Merging Duplicate Swimlane Titles for Version 8.0

Overview

Illustrations used in this article are from OnePager Pro using data from Microsoft Project but the features, function, controls, and manual edits apply equally to other OnePager editions that import from data sources like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Planner, Smartsheet, Oracle Primavera P6, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate a method for deleting duplicate swimlane labels appearing in The Chart to avoid confusion and improve its look. The method involves two steps where you first identify that duplicate swimlane labels are appearing in the chart area and the second is turning on the OnePager control that delete the duplicate swimlane label cells into a single swimlane label cell. These steps are demonstrated below.

Deleting Duplicate Swimlane Labels - Example

The example which follows uses a simple MS Project source plan with two WBS levels one of which has the same exact label.

In the MS Project source plan above WBS Level 1 and Level 1.1 have the same name (label). These WBS Level names are used by OnePager as Level 1 and Level 2 summary names as shown in the illustration below when the MS Project source plan is imported into OnePager:

Note that the highlighted Level 1 and Level 2 summary names in the two swimlane label cells at the top of the chart area are duplicates. OnePager has a simple way of deleting duplicate swimlane labels using a new control in the Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab’s Swimlanes control group – Delete duplicate swimlane titles checkbox as shown below:

This control is also available in all OnePager Templates.

When the Delete duplicate swimlane titles checkbox is checked ON and you click either OK or Apply at the bottom of the form, the duplicate swimlanes in the chart area are merged and the resulting chart area looks like this:

The above result shows that the two Swimlane Headings shown in the document’s corner are not changed.

You can always reverse the above actions by unchecking the Delete duplicate swimlanes title checkbox to OFF. When this action is taken the duplicate Level 2 summary name swimlane title reappears and the cell borders are restored as shown here:

Selecting Swimlane Label Cells in Deleted Swimlane Labels

Given that duplicate swimlane labels can be merged horizontally, OnePager has an added option so that you can manage the vertical borders around the newly created swimlane cells. The new controls are provided in the Swimlane/Cell Properties form at the Cell tab as shown in the illustration below:

In the above illustration, the right-click to access the swimlane label cell’s context menu (steps not shown in the illustration above) was made in the Level 1 summary name column. It’s important to keep in mind that although the two swimlane label cells are merged to remove the duplicate swimlane label cell text, the two cells (Level 1 summary name and Level 2 summary name) are still distinct cells. That being the case, it is important for the operation of the Swimlane/Cell Properties form that you access the form by accessing the context menu in the “cell area” appropriate for the cell you wish to edit.

As examples, using the illustration above, the following two illustrations show how to access the Swimlane/Cell Properties form for the individual cells in the merged configuration:

Accessing the Left#1 Swimlane/Cell Properties Form

Accessing the Left#2 Swimlane/Cell Properties Form

There are a few considerations to note from the above illustrations as this feature is meant only to merger duplicate swimlane labels:

1) You cannot place any text in the merged Left#2 swimlane cell shown above, and the text manipulation controls (i.e., Font, Alignment, and Text Rotation) are inoperative.

2) You cannot center the Left#1 swimlane label between the two merged cells as the Left#1 and Left#2 swimlane label cells retain their own integrity.

3) All swimlane labels shown in the document can be edited with the controls available in the Swimlane/Cell Properties form’s Cell tab.

4) There is an additional control available in the Swimlane/Cell Properties form’s Cell tab for controlling Vertical Border Types as shown in the two illustrations above.

Managing Swimlane Label Cell Borders

After duplicate swimlane labels are deleted, the vertical border between the two cells, in our examples is removed as shown below:

Given the implementation of this feature, we found it prudent to add the capability for you to manage the vertical borders within the swimlane label cell so that you can:

1) Insert left and right vertical borders.

2) Insert only a left vertical border.

3) Insert only a right vertical border.

4) Remove both left and right vertical borders.

You can insert a vertical border into the Phase 1 merged swimlane label cell in one of two ways:

1) Add a right vertical border using the Left#1 Swimlane/Cell Properties form’s Cell tab’s Insert Right Vertical Border control or

2) Add a left vertical border using the Left#2 Swimlane/Cell Properties form’s Cell tab’s Insert Left Vertical Border control. These are both illustrated in the series of illustrations below:

Insert Right Vertical Border for Left #1 Swimlane Label Cell

Left #1 Swimlane Cell After Inserting Right Vertical Border

Insert Left Vertical Border for Left #2 Swimlane Label Cell

Left #2 Swimlane Cell After Inserting Left Vertical Border

Note above that the action taken to insert a left vertical border for the Left #2 Swimlane label cell removes the right vertical border because the control used is specific – insert a left vertical border. To retain the right vertical border in the case above for the Left #2 Swimlane label cell use the insert left/right vertical border button as shown below:

As another note, if you have two Swimlane label cells next to each other, and you hide the right vertical border of the left-most Swimlane label cell, you also have to hide the left vertical border of the right-most Swimlane label cell. Otherwise, the left vertical border of the right-most Swimlane label cell continues to be visible and, as a result, the two adjacent Swimlane label cells still retain a visible vertical border.

Editing Controls in the Swimlane/Cell Properties Form

The focus of this article is the creation and management the of deleted duplicate Swimlane label cells. As shown above, the Swimlane/Cell Properties form has an additional editing control set in the Cell tabs. For more information on these editing Rows and Swimlanes, please see the articles referenced in the link table below:

Mavericking Row, Text Column, and Swimlane Property Settings
About OnePager's Rows and Swimlanes
Row and Swimlane Borders
Merging Swimlanes
Editing Swimlane Properties

Summary

In OnePager version 8.0 a new feature was added to remove by deleting duplicate swimlane label cells in the chart area. To do this a checkbox was added to the Template Properties and Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab’s Swimlanes control group. The checkbox added is called the Delete duplicate swimlane titles. When this checkbox is checked ON, OnePager examines The Chart for duplicate swimlane label cell names and merges them if in adjacent swimlanes. The deleting action can be reversed by unchecking the Delete duplicate swimlane titles checkbox to OFF. Additionally, there is an added Vertical Borders editing set of control placed in the Swimlane/.Cell Properties form’s Cell tab for conveniently editing the vertical borders in merged swimlane label cells.

Mavericking Row, Text Column, and Swimlane Property Settings	Manual Editing Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels (Portal)
Creating and Editing Rows and Swimlanes (Portal)	About OnePager's Rows and Swimlanes
Collecting, Formatting, and Sorting Task/Milestones into Rows	Creating, Formatting, and Sorting Swimlanes Levels
Creating and Formatting Text Columns	Row and Swimlane Borders
Editing Text Columns or Swimlane Labels	Manually Hiding and Unhiding Swimlane Levels
Resizing the Width of Text Columns and Swimlanes	Moving Swimlanes
Resizing the Height of Rows	Hiding and Unhiding Rows and Swimlanes
Adding a Row or Swimlane	Editing Row Properties
Editing Swimlane Properties	Zebra Striping for Rows and Swimlanes for OnePager
Editing with the Chart Properties form (Portal)	Managing Templates (Portal)