Workflow task status

Each new workflow task has a status of Pending. As project managers and participants work on tasks, they update the status to indicate the current progress.

You can change the status of a task when you are working in spreadsheet view mode or timeline view mode by clicking the task name. For more information, see Post Task Update dialog. You can also change the status of a task when you are in edit mode: Click the Status column of the task, then choose the appropriate status from the drop-down list.

Table 1. Task status
Status Description
Pending Indicates that a task is not yet in progress. When you create a task, it defaults to the pending state. The pending state is symbolized by a blank status field.
Active Indicates that a task is in progress. Symbolized by the Hour glass image icon. You can also type A to place a task in the active state
Skipped Indicates that a task was skipped. Symbolized by the Notepad with down arrow image icon. Skipped tasks are tasks for which members no longer do work. Any dependencies of this task are also disregarded. You can also type S to place a task in the skipped state.
Finished Indicates that a task is complete. Symbolized by the Check mark in green circle imageTick mark in check box image icon. You can also type F to place a task in the finished state.

Note the following relationships between the task status and the % Complete for a task.

  • If you enter 100 as the % Complete for a task, the status is updated to Finished.
  • If you enter 0 as the % Complete for a task (if it was previously finished), the status is updated to Pending.
  • If you enter any number from 1 to 99 as the % Complete for a task (if it was previously finished), the status is updated to Active.
  • If you mark the status for a task as Skipped, all of the dates for the task are cleared. Until you click Save (or Save and Finish), you can retrieve the dates by canceling the editing session. However, after you save the spreadsheet with the dates cleared you cannot retrieve them.