Changing the WBS Display

There are several ways to change the WBS window display. You can change the window to display only the information you are currently working with, by selecting the WBS legs to edit or view, displaying the columns to edit, or changing window characteristics such as pane size. See Using MPM for complete details.

Filtering the WBS Legs

You can filter the WBS legs to display only the data you need to see. To do this, you can expand or collapse the legs on the WBS Tree (the left window pane) or use Tools » Filter to select a subset of WBS legs using the available fields. Selecting one of the menu options brings up a dialog box with a drop-down list box of available values to choose from.

Notice in the WBS Tree that some of the check mark boxes now show the $image\winm0066_wmf.gif$ Filter symbol. This indicates that only some of the WBS elements in those legs are being displayed, and some have been filtered out.

Expanding and Collapsing WBS legs

The Expand/Collapse Box shows whether the WBS displays all of the sub-elements under a WBS element. To expand an entire WBS leg, highlight the parent and press Ctrl+E. To expand the entire WBS Tree, highlight the Project Level WBS and press Ctrl+E.

A plus sign $image\winm0067_wmf.gif$ indicates that the WBS is collapsed and there are lower level WBS children that are not currently displayed.
A minus sign $image\winm0068_wmf.gif$ indicates that the WBS is expanded and all children are displayed.
The lack of an Expand/Collapse Box indicates the element has no children.

Selecting and Deselecting WBS Legs

To select or deselect which WBS elements to view, click the checkmark box. MPM saves the status of which WBS elements are selected/deselected for the current project, so that the same selections are displayed the next time you open the project.

Selecting a collapsed WBS element downloads the WBS element and all of its children and grandchildren.
Selecting an expanded WBS element downloads just the selected WBS.
Deselecting a collapsed WBS element releases the WBS element and its children and grandchildren from memory. You must select this element to download its data again.

Distributed WBS elements are not downloaded. See Introduction to Distributed Projects.

Displaying and Hiding WBS Fields

The WBS fields display as columns in the WBS Sheet. You can display or hide any or all of the columns, using Format » Column Hide. To select a column, click in the column's heading. To select or deselect multiple columns, use the Shift+Ctrl keys.