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Create and add new tasks to the project plan.

Quick reference

Create New Tasks

Set the project start date and add new tasks to the plan. 

When to use

We add a new task to our plan and complete the details whenever we want to track and monitor a to-do item in our project. Setting a project start date prior to adding tasks ensure the tasks will be scheduled correctly.  

Instructions

Set the Project Start Date

Start and Finish dates in Project for the Web are determined by the duration of the tasks. Project will automatically modify the finish date of the project based on a defined start date and the completion date of the final task. 

When we create a new project the default start and finish dates will be set to the current day's date. It's important to make sure we change the project start date to reflect the actual start date of the project to ensure everything remains accurate. 

  • Click on the start/finish date link underneath the project title. 

We can set the start date of the project from here. 

  • Click the Calendar icon in the Start field. 
  • Choose the start date. 

It's worth noting that we cannot change the finish date of the project as this is automatically done for us based on the start date and task durations. 

We might come across a situation where the project ends up finishing later than we had planned. If it's important that a project finishes in a certain month of the year or after Q2 for example, we may need to modify the project start date and bring everything forward. 

Create New Tasks

Let's add some tasks to our project plan. In this example, we are going to create tasks related to a Kitchen Renovation project. We can find a list of the tasks in the Excel file 'Kitchen_Renovation.xlsx'. 

  • Download the file 'Kitchen_Renovation.xlsx'. 
  • Review the spreadsheet and take note of the structure. 

The tasks shown in bold caps are going to be summary tasks. We will add those a bit later on. First, let's add the standard tasks. 

  • Go back to Project for the Web.
  • Click Add new task. 
  • In the Name field, type the first task name. 
  • Press TAB. 

Project will add some basic default task information. We can change this and add more information about this task into any blank columns. 

The Quick look column isn't a column that requires input from us. The contents are automatically populated depending on if the task has any note, attachments, or checklist items. 

  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Priority. 
  • Choose Important from the list. 
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Assigned to. 
  • Select a team member or yourself from the drop-down. 
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Team. 
  • Choose a team from the list. 
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Mandatory. 
  • Choose Yes from the list. 
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Location. 
  • Choose a location from the list. 

Add the rest of the standard tasks based on the Excel spreadsheet data and complete the same information as the first task.

Hints & tips

  • You will not have the same team members set up that I do. When it comes to assigning team members, you can choose your own team members or simply assign the task to yourself. 
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  • 00:04 It is now time to start adding some tasks to our project plan.
  • 00:08 And for this, we are going to refer back to that kitchen renovation
  • 00:11 spreadsheet that I showed you earlier.
  • 00:13 Now if we take a look in column A, you can see that some of these
  • 00:18 are top level tasks or summary tasks as we refer to them.
  • 00:22 And these others are what we call subtasks.
  • 00:26 Now we're going to talk more about summary versus subtasks a bit later on.
  • 00:31 So for the time being,
  • 00:32 we're going to start out simply by adding in the main tasks.
  • 00:35 We're not going to add in these headings and these summary tasks.
  • 00:39 So the first task and here is Get Inspired on Pinterest.
  • 00:42 Now I don't have a great deal of information in this spreadsheet,
  • 00:46 I only know that the priority of this is medium and who it needs to be assigned to.
  • 00:49 But remember we've already set it so
  • 00:52 that our project starts on the 2nd of January 2023.
  • 00:56 So all tasks that I add are going to be scheduled from that start date.
  • 01:01 So let's add the first one and
  • 01:03 take a look at some of the information that we can add for each of these tasks.
  • 01:07 So our first task is Get Inspired on Pinterest.
  • 01:11 So when we're adding tasks, we have an add new task link just here,
  • 01:15 let's click in and now we can free type into this field.
  • 01:18 Once we've added in that task name,
  • 01:20 we can press the tab key to move across to the next field.
  • 01:23 Now one important thing to remember with this Quick look field is that
  • 01:28 this cell is read only.
  • 01:30 So we can't make any changes to this.
  • 01:33 And that is because this automatically updates with an icon,
  • 01:36 depending on if we have attachments to this task, if we've added any notes or
  • 01:41 if we've created checklist items.
  • 01:44 So this will update naturally on its own when we start adding details into
  • 01:48 this task.
  • 01:49 Let's press Tab to move across to the start.
  • 01:52 Now from here, we can click the calendar and select the start date of this task.
  • 01:58 So if the entire project starts on the second of January 2023 and
  • 02:02 let's just move to that particular date.
  • 02:05 And because this is the first task, this is going to start on the second.
  • 02:08 And how long is it realistically going to take me to do some research on Pinterest?
  • 02:13 Well it might take me a while, let's say a week.
  • 02:16 I'm going to click in Finish, click the calendar,
  • 02:19 once again we need to go to January 2023, and
  • 02:23 I'm going to say I'm going to give myself until the 9th of January to do this.
  • 02:28 Now, notice as soon as I add in those start and finish dates,
  • 02:32 the duration automatically updates with 6 days.
  • 02:35 You might be thinking why is this 6 days as opposed to seven?
  • 02:39 Well remember we're working off the default work calendar.
  • 02:43 And the default work calendar doesn't count weekends as days.
  • 02:47 So just bear that in mind when you're looking at these durations.
  • 02:50 The bucket that's currently assigned is Bucket 1 and if I click the drop down,
  • 02:53 I don't have any other buckets because we haven't created them yet.
  • 02:56 So I'm going to leave this on Bucket 1.
  • 02:58 I can then choose who this task is assigned to.
  • 03:02 So in my spreadsheet, it's assigned to you myself and also to Ben Lee.
  • 03:09 Has this been costed?
  • 03:10 Well, there is no cost related to browsing Pinterest unless want to account for
  • 03:14 the amount you pay for your internet connection.
  • 03:16 So I'm going to leave this on no, the status is on track and
  • 03:21 this doesn't depend on any other tasks.
  • 03:24 So very simply there, I've managed to add some basic details for my task.
  • 03:29 Now let's add our second task but
  • 03:31 we're going to add the details in a slightly different way.
  • 03:34 So our second task is to Create a Mood Board.
  • 03:37 And again, this is a assigned to myself and Ben Lee.
  • 03:41 So I'm going to add new task and we're going to say Create Mood Board.
  • 03:45 Now instead of going through each of those columns and
  • 03:48 manually editing the information, this time I'm simply going to press Enter.
  • 03:54 Because what this means is that I can then open up the Task Details pane.
  • 03:59 And I can start adding in my details from here instead.
  • 04:02 So this allows you to add in more information than just the columns that you
  • 04:06 see here.
  • 04:07 So I can set my start date.
  • 04:09 So I'm going to create my Mood Board after I finish getting inspired by Pinterest.
  • 04:14 So let's move to January 2023 again.
  • 04:17 It is worth noting you can simply type in the start date if you don't want to use
  • 04:21 the calendar picker.
  • 04:23 And this task is going to start on the 9th so essentially, when the task before
  • 04:27 finishes and it's only going to take me a couple of days to do this so
  • 04:31 let's say that finishes on the 11th.
  • 04:34 You can see there the duration is 3 days, I can change the priority if I want to,
  • 04:40 so let's say that this is quite important.
  • 04:43 I can scroll down, is this being costed?
  • 04:45 No, creating a Mood Board doesn't cost any money.
  • 04:48 The status is on track.
  • 04:51 And that's all the information I want to add at the moment.
  • 04:54 Let's click on close to close this down.
  • 04:58 So there are two different methods you can use there.
  • 05:00 You can tap through the different fields or
  • 05:02 you can open up the task details pane to add in that information.
  • 05:06 And it's also worth noting that when you start adding tasks if you click the three
  • 05:10 dots you have some more options in this contextual menu.
  • 05:13 So if you want to copy the task which sometimes makes things a little bit
  • 05:17 quicker, you can do that, you can insert new tasks above.
  • 05:20 You can delete the task, you can make it a sub task or complete the task.
  • 05:25 And we're going to be exploring some of these options as we go through
  • 05:28 this section.
  • 05:29 It's also worth noting that now I have two tasks in my project,
  • 05:33 if we switch across to Board View, you can see both of those sitting just there.
  • 05:39 So I could click to open and edit the details from here as well.
  • 05:44 What about timeline view?
  • 05:45 Well, I've got my two tasks listed here.
  • 05:48 I can't currently see anything.
  • 05:50 Now that is because the timeline is scrolled across to today's date,
  • 05:54 which is October the 23rd.
  • 05:56 And these tasks don't start until January next year.
  • 05:59 So what I could do is use the Zoom Slider which is going to allow me to zoom out and
  • 06:05 see them or I could select Go to date and then scroll to January the 2nd,
  • 06:11 2023 and then I can see those bars on the timeline.
  • 06:16 So here, you can see the duration of this task,
  • 06:19 it starts on the 2nd, it finishes on the 9th.
  • 06:22 We can see that that is six working days and
  • 06:24 then the second task here is to create the Mood Board, start's on the 9th and
  • 06:29 finishes on the 11th, which is three full working days.
  • 06:34 Also notice that just underneath the title, Kitchen Renovation project,
  • 06:38 the end date has now updated because we have some tasks added in.
  • 06:42 So our project now starts on the second of January but the last task that we added,
  • 06:47 Create a Mood Board, finishes on the 11th of January so
  • 06:50 that is currently the end date of our project.
  • 06:53 Now I'm going to go through and I'm going to add in the rest of the tasks that
  • 06:57 we have in that spreadsheet and just add in the same information, the basics.
  • 07:01 So join me in the next lesson where we're going to be adding more information
  • 07:06 into our tasks.

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