How to select all predecessors

Question

I have a huge project plan, there are 20000+ tasks in it. They are only two levels deep. However, the dependencies are deep, where task 200 is depenedent on task 131, which is dependent on task 100, etc. (Hope you get the idea). I want to be able to select  a task and have all the predecessors of that task, and those tasks predecessors, and those tasks predecessors.. etc.  as the only tasks I see. Or better yet, I choose downstream task is the main task, and project calculates this as the critical path so I can manage the task and durations for only this sub section of the project.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

BillD63,

You're welcome.

Are you saying you have links on your summary lines? If so, I don't recommend it and you might want to take a look at FAQ 48 - Summary task linking on the MVP website at, http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm#Contents.

As far as wanting/needing some tweaks to Jack's code I could do that but I see Jack has a button to e-mail him so I'd write him and tell him what you want.

As far as marking this as answered, there should be an option at the bottom of your post indicating "answer" or something similar. I don't really know because I don't post, I only answer.

John

Answer 2

Just an update..

This macro works.. BIG THanks for that...

It is not perfect for my requirements. I want it to mark all the subtasks since I hae a lot of 1st level tasks with the predecessor on it...

PS. Since newbie here, Do you know how to mark your response as an answer?

Answer 3

BillD63,

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. I think Jack's macro is your best bet to get the filtered view you want.

John

Answer 4

John,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I am aware of the critical path in the Tracking Gant. However, it is a specific task(s) that I am trying to find the "critical path."  It may seem strange but these 4 tasks late in the plan I need to get finished earlier, and because of the huge number of tasks and the layered dependencies, it is a very tedious process to identify all the tasks, and even more difficult to "play" with the times to see the impacts.

If I could lift out all the relevant tasks in put them in their own plan I could then more efficiently find where I could crash it.

In an over simplification, it would be very cool to click on the tasks, then filter all dependent tasks, select all and copy paste to a new plan.

Again,

Thanks for the help, I ll check the macro out.

Answer 5

BillD63,

You are aware that Project will show you the critical path in the Tracking Gantt view, right?

As far as looking at a specific link path you might want to try Jack Dahlgren's "Trace" macro which can be found on his website at: http://masamiki.com/project/macros.htm

John