If you want to keep up to date on how much progress you have made on a project, follow these steps to track your progress using Microsoft Project 2007:

1. Click on View
2. Select Gantt Chart
3. This will open up the Gantt Chart view
4. Then click on Tools and go down to Tracking
5. Select Update Project
6. This opens up the Update Project dialog box
7. Make sure the Update work as complete through option is checked
8. In the date box, select the date you want to start tracking your tasks
9. Click OK

 
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It’s always a good idea to protect your personal files with passwords. With Project 2007 you can create a password for your project to prevent it from being accessed by unauthorised users.

 
1. Click on File and choose Save As.
2. On the tools menu in the Save As dialog box, click General Options.
3. This brings up the Protection password box.
4. Type in a password in the Password Protection box to prevent your file from being opened by a unautherised user.
5. Type in a password in the Write Reservation Password box, to protect your file from being edited by a unautherised user.
6. Click OK.

 
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When you have a task that occurs at the same time every week e.g. staff meeting, you can set a recurring task schedule in Microsoft Project. So the task has already been set, which saves you having to keep remembering it and writing it into your schedule:

 
1. Select Insert – Recurring Task
2. The Recurring Task Information Dialogue Box appears
3. Insert the Task Name, Duration, Recurrence Pattern, and Start Date and then assign any relevant calendar for the task.
4. Press Ok

 

Interested in learning more? Then visit our Microsoft Project Tips page.

When you create a duration bar in Project they normally come out the same colour. This can be confusing as they all look the same and you could get one mixed up with the other. Project 2007 allows you to change the bar colour and pattern so you can recognise them more easily.

 
1. First when you have created your schedule Right Click on the bar in the Gantt Chart area and choose Format Bar
2. Then change the Shape, Pattern and Size of the bar to your preference.

 

 
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If you are a regular user of Microsoft Project, you will understand that each time you assign a resource to a task with a percentage below 100% Microsoft Project will show you the assigned percentage in addition to the resource name.

Seeing all this can be tiresome after a while so therefore why not hide it? That’s right, this Microsoft Project Tip will give you the steps you need to follow in order to hide the percentages, whether they are below 100% or not.

• View your Resource Sheet and type the names of each resource into the Resource Initials field.
• View the Gantt chart.
• Choose Format: Bar Styles from the Menu bar.
• Select Task.
• Click the Text tab.
• Click the drop-down arrow next to Resources and choose Resource Initials.

If you would like to read more, visit our Microsoft Project Tips page.

Want to learn more? You should book yourself on one of our Microsoft Project Training Courses.

Here is the latest installation in Infero’s ever growing list of Hints and Tips. In this tip we will explain to you how to insert a new text column into Microsoft Project.

First of all, ensure that you are in sheet view, and then select the column field to the right of where you want to show the column. If you want to show the column as the last column, you need to insert it before the last column and then move it by dragging its heading.

On the Insert menu, click Column and specify the field name, title, title alignment, data alignment, and width of the column.

If you wish to wrap the column heading text to the next line, select the Header Text Wrapping check box.

If you want to set the column width to the longest item in the column, click Best Fit.

If you would like to see more Microsoft Project tips, then feel free to browse our Microsoft Project Tips page.

If you would like to learn more about Microsoft Project, then you should book yourself on one of our Microsoft Project Training Courses.

It is time for another helpful Microsoft Project tip for our readers. This tip will show you how to create Drop down lists for any custom fields which you have created.

Please be aware, this tip is only for Microsoft Project 2007.

To start off with, go to the Tools menu and select Customize and then Fields. Select Any Field Type in the dialog box which appears before selecting an available field and renaming it.

Next, click the Lookup button and use this to add your list of Values.

The Lookup Table that is attached to the field will then generate the list of values for you.

Want more Microsoft Project Tips? Then visit our Project Tips page.

Or perhaps you want to learn more about Microsoft Project? Then visit our Project Training Courses page.

Here is a Microsoft Project tip for all your Project Managers out there who use Microsoft Project to handle their schedules. Are you tired of inputting the same tasks every week? Do these tasks take place at the same time each week?

If so, there is a solution to save you time. It is called Recurring Tasks which does exactly as the name suggests, set a task to be repeated at a set point in time which you input.

For example, if you hold a meeting every Monday at 10am, you can insert this as a recurring task to save inputting it every week. To set up a recurring task, follow these few simple steps:

1. Click Insert and select Recurring Task and wait for the dialogue box to show up.

2. Fill in each of the sections:

• Task Name
• Duration
• Recurrence Pattern
• Start Date

3. Click Ok.

And there you have it; you have set up a recurring task on your Project database.

Want more tips? Visit our Microsoft Project Tips page.

Interested in learning more about Microsoft Project? Then book yourself on one of our Microsoft Project Training Courses.

Everybody loves tips which are simple to follow as well as carry out so we have compiled 5 quick tips for you to use in Microsoft Project. These tips work in any version of Microsoft Project to date so everybody should be able to follow them.

1.       Easily insert new rows/columns in your Gantt chart.

This simple tip is so easy to do. All you have to do is click the tab at the top of the column or at the end of the row to select the entire row/column. Then press the `Insert’ button on your keyboard to insert a row/column to the left of the selected column.

2.       Quickly hide columns in tables.

To hide columns in your Gantt chart table, simply click on the right edge of the column header and then drag it to the left until it disappears. If you then wish to see this column again, then click a little to the right of the column separator bar and then click and drag to the right.

3.       Changing information for multiple tasks at once.

If a few of your results share common information and you need to change them, don’t do it one at a time.  Highlight all the tasks you want to change (if the tasks aren’t next to each other then hold down the CTRL button whilst you click them) and then input the common data into one of the fields in the Multiple Task Information box.

4.       View all tasks after applying a filter.

If you have applied a filter to your data and want to see all the tasks you have again without applying the All Tasks filter, then simply pres the F3 button on your keyboard.

5.       Browse through Drop down menus quickly.

To find what you are looking for quickly in a Drop down menu, just type in the first letter of the item you are looking for and you will quickly go to that item.

So you are using Project and you need the analysis toolbar, however it’s not showing up with the rest of the toolbars. There are a few reasons why this could be happening such as any problems which occurred during the installation of the Component Object Module add-ins. However, despite the number of problems which could be causing the toolbar to not show up, there is just one resolution to all of them.

Step 1:

To install the Analysis toolbar, you have to manually turn off the COM add-ins used by the toolbar, and then turn them back on.

To start, open Project and go to the ‘View’ tab at the top of the page, go to ‘Toolbars before selecting ‘Customize’.

Select the Commands tab and in the Categories box, click All Commands.

In the Commands box, select the ComAddInsDialog command and hold down the left mouse button to drag it to one of the toolbars currently displayed in the Project window.

A line will then appear on the toolbar, indicating where the button for the command will be placed. Release the mouse button to add the ComAddInsDialog command to the toolbar.

Click Close on the Customize dialog box.

Click COM Add-Ins on the toolbar where it was added.

Clear each of the check boxes for the Adjust Dates, Copy Picture to Office, and PERT Analysis add-ins, and then click OK.

Click COM Add-Ins again.

Select the check boxes for the Adjust Dates, Copy Picture to Office, and PERT Analysis add-ins, and then click OK.

On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Analysis to display the Analysis toolbar