Adding Child Tasks to Summary Tasks

This explains how to add child tasks to a summary task once the summary task has been created. See Summary Tasks for more information on adding a summary task. Also review Displaying Summary Tasks.

Adding New Child Tasks

A summary task must always be in expanded mode before adding new child tasks to it. Also to enable rapid data entry, after the child task add mode is initiated, the system will stay in that mode until it is cancelled.

When the Summary Task is the last task on the list or the only task

To add new child tasks to a Summary task and that task is the last task on the list or its the only task,

1. If the summary task is not in expanded mode, click the collapsed mode arrow to switch it to expanded mode.

2. If the Summary Task is the last task on the list, then enter the child task details in the highlighted line that displays right below it (see Simple Task Add/Edit). Once the task is saved, repeat the process to continue adding child tasks.

When the Summary Task is not the last task or only task

To add new child tasks to a Summary task, but the summary tasks is not the last task on the list or the only task

1. If the summary task is not in expanded mode, click the collapsed mode arrow to switch it to expanded mode.

2. Right click on the summary task to bring up the context sensitive menu option and choose Insert Task to insert the new child task as the first child task for that summary task (any other child tasks will be repositioned after this one) or alternatively right click on a an existing child task and choose Insert Task to insert the new child task right after that one

3. A highlighted blank line displays right below the summary task. Enter the child task details in that line and save the task (see Simple Task Add/Edit).

4. Once the task is saved, another highlighted line will be automatically created for the next child task. Add in additional child tasks if required.

Exiting Out of Child Task Add Mode

When finished adding child tasks for the current summary task :

1. Click on the expanded mode arrow to switch the task back to collapse mode. To enable continued addition of tasks, the highlighted blank line will remain where it is, but the tasks won't be that summary tasks children. They will be at the same level as the summary task (they could still be children of a higher level summary task though if there is nested summary/child tasks)

2. The other option is to press F5. That leaves the summary task in expanded mode but it repositions the highlighted blank line back at the bottom of the current task list so any new tasks will just be created there.

Using Drag and Drop/Cut and Paste to Create Child Tasks

Using Drag and Drop to Create a Child Task when Both the Summary Task and Regular Task Already Exist

If a task is already created, but it wasn't created as a Child of a summary task, drag and drop can be used to create that relationship.

1. Click the Move icon on the task that will be the child task and drag it.

2. Drop it on the Summary Task itself, if it is to be inserted as the first child task for that summary task (any other child tasks will be repositioned after this one). A dialogue box will appear clarifying the action. Pay close attention to the message in this box, "Add as Child" will move the task as a child task of the summary, while "Add as Sibling" will still perform the move but will create the task as the next sibling of the summary task and not a child. The third option is to Cancel the move and the task will remain where it was prior to the move.

3. Drop it on an existing child task within that Summary task. It will be created as the next child task after that one. Normally, there won't be confirmation prompts but if some do appear, read the message carefully and select the correct action.

Using Cut and Paste to Create a Child Task when Both the Summary Task and Regular task Already Exist

Cut and paste can be used to create summary and child task relationships from existing tasks:

1. Right click on the child task to bring up the context sensitive menu option and choose "Cut Task"

2. Where it is pasted will follow the same rules as dragging and dropping. Determine that and then right click on the task to paste it to and choose "Page (Move)"

3. Remember to pay close attention to the message in the dialogue box and choose the correct action.