Error When Editing Predecessors Field

 In both Project 98 and Project 2000, it's possible to get the following error message when editing the Predecessors field (or even selecting it and then clicking elsewhere):

 "This value is not valid."

The predecessor information is not valid. Try one of the following:

§          Type only positive, whole numbers.

§          Type predecessor information in the following order: predecessor ID number, dependency, and lead or lag time.

·          If the predecessor information is too long, use the Task Information dialog.

 The cause of this error is an issue with the Predecessors field that limits its contents to 255 characters. So if you have a task with many predecessor tasks, the number of characters in this field can easily exceed 255 characters. That does not mean that you cannot add any more predecessors to this task. What it does mean is that you cannot add them by entering their ID number into the Predecessors field. You have to add them by using either the mouse and dragging the center of one Gantt bar onto another or by selecting the two tasks and clicking the Link toolbar button. If you get this error message, click OK and then press [Esc] to reset the value of the field to the previous value.

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