By default, project tasks lists have all of the columns and settings you need to plan a basic project. However, your organization may have some specialized information that you want to capture, or you may want to look at your project tasks list in a different way from the default view. You can customize the default project tasks list view to include different columns and unique layouts to meet your needs.
What do you want to do?
Work with columns
The columns in a project tasks list determine what information you want to capture about each task in your project. It’s important to make sure you have the right columns available, and know that you can sort and move them to display information in different ways.
The following sections detail what you can do with columns in a project tasks list.
Add or show a column
To add a new column, on the List tab, in the Manage Views group, click Create Column.
To show an existing column, hover the mouse cursor over any column in the project tasks list view, and then clickConfigure Columns. Click the check box to the left of the column you want to show to select it, and then clickOK.
Delete or hide a column
To delete a column and its data, on theListtab, in theSettingsgroup, clickList Settings. In the Columnssection of theList Settingspage, click the name of the column that you want to delete. On theChange Columnpage, clickDelete.
To hide a column from view, without deleting its data, hover the mouse cursor over the column header for the column you want to hide, and then click Hide Column.
Sort a column
Hover the mouse cursor over a column header, and then click the arrow that appears on the right side of the cell. Click Sort Ascending or Sort Descending to sort the contents of that column.
Move a column
You can move columns in two ways:
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Hover the mouse cursor over the column header for the column you want to move. When the cursor turns into a four-way arrow, drag the column right or left, releasing the mouse button when the indicator appears where you’d like the column to appear.
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Hover the mouse cursor over any column in the project tasks list view, and then click Configure Columns. Select the row containing the column you want to move, and then click Move Up or Move Down to change the order of the columns. Click OK to move the column in the view.
Set column width
You can adjust the width of columns in two ways:
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Hover the mouse cursor over the right edge of a column header. When the cursor turns into a two-way arrow, drag the edge of the column header to the right or left to widen or narrow the column.
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Hover the mouse cursor over any column in the project tasks list view, and then click Configure Columns. Adjust the numbers in the Column Width (pixels) column to change the widths of each corresponding column. Click OK to apply your changes.
Set up views
The default project tasks list view is designed for basic work management, but you may have specific needs that would be better met by different views of your data. You can create a new view, or modify an existing view.
To create a new view:
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On the List tab, in the Manage Views group, click Create View.
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Choose what type of view you want to create.
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If you choose a Standard, Datasheet, or Calendar view, you might have to create a new view or modify and existing view. To find out how to create or modify a view, click the link in the See Also section.
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If you choose a Gantt view, which is the view used in the default project tasks list view, you choose which fields to include in the table portion of the view, but you also choose which fields to use to draw the Gantt bars.
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To modify an existing view:
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On the List tab, in the Manage Views group, use the Current View list to choose the view you want to modify.
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Click the arrow to the right of Modify View, and then click Modify View to make basic changes to the view, or click Modify in SharePoint Designer (Advanced) to make advanced changes to the view.
Customize and navigate the Gantt chart
The Gantt chart, displayed on the right portion of the default project tasks list view, uses a timeline and Gantt bars to represent the tasks in your project. You can choose what fields are used as the start and end points for the Gantt bars. You can also easily navigate through the Gantt chart using the ribbon.
Change how the Gantt bars are drawn
In a Gantt view, Gantt bars are drawn by associating the beginnings and ends of the bars with specific date fields. You can change which fields contain the start and end dates for the bars by modifying the view.
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On the List tab, in the Manage Views group, use the Current View list to choose the Gantt view you want to modify.
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Click the arrow to the right of Modify View, and then click Modify View.
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In the Gantt Columns section of the Edit View page, choose the appropriate fields:
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Start Date Choose the field that contains the date when you want each Gantt bar to begin.
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Due Date Choose the field that contains the date when you want each Gantt bar to end.
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Percent Complete Choose the field that contains the percent of work that has been completed on each task. A thin bar will be drawn inside the main Gantt bar, showing this as a percent of the Gantt bar. This is a good way to track how far ahead or behind you are on a task.
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Predecessors Choose the field that lists which tasks must be completed before the current task can begin. This will draw an arrow between each predecessor task and the current task on the Gantt chart.
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Click OK to apply your changes.
Move around within the Gantt chart
You can adjust the timescale used at the top of the Gantt chart, to show a bigger-picture view of your project, or a more detailed view. On the List tab, in the Gantt View group, click Zoom In to get a more detailed look at the timescale, with smaller time units (such as dates and times). Click Zoom Out to get a bigger-picture view of the timescale, with larger time units (such as years and months).
You can also quickly scroll to where a specific task appears in the Gantt chart. Click the task in the left, table portion of the view, and then, on the List tab, in the Gantt View group, click Scroll to Task. The Gantt chart is shifted to display the selected task.
Set permissions for an individual task
Some projects may contain tasks that not everyone should have access to. When that’s the case, you may be able to set permissions for individual tasks.
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On the List tab, in the Manage Views group, choose All Tasks, or another non-Gantt view, from the Current View list.
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Hover the mouse cursor over the task for which you want to adjust permissions, and click the arrow that appears.
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Click Manage Permissions to adjust the permissions for the selected task.
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On the Edit tab, click Stop Inheriting Permissions to begin providing unique permissions for this task.
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Adjust the permissions just as you would any other SharePoint item.
