Microsoft Project - Inactivating Tasks

Microsoft Project Professional 2010 - 2016 enables you to cancel a task but keep a record of the task in the project plan. This is called inactivating the task. The task remains in the project plan, but does not affect resource availability, the project schedule, or how other tasks are scheduled.

Note:  Inactivating a task is a feature available only with Project Professional.

Why would you want to inactivate a task? For one thing, it can help you model the effects of schedule or resource constraints on the project without deleting tasks permanently. Also, inactive tasks remain in the project plan, providing a record of canceled tasks and enabling you to reactivate them if circumstances change.

Note: Inactivation is not a good way to archive completed tasks, because it could have unanticipated effects on the remaining schedule. Instead, mark the tasks as completed.

Inactivate a task

Select the Task(s) and click Task > Inactivate:

The task will now appear grayed out and have a line through it. It will not affect resource allocation or scheduling. If you want to re-activate it, simply select it and click Inactivate again:

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