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Question

Good morning, Is it possible on MS Project Pro 2019 to hide a period of time between two dates?

Background

Our construction projects are divided into 3 stages: (1) pre-construction, (2) construction, and (3) defects liability period. The first 2 stages may last only a few weeks each, but the defects liability period lasts a year or more after construction. A few tasks take place at the end of defects period. This leaves a huge gap in the programme during which no specific tasks are scheduled. See fig. 1 below:

Gantt chart showing condensed activities either side of a long waiting period

Can I ask Project to hide, say, the period between 6 Jul 2020 to 1 Nov 2021? Up until now, I've saved the entire project into a PDF with multiple pages, then used a PDF editing tool to overlay the first and last pages and clip them so they appear like the following image (Fig. 2). I'd prefer to use an in-built solution if there is one.

Gantt chart showing the same project, but with the long period cut out

I've searched Google and Stack Exchange but to no avail. Thanks in advance.

ChrisD
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    whyndham makes a very good observation and I'd say his response is a good answer. But, I did notice something disconcerting with your plan. You have a link on a summary line and that is a no-no. It may sound like a good idea but it will prove to be troublesome in the future. – john-project Sep 27 '23 at 18:49

1 Answers1

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I don't know how to do the hiding of time, but it seems to me that a Period of possible activity -- which isn't any work as such -- shouldn't have the same symbol as a TASK. By all means put the milestone at the end in the plan, but not the pseudo task 17.

If you make milestone 18 the successor of 16 (as opposed to 17), then you'll be able to roll up the Defects package and hence hide the distracting task bar. The length of the package is still there to remind you that some work might happen in that period.

whyndham
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