Gantt scheme and task instances

When a task is created it has a start date and an end date. A task can also either by single which means that the work will be done evenly throughout the planned time frame, or it can be recurrent that means that some work will occur repeatedly over a period of time with a specified interval. The Gantt view gives an instant overview of which types the task are and when the work is supposed to be executed. For the recurrent tasks the dots in the view are what we call task instances. Normally when tasks are created from standard tasks these task instances are generated at the same time, but when you create it manually you will have to run an action to create those task instances for the recurrent tasks. 

 An image from tasks in a Gantt view. Recurrent tasks are the ones that have dots, single tasks have a straight line from date start to date end.

From the Gantt view you can see a quick overview of the tasks and their status. Recurrent tasks are displayed with a dot for each task instance and the single ones with a line. By pressing the line for a single task, you open up a window where you can update the status of the task and by pressing a dot in the calander, you can open the task instance to see detailed info on when it is planned. 

Short description on colors etc. in Gantt for recurrent tasks:

	Task instance is due i.e. was planned in the period but has not been started
	Task instance is planned ahead
	Six task instances are due in the period and have not been started
	Three task instances planned ahead
	A Work order is open for the task instance
	Task instance is finished (Work order is finished)

 And this applies for single tasks:

	Task is due (start date has passed) but has not been started
	Task is started and status is x%
	Task is in status "Postponed"

Generate task instances

If you have a recurrent task that does not have any task instances yet, you might have to run an action to generate these instances. Before you do that, you have to look at the a time frame of your task and see if the setup is like you want it to be. Open up your task from the menu and look at the time frame. 

A recurrent task with no task instances. It is scheduled once a year (in march) from the year 2020 to 2025

For some users the action to generate the task instances is open through the property box for the task, but normally you run it from the action menu for this specific task. 

Generate task instances action from action menu

The action will by default only create the task instances for this specific task but there are two more options available.

Action window for generating task instances on a recurrent task

If you mark All tasks - the action will create missing task instances to Date to for all tasks, not only the one selected. 

If you mark Delete none started task instances - the action will delete all the instances that have not been started and recalculate the instances from how the task(s) is set up now. This should be marked when you have done some changes on your task time frame that you want to implement into your task recurrence i.e. instead of one instance per year, you changed it to two etc.