Link in Sequence

Link in Sequence is a quick way to chain multiple tasks together with Finish-to-Start (FS) dependencies. You select the tasks, click the button, and Baulit connects them in order — each task becomes the predecessor of the next. It is fast, but it comes with an important trade-off you need to understand before using it.

Use with caution. Link in Sequence creates a single serial chain, which means every selected task must wait for the one before it to finish. This artificially lengthens your project timeline because it eliminates all parallel work. For most scheduling needs, the Dependency Wizard is the recommended approach because it lets you build parallel branches that reflect how construction actually works.

What Link in Sequence Does

When you select tasks A, B, C, and D (in that order) and click Link in Sequence, Baulit creates these dependencies:

A → B (B cannot start until A finishes)
B → C (C cannot start until B finishes)
C → D (D cannot start until C finishes)

All relationships are Finish-to-Start (FS), the only dependency type Baulit supports. The result is a single linear chain where no two tasks can run at the same time.

What it does not do

It does not create parallel branches. Every task is serial.
It does not detect or prevent circular dependencies the way the Dependency Wizard does.
It does not include phase headers. If you select a phase header along with its child tasks, the phase header is excluded from the chain.

How to Use Link in Sequence

Enter selection mode. On the task list, use the checkboxes to select multiple tasks. The batch operations toolbar appears at the top of the task list when you have tasks selected.

Select the tasks you want to chain. Check the boxes next to each task in the order you want them linked. The selection order determines the chain order: the first task you select becomes the first in the chain, and so on.

Click Link in Sequence. In the batch operations toolbar, click the Link in Sequence button. Baulit creates FS dependencies connecting each task to the next one in your selection order.

Review the Gantt chart. Switch to the Schedule tab to see the dependency arrows drawn between the linked tasks. The tasks now form a single chain on the timeline.

Phase headers are excluded. If your selection includes phase headers (the bold grouping rows), they are automatically skipped. Only individual tasks are included in the chain.

The Serial Chain Problem

Link in Sequence creates a serial chain. In construction, serial chains rarely reflect reality. Consider a typical post-framing sequence:

Plumbing rough-in (4 days)
Electrical rough-in (3 days)
HVAC rough-in (3 days)
Rough-in inspection (1 day)

If you Link in Sequence these four tasks, the total duration is 4 + 3 + 3 + 1 = 11 working days. But in reality, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC rough-in can all happen at the same time — they are done by different trade crews working in parallel. The only hard constraint is that all three must finish before the inspection.

With parallel scheduling via the Dependency Wizard, the same work takes only 4 + 1 = 5 working days (the plumbing path is longest at 4 days, plus 1 day for the inspection). Link in Sequence makes this 11 days instead of 5 — more than double the actual duration.

Impact on CPM

When everything is chained serially, every task lands on the critical path with zero float. The CPM engine cannot identify which tasks have scheduling flexibility because you have told it that nothing can run in parallel. This defeats the purpose of CPM analysis and makes the critical path meaningless.

When Link in Sequence Makes Sense

Despite the limitations, Link in Sequence is useful in specific situations:

Scenario	Example
Short linear runs (3–5 tasks)	Pour foundation → Cure → Strip forms → Backfill
True sequential constraints	Drywall hang → Drywall tape → Drywall sand → Prime
Inspection sequences	Frame inspection → Insulation → Insulation inspection
Quick prototyping	Rapidly connecting tasks to get a rough Gantt view before refining with the Dependency Wizard

The key question: do these tasks genuinely need to happen one after another, with no possibility of overlap or parallel work? If yes, Link in Sequence is a fast way to set that up. If any of the tasks could run in parallel, use the Dependency Wizard instead.

Removing Dependencies Created by Link in Sequence

If you linked tasks and want to undo the serial chain, you have two options:

Dependency Wizard: Open the Dependency Wizard, select a task in the chain, and remove the predecessors that should not be there. Then add the correct predecessors to build the parallel structure you want.
Task popover: Click a task bar on the Gantt chart to open the popover. You can edit predecessors directly from there by removing the unwanted predecessor and adding the correct one.

Dependencies created by Link in Sequence are identical to dependencies created any other way. There is no special "linked" status. You can freely edit, remove, or replace them.

Link in Sequence vs. Dependency Wizard

Feature	Link in Sequence	Dependency Wizard
Speed	Very fast — one click for multiple tasks	Slower — configure each task individually
Network structure	Single serial chain only	Parallel branches and merge points
Cycle detection	No	Yes, real-time blocking
Project duration accuracy	Artificially long	Realistic minimum
Float calculation	Zero float on all linked tasks	Accurate float from parallel paths
Best for	Short true-serial runs (3–5 tasks)	Full project scheduling

Recommended workflow: Use the Dependency Wizard as your primary scheduling tool. Reserve Link in Sequence for the occasional short run of tasks that genuinely must happen back-to-back with no parallel work possible.