wrapping predecessor field

[jlbreyer]

Project Help says to wrap text, you must have a space in
the text to wrap on. I have a long list of predecessors
with no spaces. If I manually enter spaces, Project
changes back to no spaces. How do I enter spaces in the
Predecessors field to enable word wrap?

 

[JackD]

I'd agree with John, If you have more than a couple predecessors to the
majority of the tasks, then you have too many dependencies in your model.
See if you can eliminate some of them. Remember, a project plan is just an
abstraction. Be cautious about adding unnecessary detail.

 

[John]

Project Help says to wrap text, you must have a space in
the text to wrap on. I have a long list of predecessors
with no spaces. If I manually enter spaces, Project
changes back to no spaces. How do I enter spaces in the
Predecessors field to enable word wrap?

jl,
You don't. The Predecessor field will not word wrap for the very reason
you note. If you have that many predecessors you might want to do a
review to ensure they are all necessary. Normally the only type of task
I associate with a large number of predecessors is a final completion
milestone that may be "fed" by multiple tasks in the plan. If all the
predecessors are indeed valid, you can do a couple of things to see them
all. You can of course set the column width of the Predecessor field to
show them all, or break the task into two or more duplicate tasks linked
start-to-start with a portion of the predecessor list going to each
duplicate task.

Another approach that could work well is to replicate the Predecessor
field, either via a formula or more preferably with VBA code, in a spare
Text field. Then insert spaces as desired in the spare field and show it
as the substitute Predecessor field. It will of course have to be
updated if any of the real predecessors change but it will facilitate
viewing because it CAN word wrap. Inserting the spaces and updating is
why I would favor VBA over a formula.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[BJ]

Change the Windows List Separator (Control Panel-Regional Settings) to be a
space instead of a comma. Change it back when you are finished printing.

 

[Guest]

I changed the separator character in Control Panel, but
the commas in the Predecessors field did not change. Any
other ideas to try?

 

[BJ]

It should work. In Regional Settings-List Separator (the exact location of
this option varies by OS), replace the comma with a space and click OK. I've
used this approach for years in just about every version of Project on all
versions of Windows. I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work for you.
Try it again and report back.