Microsoft Project Tips Weekly

Get the most out of Microsoft Project, with time-saving tricks, powerful shortcuts, and reviews of cool hidden features.

Introduction

• Welcome

Previous Microsoft Project Tips

• Fill in duration, work, and dates quickly
• Create a hammock task
• Rename column headings
• Display a calendar's nonworking time
• Prevent duplicate resource names
• Eliminate hashtags in table columns
• Count tasks that meet a criterion
• Sort resources by type and name
• Fast access to your Project files
• Save a new view
• Compare individual and group allocation
• Populate a lookup table with existing values
• Summarize resource utilization
• Hide non-working days on task bars
• Find hidden task bars
• Set additional baselines
• Store customized elements where you want
• Calculate work hours in a formula
• Record costs from an external system
• Change the date format in a specific view
• Find a command
• Edit multiple tasks simultaneously
• Track ancillary project costs
• When leveling doesn’t eliminate overallocations
• Update parts of a baseline
• Open and save file shortcuts
• Create a cross-project dependency
• Use hyperlinks in reports to navigate to details
• Reuse lookup tables and formulas
• Customize and share the Quick Access Toolbar
• Calculate separate critical paths for several projects
• Shortcuts for reapplying and clearing filters
• Compare Microsoft Project editions
• Shortcuts for viewing primary and detail panes
• Flag key tasks with custom bar styles
• Designate who reports status
• Keep important fields visible in a table
• Control how a view prints
• Identify projects in a master file
• Schedule for maintenance or system switchover
• Manage negative slack in a schedule
• Build an excel report that updates dynamically from project
• Add a custom sort to the ribbon to reapply it quickly
• Evaluate management timeframes
• View progress as a percentage
• Schedule approval during next meeting
• Create a work shift that spans two days
• Display tasks that should have status
• Model scenarios with inactive tasks
• Summarize tasks in resource usage view
• Display labor cost by project section
• Copy values from one baseline to another
• Switch date constraints
• Data entry shortcuts
• Display the Task Details form in the Details pane
• Add overall project notes to project summary task
• Choose AutoSave options wisely
• Create a WBS graph with a visual report
• Find all tasks with estimated durations
• Attach an image to a timescale task bar
• Custom view, part 1: Set up a custom view
• Custom view, part 2: Set up dashboard icons
• Custom view, part 3: Group tasks by variance
• Custom view, part 4: Filter troubled incomplete tasks
• Find summary tasks with dependencies
• Dependencies, part 1: Setup to review link types
• Dependencies, part 2: Evaluate link types
• Find tasks with date constraints
• Find dependencies with lag or lead
• Find tasks with excessive float
• Find incomplete tasks with negative float
• Find tasks with invalid dates
• Find incomplete tasks without resources
• Graphical report, part 1: Create a table
• Graphical report, part 2: Build a graph
• Graphical report, part 3: Fine-tune graph axes
• Find in-progress assignments
• Find when a resource is available
• Report work by resource and project
• Beware the Autolink option
• Schedule part of a project from the finish date
• Make exporting data easy
• Simplify importing with a map
• Merge data into existing rows
• Turn off screen tips before presentations
• Use indicators and option buttons
• Set currency options
• Prevent Project from calculating actual cost
• Update OLE links
• Assign resources with different schedules
• Ignore resource schedules on a task
• Use the Timeline view to control dates in a Gantt Chart view
• Remove tasks from a summary task without deleting them
• Set the fiscal year for a project
• Update assignment status from task status
• Restore window scroll bars if they go missing
• Make linked cells visible in a view's table
• Remove personal information from a Project file
• Select predecessors easily in a dropdown list
• Set up a calendar day with partial nonworking time
• Share customized elements
• Document your customizations
• Working days, part 1: Calculate the days between two dates
• Working days, part 2: Add error test for missing dates
• Add multiple hyperlinks to a task or resource
• Add a hyperlink to a file in a custom field
• Tips for importing names from Excel
• Format numbers, part 1: Formatting in a text field
• Format numbers, part 2: Fine-tune number formats
• Ancillary costs, part 1: Track with Fixed Cost fields
• Ancillary costs, part 2: Track with cost resources
• Change requests, part 1: Flag change requests
• Change requests, part 2: Document change requests
• Key tasks, part 1: Add flags to key tasks
• Staffing plan, part 1: Assign generic resources
• Staffing plan, part 2: Display plan in a spreadsheet
• Master project links, part 1: When subprojects go missing
• Master project links, part 2: Move a resource pool
• Format duration, part 1: Display whole hours
• Format duration, part 2: Add minutes to display
• Contingency funds, part 1: Set up custom fields
• Contingency funds, part 2: Calculate used funds
• Project profit, part 1: Set up custom fields
• Project profit, part 2: Calculate profit percentage
• Open and save file shortcuts
• Progress comparisons, part 2: Update and compare
• View upcoming work, part 1: Create two-week filter
• View upcoming work, part 2: Display upcoming work
• Tasks with no dependencies, part 1: Create filter
• Tasks with no dependencies, part 2: Evaluate unlinked tasks
• Tasks with no dependencies, part 3: Count work tasks
• Tasks with no dependencies, part 4: Calculate percent
• Find summary tasks with dependencies
• Finish-to-start links, part 1: Setup
• Finish-to-start links, part 2: Calculate FS percentage
• Calculate percentage of tasks with date constraints
• Find tasks with lead time
• Calculate the percentage of tasks with lag or lead
• Count tasks with excessive float
• Calculate the percentage of tasks with excessive float
• Count tasks with negative float
• Adjust a schedule to remove negative float
• Find and correct tasks with invalid dates
• Avoid invalid dates
• Find incomplete tasks without resources
• Create a schedule quality dashboard
• Create schedule assessment report
• Add best practice values to table
• Add instructions and menu entries
• Conclusion