Modify Project Settings

With sheet project settings, you can customize aspects of the sheet such as working and non-working time, Gantt display settings, and resource management.

Access Project Settings for a Sheet

Right-click any column header while in the Grid and Gantt view of your sheet and select Edit Project Settings.

The Project Settings form appears.
 

 

NOTES:

• You'll only see the Timeline Display settings after switching your sheet to Gantt View.
• The Resource Management section is only available with Business or Enterprise plans. Not sure which plan type you're using? See Identify Your Smartsheet Plan and User Type.

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Edit Dependency Settings and Working Days

Date Range Display  

Start & End Date Column—When using multiple date columns, you can select the desired columns to be used for tracking the Start and End Dates. These columns are required to add a Gantt chart to a sheet, and when using the Dependency functionality.

Options  

% Complete Column—If you'd like to overlay a % Complete indicator within the task bars in the Gantt chart, and see automated % Complete calculations occur in the parent (summary) rows, select the column which contains % Complete information in your sheet.

NOTE: The automatic % complete calculations in parent rows are based on your manually added % complete to child rows, as well as the duration of the child row tasks.

Dependencies

Enabled—Checking the box for Dependencies Enabled adds automated dependency functionality to the sheet. Dependency functionality allows for use of the Predecessor and Duration columns, the ability to exclude non-working days from your schedule, and the option of changing the length (in hours) of working days. It also creates automation in the Duration, Start Date, End Date, and % Complete columns in all parent rows, such that the parent rows will reflect an automated summary of the indented child tasks.

Predecessor Column—Select the column you'd like to use as the Predecessor column in the sheet. Use the selected column to create dependencies between tasks in the schedule.

Duration Column—The selected Duration column will be used in combination with the Working Days to automate the scheduling of task Start and End Dates.

Working Days  

Working days & non-working days—After enabling dependencies on the sheet, you’ll be able to click on Edit to select the days of the week considered non-working days for the purpose of the project. These settings will override any global account settings. Learn more about how these settings impact the automated scheduling in our article on Designating Non-working & Holidays.

Length of Day (hours)—Set the length, in hours, of working days in the project sheet. By default, Smartsheet considers each working day to include 8 hours. The length of each working day is taken into consideration when calculating dates of tasks. For example, if you create a task with a start date and a duration of 9 hours, by default, Smartsheet will automatically schedule the end date to take place the next working day. If you were to change the number of hours in a working day to 9, Smartsheet would schedule the task's end date to occur the same day it starts.

Customize the Gantt Chart Display and Behavior

In the Timeline Display section of the project settings, you can change the Gantt timeline intervals and display formatting, start of the fiscal year, and what column information appears to the right of the Gantt bars in the Gantt chart. For example, set a Contact List column as the display label to see a list of the people assigned to tasks next to each Gantt bar.

Check  Open to today's date to view current tasks in your project more quickly when you open the sheet.

Note that the Open to today's date setting is only available to the owner and admins on the sheet. It is unchecked by default and is not retained when the sheet is copied. Additionally, the view is only applied as your preference and will not affect how other collaborators view the sheet. If somebody with Editor or Viewer permissions needs to open the gantt chart to today's date, you can create a report from your sheet in gantt view and share them to the report.