Get rid of Create External in MS Project

[sdesomer]

I have several projects containing external links between them. I actually
have several problems, but I will only mention 2 here.

In the box where you look at the links between tasks, in the right hand
column, I get "Create External" often the same task repeated several times,
or individual tasks. You can't browse to add them and you can't delete them,
both buttons are greyed out. How do I get rid of them and what causes them?

The other problem, again in the external links box, I get duplicates of the
same task, sometimes 4 or 5. Sometimes they point to different places
sometimes the same one. Plus sometimes when I delete them they come back.
Again, how do I fix this and/or delete them permanently?

Thanks

 

[John]

I have several projects containing external links between them. I actually
have several problems, but I will only mention 2 here.

In the box where you look at the links between tasks, in the right hand
column, I get "Create External" often the same task repeated several times,
or individual tasks. You can't browse to add them and you can't delete them,
both buttons are greyed out. How do I get rid of them and what causes them?

The other problem, again in the external links box, I get duplicates of the
same task, sometimes 4 or 5. Sometimes they point to different places
sometimes the same one. Plus sometimes when I delete them they come back.
Again, how do I fix this and/or delete them permanently?

Thanks

sdesomer,
There are a couple of ways to create links between project files - paste
links and external predecessors/successors. You didn't mention where you
are looking when you look at the links between tasks but it almost
sounds like it is under Edit/Links. If so, then you have used paste
links and therein lies the problem.

Paste links in Project are very fragile and subject to corruption
particularly if the files are moved around or if links are created or
broken in a casual way. I would only recommend paste links in very
special cases and then only to a user who really, really knows what they
are doing.

If I have guessed wrong and you are not using paste links, it still
sounds like there has been a lot of jockeying with the files. The link
structure is really messed up.

Either way, I recommend the following. If you can, make a map (perhaps
on a spreadsheet) of the links you want. Make sure it shows the task
Unique ID, the source project name and the destination project name.
Then I would try breaking all the links you can using the Delete Link
button (make sure you have all the linked files open). As each link or
group of links is broken, use a Save As to first save the destination
file and then the source file. Save As under the same name and do not
close the files after the save - you want them open to break the rest of
the links. If after going through this process some links remain that
are greyed out I would look at the Predecessor field. Search for
predecessors with a path (those are external). Try to delete them from
the Predecessor field. Again save the files as above.

I don't know if this will do the trick, but it is worth a try. If it
does clear out the rogue links I would then use a method to clear
corruption from all the files. Go to our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
and take a look at FAQ 43 - File Bloat? Could be corruption. Finally,
after the files are cleaned up, use your saved link map to re-establish
the cross-file links.

Let us know how it works.

John
Project MVP