Hello all, New to Project and when I input 60 days I want it the duration to be 60 days. Below I have a screenshot showing that when I put 60 days in duration in 1.5 it gives a finish date of 12/18/2024. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Example:Today is 9/20/2024, duration of 5 days should = 9/25/2024.

ahobbi695,That's probably because you are thinking in calendar days and that's not how Project works. Project schedules in working days and working days are determined by the Project Calendar. The Standard Project calendar, which is the default, is 8-5 Monday through Friday. So, if a task starts on 9/20/24 and the duration is set at 5 days, that task will show a finish date of 9/26/24.If you really want calendar days, you can create a custom calendar (e.g. 6 day workweek, 7 day workweek, etc.) or you can enter duration values in elapsed days (i.e. 5 ed).John

Having trouble showing number of days. | Microsoft Community Hub

John-project
Silver Contributor
Sep 21, 2024
ahobbi695,
That's probably because you are thinking in calendar days and that's not how Project works. Project schedules in working days and working days are determined by the Project Calendar. The Standard Project calendar, which is the default, is 8-5 Monday through Friday. So, if a task starts on 9/20/24 and the duration is set at 5 days, that task will show a finish date of 9/26/24.

If you really want calendar days, you can create a custom calendar (e.g. 6 day workweek, 7 day workweek, etc.) or you can enter duration values in elapsed days (i.e. 5 ed).

John
- ahobbi695
  Copper Contributor
  Sep 21, 2024
  John-project,
  
  This was it. Thank you very much. I spent way too much time messing around with hours worked per week. I work in a 24/7 fab and some tasks are workweeks, and some tasks are full 24/7 (and weekends). Contemplated switching back over to Excel!
  
  "edays" was the answer! I had no idea! Is there documentation to units I can use for Duration?
  - John-project
    Silver Contributor
    Sep 21, 2024
    ahobbi695,
    You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. You can accommodate the various working periods in your plan by using custom calendars. The Project Calendar applies to tasks and resources in the whole plan but there is also a Task Calendar field that allows you to define a custom calendar for that specific task. Scheduling for that task then follows that custom calendar.
    
    By default all resources follow the Project calendar but you can select a separate calendar for each resource using the Base Calendar field on the Resource Sheet. In addition, you can set up exceptions for each resource to accommodate resource time off, such as vacations.
    
    Internally Project schedules everything to the nearest minute regardless of what is entered in the Duration field. Normally duration is in days, but it can be in minutes, days, hours, weeks, months, or years and of course each of those can be in elapsed time although that only makes sense when using "days" as a minute is a minute, elapsed or not. The same with an hour or a week. However months are by default 20 working days so if you want to use calendar months, "eMon" is the choice.
    
    So, although Excel and Project may seem very similar they are very different in the way time and dates are handled. Excel is by design a very flexible spreadsheet app, Project is specifically designed as a project management app.
    
    Hope this helps.
    John

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Having trouble showing number of days.