The MindView Gantt view is dedicated to the creation, editing and management of project plans according to the rules of project management. The MindView Gantt view is dedicated to the creation, editing and management of project plans according to the rules of project management.
A project plan is a series of interdependent tasks that need to be performed in a particular order. When moving into a new office for instance, you cannot start redesigning the office space before the lease agreement has been signed. Project plans have a specific start date, corresponding to the start of the first task (for instance defining the requirements for the new office), and a specific end date, corresponding to the end of the last task (for instance moving in).
Any change in the timing of a task affects all the tasks that depend on it. If a task runs ahead of schedule, MindView automatically recalculates the dates of all the tasks that depend on it in order to take advantage of the time gained. Conversely, if a task is delayed, all the tasks that depend on it are automatically rescheduled, which may or may not impact the overall end date of the project.
In project management, the Gantt chart is the most common and popular way of visualizing a project plan. It shows the tasks as horizontal bars, arranged against a background calendar display. MindView's Gantt view displays the branches of a mind map in this way, each branch or sub-branch representing a project task.
The date formats you see in MindView will depend on your computer's settings. In this documentation we use the most common international format, putting the day first, for example 1-Sept-2016, or 01/09/16.
By using the Gantt view you can build and manage complete project plans in this standard, well-defined format. You can easily add or remove tasks, set or adjust the duration of tasks (length of bars), link tasks (for example to make one task follow immediately after another), and add constraints (for example to specify that a task must end no later than a given date).
To help you get started, MindView includes various ready-made project plans for common business activities (organizing a tradeshow, producing a publication, launching a product and so on). You can use these for training purposes, or as a basis for your own project plans.
To access one of these templates, click the File tab, choose New | New from Template, and browse through the Business category.
To find out how to set up and build a project plan, see "Setting up a project plan".
You can access the Gantt view in different ways:
To create a new Gantt project plan from scratch, click the File tab and choose New | Gantt.
To display an existing document in the Gantt view, you can either:
Choose Home | View | Gantt or View | View | Gantt in the main menu, or
Right-click the workspace and choose View Map as Gantt in the local menu, or
Press Ctrl + Shift + 6.
You can quickly switch map views by right-clicking the workspace and selecting the desired view in the floating toolbar that appears above the right-click menu. The floating toolbar also contains other options relevant to the selected view.
Going to the Gantt view automatically converts the document to a Gantt project if this is not the case already. The main consequences of this are:
All parent branches become summary tasks: their start dates, end dates and durations are calculated automatically from their sub-tasks and cannot be edited manually any longer. Any existing time information associated with parent branches is lost.
Tasks are only scheduled during working time, as defined by the project calendars.
Project plans have other important rules regarding links and constraints that are all described in the following topics.
When you are working on a project plan, these project management rules apply even if you switch temporarily to another view than the Gantt view, for instance to brainstorm your plan in one of the Mind Mapping views, or to view it as a timeline in the Timeline view. This means that any change you make to the project plan tasks while in one of these other views will obey project management rules.
As all the other views, the Gantt view is made up of several components:
The Gantt Outline
This area, shown on the left of the Gantt view, presents all your project tasks as a hierarchical list which you can expand and collapse as required.
The tasks are listed in creation order, which means that if you created them in a different view such as the Mind Map view, they will be listed in the Gantt Outline in the same order as in the Mind Map view (going clockwise from the top right), rather than in chronological order.
The Gantt Chart
The Gantt chart, shown on the right of the view, represents each project task graphically as a bar stretching from its start date to its end date. Week-ends and other non-working days are denoted by a hash pattern. Task relationships are represented by links joining the related tasks.
The Task/Timeline Panel
This panel is displayed on the right of the workspace. It gives you an alternative way of specifying task data such as duration, priority, completion level or resources.
The Task/Timeline panel is described in detail in the topic "Inserting task data".
If it is not visible, click the Task/Timeline tab on the right of the workspace or choose View | Show/Hide | Panels | Task/Timeline Panel.
The Gantt Tools Tab
This toolbar appears as soon as you switch to the Gantt view. Its icons allow you to perform various actions on your project tasks, as described in the next few topics.
The Gantt Outline is made up of several columns. Some of these only appear if one or more of the project tasks contains the corresponding element:
The first column is the Entry column. It shows the unique entry number automatically allocated to each task. The entry numbers do not necessarily represent the order in which the tasks will be performed.
A bookmark icon 
in the next column indicates that the branch has been singled out using the Bookmark feature so that you can locate it quickly again within your map. For more information about this feature, see "Viewing a mind map".
A picture icon 
in the next column denotes the presence of a branch picture. Just move the pointer over the icon to see a preview of the picture. Double-click the icon to display the picture in the image viewer associated with its file extension on your computer.
A yellow comment icon 
in the next column indicates that the corresponding task contains a pop-up comment. Just move the pointer over the icon to open the comment window.
A paperclip icon 
in the next column indicates that the corresponding task contains attached objects (text notes, text files, video files and so on) or that it is linked to another task via a branch connection. To view an attached object, move the pointer over the icon to display the pop-up list of attached objects and click the required object to open it in the associated viewer.
If you have inserted one or more icons on the corresponding branch, these are shown in the next column.
The Gantt Outline also contains columns that are specific to project management:
Indicators: If you have applied a constraint to a task, for example to specify that it must end no later than a given date, a constraint icon 
is displayed in the column immediately before the Task Name column. Constraints are described in detail in "Using Constraints".
If you have made a task inactive to prevent it from affecting the scheduling of the project, the 
is displayed in this column. For more information about inactive tasks, see "Making a task inactive" in the topic "Enhancing a project plan".
Task Mode: This column shows whether a task is scheduled automatically 
or manually 
. You can switch task mode for a task by clicking the icon in this column and selecting a different mode on the drop-down list.
This topic assumes that the tasks of your project are scheduled automatically. For information about manual task scheduling, see "Using scheduling task modes".
Task Name: The name of each task. Tasks that contain one or more sub-tasks are shown in bold. These tasks (which correspond to parent branches in the Mind Map view) are called "summary tasks". Ordinary tasks (corresponding to branches without sub-branches in the Mind Map view) are shown in normal typeface and indented according to their level. See the paragraph "Grouping tasks" in "Entering and editing tasks".
Duration: The amount of working time the task will take. Time units are indicated by letters: mins (minutes), hrs (hours), days, wks (weeks), mths (months). The letter e before the time unit indicates elapsed time, in which case the task will last exactly the time specified, regardless of what the project calendar defines as working and non-working time. A question mark means that the figure is still an estimate. By default, MindView assigns a duration of one day to new tasks or tasks without specified duration. For more information about calendars, see "Defining calendars".
The task bar of a summary task is automatically set to extend from the beginning of the earliest of its sub-tasks to the end of the last of its sub-tasks. You cannot change the duration of a summary task.
When expressed in days, weeks or months, the number shown in the Duration column (for instance "2 days") is linked to the default number of working hours per day, week of month set in the Project Calendars Settings dialog (choose Gantt Tools | Project | Project Calendars).
For more information about durations, see "Entering a task duration" in the topic "Entering and editing tasks".
Start: The current start date of the task. By default, MindView schedules new tasks to start on the project start date, as defined in the Project Information dialog (choose Gantt Tools | Project | Project Information).
Although you can set start dates explicitly, it is best to let MindView set them automatically according to the dependencies between the various tasks. See "Specifying start and end dates" in the topic "Entering and editing tasks" for more information.
The start date of a summary task is automatically set to be the start date of the earliest of its sub-tasks.
End: The current end date of the task. MindView calculates the end date for a task from its start date and its duration, paying attention to the working and non-working time specified by the project calendar. Unless the duration is specified as "elapsed", MindView only schedules tasks during working time. For more information about calendars, see "Defining calendars".
Although you can set end dates explicitly, it is best to let MindView set them automatically according to the dependencies between the various tasks.
The end date of a summary task is automatically set to be the end date of the last of its sub-tasks.
Predecessors: If a task is linked to one or more earlier (predecessor) tasks, this column shows the entry numbers of those earlier tasks. Task entry numbers are shown in the first column. See "Using links" for more information on task dependencies.
Completion: The completion level of the task.
Priority: The priority level of the task.
Resources: If you have assigned resources to a task, they are listed in this column. See "Assigning resources".
Work: If you have assigned resources to a task, this column shows the overall work value for the task. See "Assigning resources".
Cost: If you have assigned resources to a task and associated a cost with these resources, this column shows the overall cost of the resources that have been allocated to the task. See "Assigning resources".
You can hide and show the columns of the Gantt Outline as you wish:
Click the Gantt Tools tab.
Choose View | Columns.
Select or deselect the column headers as required.
You can also right-click the header at the top of the Gantt Outline view and select/deselect the column headers as required.
The Gantt Outline works exactly as the main Outline view. When working in the Gantt Outline, you can for instance:
Add, delete, move, cut, copy and paste tasks in exactly the same way as in the main Outline view.
Add branch pictures, icons, text notes and pop-up comments to any of your branches.
Attach objects such as text files, video files, sound files, hyperlinks and so on.
Choose the text size to be used by clicking one of the Text Size icons of the Gantt Tools tab.
Use the Numbering Scheme icon 
of the Gantt Tools tab or Home tab to apply sequential numbers to the tasks and choose between various numbering styles.
Use the Detail Level icons 
of the View tab to determine how many levels of tasks should be visible.
Use the Apply Branch Focus icon 
of the View tab to restrict the display to a particular task and click the Clear Branch Focus icon 
to view the entire project plan again.
Use the Filter icon 
of the View tab to hide all the tasks that do not meet the filter criteria you have defined. You can also use the Highlight icon 
to highlight branches that meet the filter criteria but still keep the rest of the branches visible.
For details on how to perform these operations, see "Using the Outline view".
You can manipulate the timescale shown at the top of the Gantt chart to view your tasks with more or less detail as follows:
Click the Zoom In icon 
of the Gantt Tools tab (or press Ctrl + "+") to view your schedule in more detail, going for instance from a Months/Weeks combination to a Days/Hours combination.
Click the Zoom Out icon 
(or press Ctrl + "-") to show larger increments of time, going for instance from a Months/Weeks combination to a Years/Quarters combination.
Choose Fit All 
or press F4 to let MindView choose the level of detail that allows the entire project plan to fit on the chart.
You can also view your chart in full screen mode, to give it as much screen space as possible:
Choose View | Zoom | Full Screen 
or press F9.
To return to normal viewing mode, choose Close Full Screen in the floating Full Screen toolbar, press Esc or press F9 again.
You can also choose from a wider variety of combinations of calendar headings as follows:
Double-click the headings (tiers) at the top of the calendar display to open the Gantt Timescale dialog.
Choose a unit and a label for the top tier (the top heading).
Choose a unit and a label for the bottom tier (the bottom heading).
Note that the choices offered for the bottom tier depend on your choice of top tier.
If the task you want to view falls outside the time range shown on the Gantt chart, you can reveal that part of the project plan to view the relevant task bar as follows:
Select the task in the Gantt Outline and click the Go to Selected Task icon 
on the Gantt Tools tab.
To view the Gantt chart from the current date onwards, click the Go to Today's Date icon 
on the Gantt Tools tab.
MindView lets you define the visual aspect of your overall Gantt, as well as customize the display of individual task bars.
To choose a different color scheme for the entire chart, click the Design tab and check the effect produced by the different options of the Color Scheme gallery before clicking your preferred option.
The Design tab also lets you apply other global effects to the Gantt chart:
To display the task name and/or the resources names after the task bars, check Show/Hide Task Name and/or Show/Hide Resources.
The Horizontal Grid and Vertical Grid option let you switch the horizontal and vertical grid lines of the Gantt chart on and off.
To display a vertical line identifying the current date on the Gantt chart, click View | Show Today's Date on the Gantt Tools tab.
You can change the color of this line in the Properties dialog. See "View properties: General tab" for more information.
Finally, you can also change the color used to identify the tasks lying on the critical path (View | Show Critical Path in the Gantt Tools tab) as well as the height of task bars, summary bars and milestone bars in that same Properties dialog.
The Design tab also lets you modify the shape, fill color, outline color and fill pattern of both summary task bars and standard task bars in one operation:
Click the Design tab at the right of the ribbon.
Browse through the options shown in the Standard Tasks and Summary Tasks panels to choose your preferred style.
If you need to distinguish some tasks from others, you can also customize them individually:
Select the task(s) to customize.
Click the Format tab and choose the relevant options.
If necessary, you can undo your changes and return the task bar to the original style defined in the Design tab by choosing Reset Style.
If you have chosen to display the task name and/or the resource names after the task bars, you can set different colors for these labels by using the Properties dialog.
For other ways of customizing the representation of your project plan on the Gantt chart, see "Enhancing a project plan".