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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

Sometimes you may want to mark major event in a project, for example indicate the beginning and end of the project or display the end of a major phase. You can use milestones to do that. To create a milestone follow the steps:

1. In Gantt Chart View, in the Task Name column, type the name of a milestone
2. In the Duration column type 0 and press ENTER

In the Gantt Chart the task will be displayed as a black diamond symbol ¿.

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Project Tips and Tricks

So, you almost finished adding your tasks to your project plan and you are willing to display a project summary task. Here is a tip on how to do that.

1. From the Menu commands, select Tools and then Options
2. Click on the View tab and in the Oultine options for ‘Project x’ select Show project summary task check box to show the project summary task

The project summary task will appear before the task list in the Task Name column. If you want to change the name of the project summary task, select it and type the desired text.

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Project Tips & Tricks

You’ve done a great job by creating a project plan in MS Project. You’ve sent the file to your client or colleagues via email and ops – they do not have a Microsoft Office Project installed on their computer and therefore cannot read the attached file. What should you do?

It would be so much easier if Microsoft Project 2007 had an option of saving a file in a PDF format as in the case with Word or Excel. But unfortunately it does not. So what are the alternatives on how to save and view the project files in a graphical manner?

You can save MS Project 2007 files as images. It will take a snapshot of a project plan in the form of a non-editable picture.

1. Open the Project file you want to take a picture of
2. From the Standard toolbar, click the Copy Picture button, or from the Report select Copy Picture
3. In Render Image decide on either For Screen (for the image to be used on screen), For Printer (for the image to be used on printed materials), or For GIF Image File (if you will be using a file on a web page)
4. In Copy choose either the selected rows or all the rows on screen to be included in the picture
5. In Timescale indicate the time frame within which you want the project to be copied.
6. Click on OK
7. Start the application where you want to insert the picture. Just some applications to use are Paint, Word, Visio, PowerPoint, an email, or even Excel
8. Insert the picture in the desired location

Now enjoy the sharing of the project schedule.

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Project Tips & Tricks

Suppose you have a big project plan with lots of tasks. You would only like to display incomplete tasks in a Gantt view. What should you do?

‘Filter’ is the answer to this question. Filter specifies which task or resource information should be displayed or highlighted in a view.

Select one of the following:

• Select Incomplete Tasks from the drop down menu in Filter on the Formatting Toolbar  

• Or, from the Menu, select Project\Filtered For: All Tasks\Incomplete Tasks

Only Incomplete Tasks will be displayed. If Incomplete Tasks are still displayed then follow these steps:

1. Navigate to View\More Views.
2. From the dialog box, select Gantt Chart and click Edit.
3. Uncheck the Highlight filter and click OK.

This will ensure that only Incomplete Tasks are displayed.

Unlike Microsoft Excel, Project doesn’t have an unhide feature. When you hide a column in Microsoft Office Project, the column is only removed from view, not deleted from your plan. Also, hiding a column doesn’t remove any information from your plan.

To bring the column back again, you need to insert the column like you would with any new column. Any custom formatting that you applied to a previously hidden column will need to be re-applied to the inserted column.

1. In a sheet view, select the column to the right of where you want to show the column.
2. On the Insert menu, click Column.
3. Select the Field name you would like to display.

If you want to hide the name of a built-in table from the Table submenu in Microsoft Project without actually removing it from the project file, follow these steps:

1. On the View menu, click Table.
2. Under Table, in Table submenu, select More Tables and select the table you want to hide.
3. Click Edit and clear the Show in Menu option.

While tracking the project progress you can quickly update your project’s tasks by indicating the percentage of a task that is complete. It helps you to track actual progress.

By specifying a percentage of completion between 0 (for a task that has not started) and 100 (for a task that is finished), you can compare planned progress to actual progress.

You can quickly update the percent complete of specific tasks to 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% using a Tracking toolbar

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. Display the Tracking toolbar   by pointing to Toolbars from the View menu, and then clicking Tracking.
3. Hold CTRL and click each of the tasks in the list that you want to update. You can select up to 10 tasks at once. Or, if the tasks that you want to update are listed consecutively, you can click the first task, hold SHIFT, and then click the last task to select the all of them.
4. Click corresponding percent complete button, such as 100% Complete   on the Tracking toolbar.