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Working with Dense Schedules
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| Project Managers frequently
encounter the problem of overcrowded schedules - working with
overlapping tasks, multiple resources, or trying to perfect a one-page
summary report. Below are solutions for working with connectors,
rows, text, and printing that will help you succeed in creating
easy-to-read presentation reports with Milestones Professional.
You may also want to read
"Successfully Presenting Your
Projects", our free e-book. |
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Solutions Index (click a topic to jump down the page)
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Multiple Tasks Using a Variety of Connector Types
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Milestones Professional has more than 40 connector
types and many colors and fill patterns to choose from. Utilize a
variety of these connectors to distinguish between different tasks and
resources. |
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Uses a variety of connector types to distinguish
between tasks.
Use a legend instead of symbol text to assign
employees to Teams and tasks to connector bars.
More than 95 connector bars enable you to place those
bars on one task line, yet at different levels, with different colors
and fill patterns: |
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Multiple
overlapping tasks using tri-level Gantt bar positioning
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In addition to
Milestones' extensive selection of connector types and patterns, it is
also possible to position connectors on up to three different levels in
each task row. Use these tri-level Gantt bars to show overlapping
tasks, or to show baseline, actual, and planned dates. |
To change the level of a connector in the
toolbox
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Double click the start date symbol in
the toolbox. |
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Select the "Text and Date Properties"
tab. |
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Under "Symbol Position," choose
Upper, Middle, or Lower. |
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Repeat Steps 1-3 for the end date
symbol. |
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Having trouble selecting the correct symbol because
they are placed so close together?
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1. |
Click the Arrow tool in the ToolBox. |
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Click once on a symbol. |
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Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move between
symbols. |
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When you land on your symbol, use CTRL+E to open the
Symbol Properties dialog box. |
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Make any change to the symbol, including its date. |
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Multiple overlapping tasks on several rows that
appear as one row
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If tri-level Gantt bars do not provide enough
flexibility in your dense schedule, you can use custom gridlines to make
several rows appear as one row. |
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Use multiple task lines and customized horizontal
gridlines to create the appearance of one row.
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Each bar is on a different row, allowing for
larger Gantt bars, text, and symbols.
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Working with overcrowded symbol text
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The previous three solutions above should solve any
problems with overlapping connectors. However, any symbol text
associated with overlapping tasks may also need to be re-arranged.
Using simple keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly and easily move and
adjust symbol text and dates. |
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With symbol text, you can enter up to 3 lines of text
with any symbol on your schedule. The example below, shows a symbol with
symbol text:
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Make symbol text appear at an angle:
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(Under Tools | Options | View/Display) |
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It’s possible to show symbol text at an angle.
Simply double-click a symbol on the schedule and check “Draw Text at
Angle” on the Text tab of the Symbol Properties dialog. The
default angle is set to 45 degrees. It can be changed under Tools |
Options | View/Display.
Text above and in the middle of the symbol will be
drawn up from the symbol at a 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 135, or
150-degree angle. Alternately, if the text is below the symbol it is
drawn down at -30,-45, -60, -90, -120, -135, or -150 degrees. Any
text greater than 90 degrees is reversed so that it is not
upside-down.
Note: When the “Draw Text at Angle” selection is
active, the following constraints happen automatically:
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Only a single line of text is drawn regardless
of how many are in the symbol. |
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No text box is drawn even if selected in the
Toolbox for this symbol type. |
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The “Force background color” option under
Tools | Options | View/Display is ignored. The degrees setting
defaults to 45 degrees. It can be changed under Tools | Options
| View/Display |
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Vertically move symbol text:
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The First example three symbols on the second row
which have overlapping symbol text. This problem is easily solved
using a new technique which creates a comment symbol and vertical link
with easy mouse operations. |
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Here is the the result using the new technique.
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How to vertically move symbol text.
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Click the Arrow tool in the ToolBox. |
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On the schedule, click once on the symbol with the
text. |
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Hold down the CTRL and the T keys. |
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Click and drag to move the symbol and its text to
another task row. |
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Note: Choose the Tools tab. In the Customize
section choose Move Symbol Text Options to select the symbol
and the vertical line type to be used in this case. |
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To adjust the symbol date and/or text position
with the keyboard: |
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Click the Arrow tool in the ToolBox. |
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On the schedule, click once on the symbol with the
text or date to move. |
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Hold down the ALT and CTRL keys to move the date,
or just ALT to move the text. |
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Click the arrow keys to move the text around.
The text will move as you click the arrow keys. |
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Printing a schedule in slices, or to a large-format
plotter
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When it comes time to print a dense schedule, there
are several useful options, including: |
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Print a schedule in slices:
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Choose the File tab, in the Printing section
choose Printing Options |
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On the Print tab, check
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Enter the size of each date-range "slice" |
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Alternately, choose to
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Print to a large-format plotter:
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Choose the File tab, in the Printing section
choose Printer Setup and choose your plotter and paper size. |
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On the Layout tab,
set the Chart Size to as match the plotter paper size, up to
300x300 inches. |
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To avoid any down-scaling; choose the File tab.
In the Printing section choose on the General tab, check
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Finally, choose the
Print icon in the toolbar to create a wall-size schedule. |
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Back to Top |
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Navigate quickly using Continuous Mode or the
keyboard
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Continuous Mode allows the user to navigate forward
and back through the date range, as well as down through all pages of a
schedule without any separations. Choose View tab, in the Viewing
Options section under Page View: choose Continuous, or simply press F8
on your keyboard |
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Continuous Mode locks the columns in place, and allows
free movement in the schedule pane: |
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Alternately, it is easy to quickly scroll
the date range of the schedule using Shift + PgUp or Shift +
PgDn. The number of days the calendar range scrolls in
response to these shortcuts is determined in by choosing the
Dates tab, in the Start and End Dates section choose the
Full Dialog: the Schedule Details dialog box appears, on the
Yearly/Monthly tab under Calendar Range Scrolling set the
number of days to scroll. |
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Back to Top |
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and
down-and-under
connectors provide even more levels
on one task line.
