Linking tasks (dependencies)

1. Click the bar of the task that goes first. A small circle appears at each end of it.

2. Press on the circle at its right-hand end and drag onto the left half of the bar of the task that waits.

3. Let go. An arrow joins the two bars and the second task moves to after the first.

The bar you drag from always goes first. The bar you drop on always waits.

Choosing the kind of link as you drag

Which circle you start from, and which half of the other bar you let go over, decide the kind of link. The circle is the end of the first task the link hangs on. The half you drop on is the end of the waiting task it controls:

While you drag, a dashed line follows the pointer. Over another bar, the line jumps to the end of that bar it will join, a dot marks the spot, and a label beside the pointer names the kind of link you will get, for example Finish to finish. Move across the middle of the bar to switch between its start and its finish. If you let go anywhere other than a bar, nothing happens.

A milestone is a single moment, so a link always joins it at that moment. Either side of the diamond gives finish to start from a right-hand circle, or start to start from a left-hand one.

A phase can’t be the task that waits, because its dates come from the tasks inside it. To make a phase go first, click the phase’s bar and drag from its circle.

A link made by dragging has no delay. You can change its kind and add a delay afterwards.

1. Select the tasks in the order they happen. Click the first, then Shift+click the last.

2. Press Ctrl+F2 (or Task › Link tasks).

Each task is linked to the one below it, finish to start: the first goes first, the second waits for it, the third waits for the second, and so on. This is the same key as in Microsoft Project.

• A link that is already there is left as it is.
• If you select a phase together with the tasks inside it, the phase is left out. The tasks inside it are linked to each other.
• If one of the links can’t be made, for example because it would make a loop, none of them are made, and the reason is shown beside the chart.
• It doesn’t work while the rows are sorted or filtered, because the order you see is then not the plan’s.

To remove links, select the tasks and press Ctrl+Shift+F2 (or Task › Unlink tasks). With one task selected, every link into and out of it goes. With several, the links between them go, and their links to other tasks stay. Undo puts them back.

1. Double-click the name of the task that waits to open the task form.

2. Scroll to Depends on.

3. In Choose a task…, pick the task it waits for.

Each link is listed with three things you can change:

• Which task it waits for: pick another from the list.
• The type (FS, SS, FF or SF), explained below.
• The lag: a delay or overlap, explained below.

Click × to remove the link.

The list leaves out tasks you can’t link to. A task that would create a loop (A waits for B, which waits for A) isn’t offered.

To change the type on the chart, right-click the arrow and pick one.

The lag box next to a link adds working time between the two tasks:

• 2d makes the second task wait two extra working days, for example while concrete sets.
• -1d (a negative lag, also called a lead) lets it start one day before the first one finishes, so the two overlap.
• Hours and weeks work too: 4h, 1w.

Press Enter to keep the new lag (with more than one link, it moves you on to the next lag box), or Esc to put back the old one.

• After a task that ends at the end of the day, the next one starts the next working morning.
• After a task that ends at noon, the next one starts after lunch the same day.
• After a milestone, the next task starts the same day. In Oakfield Villa Build, Permits approved and Site clearance are both on Monday 28 September.

• On the chart: right-click the arrow and choose Remove link.
• To remove every link of a task at once: right-click its bar and choose Remove all links from this task.
• In the task form: click × beside the link.

When you remove a task’s last link, it goes back to the start date it had before it was linked.

Click Dependencies on the view row. The links still work while the arrows are hidden.

The message at the bottom of the window explains each refusal.