How to Show Project Summary Task in Microsoft Project: 1-Min Guide

How to Show Project Summary Task in Microsoft Project

Updated on:

May 13, 2026

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Use this interactive demo to learn how to display the Project Summary Task row in Microsoft Project.

Quick summary

The Project Summary Task in Microsoft Project is a single row (task 0) that rolls up the total duration, cost, and progress of your entire project. Enabling it is essential when applying budget resources at the project level, giving managers an instant high-level view of overall project health.

Steps

Open your project file in Microsoft Project.
Navigate to the Gantt Chart Format tab in the ribbon.
In the Show/Hide section, check the box labeled Project Summary Task.
A new row labeled task 0 will appear at the top of your task list, representing the entire project.
Enable this task whenever you are applying budget resources to the project to ensure accurate cost and schedule rollups.

📌 Why this matters

The Project Summary Task in Microsoft Project provides a single, consolidated row — task 0 — that aggregates the total duration, cost, and completion percentage for an entire project plan. This feature is critical for project managers who need to assign and track budget resources at the project level, because without it, top-level cost data cannot be applied or reported accurately. Enabling the Project Summary Task gives stakeholders an immediate, high-level snapshot of overall project health directly within the Gantt Chart view, eliminating the need for manual calculations or external reports. For teams managing complex schedules in Microsoft Project, this one setting is a foundational requirement for reliable project-level reporting and resource management.

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