MS Project – Page 3 – STL

The Timeline feature was first introduced to MS Project users in 2010. It helps to display a visual summary of a project. This post will detail the many functions of the Timeline feature and which benefits it can offer in addition to the normal Gantt view.

In its simplest form, the Timeline can be used to show the start and finish times of your project, allowing you to summarise tasks in line with the current date. You can also use the Timeline to pan through your project as a navigation pane.

Tasks can easily be added / removed from the Timeline or displayed as a callout above the navigation bar. If it’s taking up too much room on the screen, the Timeline can be removed, displayed simply as bars without any detail text or as a single bar.

Getting Started: Displaying the Timeline

If it’s not already displayed: Select the View tab > Tick Timeline

Adding tasks to the Timeline

Making changes to the format of the Timeline is easy, simply click anywhere inside the Timeline to see the contextual Timeline Tools > Format ribbon.

To add tasks to the Timeline, click inside the Timeline then select Existing tasks.

Alternatively, right click a task in your project and choose Add to Timeline.

Adding each individual task can cause the Timeline to become cluttered. With this in mind, It makes sense not to add too many tasks. If you wish to add only the top level tasks select:

View > Outline > Level 1 > Highlight all the level 1 tasks > Right click and choose Add to Timeline.

Pan & Zoom

When the option Pan & Zoom is selected you can use the Timeline as a navigator for your project.

To pan to a different part of the timescale, drag the top edge of the square frame displayed in the Timeline to the left or right.

To zoom to a larger or smaller frame, click and drag the sides of the frame.

Overlapping Tasks

Turning off the option Overlapping tasks displays all the tasks in one single line.

Detailed Timeline

Turning off Detailed Timeline displays the Timeline as a series of bars without showing any task text.

Display as Callout

Rather than being displayed as bars, tasks can be displayed as Callouts above the Timescale. This can be used to highlight a group of tasks. In this example the General Conditions phase is passed and displayed as a Callout.

Date Format

The Date Format option within Timeline Tools allows the format of the Timescale dates to be changed (for example whether to include the year). The Default option returns the Timescale to standard format. The Show/Hide section at the bottom allows the Timescale, task dates and the current date to be hidden from view too.

Copy Timeline

Updating clients and colleagues with the progress of a project is an imperative aspect of the communication process. This option allows a Timeline to be copied into an email message or into a PowerPoint presentation slide for quick and easy sharing.

Switching Views

One of the benefits of The Timeline is that it remains on view when switching to other Project views such as Resource Sheet or Resource Usage views. This can help with managing and updating a project by reducing the need to keep switching views. If it is not useful in a particular view then simply turn it off from the View tab.

In summary, the Timeline is a useful way of viewing and staying in control of top level tasks and communicating information to others. It also has the potential to help navigate and manage large projects.

Find out more great advice for best practice with MS Project, browse Best STL course on Microsoft Project training, London and UK wide.

Back to the Future image courtesy of Giant Bomb

A question that often arises with a newly launched version of an application is; Will the new file format be compatible with an older version? If you are a Microsoft Project user then this question is asked more often than with other Microsoft applications. If you have been sent a Project MPP file created in a later version of Microsoft Project and you are trying to open this file in an older version you may receive an error message informing you that this is not possible. Check below to determine if a converter for opening newer files is available to you.

Which Project version are you using?	Which file version are you trying to open?	Notes
Project 2007	Project 2010 or 2013	No converter is available. If you received a Project 2013 file that you want to open using Project 2010 or Project 2007, ask the person who sent the file to first save it in the earlier Project file format. Alternately, you can install the free trial version of Project 2013, and then view the file, or save it to the earlier Project file format.
Note Once the trial version of Project 2013 has expired, it can continue to open and view project files, but it won’t be able to save them.

Project 2003	Project 2007	There are two possibilities here. If you are using Project 2003 with SP3, project files from Project 2007 can be opened read-only. If you are using Project 2003 without SP3, there is no converter available. Upgrade to Project 2003 with SP3, or ask the person who sent the Project 2007 or later file to save the file first in the Project 2000-2003 file format.

Project 2003	Project 2010 or 2013	No converter is available. Ask the person who sent the Project 2010 or 2013 file to save the file first in the Project 2000-2003 file format.

Project 2000 or Project 2002	Project 2007, 2010 or 2013	No converter is available. Ask the person who sent the Project 2007 or later file to save the file first in the Project 2000-2003 file format.

Find out more great advice like this with a Best STL courses on Microsoft Project training, London and UK wide.

Tag: MS Project

Using the Timeline feature in MS Project