Project plans normally require tasks to be performed in a specific order. For instance, a publication must be written and proofread before it can be printed. To achieve this, MindView lets you link tasks so that they depend on each other. By default, tasks are linked in a 'Finish to Start' relationship (dependency), which means that the first task you select (the predecessor task) must end before the next task you select (the successor task) can start, and so on.
This is represented on the Gantt chart by lines with arrowheads joining each task to its successor. The arrowhead indicates the direction of the link: it goes from the predecessor to the successor.
A task can have more than one predecessor. In this case its start date is determined by the predecessor link that gives it the latest start date. As dates and times change during the course of the project, the predecessor link that determines the start date of the task may also change.
Similarly a task can have several successors. In this case the task determines the start date of all its successor tasks.
When you are scheduling a project plan from its start date (see "Defining the global project settings"), MindView calculates the end date of the project automatically, on the basis of the task durations, the task dependencies and the project calendar.
The possibility of linking tasks in this way is what makes project management software particularly powerful: you can change the duration of one or more tasks, add a task or remove a task from a chain of linked tasks, and all the dates are recalculated automatically so as to maintain the task dependencies you have defined.
If your project contains manually scheduled tasks, and you do not want any changes to the links between those tasks and their predecessors to have an impact on them, you can disable the option Update manually scheduled tasks when editing links in the MindView Options dialog. For more information, see "Setting up your preferences".
You can link tasks in the following ways:
Select the tasks to be linked, in the order you want them to be linked, by Shift-clicking them (for contiguous tasks) or Ctrl-clicking them (for non-contiguous tasks), then click the Link icon 
on the Gantt Tools tab.
You can also just press Ctrl + F2.
Place the pointer on the bar of the predecessor task. When it changes to an icon with four arrows, drag the pointer downwards (or upwards) until a line emerges from the task bar and a link icon appears under the pointer. Continue dragging until the line reaches the bar of the successor task and release the mouse button.
Select the task to be linked to. Click its Predecessors cell in the Gantt Outline and type the entry number(s) of the predecessor task(s). Separate multiple numbers by semi-colons.
Select the task to be linked to and choose Task Information 
on the Gantt Tools tab to open its Task Information dialog. Click the Predecessors tab and select the predecessor task(s).
You can also open the Task Information dialog by pressing Shift + F2 or by double-clicking the task bar on the Gantt chart.
All these methods create the default task relationship, namely 'Finish to Start'. See below to find out how to create other types of relationships.
In the example below, the proofreading task (successor) has been linked to the writing task (predecessor). The proofreading task cannot start before the writing ends. If the writing task is delayed or takes longer than planned, the start date of the proofreading task is recalculated automatically so that the task relationship is always maintained.
You can link summary tasks in the same way as other tasks, but not to one of their own sub-tasks. Linking a summary task to another summary task has the same effect as linking its last sub-task to all of the sub-tasks in the other summary task. To make your project plan easy to read, it is usually best to link summary tasks only to summary tasks and sub-tasks to sub-tasks (within the same summary task), like this:
Alternatively you may prefer to restrict linking to regular tasks. Links from summary tasks to regular tasks tend to confuse the display.
A summary task can only be linked to its predecessors with a 'Finish to Start' or 'Start to Start' relationship.
You can unlink tasks in the following ways:
Select the tasks by Shift- or Ctrl-clicking them, then click the Unlink icon 
on the Gantt Tools tab.
You can also just press Ctrl + Shift + F2.
On the Gantt chart, right-click the link you want to remove and choose Edit Link in its local menu. This opens the Task Information dialog. Select the predecessor task you want to remove and click Delete.
Select the task whose predecessors you want to remove. Click its Predecessors cell in the Gantt Outline and delete the number(s) of the predecessor(s) you want to remove.
Select the task whose predecessors you want to remove and choose Task Information on the Gantt Tools tab to open its Task Information dialog. Click the Predecessors tab, select each predecessor task you want to remove and click Delete.
By adding a lead or lag time you can extend a link backwards or forwards so that the successor task starts earlier or later than it otherwise would. For a default 'Finish to Start' link, this either introduces an overlap (lead time), so that the successor task starts before its predecessor ends, or it introduces a delay (lag time) that makes the successor task start some time after its predecessor ends.
When planning the production of a marketing brochure for instance, you could use lead time to make the creation of artwork start a few days before the writing phase is over. The two tasks are however still linked, which means that a delay of the writing phase will also delay the creation of the artwork.
Select the successor task and choose Task Information to open its Task Information dialog.
Click the Predecessors tab.
In the Lag column for the task, enter the appropriate lead or lag time. A positive value indicates a lag time (a delay); a negative value indicates a lead time (an overlap). You can follow the number with letter(s), for example w for weeks, as described in the paragraph "Entering a task duration" in "Entering and editing tasks".
You can also enter percentage values, for example if you enter "-25%" the task will start 75% of the way through the predecessor task. Note that percentages relate to the duration of the predecessor task.
In the following example, we start with three linked tasks (to save space, the Start and End columns are not shown):
Notice that the Predecessors column shows the number of each task's predecessor. Experience shows that we can actually start applying undercoat when surface preparation is three quarters complete, in other words when only 25% remains to be done. To give the desired overlap (lead time) we enter a lag of -25%, as described above:
Because surface preparation has currently been allocated 4 working days, the undercoat task starts after the third working day. As usual, no work is scheduled during non-working days. Notice that the Predecessors column now includes the type of link (FS, or 'Finish to Start'), and the amount of lead time (-25%).
Now we want to allow a 1-day gap after the undercoat task to ensure that the undercoat is fully dry before the top coat is applied. To give the desired delay we enter a lag of 1 day, as described above:
If we now have to change the duration of the surface preparation task to 8 days, everything moves out. However, the 25% overlap (which now represents 2 working days) and the 1-day delay are preserved:
Although the example above shows tasks linked by the default 'Finish to Start' relationship, you can apply lead or lag time to any type of task relationship.
Moving linked bars by dragging does not set lead or lag times, but instead sets constraints which override the linking. See "Using constraints" for more information.
MindView supports four different relationships (dependencies) between tasks:
Finish to Start (FS) - the default: The task cannot start before its predecessor ends, although it may start later. This is the most common type of relationship and the only link you can create by clicking the Link icon , as described above. Typically the successor starts as soon as the predecessor is complete. You can introduce an overlap or delay by using lead and lag times, but still, if the end date of the predecessor task moves, so will the start date of the successor.
Start to Start (SS): The task cannot start until the predecessor starts, although it may start later. This can be useful if you have a task whose start date depends on the start date of another task.
Finish to Finish (FF): The task cannot end before the predecessor ends, although it may end later.
Start to Finish (SF): The task cannot end before the predecessor starts, although it may end later. This task relationship is rarely used.
To change the relationship between two tasks:
Select the successor task and choose Task Information to open its Task Information dialog.
You can also just double-click the link between the predecessor and the successor task on the Gantt chart.
Select the predecessor on the Predecessors tab.
In the Type column, select the new relationship type.
The following project plan for the preparation of a publication illustrates all these kinds of relationships.
In this example:
The writing task follows on directly from the planning task. If the end date of planning changes, so will the start of writing. This is the normal Finish to Start relationship.
The editing task starts some way through the writing task. The writers and the editors work together as a team until the text is complete. Their tasks effectively end at the same time. If the end date of writing changes, so will the end date of editing. This is a Finish to Finish relationship.
The creation of artwork depends on the start of writing. In this case a lag has been introduced so that it doesn't start exactly when writing starts. Even so, if the start of writing changes, so will the start of artwork creation. This is a Start to Start relationship.
The final changes task depends on the end of artwork creation, but an overlap is included so that it actually begins two working days before the end date of artwork creation. If artwork creation is delayed, so will be the start of final changes. This is the normal Finish to Start relationship.
Printing starts after final changes are complete. This is also a Finish to Start relationship.
The transferring of paper from the warehouse to the printers must be complete in order for printing to start, but is not related to any of the preceding tasks. The printers have limited storage capacity and do not want the paper to arrive until it is needed, so the start of printing drives the delivery of paper. If the start of printing changes for some reason, so will the end date for getting paper to the printers. This is a Start to Finish relationship.
Here each task has a single predecessor, the simplest arrangement. However, a task can have several predecessors. In such situations you will need to think carefully about possible undesirable consequences. For example, if you added another predecessor to the "Paper to printers" task above, it would be possible for that predecessor to push out "Paper to printers" so that its end date was later than the start of printing.