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?
•Who’s going to do the work?
Keyboard Shortcuts for most Microsoft Applications
Works in Project?
Ctrl+N Open New file Y
Ctrl+O Open existing file Y
Ctrl+S Save file Y
Ctrl+W Close current window Y
Ctrl+P Print Y
Ctrl+Z Undo Y
Ctrl+Y Redo Y
Ctrl+A Select All N (use upper left box)
Ctrl+X Cut Y
Ctrl+C Copy Y
Ctrl+V Paste Y
Esc Get out of trouble/Go back Y
Ctrl+(arrow key) Jump to first/last (until break in Y
Excel or Word)
Print Screen Save whole screen to clipboard Y
Alt+Print Screen Save active window to clipboard Y
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
• For this class we want to use auto-scheduling
almost all the time. Change that at the bottom
of the main view.
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, use arrow next to it to show
or hide subtasks
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 don’t 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
Who’s 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
– Don’t 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