Create or Modify a Table

As you plan and track your schedule, it’s useful to look at different combinations of information. By changing the table applied to a sheet view or the Gantt Chart view, you can change the fields of information displayed in that view. If none of the tables provided with Microsoft Project meet your needs, you can create a table from scratch, create a table based on an existing table, or edit an existing table.

When you create a table from scratch, you start with a blank table to which you add each field and specify details such as data alignment within a field, field width, and the field title that appears on screen. When you create a table based on an existing table, you modify a copy of the existing table without changing the original. When you edit an existing table, you change the original table.

To create or modify a table

On the View menu, point to Table, and then click More Tables.
To create or modify a task table, click Task, and then click a table in the Tables list.
To create or modify a resource table, click Resource, and then click a table in the Tables list.
To create a table from scratch, click New.
To create a table based on an existing table, click that table in the Tables list, and then click Copy.
To edit an existing table, click that table in the Tables list, and then click Edit.
In the Name box, type a name for the table.
In the Field Name column, do one of the following:
- If you’re creating a table from scratch, then for each field you want to include, click the field name, data alignment value, and column width value you want.
- If you’re copying or modifying an existing table, then for each field listed, click the field name, data alignment value, and column width value you want.
To add a column title other than the field name, type a title in the Title column, and then click a title alignment in the Align Title column.
In the Date format box, click a date format for date fields.
To display the table in the More Tables submenu, select the Show in menu check box.
To prevent the first column from scrolling, select the Lock first column check box.
Click OK.
To display the table, click Apply.
If the table you’ve created or modified can’t be applied to the current view, the Apply button is unavailable. For example, if you’ve created a table based on Tracking (a task table) and the Resource Sheet is displayed, the Apply button will appear gray.

If none of the Microsoft Project tables shows all the information you need, you can add a column to an existing table.

To modify the current table quickly by adding a column

In a sheet view, apply the table to which you want to add a column, and then select the column to the left of where you want to insert the new column.
On the Insert menu, click Column.
Specify the field name, title, title alignment, data alignment, and width of the column.
To set the column width to the longest item in the column, click Best Fit.

If you don’t need the field information displayed in a column, you can remove (or hide) that column. When you hide a column, the information is not removed from your project file.

To remove a column from a table

In a sheet view, select the column you want to remove.
On the Edit menu, click Hide Column.