Customize as You Consolidate Project Files

When you customize a consolidation, you can insert individual projects in a specific order and into any outline level in the consolidated project file. You can even insert a consolidated project into another consolidated project.

To customize a project file consolidation

1. On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart .
2. Open a new or existing project file.
3. In the Task Name field, select where you want to insert the projects.
4. On the Insert menu, click Project.
5. In the Look in box, click the drive, folder, or Internet location that contains the project files you want to insert.
6. Hold down ctrl, and then click the project files you want to insert.
7. Click Insert.
   The projects will be consolidated in the order they are listed.
8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each folder that contains project files you want to insert into the consolidated project.

By default, an inserted project file is linked to its source file; if you change one file, the change automatically appears in the other file. This option is useful when you frequently update either the inserted project or its source file and you want both of them to remain exactly the same. Sometimes, however, you might want an inserted project to be independent of its source file, and vice versa. In that case, you can break the link between the two files, so that changing one doesn’t automatically update the other. The tasks from the inserted project will then belong to the consolidated file.

To delete the link between an inserted project and its source project file

1. In the Task Name field, double-click the project summary task of the inserted project.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Under Source project, clear the Link to project check box.

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