Creating Tasks in Microsoft Project: Overview
In this blog post, we will
examine creating tasks in Microsoft Project. After you have created your
initial project file within Microsoft Project,
you will need to enter the tasks that comprise the project. Simply put,
you need to enter the actual work that needs to be done to complete the
project. In Microsoft Project, you enter this work as tasks within the
project file.
First, switch the working
view of the project file to the “Gantt Chart” view. Within this view,
you will enter the individual tasks that comprise the work that needs to
be accomplished into the table view at the left side of the screen. To
enter a basic task when creating tasks in Microsoft Project, simply
click into the first empty cell under the “Task Name” column in the
table, and then type a name for the task. Then press the “Enter” key on
your keyboard to set the task name and move down to the next cell in the
task list.
Notice that this method only
enters the name of the task into the “Task Name” column. When creating
tasks in Microsoft Project using this method, the program sets a default
value for the “Duration,” “Start,” and “Finish” columns. You can click
any cell shown in the list under those columns and then change the
values directly in the cell. Be sure to press “Enter” on your keyboard
to confirm your changes to the cell’s values.
Creating
Tasks in Microsoft Project- Tutorial: A picture of the “Information,”
“Task Mode,” “Task Name” and “Duration” columns shown within the Gantt
Chart view of a project file in Microsoft Project 2013.
If you would prefer to enter
all of the task details into a separate window at once as you are
creating tasks in Microsoft Project, there is certainly a way to do
this. To do this, simply click into the “Task Name” field of a blank
cell in the task list, and then click the “Information” button in the
“Properties” button group on the “Task” tab in the Ribbon. Doing this
will display the “Task Information” dialog box, where you can input all
task information that is available, before saving the task into the task
list by clicking the “OK” button.
Creating Tasks in Microsoft Project: Instructions
- Switch the working view of the project file to the “Gantt Chart” view. Within this view, you will enter the individual tasks that comprise the work that needs to be accomplished into the table view at the left side of the screen.
- To enter a basic task, simply click into the first empty cell under the “Task Name” column in the table, and then type a name for the task.
- Then press the “Enter” key on your keyboard to set the task name and move down to the next cell in the task list.
- Notice that this method only enters the name of the task into the “Task Name” column. When you enter the names of tasks, the program sets a default value for the “Duration,” “Start,” and “Finish” columns.
- You can click any cell shown in the list under those columns and then change the values directly in the cell.
- Be sure to press “Enter” on your keyboard to confirm your changes to the cell’s values.
- To enter all of the task details into a separate window at once as you create the task, simply click into the “Task Name” field of a blank cell in the task list and then click the “Information” button in the “Properties” button group on the “Task” tab in the Ribbon to display the “Task Information” dialog box.
- Input all available task information.
- Save the task into the task list by clicking the “OK” button.
Creating Tasks in Microsoft Project: Video Lesson
You can view the following video, titled “Creating Tasks,”
to learn about the different ways of creating tasks in Microsoft
Project. This video is from our complete Microsoft Project training,
titled “Mastering Project Made Easy v.2013-2010.”
