PRJ: Error Message Maximum Number of Cells Formatted (153276)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Project, when you apply direct cell formatting while in a view such as the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, or Resource Sheet, you may receive the following error message:

You have exceeded the maximum number of cells that can be directly formatted in this view.

In Microsoft Project version 4.1, the error message continues as follows:

You can only directly format up to about 7500 cells in a view. Remove the direct formatting from one or more formatted cells in this view and try your operation again.

Once the 7500 cell limit is reached, if you attempt to remove formatting by clicking Clear Formats on the Edit menu, you receive the error message again.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the limit for individually formatted cells has been reached or exceeded. In Microsoft Project versions 4.0, 4.1, and 98, the maximum number of cells that can be individually formatted is approximately 7500 cells.

NOTE: 7500 is an approximate number; in some cases you can directly format slightly more than 7500 cells.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, once you receive the 7500 cell limit error message, you can remove direct cell formatting from your view by doing one of the following:

Method 1

Select a non-summary task that has direct formatting applied to it. This task should preferably be a task that does not have tracking information (resource actual and baseline work) applied to it.
On the Edit menu, click Cut.
On the Insert menu, click Insert Task.
On the Edit menu, click Paste Special, click Text Data, and then click OK.

This should paste your task back into its original position with most all data; all custom formatting is removed.
On the File menu, click Save.

At this point, you should be able to further remove direct formatting by clicking Clear Formats on the Edit menu. You will also be able to add new formats up to the 7500 limit.

If you are not concerned about preserving the task and want to reenter it by hand, you can delete the task, and then save your file without following the other steps.

Method 2

Because direct cell formats are associated with a view, if you want to quickly "remove" direct formats, you can generate another view and start working with the new view instead. For example, if you reach the 7500 limit while working on the Gantt Chart, you can do the following:

Click More Views on the View menu.
Click the New button.
Click the OK button.
Enter a descriptive view name. Select the Gantt Chart Screen type (or whatever view type you choose), select the same table and filter that you were using in your original view. Click OK.
Click Apply.

At this point, you will be working with a new view that does not have any direct formatting associated with it.

MORE INFORMATION

To avoid reaching the 7500 direct cell formatting limit as quickly, you can use the following techniques.

Method 1

Format your text information using text styles. On the Format menu, you can click Text Styles and select various task type categories and set font attributes. These global style changes do not count against the 7500 limit.

Method 2

Apply direct cell formatting by using "wildcard" formatting techniques. Consider a project that has ten tasks and where you want all of the task names to be displayed with a blue colored font. To make a wildcard format change that makes only one direct format instead of ten, do the following:

Click the column heading that says "Task Name" (without the quotation marks).
On the Format menu, click Font.

NOTE: You must make this change through the Font dialog box and not the formatting toolbar. Otherwise, a wildcard change will not be made.
Change the Font Color to blue. Click OK.

By making the format change this way, you have made only one direct format instead of ten.

NOTE: A wildcard direct format change cannot be made on a row basis; only on a column basis.