Activity Network

The Activity Network displays your project as a diagram of activities and relationships according to the work breakdown structure (WBS). A red border around an activity box indicates a critical activity. A line connecting activity boxes indicates an activity relationship.

You can control nearly every aspect of the Activity Network, including the appearance of activities, the contents of activity boxes, and the spacing between activities.

The left pane of the Activity Network layout always displays the WBS hierarchy, regardless of the current grouping selection. The right pane displays the selected WBS element's assigned activities. If you specify a grouping option other than WBS, the right pane of the Activity Network layout groups and displays the selected WBS element's activities according to the activity data item you specify, for example, grouped by project status or budget at completion.

You can save the Activity Network layout on your computer to email to another project user or to retrieve later.

To display the Activity Network:

With the Activities window active, do one of the following:

Click on the Top Layout toolbar.
Click the Layout bar, choose Show on Top, Activity Network.
From the View menu, choose Show on Top, Activity Network.
You can use an Activity Network layout to
Easily view relationships among activities and the flow of work through a project
Examine and edit an activity and its predecessors and successors
Focus on the driving relationship path
Determine at a glance whether an activity has started or finished

To make the Activity Network layout more effective, you can

Change the Activity Network template to view different activity information and levels of detail
Right-click anywhere in the Activity Network to access commands that enable you to change the information displayed or format data
Combine the Activity Network with a Trace Logic layout to focus on a specific sequence of activities

Tip

To edit or remove an activity relationship, double-click the line that indicates the relationship you want to change, then enter new details in the dialog box that appears.
To display an activity's ID and name, place your pointer on the activity whose details you want to view.
To zoom in, hold down the Alt key, click anywhere in the Activity Network layout, then drag the pointer down while holding down the mouse button. To zoom out, hold down the Alt key, click anywhere in the Activity Network layout, then drag the pointer up while holding down the mouse button. Right-click anywhere in the Activity Network table to display a menu of additional options.

Last Published Tuesday, March 31, 2026