Changing the scale of the bar chart using the date zone

The date zone is a group of lines at the head of each bar chart displaying dates and time unit numbers. It helps you to see when tasks are scheduled to take place. The date zone also controls the horizontal scale of the chart and any vertical grid lines.

If you are unsure what a line in the date zone represents, pause the mouse pointer over it and a popup appears showing the name of the line under the pointer. Notice that a line showing Week Start has the week number at the right of the tick mark, whereas a line showing Week End has the week number at the left of the tick mark.

You can change the horizontal scale of the bar chart quickly by dragging a tick line in the date zone: place the cursor over a tick line in any line on the date zone so that the cursor changes to , then drag either left or right. Dragging to the left decreases the horizontal scale, 'zooming out' to see more tasks in less detail; dragging to the right increases the horizontal scale, 'zooming in' to see fewer tasks in greater detail.

The date zone redraws as you drag, so that you can see the effect of your changes immediately. Release the drag when you are satisfied with the new chart scale. If you drag a tick line so far that the scale is too small to display any useful information on that line, two chevrons (>>) are displayed at the left-hand end of that date zone line. To change the scale so that the chevrons are replaced by useful information, increase the chart scale by dragging a tick line on one of the other date zone lines.

If you have a wheel mouse you can change the date zone scale by holding down CTRL as you rotate the wheel. Position the pointer over the bar chart, then rotate the wheel forward to decrease the scale, or rotate the wheel back to increase the scale.