Format Bar Chart dialog - Schedule tab

You use the Schedule tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog to specify the way in which tasks that have been affected by rescheduling are displayed on the bar chart. You can specify whether to display float and the critical path, which tasks to display as critical in the bar chart, how to display part-critical tasks, whether to display nearly-critical tasks as if they are critical and whether to display feeder buffer tasks, summary tasks and expanded tasks as non-critical.

Explanation of the fields on the dialog

Field	Description
Total float zero (or within critical gap)	Click this radio button to display tasks that have no float as critical in the bar chart. Clicking this radio button means that the critical display of tasks in the bar chart matches the status of the Critical field, if this field is displayed in the spreadsheet. If you click this radio button, you can use the Show nearly critical tasks as critical check box to specify whether you also want to display tasks that have a specified amount of total float (or less) as if they are critical.
Show nearly critical tasks as critical	Select this check box to display tasks that have a specified amount of total float (or less) as if they are critical. Displaying nearly critical tasks as if they are critical alerts you to tasks that are almost critical as well as ones that are actually critical, so that you can take action to ensure that they are completed on time. Note that when you choose to display nearly critical tasks as critical, they appear without float in the bar chart. You specify which tasks are almost critical by entering an amount of total float in the Define critical gap (time) field. Even if you choose not to display nearly-critical tasks as if they are critical, you can identify tasks that have an amount of total float at or below the critical gap in the current view by displaying the Nearly critical field in the spreadsheet.
Define critical gap (time)	Enter an amount of total float to use in order to define which tasks are almost critical. Any tasks with total float equal or less than this amount are displayed as critical if you select the Show nearly critical tasks as critical check box. For example, enter 2ed to specify that tasks with 2 elapsed days or less of total float are shown as critical. You can enter a maximum of 14ed. You may get unexpected results if the critical gap is defined in working time and task durations are defined in elapsed time, or vice-versa. For best results, use either working or elapsed time for both task durations and the critical gap.
On longest path	Click this radio button to display tasks that are located on the longest path through the project network as critical in the bar chart. Clicking this radio button means that the critical display of tasks in the bar chart matches the status of the Longest path field, if this field is displayed in the spreadsheet. A task is computed to be on the longest path if one or more of the following is true: Its finish date is equal to the latest finish date of the network. It has an outgoing link that is driving and that finishes on a task that is on the longest path. It has an immediate successor on the same bar line that is on the longest path. Summary and expanded tasks are never positioned on the longest path, so will not be displayed as critical if this radio button is clicked.
Free float	Select this check box to display free float in the bar chart, or clear the check box to hide this information. Free float is the amount of leeway that a task has before delaying a succeeding task or the project finish date.
Total float	Select this check box to display total float in the bar chart, or clear the check box to hide this information. Total float is the amount of leeway that a task has before delaying the project finish date.
Critical path	Select this check box to display critical marking in the bar chart, or clear the check box to hide this information. By default, critical tasks and links are marked with red outlines.
Part-critical shading	Tasks that have critical incoming or outgoing links midway through their duration may only be partially critical: part of these tasks may appear on the critical path while other parts may not. Select this check box to display only the parts of a task that appear on the critical path as critical, or clear the check box to display the whole of such tasks as critical. Note that you can only select this check box if you have selected the Critical path check box. Part-critical shading does not appear if you display non-working time on tasks by 'pinching in' the tasks or by shading them, so if you want to display part-critical shading, clear all the check boxes in the Non-working display and Draw non-working shading groups on the Non-Working tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog. Specifying how to display part-critical tasks
Buffer tasks - Show as non-critical	If you use feeder buffer tasks in your projects, they are normally displayed as critical following a reschedule, as by definition they have no float. If you would rather display them as non-critical, select this check box. Note that project buffer tasks are always displayed as critical following a reschedule, regardless of what you select here. Working with buffer tasks
Summary/Expanded tasks - Show as non-critical	Select this check box to display summary tasks and expanded tasks as non-critical even if they are on the critical path following a reschedule, or clear the check box to display parent tasks as critical if they are on the critical path.

Format Bar Chart dialog - Schedule tab

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