Extra days being added to task dates.

jdswift

While creating a project timeline I've just noticed that some dates are populating with extra days. For example, I have a task with a 5 day duration with a start date of Monday 07/29/24. I would expect this task to end on Friday 08/02/24 however, the end date is defaulting to Monday 08/05/24. I am also seeing some tasks with a 1 day duration being spread over 2 calendar days rather than starting and ending on the same day. This doesn't seem to occur with every task line. I've never had this occur in the past.

Has anyone seen this issue? Am I overlooking an error I've made that would cause this?

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/121081/system-automatically-adding-days-to-task-duration

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

Have you checked the Project Settings?

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

jdswift

@Andrée Starå yes, I did. Everything is as I expected it to be.

Genevieve P.

Hi @jdswift

I agree with @Andrée Starå - it sounds like perhaps there are some Holiday Days set in your Project settings or different timings (e.g. if Fridays are non-working days or the hours are different) that may be impacting these rows. I've tried adding in the same dates and my tasks finish on the Friday:

If this is all set up properly, it may have to do with some of your Predecessor links, depending on when they start/finish. There is a hidden "time" associated with each of these dates (either beginning of the day or end of the day). You can see this by adding a helper Text/Number column then simply using =Start@row or =Finish@row to see what time of day is being recorded. That may impact if the task then decides you should start the next day or if you have enough time on the current day.

Cheers,

Genevieve

jdswift

@Andrée Starå, @Genevieve P.,

I went back through each line and found it to be an error I made by using zero day durations/milestones as predecessors. Ultimately this was entirely user error. Thank you both for your input!

@Genevieve P. your info about "hidden time" is interesting and could be useful. I added a new column with the =Start@row and =Finish@row you mentioned however I get an error of #UNPARSEABLE. Is there something needed other than the formula mentioned?

Genevieve P.

Hi @jdswift

What are your column titles? You'll need to update them to match… so if it's "Start Date" then the formula would be:

=[Start Date]@row

Cheers!
Genevieve

jdswift

@Genevieve P.

I think I'm misunderstanding the result I should be seeing. Below is an image from my timeline, I've added a column called Hidden Time to test this out. I entered the formula as: =[Start Date]@row, and get an error. What should I be seeing in the hidden time column?

Genevieve P.

Hi @jdswift

Apologies! Since you're pasting it into a Text/Number column, you'll need to add a simple + "" to the end of your formula to translate the date into text:

=[Start Date]@row + ""

This should resolve the error 🙂

jdswift

Thank you @Genevieve P. ! That worked.

Is that universal? In other words, does adding the +"" always convert a date into text?

Genevieve P.

Yes! Not all dates have times associated, but + "" does convert dates-to-text or numbers-to-text.