Change Task Duration

[AndrewHe2]

Hello,

I cannot change the duration of a task - keeps reverting back to 1 day.  Do I need to modify task contraints?

[lgaertner]

Hi Andrew,

Yes you are right.   is the keyword.

[Matt_McC]

Yes, if you have a task constraint of "Fixed Dates" you will not be able to overwrite the duration. For our standard views I have applied the conditional formatting to the duration field to "gray out" the cell if the task constraint is "fixed dates".

Pasted below in case it helps.

description=enter duration (in days) OR change constraint to FIXED DATES to enter Start and Finish dates.
displayname=Duration ✎
durationunitfield=durationUnit.value
linkedname=direct
namekey=duration
querysort=durationMinutes
styledef.case.0.comparison.icon=false
styledef.case.0.comparison.leftmethod=taskConstraint
styledef.case.0.comparison.lefttext=taskConstraint
styledef.case.0.comparison.operator=in
styledef.case.0.comparison.righttext=FIXT
styledef.case.0.comparison.trueproperty.0.name=bgcolor
styledef.case.0.comparison.trueproperty.0.value=e8e8e8
styledef.case.0.comparison.truetext=
textmode=true
valuefield=durationMinutes
valueformat=compound
viewalias=duration
width=70

[AndrewHe2]

What do I need to change duration type to in order for me to change duration?

[Matt_McC]

You'll need to change the constraint. Ideally to a soft constraint like "As Soon As Possible" or "Start No Earlier Than" but  really anything but fixed dates should work.

[AndrewHe2]

Thank you.

I changed task to "start as soon as possible".  This is a parent task with 2 child tasks.  Could not change parent task duration. Had to change child tasks durations which the auto changed parent taks.

Also could could extend date by changing due date. Had to change duration to extend dates.

Is this by design?

[Matt_McC · Accepted solution]

Ah, parent tasks are a different beast entirely. A parent is really just a bucket for child tasks. The start/finish/duration is controlled entirely by the child tasks (earliest starting child task = parent start. latest ending child task = parent end).

In other words, leave the parent tasks be. You cannot change the start and finish dates (or duration) of a parent task manually. You must update the child tasks individually. (and yes, this is a standard scheduling methodology)