fudge"
the dates, I suggest you put in your best guestimate (that's a little
different than "fudging") and then use the Adjust Dates utility, found
on the Analysis toolbar, when you get the dates firmed up.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP  






- Show quoted text -

You can, of course, "fudge" dates. But why? Since the proper way to
use Project is to link tasks and set dates as rarely as possible, why
not just link those tasks and let Project do what it's supposed to
do?

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[JulieS]

Hello MLR,

It looks like John and Dave have weighed in with some opinions as
well. You're welcome for my opinion and thanks for the feedback

Julie
Project MVP

 

[Steve House]

Remember that Project's reason for existance is to calculate schedule dates.
Of course you don't have dates firmed up when you put the information into
Project, you never do! You input the data about the project and the
software turns around and tells YOU the dates on which you should be
planning to do the work. In the best of both worlds, there's only ONE date
that should ever be input by the user - the planned Project Start Date.
Everything else is calculated for you by the software.

 

[Paul Conroy]

It doesn't help you now but, Project V.next "may" have the ability to create
tasks without any dates !