Filtering for Non-Summary Tasks

[Just Fun]

I know how to view only the detail tasks by using the
Tools/Options/View/settings/ method.
Is there a way to actually filter for any "NON"-summary tasks? Or, just the
detail tasks?

In another thread, it was suggested that I should filter my view this way.
That thread grew long and stail. I can't figure out how to do this filter so
I thought I should start this new thread related only to the filtering
question.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Just Fun --

Create a custom filter to filter using the following criteria:

Summary Equals No
And Milestone Equals No

Hope this helps.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Dale's suggestion is the best one (although I don't understand why he
filters out milestones? Dale??) but Tools, Options, View, Check out "Show
Summary Tasks" gives the result you want as well.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jan --

It all depends on whether he considers milestones detail tasks. If yes, he
can exclude that part of the filter. If no, he should keep the filter as
written. Hope this helps.

 

[Just Fun]

Thanks,

Everything helps. I'll try it tomorrow.

John Hansen

 

[Just Fun]

Dale,

This filter (Summary Equals No) works just the way I need it to.
What source of information did you use to know the value "No" was an
appropriate test for the Summary field?
When I first tried to create this filter before I had your help, It wasn't
apparent to me that I should test for "No".
I read the help files but didn't see this trick. Are there other things to
know about creating filters that might be found in a book or on-line?

John Hansen

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Just Fun --

Amazingly enough, I learned much about the Microsoft Project desktop
application by simply reading the Help files. Six years ago, when I joined
the world of full-time training and consulting on Microsoft Project (and
later Project Central and Project Server), my boss initially ordered me to
read the Help files on EVERY field in the software. Six years ago, there
were less fields than there are today, but it was still a major undertaking.
I did this as he requested, and learned there were fields in the software
that users never realize, and which contain very useful information if we
only knew they were there.

If you read about the task Summary field in the Help system, you will see at
the top of the page that the Data Type is Yes/No, and that the Entry Type is
Calculated. This information tells you that Microsoft Project automatically
calculates the values in the Summary field and enters either a Yes or a No
value for every task to indicate whether the task is a summary task. If you
temporarily insert the Summary column in any task view, you will see the Yes
and No values in the column. The Milestone field works exactly the same
way, as the software determines whether a task is a milestone and then sets
a Yes or No value in the field automatically.

Interestingly enough, I was able to answer an extremely difficult Project
Server question yesterday, based on my knowledge of default TeamStatus
Pending field. From that answer, I wrote an FAQ to help future users with
the same problem. Refer to the following FAQ for how I answered this
question:

http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared Documents/RollBackProgressInformationRequest.htm

Therefore, my advice to you would simply be to learn as much as you can
about all of the default fields that exist in Microsoft Project, including
task, resource, and assignment fields. Doing so will help you to create
useful Views, Tables, Filters, and Groups, based on your advanced knowledge
of fields. Hope this helps.