Add Structure with Summary and Subtasks

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Add structure to a project by creating summary tasks and subtasks.

Quick reference

Add Structure with Summary and Subtasks

Give a project plan structure by adding summary tasks and subtasks. 

When to use

We add summary tasks and subtasks to our spreadsheet to make out tasks easier to group, read and select. Summary tasks give our project structure by creating collapsible and expandable groups of tasks.

Instructions

Create Summary Tasks

Summary tasks add structure to our task list and allow us to group tasks together. 

Add a New task

First, we are going to create a summary task called 'Kitchen Renovation'. This summary task will contain all tasks in the project.

Adding this type of top-level summary task is advantageous because it makes it easy for us to see the total duration of our project. 

  • Click Add new task. 
  • Type 'Kitchen Renovation'
  • Hover the mouse over the icon next to the task number. 
  • Drag and drop the task to the top of the list. 
Create Summary Task

We are going to make the task we just added a summary task. To do this, we make the related tasks below it subtasks. We want to make all tasks in the plan subtasks of the 'Kitchen Renovation' summary task.

  • Select Task ID 2. 
  • Scroll down to the last task. 
  • Hold down SHIFT and select the last task. 
  • Hover the mouse over any selected task. 
  • Click the three dots. 
  • Click Make subtask. 

This will indent all of the selected tasks. If we scroll to the top of the project plan, the first task 'Kitchen Renovation' is now a summary task. It will show in bold with a drop-down arrow. 

We can collapse and expand the subtasks by clicking the drop-down arrow next to the summary task. 

  • Repeat this process and add the other summary tasks according to the spreadsheet. 

Hints & tips

  • We can create subtasks of subtasks in the same way. The task above becomes the summary task which in itself might be a subtask of a top-level summary task. 
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  • 00:04 Currently, in our Kitchen Renovation project, we just have one big long list of
  • 00:08 all of the tasks that we need to complete in order to deliver this project.
  • 00:13 But currently, this project doesn't really have a great deal of structure.
  • 00:17 And what I mean by that is we don't have our project divided into specific groups
  • 00:22 or phases.
  • 00:23 Now, it might be that you decide you like having just a big long task list.
  • 00:27 But it's going to be a lot easier for you to manage and
  • 00:30 organize your tasks if you do add what we call Summary Tasks into your project.
  • 00:35 And Summary Tasks work in conjunction with Subtasks.
  • 00:39 So if we go back to our Excel spreadsheet where we have our tasks listed out,
  • 00:44 you can see that we have a little bit more structure in here.
  • 00:47 We have a high-level summary task that says PHASE 1: PLANNING.
  • 00:52 We then have Research, and
  • 00:54 we have two tasks that are effectively subtasks of this Research heading.
  • 00:59 We then have a remaining set of tasks that aren't necessarily part of Research, but
  • 01:03 they are part of the PHASE 1: PLANNING section.
  • 01:06 We then have another high-level summary task, PHASE 2: PREPARATION.
  • 01:11 We have Clearing, and then the tasks that belong to that.
  • 01:14 And you can see we've denoted the structure using bold text and indents.
  • 01:19 And we can effectively recreate this when we're working in Microsoft Project.
  • 01:23 So let me show you how to do this.
  • 01:26 So we're going to start with this section up here.
  • 01:29 So we've got PHASE 1: PLANNING, and then we have Research.
  • 01:32 And these two tasks are part of the Research heading.
  • 01:36 So the first thing we need to do is we just need to add two new tasks for
  • 01:40 these summary tasks.
  • 01:42 So we're going to scroll all the way down to the bottom, and
  • 01:45 we're going to click Add new task.
  • 01:47 So I'm going to add PHASE 1: PLANNING.
  • 01:50 And then underneath that, we're going to add Research.
  • 01:57 Now, we're not going to add any details to these tasks.
  • 02:00 The first thing we're going to do is we're going to move them so
  • 02:02 that they're in the correct position within the plan.
  • 02:06 Now, when you're thinking about moving tasks, notice as we hover our
  • 02:10 mouse to the left of the task ID, we get this little hand icon.
  • 02:15 And this means we can grab the task and we can drag and drop it.
  • 02:18 Now, I want to move both of these tasks.
  • 02:20 So I want to select both of them.
  • 02:23 Now, to select a task, we hover our mouse over the task ID and click, and
  • 02:27 that will select the entire task.
  • 02:29 To select multiple, we can hold down Ctrl and click on another task.
  • 02:34 Now, I can move my mouse to the left until I get the hand, and
  • 02:38 I can drag both of these all the way up to the top of my task list,
  • 02:42 because I want these to go right at the top.
  • 02:45 When I let go, they're now moved, everything's reordered, and
  • 02:50 those task IDs update.
  • 02:52 So now I have these in the correct position, I want to add in that structure.
  • 02:56 And we're going to start by making Research a summary
  • 03:01 task of task IDs 3 and 4.
  • 03:03 Now, the way that we do this is we select the subtasks first of all.
  • 03:08 So I'm going to click on task ID 3, hold down Ctrl, click on task ID 4,
  • 03:13 and then I'm going to hover my mouse over the three dots and
  • 03:18 I'm going to say, Make subtask.
  • 03:20 And notice the effect that that immediately has.
  • 03:23 It indents both of these tasks, and if you now take a look at Research,
  • 03:28 it's highlighted in bold.
  • 03:29 I also now have a collapsible and expandable little arrow just here.
  • 03:35 So if I don't want to see those tasks, I can collapse them up.
  • 03:38 Or I can expand them back out and see everything that's listed underneath.
  • 03:42 So, effectively, by making these two subtasks,
  • 03:45 I've made the task above a summary task.
  • 03:48 Now, we also want to make PHASE 1: PLANNING the top level summary task.
  • 03:53 And PHASE 1: PLANNING needs to include all of the tasks down to task ID 9,
  • 03:57 Set Budget and Timeframe.
  • 04:00 So once again, we're going to select everything,
  • 04:03 including that Research summary task.
  • 04:05 So let's click on task ID 2, I'm going to hold down Shift this time because I want
  • 04:11 to select a block of tasks, and select Set Budget and Timeframe, task ID 9.
  • 04:16 And then, I can click on any of the three dots next to any of the tasks,
  • 04:21 and I'm going to say, Make subtask.
  • 04:24 So now, everything that we selected is a subtask of PHASE 1: PLANNING.
  • 04:30 So I can now collapse this up to hide those tasks, click to expand it again.
  • 04:36 So this is pretty good because once we move on to PHASE 2,
  • 04:38 maybe I'm not interested in having all the tasks for
  • 04:41 PHASE 1 cluttering up my task list, because they've already been completed.
  • 04:46 So that is why it's nice to have this structure in place.
  • 04:49 Let's refer back to our spreadsheet.
  • 04:51 So now, we have PHASE 2: PREPARATION, and then we have a heading for Clearing.
  • 04:56 And the next three tasks are effectively subtasks of clearing, and
  • 05:01 everything is a subtask of the overall PHASE 2: PREPARATION summary task.
  • 05:06 So we're going to do exactly the same thing here.
  • 05:08 Let's click Add new task.
  • 05:11 I've added in both of those as new tasks.
  • 05:14 We're going to select them both by holding down Ctrl, and
  • 05:17 then we're going to use our little grabby hand to drag those into place.
  • 05:21 And I need to drop these in between tasks 9 and 10.
  • 05:25 Now, notice here, when I dropped these in,
  • 05:29 they automatically tabbed to match the indentation of the tasks above.
  • 05:34 So PHASE 2: PREPARATION and
  • 05:36 Planning are now on the same level as these other subtasks just above.
  • 05:40 Now, I don't want these to be at that level of indentation,
  • 05:44 they need to be further out.
  • 05:46 So what we can do here is click the three dots, and I can say Promote subtask.
  • 05:51 That's going to move it out, and
  • 05:52 it's going to make it a high-level summary task.
  • 05:55 I'm going to do the same for Planning.
  • 05:57 Let's click the three dots and Promote subtask, and
  • 06:00 that effectively stops the one above from being a summary task,
  • 06:04 but at least they are now both on the correct indentation level.
  • 06:08 So now that we have those correct, I can make task IDs 12,
  • 06:12 13, and 14 subtasks of task 11.
  • 06:16 And I can see here I've actually made a mistake, it's not called Planning,
  • 06:19 it's called Clearing.
  • 06:20 So let me just quickly double click and change that.
  • 06:24 So now I can select task 12, 13, and
  • 06:27 14, and I'm going to make these subtasks.
  • 06:32 So Clearing is now a summary task.
  • 06:34 I can then select all of the tasks, so 11, 12, 13, and 14,
  • 06:40 and I'm going to make all of these subtasks of PHASE 2: PREPARATION.
  • 06:45 So you can really see that structure starting to take shape.
  • 06:49 I'm going to go through off camera and create the other summary tasks that we
  • 06:53 have listed out in the Excel spreadsheet, and I will see you in the next lesson.

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