How to Create Subtasks in Microsoft Project
How to Create Subtasks in Microsoft Project
To create a subtask in Microsoft Project you simply indent the task. Yes, it is that easy! When you create a subtask, the task above it will turn into a summary task.
Summary tasks are usually used to group similar tasks or they can represent phases of the project. For engineering projects that I manage, I always use summary tasks to create phases of the project.
Summary task are great when you have a few phases with a lot of tasks under it. Once all the tasks have been completed, you can roll-up the summary task to hide all the subtasks. This makes it easier to manage the schedule.
TIP – Once you create a summary task, format the summary task with a colour to make it easily identifiable as a phase.
Steps to create subtasks and summary tasks
In the example below, I start with a list of tasks. I want to create phases (summary tasks) for General Conditions and Long Lead Procurement. Note – All the tasks have a % completion figure and the summary tasks have durations with question marks because I outdented the tasks for this example.
Figure 1: Gantt View with no Subtasks or Summary Tasks
Back to the steps the two simple steps…
1. Click on the task that you would like to turn into a subtask. To speed up the process, you can highlight all the tasks that you would like to turn into subtasks. See Figure 2.
2. Click on the Task tab, then under the Schedule ribbon section, click on the Indent button. See Figure 3.
In Figure 4, you will see that General Conditions is now a summary task. The text is bold and has an arrow to the left which can be clicked on to roll-up the subtasks. Note that in the Gantt chart the summary task bar is formatted differently to the subtasks. The bars can be formatted differently if you prefer.
Figure 2: Highlighting all the Tasks that will be turned into Subtasks
Figure 3: Task Tab and Schedule Ribbon for Indenting a Task to make a Subtask
Figure 4: Task have been Indented to Make Subtasks and the corresponding Summary Task
In Figure 5, I have selected the summary task and highlighted it orange. This is a personal preference of mine to distinguish phases. You can get creative and have different colours for different phases, use a different font, larger font, etc.
Figure 6 shows the Long Lead Procurement summary task that I created next. It has also been formatted orange to show that it is a summary task.
Figure 5: Formatting the Summary Task to Distinguish it from Subtasks
Figure 6: Summary Tasks and Subtasks
In Figure 7 below, the summary tasks have been rolled-up and the tasks below it are now visible without having to scroll down to see them. This can also help when you need to print a project.
Figure 7: Rolled-up Summary Tasks
You can also turn the entire project into a summary task. This is simply done by going to the Gantt Chart Formant tab, in the Show/Hide ribbon section, click on Project Summary Task. The entire project can now be rolled up.
Note that the default title will be used to name the project summary task. You can change the default title by going File then clicking on Info and clicking on Project Information.
Figure 8: Project Summary Task
Figure 9: Changing the Project Title in Microsoft Project 2016
Another great way to add structure to your schedule is by adding outline numbers. Under the Gantt Chart Format tab, in the Show/Hide ribbon section, click on Outline Number. Sequential numbers will be added to the summary tasks and subtasks. See Figure 10 below for an example.
Figure 10: Adding Outline Numbers to Summary Tasks and Subtasks in Microsoft Project 2016
Deleting Summary Tasks
When you delete a summary task, all the subtasks below it will be deleted too. If you do not want to delete the subtasks, make sure you outdent the subtasks first. You can then delete the summary task without deleting the subtasks.
