Quick Trick: Align Tasks and Gantt Bars with Grid Lines

Sometimes it can be difficult to visually align task rows in Microsoft Project with their corresponding shapes in the Gantt Chart:

We can fix that in about 30 seconds by simply adding horizontal grid lines to the Gantt Chart to help align the left task rows with the Gantt shapes.

Click the ‘Format’ tab in Microsoft Project to display the ‘Format’ ribbon:

Click the ‘Gridlines’ button and select the ‘Gridlines…’ option from the pick list:

In the ‘Gridlines’ dialog box, select the ‘Gantt Rows’ item in the left ‘Line to change’ list, select the small dashed line (———–) option from the ‘Type’ pick list, and select a dark grey color from the ‘Color’ pick list:

Voila! The new horizontal grid lines in the Gantt Chart now make it easier to align the left task rows with their corresponding shapes in the Gantt Chart:

Good luck!