Ask the Experts: 15 Microsoft Project Tips for New Users

Steve in Phoenix, AZ asks: Do you have any tips and tricks to help new users with Microsoft Project?

Ellen answers: Using Project can become a tricky endeavor at times. Knowing some of the tricks and hidden functions can save time and effort for users. Below I have listed some of my favorite tips and tricks for both Project 2010 and Project 2007 that can help you when you’re working with the Standard or Professional versions of the product.

1. Here are four helpful keystrokes to remember:

F3 will remove a filter.
The Ins key will insert blank lines.
The Del key will delete task lines.
Deleting a Summary task will delete all detail tasks within the Summary task.

2. When dragging tasks around to change location, always move tasks from the ID number on the left of the views.

3. When a start date is changed, the constraints and deadlines within the project schedule don’t adjust to the new start date.

In Project 2010 use the Move Project button on the Project ribbon to change the start date. The option to adjust the deadlines is available. The ability to adjust deadlines isn’t available in the earlier versions of Project, but there’s a button called Adjust Dates located on the Analysis toolbar that lets you adjust the constraints to the new project start date. To remove constraints, double click on a task, click on the Advanced tab, and reset the Constraint type to As soon as possible.

4. Change Working Time allows for changing and creating calendars.

Think of this function as a way of accessing the calendars that are available to be used within the project. The calendars aren’t active until they’re assigned to a resource, to the project, or to a task. They can be copied using the Organizer into the Global.mpt for use in other projects.

5. When an alternate calendar is selected for the project calendar, the views will continue to display the Standard calendar.

To change the views to show the alternate calendar being used as the project calendar, expose a view (such as the Gantt Chart), right click in the view (right side), select non-working time, and change the calendar being shown. This change is unique per view and will need to be changed in all Gantt chart and Usage views used. You can also use this change to see a Gantt chart for an individual resource.

6. When time is a physical number of days and not working days, use elapsed time.

A 10-day duration entered “10d” will be scheduled on working days only. A task duration entered as “10 ed” will change to physical time and will include non-working time.

7. The percent complete you see on the Tracking Gantt and on the Tracking percentage buttons is percent duration complete.

There’s a second percent complete called percent work complete. When you mark a task 100 percent complete, it’s assumed that 100 percent of the work has been completed also and the Start and Finish dates will become Actual Start and Actual Finish for the task. Look at the Work table of the Gantt chart to see Work completed.

8. The best view to see slippage between baseline vs. actual work is the Detail Gantt view.

9. To combine projects on a temporary basis for reporting and linking tasks between projects, create a new window.

Open the files to be combined. There’s a New Window button on the View ribbon in Project 2010. In earlier versions click on Window | New Window. Select the files to combine and a temporary file will be opened using the standard default template with the selected files combined. Create links across the projects or filter and group for reports. Save the files changed, but don’t save the temporary file.

10. Right clicking is a way of getting to a lot of options.

You can get feature selection menus by right clicking on the Ribbon or toolbars, the timescale, in the Gantt chart, on a task, on a resource, on column titles, etc. Some options are only available from menus accessed through right clicking.

11. The best way to see everything that is going on when creating an assignment is to create an assignment from a split screen with the Gantt chart or Task Sheet above and the Task Form with the View Work or Resource Work.

This is also known as the Task Entry View. Double click on the little bar in the lower right corner of the Gantt chart view. The Task Form will appear and can be changed to show the Work, Cost, and Schedule information. Double click on the Resource Name to see the Resource data.

12. When printing Gantt charts, set up the view to the way you want to see it printed before you click Print Preview or File | Print in Project 2010.

Then go into the Print Setup settings and turn off the legend and adjust the settings.

13. When creating a work breakdown structure (WBS), indent from the top down.

When removing an indentation, work from the bottom up and outdent.

14. To alter a relationship type, add lead or lag time, and delete a relationship, double click on the link line between tasks.

15. A helpful formatting to add to the Tracking Gantt is the Status date line.

To add this line, right click in the Gantt chart, click on Gridlines. Select Status Date on the left, select a line style and color, and click OK to close the box. The Status date will be shown when it’s entered in the Project Information box in Project 2007 or by entering the Status date using the Status date button on the Project ribbon bar in Project 2010.

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