My outline buttons don't work

Symptoms

The task that you select doesn't move when you click one of the outline buttons (such as Outdent or Indent ).

Cause

If you are unable to indent or outdent your tasks:

• You may be trying to outdent a first-level task.

• You may be trying to move a task within a consolidated project.

• You may be trying to indent or outdent assignments, not tasks.

• You may be working in a view that doesn't use the outline buttons.

• You may have your tasks sorted without retaining their outline structure.

• You may have your tasks grouped.

Resolution

Outline buttons work only when the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, or Task Usage view is the active view. Also, make sure that your summary tasks are displayed by clicking Options on the Tools menu, clicking the View tab, and then selecting the Show summary tasks check box in the Outline options section.

If your summary tasks are displayed and you are still unable to use the outline buttons:

• You may have your tasks currently sorted without their outline structure. If you have your tasks sorted this way, you must change your project settings to keep the outline structure and enable the outline buttons. Point to Sort on the Project menu, click Sort by, and then select the Keep outline structure check box.

• You may have selected a criterion in the Group By box . Outlining is not available for grouped tasks. The Show Subtasks and Hide Subtasks buttons collapse and expand the grouped tasks, rather than the outline structure of the summary tasks and subtasks. To remove grouping, click No Group in the Group By box.

If none of these issues reflect your situation, task outlining may not available:

• Tasks at the first outline level cannot be outdented. Instead, indent those tasks that you want to include as subtasks to the first-level summary task.

• When working with consolidated projects, you cannot outdent a task beyond the level of the subtask of a summary task.

• The Resource Usage and Task Usage views display the task and resource assignments with indentations similar to those of subtasks. Although assignments may be shown or hidden along with subtasks, they cannot be indented or outdented.