Link Activities

What a planner means

Link Activities is Edit > Link Activities in the Activities window. Oracle does print a menu item named Link Activities. Oracle does not print a dedicated numbered how-to titled Link Activities. It is a command. It is not stored data. It is not Unlink Activities, not Dissolve, not Add Activity, not Edit > Assign > Predecessors / Successors, not Activity Details Predecessors / Successors / Relationships, not Create relationships in the Gantt Chart, not Create relationships in the Activity Network, not EPPM Link Selected Activities copied onto Professional, and not Primavera Cloud Link Activities.

Oracle Edit Menu (Professional):

Link Activities — "Creates a finish-to-start relationship between the activities you select in the Activities window. This action creates relationships based on the order in which the selected activities are listed. This command is enabled when you select more than one activity in the Activity Table or Activity Network." Enabled when the active window is Activities. Corresponding toolbar: Edit Toolbar.

Quote that sentence. Do not invent that this page printed selection order, click order, or "the order that the activities were selected." Oracle printed listed. Do not invent that this page printed SS, FF, SF, lag, Comments, or a fallback if finish-to-start already exists. Do not invent a numbered how-to (Project, Activities / select / Edit, Link Activities). The Activities-window task list under Working with activity relationships names Add predecessor relationships, Add successor relationships, Create relationships in the Gantt Chart, and Create relationships in the Activity Network. It does not name Link Activities.

Oracle Edit Toolbar Link Activities: the same finish-to-start / listed-order / more-than-one-activity sentence. No (does not display by default). Enabled when Activities. Shortcut keys: None. Edit > Link Activities. Toolbar intro: "Use the Edit toolbar to add, delete, cut, copy, and paste data objects, dissolve and link activities, undo an action, and much more." Tip: "To show icons on the toolbar that do not display by default, you must customize the toolbar."

Professional — Activities window: "Use the Edit menu on the Menu bar or use the Edit toolbar to add, delete, cut, copy, paste, link, renumber, or dissolve activities, and to undo an action." That is the verb link, not a printed how-to titled Link Activities. The same page says to use the Assign toolbar, Activity Details, or shortcut (right-click) menu to assign predecessors and successors. Do not invent Professional right-click Link Activities. (Assign Toolbar: "You can right-click on an activity to access a shortcut menu that includes most of the options described in the table" — those options are Assign Resources / Roles / Activity Codes / Predecessors / Successors / Activity Step Templates.)

Hot keys: Alt-E, K = Link Activities. Using Shortcut Keys lists no Link Activities row. That page: "If an option is not listed, it does not have a shortcut key." Quote the toolbar None, the missing Shortcut Keys row, and Alt-E, K. Do not collapse them. Do not invent that Shortcut Keys printed a Ctrl key for Link Activities.

Add/Edit/Delete Activity Relationships privilege (Professional project profile): "Determines whether the profile will enable users to create, modify, and remove activity relationships assigned to projects." Add/Edit Activities Except Relationships is the other privilege: "create and modify all activity information in projects, except activity relationships." The Edit Menu / Edit Toolbar Link Activities rows fetched do not print those privilege names. Do not invent that Link Activities printed a privilege.

Unlink Activities is a different command. Edit > Unlink Activities "Removes relationships between the selected activities." Activities only. Edit Toolbar: No (not default); Shortcut keys None; Edit > Unlink Activities. Hot key Alt-E, V. It does not create a finish-to-start.

Dissolve is a different command. Edit > Dissolve removes an activity and joins its predecessors to its successors. See Dissolve Removes an Activity and Joins Its Predecessors to Its Successors.

Add Activity is a different command. Edit > Add. See Add Activity.

Assign Predecessors / Assign Successors are different commands. Edit Menu: Assign > Predecessors "Opens the Assign Predecessors dialog box. In this dialog box, you can assign predecessor activities and remove existing predecessor relationships." Assign > Successors "Opens the Assign Successors dialog box. In this dialog box, you can assign successor activities and remove existing successor relationships." Assign Toolbar icons display by default; Activities. Hot keys Alt-E, I, P / Alt-E, I, S. Those dialogs are not Edit > Link Activities.

Activity Details Predecessors / Successors / Relationships are a different surface. Oracle Add predecessor relationships / Add successor relationships: Project, Activities → select the activity → Display Activity Details → Predecessors or Successors or Relationships tab → Assign. Those how-tos print Relationship Type, Lag, Comments, and external Select Project. They do not print Edit > Link Activities.

Create relationships in the Gantt Chart / Activity Network are different commands. Draw from bar or box edges. Oracle printed finish to start / finish to finish / start to finish / start to start from which edges you draw. That is not Edit > Link Activities (finish-to-start in list order).

Adding relationships between activities is a different how-to. Oracle: "You can also add relationships using the Predecessors, Successors, and Relationships tabs in Activity Details, or using the Assign Toolbar." That page fetched does not print Edit > Link Activities.

Professional vs EPPM

Professional — Edit > Link Activities / Edit Toolbar (not default) / Alt-E, K / finish-to-start / listed order / more than one activity in the Activity Table or Activity Network. Do not invent a Professional item titled Link Selected Activities.

EPPM web — do not copy Professional Edit > Link Activities / listed order / Edit Toolbar / Alt-E, K / Activity Table or Activity Network enable sentence onto EPPM.

Oracle EPPM Activities Page (G48897; Actions menu): Link Selected Activities — "Creates a relationship between the selected activities. The default relationship is Finish to Start. The link is visible on the Gantt chart." That page fetched does not print listed order, selection order, Activity Table, Activity Network, or a fallback if Finish to Start already exists. Do not invent that it did. Do not invent that Professional printed Link Selected Activities, default, or visible on the Gantt chart.

An older EPPM Assigning Successor Relationships page (F37125) printed a different tip: "You can assign relationships to multiple activities at one time. Select multiple activities using Ctrl+click or Shift+click. Right-click the selected activities and select Link Selected Activities. Based on their sequence in the view, the application creates Finish to Start relationships between selected activities. That is, a Finish to Start relationship is applied between the first and second activities, between the second and third activities, and so on. If an activity pair already has a Finish to Start relationship, the application tries, in turn, to apply each of the other relationship types, if possible. Otherwise, no relationship is applied to the pair." Current G48897 Assigning Successor Relationships fetched does not print that tip. Do not copy the F37125 sequence / first-and-second / other-types fallback onto Professional Edit > Link Activities, or onto the current G48897 Activities Page one-liner, or onto current G48897 Assigning Successor Relationships.

Oracle EPPM Creating Activity Relationships is Gantt-bar drag (circle; "Where you drag the relationship on each bar determines the type of relationship"; Save). That is not Link Selected Activities and not Professional Edit > Link Activities.

Oracle EPPM Assigning Predecessor Relationships / Assigning Successor Relationships (G48897) are the Assign Relationships panel (Finish to Start only in that panel; Save). Those are not Link Selected Activities.

Current G48897 Activities Page fetched does not print Unlink Selected Activities. Do not invent an EPPM Unlink command from Professional Unlink Activities.

Primavera Cloud — Context Link Activities: "Finish to Start relationships are created between selected activities in the order that the activities were selected." Context Unlink Activities: "To remove all relationships between activities, select the activities, select the Context menu, and then select Unlink Activities." That is a different product. Cloud printed selected. Professional printed listed. Do not collapse them. Do not copy Cloud onto P6 Professional or EPPM.

XER

None. Oracle's project XER map TOC has no LINKACTIVITIES / LINKACT / LINK_ACTIVITIES / LINKSELECTED / LINK_SELECTED_ACTIVITIES table. After the command you see another TASKPRED. Do not invent a command %T. Do not treat a new TASKPRED row as "the planner used Edit > Link Activities."

TASKPRED is the relationship. Columns that match names Oracle used elsewhere (Oracle XER labels): pred_type (Relationship Type), lag_hr_cnt (Lag), task_id (Successor), pred_task_id (Predecessor). The Edit Menu / Edit Toolbar Link Activities rows fetched do not print those column names, a lag value, or a stored pred_type code. See TASKPRED (Activity Relationships) and FS / SS / FF / SF + Lag (Planner Language).

A Viewer parse of one XER cannot reconstruct whether the planner used Edit > Link Activities, Assign Predecessors / Assign Successors, Activity Details Assign, Gantt / Network draw, import, or EPPM Link Selected Activities.

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project Link tasks: "Choose View > Gantt Chart." "Hold down Ctrl and select the two tasks you want to link (in the Task Name column)." "Choose Task > Link Tasks." "To remove a link, select the two linked tasks and then choose Task > Unlink Tasks." "Project creates a simple finish-to-start task link by default, which means the first task (the predecessor) needs to finish before the second task (the successor) can start."

Microsoft Edit a project: same two-task Ctrl-select, then "Select Task > Link the Selected Tasks or press Ctrl+F2."

Quote Link Tasks and Link the Selected Tasks. Do not collapse them. Do not invent that the Link tasks page printed Ctrl+F2.

Microsoft Autolink inserted or moved tasks is a Schedule option. That is insert/move, not this command. Microsoft Unlink Tasks removes the dependency. That is not P6 Unlink Activities copied onto Project, and not this command.

They are not the same command. P6 Link Activities is Edit > Link Activities of selected activities in the Activity Table or Activity Network, finish-to-start in listed order. Project links selected tasks (Task > Link Tasks / Link the Selected Tasks / Ctrl+F2) as finish-to-start by default. Microsoft did not print listed order, Activity Table, or Activity Network. Do not map P6 Link Activities to MSP Link Tasks / Link the Selected Tasks / Autolink / Unlink Tasks as the same command. Do not claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Link Activities as Unlink Activities, Dissolve, Add Activity, Assign Predecessors / Assign Successors, Activity Details Predecessors / Successors / Relationships, Create relationships in the Gantt Chart / Activity Network, EPPM Link Selected Activities copied onto Professional, or Cloud Link Activities.
• Invent a dedicated Professional numbered how-to titled Link Activities. Oracle printed Edit > Link Activities on the Edit Menu / Edit Toolbar.
• Invent that Professional printed selection order, click order, or "the order that the activities were selected." Oracle printed listed.
• Invent that Professional Link Activities printed SS, FF, SF, lag, Comments, or a fallback if finish-to-start already exists.
• Invent Professional right-click Link Activities. Activities-window shortcut (right-click) is printed for assign predecessors / successors.
• Collapse toolbar None, the missing Shortcut Keys row, and hot key Alt-E, K.
• Copy Professional Edit > Link Activities / listed order / Edit Toolbar / Alt-E, K onto EPPM, or copy EPPM Link Selected Activities / default / visible on the Gantt chart onto Professional.
• Copy the older EPPM F37125 sequence / first-and-second / other-types fallback onto Professional, onto current G48897 Activities Page, or onto current G48897 Assigning Successor Relationships.
• Invent that current G48897 Activities Page printed Unlink Selected Activities.
• Collapse Cloud selected onto Professional listed.
• Invent a LINKACTIVITIES / LINKACT / LINK_ACTIVITIES / LINKSELECTED XER table, or treat a new TASKPRED row as "the planner used Edit > Link Activities."
• Claim a Viewer reconstructed that the planner last used Link Activities from an XER.
• Map P6 Link Activities to MSP Task > Link Tasks / Link the Selected Tasks / Ctrl+F2 / Autolink / Unlink Tasks as the same command.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.