Manual Editing the Time Axis for OnePager for Version 7.2

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 Project for the Web, Smartsheet, Oracle Primavera P6, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike.

This article covers manual editing of the Time Axis and includes discussions of manual editing of Time Axis Level Cells from the Chart Editor and manual editing of Floating Time Axis Cells. Because the Time Axis Level Cell’s context menu contains commands related to the Non-Linear Time Axis feature and accessing the Chart Properties form, these topics are covered in this article as well. There are references placed throughout this article to related topics and a list of related articles is provided end of this article.

Please be aware that some manual edits performed on Time Axis Level Cell(s) causes entries to be placed in The Grid located in the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab’s Format sub-tab.

The organization of this article follows the process of Time Axis Level Cell editing from the selection of the Time Axis Level Cell through the various methods available to edit Time Axis Cell properties in the Chart Editor.

Please use the hyperlinks in the Contents box at the top of this article to go directly to specific topics.

Selecting Time Axis Level Cells in the Chart Editor

Time Axis Level Cells can be selected with either a left-click which highlights the Cell or a right-click which provides access to the Time Axis Level Cell context menu. Multiple Cells can be selected in the same Time Axis Level using either the CTL+Left-Click to select non-contiguous Cells or Cells in different Time Axis Levels or the SHIFT+Left-Click to select contiguous Cells in the same Time Axis Level. Time Axis Level Cell(s) are selected to: (1) edit their show/hide status, (2) edit their width in the Time Axis Level manually, (3) edit certain Time Axis Level Cell properties, or (4) access the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Level sub-tab to make more global edits.

Selecting Time Axis Level Cells with the Left-Click

Using the mouse left-click on any single Time Axis Level Cell highlights the Cell with the handlebars as shown below:

Once an individual Time Axis Level Cell is selected with the left-click you can either stretch or compress it from the left or from the right handlebar. Selected Time Axis Level Cells cannot be moved up or down from the Time Axis Level in which they reside.

However, Time Axis Levels can be re-ordered as described in the article at:

Switching Time Axis Levels for OnePager When the mouse button is released the Time Axis Levels look like this: <center> Above, the Q1 Middle Time Axis Level Cell is stretched to approximately double its original width. Since the stretched Cell happens to be in the Middle Time Axis Level, the Cells showing below it in the Bottom Time Axis Level are stretched as well to maintain the related proportionality. In a similar fashion, the 2019 Top Level Time Axis Cell is stretched proportionally but the Q2, Q3, and Q4 Middle Time Axis Level Cells remain unchanged as does the remainder of the unaffected Time Axis Level Cells. Selecting Time Axis Level Cells with the CTL+Left-Click You can use your mouse to select Time Axis Level Cells in different Time Axis Levels by using the CTL+Left-Click method as shown here: Above, there are five (5) Time Axis Level Cells selected in the order shown. Although there are five (5) Time Axis Level Cells selected above, you can only stretch or compress selected Cell using the Drag and Drop method in one Time Axis Level only as shown below: If you now use the mouse to stretch the 2019 Q2 Middle Time Axis Level Cell, OnePager Pro de-selects all selected Time Axis Level Cells highlighted in other Time Axis Levels such that only the Middle Time Axis Level Cells that are candidates for stretching remain selected as shown here: On the other hand, if you start to stretch the Bottom Level Time Axis Cells, OnePager Pro de-selects the Middle Level Time Axis Cells before performing the desired stretch as shown below: Selecting Time Axis Level Cells with the SHIFT+Left-Click You can also select a sequential set of Time Axis Cells in the same Level by using the SHIFT+Left-Click keys as shown below: Once the Time Axis Level Cells are selected, anyone of them can be used to stretch or compress the set as shown here: The general rule is that you cannot stretch multiple Time Axis Level Cells that are selected in multiple Time Axis Levels. General Rules for Using CTL+Left-Click and SHIFT+Left-Click on Time Axis Level Cells Using a combination of the CTL+Left-Click and the SHIFT+Left-Click is restricted. The rules provided below are used by OnePager to coordinate the selection of Time Axis Level Cells. You can use the CTL+Left-Click to select any Time Axis Level Cell in any Level. However, attempting to stretch a single Time Axis Level Cell when Cells are selected in two or more Levels results in only the selected Cell being stretched. The selected Time Axis Level Cells in other Levels are de-selected. You can use the SHIFT+Left-Click to select a series of Time Axis Level Cells that are all in the same Level. This results in a contiguous series of Time Axis Level Cells being selected all of which can be edited as one or stretched or compressed together. When you have a contiguous series of Time Axis Level Cells selected you can right-click on any one of them to access the context menu. You can use the CTL+Left-Click in multiple Time Axis Levels and then any attempts to utilize the SHIFT+Left-Click only works if the contiguous Time Axis Level Cells being selected are in one Time Axis Level. Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click across two or more Levels is not honored. For example, suppose you use the CTL+Left-Click to select several Cells each in the Bottom Level Time Axis and the Middle Level Time Axis all the while holding the CTL key down. This results in the two Levels being selected. Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click in either the Bottom Level or the Middle Level Time Axes results in contiguous Cells being selected. If, however, after multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected in the Bottom and Middle Time Axis Levels, attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click in the Top Level Time Axis is not honored although the previously selected Cells remain selected. Selecting Time Axis Level Cells with the Right-Click If you use the mouse right-click on a Time Axis Level Cell, the action accesses the time axis right-click context menu shown below: The context menu above has five (5) commands of which four (4) are always enabled. The Unstretch all cells command is enabled when at least one (1) Time Axis Level Cell is stretched or compressed. The sections that follow cover the five (5) context menu commands and associated topics. Manually Hiding/Showing Individual Time Axis Level Cells The hiding/showing of individual Time Axis Level Cells feature is useful in schedule presentation situations where you want to hide portions of the chart that are not relevant to the schedule issues you want to present. Time Axis Level Cells as well as Floating Time Axis Level Cells can be Hidden by manually selecting one or more Cells with left-clicks and then right-clicking on a selected Cell(s) to access the time axis right-click context menu shown below: Clicking the Hide cell command in the above context menu makes the three selected Bottom Time Axis Level Cells disappear from the chart along with portions of the task bars/milestone symbols occupying the timespan being hidden. The result of clicking the Hide cell command looks like this: Using The Grid with Hidden Time Axis Level Cells As a record of this action, entries are placed in The Grid as shown below: The Grid above keeps a record of Hidden Time Axis Level Cells and is enabled in the sense that you can restore visibility of Hidden Time Axis Level Cells by checking one or more of the Show column checkboxes. Turing OFF the rules, so to speak, by unchecking the ON column checkbox to OFF has the same effect; that is, the Hidden Time Axis Level Cell is then shown. The Zoom% is established at the time the chart is created at 100% for all Time Axis Level Cells. If a Timespan is entered into The Grid, the entry’s Zoom% is set initially to 100%. Thereafter, the Zoom% is calculated based upon the original Width of the Time Axis Level Cell regardless if the Width of a Cell is edited by the drag and drop method, or edited in The Grid’s Zoom% column. Editing the Zoom% value for an entry in The Grid has an effect only after the Hidden Time Axis Level Cell’s Show/Hide status is edited to Show by the checking of the Show column checkbox for that entry. If you enter a Zoom% value of zero (0) or a negative value, OnePager Pro resets Zoom% value for the Cell to 2.0 percent. Likewise you cannot create a Zoom% greater than 1,000%. As can be seen in the above The Grid, the columns that have their entries disabled cannot be edited. The Priority column in The Grid only applies to Timespan entries. It is used to keep track of the order that Timespans are manually stretched or compressed in the chart. The Priority column helps OnePager perform the Unstretch all cells command in the proper order. The Add, Delete, and Copy Timespan controls are available for creating and editing Timespans in The Grid. Since The Grid is also used to create, edit, and track Curtains, the commands beneath The Grid’s window change to reflect the entry selected. The dates used in The Grid to define the timespan include not only the date for From/To Dates but the time of day as well. If you just specify dates, OnePager assumes that the From Date starts at midnight on that day and the To Date ends before midnight on that day. To completely specify the timespan for a Time Axis Level Cell to be hidden it is important to make sure that the timespan is complete. As an example, to hide the month of January 2019 the From Date should be 1/1/2019 and the To Date should be 2/1/2019 as shown here: Restoring Hidden Time Axis Level Cells When Time Axis Level Cells are Hidden on any Time Axis Level, they can be restored to visibility in several ways. First, you can go to the OnePager Home ribbon tool bar tab in the Editing group and click on the Show/Hide dropdown and click the Show All Time Axis Cells command as shown below: Exercising the above action also clears (removes) all Timespan entries in The Grid. Second, you can also use The Grid to restore some or all Hidden Time Axis Level Cells to visibility by checking the desired entry’s Show column checkbox as shown here: Using The Grid method above restores visibility to the Hidden Time Axis Level Cells and retains the entries in The Grid which can be useful for future edits. Finally, unchecking the ON checkbox to OFF in The Grid turns OFF the entry rule thereby restoring the selected Timespans to visibility while retaining the entry in The Grid as shown below: If there are hidden Time Axis Level Cells in a Hidden Time Axis Level (Show this level checkbox in the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s various Level sub-tabs was unchecked or OFF), clicking the Show All Time Axis Cells in the OnePager Home ribbon tool bar tab's Editing group’s Show/Hide dropdown does NOT restore hidden Time Axis Level to the show status. In other words, to restore hidden Time Axis Level Cells, the Time Axis Level containing the hidden Time Axis Level Cells must be shown in the chart. However, after the Show All Time Axis Cells command is executed, and barring any further hiding of Time Axis Level Cells, when the hidden Time Axis Level is again shown all previously hidden Cells are visible. For more information on hiding/showing Time Axis Level Cells, please see the article at: Showing and Hiding Time Axis Levels and Cells for OnePager Clicking the Format cell … command accesses the Time Axis Cell Properties form shown below where you can edit some of the most important properties of the selected Cell(s): <center> Clicking the Format cell… button accesses the Time Axis Cell Properties form: To Unstretch all cells, right-click on any Time Axis Level Cell and click the Unstretch all cells command as shown above. Caution When Unstretching All Cells The Unstretch all cells command, when clicked, operates on the entire Time Axis at all Levels. This is necessary because often, if not always, stretching a selected Cell at one Level causes Cells above and below to stretch as well. Accordingly, when you select Unstretch all cells command, all Time Axis Level Cells become uniform in width in their own Time Axis Level. Clicking the Unstretch all cells returns the previously stretched or compressed Time Axis Level Cells to their original width and restores the Document’s width to its original size. This procedure includes for all Time Axis Levels starting with the Top level, then the Middle level, and finally the Bottom level. After the Unstretch all cells command is used, the Time Axis for our example looks like this: Unstretching All Cells and the Floating Time Axis If the chart contains one or more Floating Time Axes, they are unstretched to match the corresponding Cells of each Time Axis Level. For more information on the Non-Linear Time Axis feature and the Floating Time Axis feature, please see the articles at: The Non-Linear Time Axis Feature for OnePager Clicking the Time-axis properties… command accesses the Chart Properties form’s Time Axis tab for the Bottom Level as shown below: <center> By using the Chart Properties form in this way you are able to edit the global properties of all Time Axis Level Cells in the Time Axis Level selected. You can also use the sub-tabs in the form above to go to other Time Axis Levels, to the Calendar sub-tab or the Format sub-tab. When multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected in different Time Axis Levels with the left-click action and a single Time Axis Level Cell is right-clicked and the Time-axis properties… command is clicked, the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Level sub-tab is accessed only for the Time Axis Level Cell for which the Time-axis properties… command was applied. All other Time Axis Level Cells that were previously selected are de-selected. For more information on using the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab, please see the article at: Editing Time Axes with the Chart Properties Form When you click the Insert curtain command a basic Curtain is inserted into the chart with Start/End Date boundaries the same as those for the selected Time Axis Level Cell as shown here: <center> The Insert curtain command only creates a single Curtain. If multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected, either in one Time Axis Level or multiple Levels, the Insert curtain command is disabled. An Inserted Curtain can be edited by right-clicking on it to access the curtain right-click context menu as shown below: The commands in the above context menu operate in the same ways as context menu commands for all other Curtains. For more information on the creation and management of curtains, please see the article at: Creating and Managing Curtains To edit an Inserted Curtain, you can access the Curtain Properties form in one of two ways. First, using the above illustration as a guide, you can click the Properties button in The Grid entry for the Inserted Curtain to access the Curtain Properties form as shown below: <center> The other method for accessing the Curtain Properties form is to right-click on the Inserted Curtain itself to access the context menu and click the Properties … command as shown below: For more information on Time Axis Curtains, please see the article at: Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager The top three commands in the context menu above provide the same editing actions for Floating Time Axis Level Cells as they do for Time Axis Level Cells found outside the graph (Top or Bottom of the graph or both). Because the top three commands shown in the context menu above can change the appearance of the Floating Time Axis Level, it is necessary for these commands to also change the appearance of the corresponding Time Axis Level to maintain consistency within the chart and the graph. Accordingly, most edits made to a Floating Time Axis Level Cell are also made to the corresponding Time Axis Level Cell. The exception is in editing the height of a Floating Time Axis Level. Editing the height of a Floating Time Axis Level does not change the height of the corresponding Time Axis Level and vice versa. With respect to the Unstretch all cells command, the command is enabled only if one or more Cells in a Time Axis or Floating Time Axis Level is stretched or compressed. Otherwise, the command is disabled. If the enabled Unstretch all cells command is exercised on a Floating Time Axis Level Cell, all Time Axis and Floating Time Axis Level Cells are unstretched. In the context menu above, the Time-axis properties… command accesses the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Top, Middle, or Bottom Level sub-tab when this command is clicked depending on which Level is selected in the Floating Time Axis. Most edits made in the Chart Properties form can be applied globally to both the Time Axis Level and any Floating Time Axis Level if the edit applies to Cells. If the edit made in the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Level sub-tabs changes a Level related property, such as the height property, that change is only made in the Time Axis Level and NOT to the Floating Time Axis Level. For the Floating Time Axis, the Insert curtain command is not enabled. The Hide floating time axis level command when clicked hides the Floating Time Axis Level and displays an empty Row in the chart. As an empty Row, it takes on the properties and characteristics of any other empty Row. A discussion of how to restore a Hidden Floating Time Axis Level is discussed below. Making formatting edits to Floating Time Axis Level Cells mavericks both the Floating Time Axis Level Cell and the Time Axis Level Cell as well. For example you can edit the background color for a specific Floating Time Axis Level Cell as is set up to be done below: <center> Clicking the Format cell… command accesses the Time Axis Cell Properties form where you can make edits to the Floating Time Axis Level Cell’s background color as shown below using the OnePager standard Color Chooser form: In a similar way, if you edit a property of a Time Axis Level Cell when there is a corresponding Floating Time Axis in the chart, the corresponding Floating Time Axis Level Cell takes on the edits made to the Time Axis Level Cell. Hiding Floating Time Axis Levels The bottom command in the time axis right-click context menu for a Floating Time Axis Level Cell is the Hide floating time axis level command. Clicking this command immediately hides the Floating Time Axis Level regardless of what Cell in the Floating Time Axis was selected. However, this command hides only the content of the Floating Time Axis Level but leaves the Row visible where the selected Floating Time Axis Level resided as shown below: This behavior is a bit different from that of hiding rows. Normally Rows in the chart are automatically hidden from view in the graph at the end of the hide rows operation. With Floating Time Axis Levels, hiding the Level converts the area of the graph to a normal Row in the chart that appears as empty space. The Row remaining after the Hide floating time axis level command is completed retains all the properties of a normal Row. It can have text columns entries and all their properties remain editable. This approach is thought to provide you with greater flexibility when making further edits to the chart containing Floating Time Axis Levels. These normal Rows can be edited like any other Row in the chart. When Floating Time Axis Levels are hidden, as shown above, the empty Row that replaces the hidden Floating Time Axis Level can be removed from the graph by using the Hide rows button on the OnePager Home ribbon tool bar tab as shown here: Performing the Hide row operation using the Row hiding choices form hides the previously hidden Floating Time Axis Level in the graph as shown here: An alternative approach to hiding any Floating Time Axis Level is to select the Row’s Text Column Label area with a right-click and click the Hide row command in the row right-click context menu as shown below: When you do this, the chart again looks like this: At this point if you want to make the previously Hidden Floating Time Axis Level visible again, our recommendation is to reinsert the Floating Time Axis Level using the empty space right-click context menu to perform this action. For more information on Creating Floating Time Axis Levels, please see this section in the article at: The Floating Time Axis Feature for OnePager - Creating Floating Time Axis Levels From the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Top Level sub-tab you can make most chart global edits to both the Floating Time Axis’ Top Level and the Time Axis’ Top Level as shown below: <center> For example, if you make edits in the Background Colors sub-control group as shown below, you get these results: As mentioned earlier you cannot use the global edit for the level height in the Chart Properties form’s Level tabs to edit the height of a Floating Time Axis Level. Floating Time Axes and the OnePager Template There are No corresponding Floating Time Axis Level or Cell controls in the OnePager Template Properties form. Accordingly, Floating Time Axis Level representations are within the individual chart although some Floating Time Axis Cell properties can be edited globally along with their Time Axis Levels and Cells in the Chart Properties form. Individual Floating Time Axis Levels and Cells can always be manually edited. Related Links Creating and Managing Curtains OnePager's Ribbon Tool Bar Home Tab (22.4.3-72)