Disappearing and Out of Order Tasks

[JJ]

I have this extremely strange problem which I hope someone may have
seen before and knows how to fix it.

I have a schedule where certain tasks seem to disappear when opening
the file. For instance, I will see tasks IDs 4 and 6 but task 5 is not
there. There is no filter or autofilter turned on. If I tried to do a
"Go To" (F5) to go to Task 5, it would error out because it couldn't
find it.

Also, for some reason, some tasks are out of order. For example, Task
18 will appear before Task 17. Task is already sorted by ID.

When I change the view to any other view, the problem fixes itself. If
I save it, close the file, and reopen the file; the problems reappear
- even in a different view.

Does anyone know what is causing this problem? If so, how do I fix it.

By the way, I need a fix that does NOT change the Unique IDs of the
tasks. I am using Project 2003.

Thanks!

 

[JulieS]

Hello JJ,

Off the top of my head, it sounds as though you have a project file which
has some corruption. Disappearing and then reappearing tasks are definitely
not the norm in Project.

First, check which service pack is applied to Project 2003. You should be
at SP-2 at a minimum. Then on a copy of the file try the strategies listed in
FAQ #43 "Handling file corruption or bloat" at:
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

There is no guarantee that you'll be able to repair the file, nor that your
unique IDs will be preserved. I assume you are manipulating the project
through something other than Project?

I hope this helps.
Julie

 

[JJ]

I suspect there is some corruption. However, the corruption started
when the baseline was being created.

I will double-check the Service Pack to ensure it is updated to the
latest one.

The Project file is not being manipulated by anything other than
Project, so I'm not sure how this file got corrupted. I will look at
the FAQs link you sent and attempt to rebuild the file.

If anyone else has experienced this problem or has an alternate
solution, please respond!

Thanks again!
JJ

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome JJ. Good luck.

Julie

I suspect there is some corruption. However, the corruption started
when the baseline was being created.

I will double-check the Service Pack to ensure it is updated to the
latest one.

The Project file is not being manipulated by anything other than
Project, so I'm not sure how this file got corrupted. I will look at
the FAQs link you sent and attempt to rebuild the file.

If anyone else has experienced this problem or has an alternate
solution, please respond!

Thanks again!
JJ

 

[Rod Gill]

If you do suspect corruption, does saving to an xml file then re-opening
from the xml file help?

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[JJ]

I tried the fixes from the website the Julie S provide above. I have
been there before but had forgotten all about it. I tried all of the
options listed until I found one that worked. Doing a Save As XML was
the one that worked. I thought something was wrong when it took a LONG
time to perform the Save As. The final file ended up being 10x the
original file size, but it worked!

Thank you to everyone for you help!