Microsoft Project 2013

Lesson 17
Customizing Microsoft Project

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 1
Objectives

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Software Orientation
• In Microsoft Project, the Organizer is the feature that enables you to
share elements between Microsoft Project files.
• The Organizer dialog box enables you to copy views, tables, filters,
and other items between the [Link] template and other
Microsoft Project files or between two different Microsoft Project
files.

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Software Orientation

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Defining General Preferences
• You are able to make choices that will customize Microsoft Project.
• These choices enable you to specify personal preferences regarding
how Microsoft Project will operate.

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Step by Step: Specify the Default Path for Use in
the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes
• GET READY. Before you begin these steps, launch Microsoft
Project.
1. OPEN the Don Funk Music Video 17M project schedule from the
data files for this lesson.
2. SAVE the file as Don Funk Music Video 17 in the solutions folder
for this lesson as directed by your instructor.
3. On the ribbon, click the File tab, and then click Options. The
Options dialog box appears.

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Step by Step: Specify the Default Path for Use in
the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes
4. In the Project Options dialog box, click Save. Your screen should
look similar to the figure below.

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Step by Step: Specify the Default Path for Use in
the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes
5. In the Save Projects section, ensure [Link] is selected in the
Save Files in this format box.
6. To the right of the Default File Locations box, click the Browse
button. The Modify Location dialog box appears.
7. Select your desired folder location as directed by your instructor,
and then click OK. If you are not changing your file location, click
Cancel.
8. CLOSE the Options dialog box.
9. To verify that the new location you have selected is now the default
folder location, you can view the Open dialog box.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 8
Step by Step: Specify the Default Path for Use in
the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes
10. [Press Ctrl+F12]. The Open dialog box appears, using the path
specified.
11. Click Cancel to close the Open dialog box.
12. SAVE the project schedule.
• PAUSE. LEAVE Project open to use in the next exercise.
• Like many other Microsoft Office applications, you have the
capability within Microsoft Project to make choices about how you
work with this application.
• By selecting these preferences, the person working with Microsoft
Project (such as the project manager or the organization) can
personalize the software to fit their needs.

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Working with Templates
• A template provides the basic structure of a new project schedule.
• It may include information such as resources, tasks, assignments,
views, tables, and more.

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Step by Step: Create a New Template Based on a
Current Project Schedule
• USE the project schedule you created in the previous exercise.
1. On the ribbon, click the File tab, and then click Save As.
2. Locate the file where the Lesson 17 solutions folder is located or
any other location as directed by your instructor. The Save As
dialog box appears.
3. In the File name box, key Music Video Template.
4. In the Save as type box, select Project [Link].

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 11
Step by Step: Create a New Template Based on a
Current Project Schedule
5. Click the Save button. The Save As Template dialog box appears.
The Don Funk Music Video 17 file contains both baseline and
actual values, and you do not want to include these with the
template.
6. Select the Values of all
baselines, Actual Values,
and Fixed Costs check
boxes. You are indicating
that these items should
be removed from your
template. Your screen
should look like the figure above.

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Step by Step: Create a New Template Based on a
Current Project Schedule
7. Click the Save button. Microsoft Project creates a new template
based on the Don Funk Music Video 17 file.
• Based on the options you selected in the Save As Template dialog
box, Microsoft Project removes the data you chose not to include
with the template. However, the task list, relationships, resources,
and assignments are conserved as entered in the original Don Funk
Music Video 17 file. If Southridge Video has a similar project in the
future, you could start with this template and modify it to fit the new
project.

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Step by Step: Create a New Template Based on a
Current Project Schedule
8. Make sure that the Music Video Template file is in the active
window. On the ribbon, click File, and then click Close. If
prompted to save changes to the Music Video Template, click Yes.
Microsoft Project returns to the Backstage area.
9. On the navigation bar, click Open. In the Recent Project section,
click Don Funk Music Video 17. Microsoft Project reopens the
Don Funk Music Video 17 file, just as you left it.
10. SAVE the project schedule.
• PAUSE. LEAVE Project open to use in the next exercise.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 14
Step by Step: Create a New Template Based on a
Current Project Schedule
• In this exercise, you saved your current project schedule as a template.
• A template is a Microsoft Project file format that greatly reduces the
amount of set up time associated with new projects.
• It lets you begin a new project with most of the basic information, such as
Project Phases, WBS, tasks, task links, resources, assignments custom
views, tables, filters, etc.
• You use the template as the basis for the new project schedule.
• When saving a template from a current file, you usually exclude baseline
and actual values, as these would not be useful as part of a template.
• You can also exclude things such as resource cost rates and fixed costs, if
there is a need to protect this information as confidential.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 15
Working with the Organizer
• The Organizer is a feature in Microsoft Project that enables you to
reset custom elements or to copy elements (such as views, reports,
tables, etc.) from one project schedule to another.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 16
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• USE the Don Funk Music Video 17 project schedule you opened in
the previous exercise.
1. OPEN the Adventure Works Promo 17M project schedule.
2. SAVE the file as Adventure Works Promo 17.
3. On the ribbon, click the View tab. In the Window group, click the
Switch Windows button, and then click Don Funk Music Video
17. The Don Funk Music Video 17 project schedule is brought into
the active window.
4. Click the Project tab, then select Project Information.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 17
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
5. In the Calendar box,
click the down-arrow to
activate the sub-menu.
Your screen should look
similar to the figure at
right. Notice that this file
has the “Overnight Beach
Filming” custom calendar
you created in an earlier
lesson. You’d like to copy
this custom calendar to
the Adventure Works
Promo 17 project schedule using the Organizer.

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Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
6. Close the Project Information dialog box by selecting Cancel.
7. On the ribbon, click the File tab, and then click Organizer. The
Organizer dialog box appears. Your screen should look similar to the
figure below.

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Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
8. Click several of the tabs in the dialog box to get an overview of the
available options.
• Notice that each tab of the Organizer dialog box is structured in the
same way: elements such as views and tables appear on the left and
right sides of the dialog box.
• The element on the left are from one file, and the elements on the
right are from another file. By default, the elements from the
[Link] file appear on the left side of the dialog box, and the
corresponding elements from the active project file appear on the
right.

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Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• Selecting an element on the left side of the dialog box and then
clicking the Copy button will copy that element to the file listed on
the right, and vice versa.
9. Click the Calendars tab.
10. In the Calendars available in list on the left side of the dialog box,
select Adventure Works Promo 17. The names of the views in the
Adventure Works Promo 17 file appear on the left. Note that the
Adventure Works Promo 17 file does not contain the Music Video
Schedule View.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 21
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
11. In the list of calendars to the right of the dialog box, click
Overnight Beach Filming. Your screen should look similar to the
figure below.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 22
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
12. Click the Copy button. Microsoft Project copies the Music Video
Schedule View from the Don Funk Music Video 17 project schedule to
the Adventure Works Promo 17 project schedule. Your screen should look
similar to the figure below.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 23
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
13. Select the Overnight Beach Filming Calendar for Adventure
Works Promo 17 (to the left of the dialog box.)
• Because this filming will not actually occur on a beach in this
project, you want to change the name to simply “Overnight
Filming.” This will communicate clearly to anyone else that this
calendar is for overnight filming, regardless of location.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 24
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
14. Click the Rename button. In the Rename dialog box that appears,
remove the word “Beach” from the Calendar name. Your screen
should look similar to the figure below.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 25
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
15. Click OK to close
the Rename
dialog box. Your
screen should
look similar to the
figure at right.
16. Click the Close
button to close
the Organizer.
17. SAVE and CLOSE
both project
schedules.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 26
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• PAUSE. LEAVE Project open to use in the next exercise.
• In this exercise, you used the Organizer to share a calendar between
two Microsoft Project files and you modified the name of the
calendar to communicate its clear purpose.
• The Organizer is a feature you use to organize elements between
Microsoft Project files so that they can be shared, edited, and reset.
• The names of the tabs in the Organizer dialog box indicate the
elements you can copy between project schedules.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 27
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• One feature of Microsoft Project that you can work with via the
organizer is the global template, a Microsoft Project template named
[Link]. The global template provides the default views, tables,
and other elements in Microsoft Project, including:

Calendars
Filters Ribbons
Forms Reports
Groups Tables
Import/export maps Modules (macros)
Views

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 28
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• At first, the specific definitions of all views, tables, and other
elements are contained in the global template.
• The first time you display a view, table, or similar element in a
Microsoft Project file, it is copied from the global template to that
file.
• From then on, the element resides in the Microsoft Project file.
• If you customize that element in the Microsoft Project file (for
example, you change the columns displayed in a table), the changes
apply only to the Microsoft Project file, not to the global template.
• By default, when you create a custom element, it is copied to the
[Link] file.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 29
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• However, you have the option not to save all custom items in the
[Link] file (File tab, options, Advanced, Display).
• While saving a copy of custom items may sound like a good idea,
using this feature can make searching for custom items difficult in
your [Link] file.
• One way to quickly discern between a default element and a custom
element from a list of items is to use all caps when creating the
custom item name.
• For example, the custom calendar we shared in this exercise would
have been created with the name OVERNIGHT BEACH FILMING.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 30
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• It is possible to use Microsoft Project extensively and never need to
use the global template. If you do need to work with the global
template, however, there are two primary actions you can
accomplish with it:
• Create a customized element, such as a custom table, and make it
available in all project schedules with which you work by copying
the custom view into the global template.
• Replace a customized element, such as a custom table in a project
schedule, by copying the original, unmodified element from the
global template to the project schedule in which you’ve customized
the same element.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 31
Step by Step: Copy a Custom Item From One Project
Schedule to Another Using the Organizer
• When using the Organizer, if you attempt to copy a view, table, or
other element from a project schedule to the global template,
Microsoft Project alerts you if you will overwrite that same element
in the global template.
• If you choose to overwrite it, that customized element (such as the
Overnight Beach Filming calendar in this exercise) will be available
in all new project schedules and any other project schedules that do
not already contain that element.
• If instead you choose to rename the customized element, it becomes
available in all project schedules, but does not affect the existing
elements already stored in the global template. You cannot share or
copy any Visual Report templates with the Organizer.

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Skill Summary

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