MS Project Tutorial 1
Goal: Introduce you to the basic idea of MS Project
The basic idea is to answer the following questions and
record the answers as a MS Project file:
What tasks must be done to meet the objectives?
What tangible results (deliverables) must be
produced and when?
How does each task depend on the other tasks?
How long does each task take?
Whos going to do the work?
Keyboard Shortcuts for most Microsoft
Applications
Ctrl+N
Ctrl+O
Ctrl+S
Ctrl+W
Ctrl+P
Open New file
Open existing file
Save file
Close current window
Print
Works in Project?
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Ctrl+Z
Ctrl+Y
Ctrl+A
Undo
Redo
Select All
Y
Y
N (use upper left box)
Ctrl+X
Ctrl+C
Ctrl+V
Cut
Copy
Paste
Y
Y
Y
Esc
Get out of trouble/Go back Y
Ctrl+(arrow key)
Jump to first/last (until
break in Excel or Word)
Print Screen
Save whole screen to
clipboard
Save active window to
clipboard
Alt+Print Screen
Other Common Shortcuts (Project and
Excel)
Click
Select
Ctrl+Click
Select/unselect without
removing previous
selections
Shift+Click
Select everything from
previous selection to here
Right+Click
Show options/other info
Ctrl+Shift+UP
Select this one and
everything above (until
break)
Ctrl+Shift+(arrow)
Same as previous but in
corresponding direction
Some useful shortcuts for MS
Project
Insert
Insert a new task (above
selected one)
Alt+Shift+right arrow
Indent selected tasks
Alt+Shift+left arrow
Outdent selected tasks
Alt+Shift+*
Show all tasks
Alt+left arrow
Scroll timescale left
Alt+right arrow
Scroll timescale right
Click+Drag
Moves a selection
Another way is to hit Alt and
see KeyTips
Getting Started
Project should give you the option to
open a new blank project when you
open it
Or select: File tab -> New -> Blank
Project
Choose: Project -> Project
Information -> Start Date, and adjust
appropriately
What tasks must be done to meet the
objectives?
Click the cell in the first row and Task Name
column, and begin typing descriptions of
tasks
After several have been entered you can
group them with a summary task
Drag over tasks (row numbers) of a group
and under the Tasks tab, select Insert->
Summary
Name summary task, click drop-down
triangle arrow to show or hide
What tangible results (deliverables) must be
produced and when?
Just like inserting a Summary task, you can
insert a Milestone from the same location (Tasks
-> Insert -> Milestone)
Milestones take zero time (by definition) and
are appropriate for marking the completion of a
deliverable or phase
A milestone can be a subtask of a summary (if
you want it to be hide-able) or at the same
indent level as the summary task (if you want it
to show)
Add as many milestones as you want they
dont cost any time and are just markers.
How does each task depend on the other
tasks?
Select a group of consecutively listed tasks,
then hit the Link (chain icon) under Tasks
Project now links these tasks so that each one
cannot start until after the previous one finishes
Or, select one task, Ctrl-Click one that must
start after it finishes, then hit the Link
button
Or, drag from the first to the second in the
Gantt Chart view
Or, manually type numbers into the
predecessors column, separated by commas
How long does each task take?
In the Gantt View, type in durations for each task
Can leave question mark for an unsure duration
Use abbreviations (m) minutes, (h) hours , (d) days,
(w) weeks or (mo) months, or days is default
Can change defaults under File -> Options
Task mode is Manually scheduled by default.
Can turn on Auto-scheduled.
Right-click a column, insert column -> task mode
In auto-scheduled mode, summary task durations
will fill-in automatically
Or can be adjusted to show slack, switching it to
manual
Whos going to do the work?
Select Resource -> View -> Resource Sheet
or, View -> Resource views -> Resource Sheet
or, learn the shortcut button, bottom right
List the names of workers
Return to Gantt Chart view (under Tasks or View tab)
or, shortcut, or right click far left and check View bar
For each task row, click on the cell in Resource
Names column
Select a worker from the checklist to assign it to
the task
Next steps
Take time to play with MS Project and make
yourself comfortable with its functions
It is a complicated program
Dont get frustrated
hit Ctrl+Z (undo, repeatedly if necessary) if
something unexpected happens, or close
without saving and return to a saved version
Check out templates available online:
E.g. Go to File -> New -> Select a Template ->
Create
Browse, and get ideas about the wide range of
applications