Tasks are the fundamental unit of work in DPlan. Each task represents a discrete activity with a start date, finish date, assigned resources, and progress. This guide covers every aspect of creating, editing, and managing tasks.
There are three ways to add a new task to your project:
After adding a task, the Task Editor dialog opens. Fill in the fields and click Save. The task appears in the task table and a bar is drawn on the Gantt timeline.
Double-clicking a task bar or clicking the pencil icon opens the Task Editor. Every field is described below.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Text | The display name of the task. Shown in the task table, Gantt bar label, and all exports. Keep names concise but descriptive — e.g., "Design wireframes" rather than "Task 1". Names appear in tooltips, the dashboard, and the calendar view. |
| Type | Dropdown | One of Task, Milestone, or Summary. Changing type transforms how the row is rendered. Task renders a rectangular bar. Milestone renders a diamond on the finish date with zero duration. Summary converts the row to a phase container with bracket-ended bar and rollup behaviour. See Milestones and Summary Phases. |
| Start Date | Date picker | The date work begins on this task. In auto-schedule mode, CPM may override this value based on predecessors. In manual mode, you set it directly. Format follows your locale (DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY). Weekends and holidays are skipped when the scheduler advances dates. |
| Finish Date | Date picker | The date work ends. Editing the finish date recalculates duration automatically: Duration = (Finish − Start) in working days. If you set a finish date earlier than the start date, a validation warning appears. |
| Deadline | Date picker (optional) | A target date independent of scheduling. When the task's finish date exceeds the deadline, a warning triangle (⚠) appears on the Gantt bar. Deadlines do not constrain scheduling — they are advisory only. |
| Progress | Slider (0–100%) | Percentage completion. Renders as a filled overlay on the Gantt bar. Also shown as a thin progress bar in the task table's Progress column. When Progress Rollup is enabled, parent summary task progress is computed from children weighted by their duration. |
| Status | Dropdown | Describes the current state of the task. Five values:
|
| Priority | Dropdown | Four levels:
|
| Fixed Cost | Number | A one-time cost attributed to this task that does not scale with duration. Examples: licensing fees, equipment purchase, subcontractor lump sum. Added on top of resource costs. Requires Cost Tracking to be enabled in Settings. See Cost Tracking for the full formula. |
| Constraint | Dropdown | Controls how the auto-scheduler places this task. Six types:
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| Constraint Date | Date picker | Required when Constraint is anything other than ASAP or ALAP. Specifies the date to which the constraint applies. Hidden when ASAP/ALAP is selected. |
| Anchored | Checkbox | When checked, the task's start date is locked. Auto-scheduling will not move it even if predecessors shift. Equivalent to a hard Must-Start-On constraint without requiring a specific constraint date to be entered. Use for external milestones, contract dates, or regulatory deadlines. |
| Resources | Multi-select | Assign one or more resources from your project's resource pool. Each resource contributes its day-rate × task duration to the task cost. Resources are managed in the Resources panel. Names of assigned resources appear in the Gantt bar label (space permitting) and in the Excel export. |
| Bar Color | Color picker + Reset button | Override the default bar color for this specific task. Useful for color-coding by team, risk level, or project phase. The Reset button removes the override and returns to the theme default. Critical path tasks are highlighted in red by the scheduler independently of this setting when the Critical Path feature is active. |
| Dependencies | Dependency list | Lists all Finish-to-Start predecessor links for this task. Each entry shows the predecessor task name and the lag/lead in days (positive = lag delay, negative = lead overlap). Add dependencies here or via the Dependencies workflow. Removing a dependency here immediately updates the schedule. |
| Notes | Textarea | Free-form text for any additional context: acceptance criteria, links, risk notes, decisions. Notes are saved with the task and exported to Excel. When the Notes Hover Preview setting is enabled, hovering over a task row in the table shows the first few lines of the note in a tooltip. |
You can edit the most common fields directly in the task table without opening the Task Editor dialog:
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) numbers are automatically assigned to every task and shown in the first column of the task table. They reflect the hierarchy of your plan:
WBS numbers are computed dynamically — they update automatically whenever you reorder, indent, outdent, add, or delete tasks. They are included in Excel exports and the HTML report for easy cross-referencing.
Indenting a task makes it a child of the task immediately above it (which becomes a summary phase). Outdenting moves it up one level in the hierarchy.
A task cannot be indented unless there is a task above it at the same or higher level to become its parent. When you indent a task under a regular task, that parent task automatically converts to a Summary type.
Status values are color-coded consistently across the task table, dashboard, and exports:
| Status | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Not Started | Grey | Planned but no work begun. Default for all new tasks. |
| In Progress | Blue | Active work underway. Should have progress > 0%. |
| Completed | Green | Fully done. Progress = 100%. |
| On Hold | Amber | Paused. Awaiting input, approval, or unblocking. |
| Cancelled | Red/muted | Abandoned. Excluded from cost and scheduling totals. |
To duplicate a task, select it in the task table and click Duplicate Task in the HOME ribbon (or right-click the row for the context menu). A copy is inserted immediately below with the same fields, except:
Duplication is useful when multiple tasks share the same resources, cost structure, or constraint configuration.
Select the task and press Delete or click Delete Task in the HOME ribbon. A confirmation prompt appears if the task has dependents (tasks that depend on it) — deleting it will remove those dependency links. The action is undoable via Ctrl+Z. See Undo / Redo.
When Drag-Drop Reorder is enabled in Settings, a drag handle icon appears on the left edge of each task row. Click and drag the handle to move the row to a new position. Dragging respects hierarchy — you can move a task within its parent summary or to a different level.
If Drag-Drop Reorder is disabled, row handles are hidden and rows cannot be dragged. Use the Move Up / Move Down buttons in the HOME ribbon instead.
When Notes Hover Preview is enabled in Settings, hovering over a task row in the task table shows a tooltip containing the first ~150 characters of the task's Notes field. This lets you quickly scan notes without opening the Task Editor.
The tooltip appears after a short hover delay and disappears when you move the mouse away. Notes with no content show no tooltip even if the setting is on.
DPlan supports recurring task patterns for work that repeats on a schedule — weekly standups, monthly reviews, fortnightly sprints. See Recurring Tasks for full details on setting up recurrence rules and managing generated instances.