Editing Subprojects and Tasks With a Text Editor

Opening the Text Editor

Each project in Standard Time® has a Tasks property. Clicking it opens a plain-text dialog where you type your entire task list. The format is simple: one item per line, with indentation controlling the hierarchy.

From the Home screen, open the Projects page.
Click any project row to select it.
In the Properties panel on the right side of the window, locate the Tasks field.
Click the Tasks field — the text editor dialog opens, showing the current task list for that project.
Edit the text, then click Save and Close. Standard Time® parses the indentation and creates or updates the tasks immediately.

Tip: Whatever you type is saved verbatim — indentation and line breaks included. Standard Time® re-parses the task list each time you click Save and Close.

Simple Structure — Subprojects and Tasks

For a straightforward project with just two levels — groupings and work items — the rules are simple:

Subproject Left margin (no indent)

Task One tab indent

Type each subproject name starting at column 0 — no spaces or tabs before it. Then type the tasks belonging to that subproject on the lines below, each indented with a single tab character. Any number of tasks can follow a subproject. When you start the next subproject at column 0, all following lines belong to that subproject instead.

Annotated text editor showing two subprojects at the left margin with their tasks indented one tab below each — Subprojects sit at the left margin; tasks are indented once under their parent subproject.

The screenshot below shows a real project with two subprojects — Prep and Plan and Staging — each with two tasks. The subproject names are flush left; the tasks are indented.

Text editor dialog showing Prep and Plan and Staging subprojects with indented tasks under each

Tip: Use a single tab character (not spaces) for each indentation level. Most keyboards insert a tab when you press the Tab key inside the text editor. Mixing tabs and spaces can cause inconsistent hierarchy parsing.

Subprojects Are Optional

You don't have to use subprojects at all. If a project is straightforward, just list the tasks one per line with no indentation and they will appear flat in the Project Tasks grid — no grouping, no hierarchy.

Indenting is optional. Tasks listed without any indentation are perfectly valid. Add subprojects and indentation only when grouping adds value for your team.

Nested Subprojects

For complex projects with many phases or work streams, you can add a third level of hierarchy using nested subprojects. A nested subproject groups tasks within a larger subproject, providing intermediate totals in the Project Tasks grid.

Top-level subproject Left margin (no indent)

Nested subproject One tab indent

Task (under nested sub) Two tab indents

A top-level subproject still starts at column 0. Inside it, lines indented with one tab can be either plain tasks or nested subprojects — Standard Time® determines which by looking at the lines that follow. If the next line is indented with two tabs, the one-tab line is treated as a nested subproject. If the next line is at the same or a shallower indent, it is treated as a task.

Annotated text editor showing a top-level subproject at the left margin, nested subprojects indented once, and tasks inside each nested subproject indented twice — Three-level hierarchy: top-level subproject (no indent) → nested subproject (one tab) → task (two tabs).

The screenshot below shows a multi-phase project. Pre-Construction is the top-level subproject. Within it, Environmental Review, Design, and Permitting are nested subprojects — each indented once. Their individual tasks are indented twice.

Text editor dialog showing Pre-Construction at the left margin with Environmental Review, Design, and Permitting nested subprojects indented once and their tasks indented twice

Tip: Nested subprojects are ideal when a large project naturally breaks into phases, and each phase has its own set of tasks. Rather than listing fifty tasks under one project, split them into nested subprojects so you can see totals at each phase level in the grid.

Results in the Project Tasks Grid

After you save the text editor, Standard Time® builds the task hierarchy and displays it on the Project Tasks page. The indentation you typed becomes visual indentation in the grid — subprojects appear as parent rows, and their tasks are indented beneath them.

What the grid shows

Subproject rows show summary totals — time logged to all tasks beneath them rolls up automatically, giving you an at-a-glance status for each phase or group.
Task rows show individual time entries, estimated hours, percent complete, and other per-task properties.
Nested subproject rows similarly aggregate the tasks directly below them, and their own totals roll up into the top-level subproject above them.

Collapsing and expanding

Every project row and subproject row has a small expand/collapse triangle in the grid. Click it to hide the rows beneath it — useful when you want to focus on a specific phase without scrolling past dozens of tasks, or when presenting a high-level summary. Click again to expand. Collapsed rows still contribute to the parent's summary totals; they are just hidden from view.

Tip: Collapse all subprojects first to see the project-level summary, then expand only the phase you are actively reviewing. This is much faster than scrolling through a flat list of dozens of tasks.

Subprojects and Barcode Scanning

On the shop floor, employees scan barcodes to log time. By default, Managers normally assign barcodes to projects and tasks — the two items shop-floor employees scan at the start of each job. Subprojects are not normally scanned.

Why subprojects still add value without scanning

Even though employees never scan a subproject barcode, subprojects remain useful because the Project Tasks grid rolls time up through the full hierarchy. Every minute logged against a task inside Environmental Review automatically contributes to the Environmental Review totals and then to Pre-Construction above it. You get intermediate totals and phase-level visibility without any extra work on the shop floor.

Requiring subproject scans (optional)

Standard Time® does allow you to configure subprojects as scannable items — so employees must scan the subproject barcode in addition to the project and task barcodes. This creates a more granular scan trail and makes the time log explicitly record which phase or subproject the work belongs to.

Caution: Adding more required scans increases the time and steps employees spend at the scan station before they can start working. Shop-floor employees who repeat the same scan sequence dozens of times a day can become fatigued by extra barcode requirements. Use subproject scanning only when the additional audit trail is worth the added friction — for most shops, letting the hierarchy roll up automatically is the better choice.

Related Articles: Gantt Chart and Project Tasks · Shop Floor Barcode Scanning · Project Management FAQ · ← Back to Learning Center