We created ProjectManager.com to give teams maximum flexibility in planning and working on projects, no matter their preferred view. Some teams prefer to work exclusively on the Gantt, where others prefer a combination of other views, as each view provides unique benefits. The Calendar is great for long-term planning but the Board is a great place to move work along. In our December release, we introduced a brand new view, called Sheet, that lets you work in a spreadsheet view. The Sheet gives you better visibility and functionality than ever before.
In this release, we released additional features to make the Gantt more intuitive and easier to use. In addition, we released the ability to see Milestone and Summary task information on the Board, List, and Calendar views. Besides simply viewing the information, it’s easy to make changes without toggling to another view. Please keep reading to learn about all the exciting updates we made in December!
Our Newest Project View, the Sheet! Now Even More Ways to Work
The software is now more powerful and flexible than ever with the release of our newest view, the Sheet! Customers have long requested a view that resembles a spreadsheet but retains all of the functionality of the data grid columns.
Read our Knowledge Base article to find out more about the Sheet view!
Customers can work faster and more intuitively using the Sheet data grid columns. It’s super easy to view and input data on the Sheet because you can see more on the screen. You can also easily link tasks, assign resource hours and more on the Sheet so it’s just as powerful as the Gantt.
As with all of the Project views, any data that has been input on the sheet reflects on the Gantt view, and vice versa, in real-time, which allows customers to toggle between the Gantt and Sheet easily.
In addition to the Sheet view, we released several new features to help customers use the Sheet.
A Faster Way to Copy Project Data
It is now easier than ever to build out projects and keep them up to date! With the addition of the Sheet view, we added Drag to Copy functionality to make it easier to input and update data on the Sheet and the Gantt. Customers can now copy data across multiple cells on a column. This functionality is useful for bulk updating Assignees, Percent Complete, Priority and more.
New Custom Column Option: Dropdown!
We have introduced a new custom column option on the Gantt and Sheet, called Dropdown. The Dropdown custom column allows you to customize your projects by creating a list of items you can select in that column’s cell. You can even choose a single-select option or multi-select. This is useful for many types of projects from Engineering to IT to Marketing.
For example, an Engineering team may create a list with many different types of part numbers. Our dropdown functionality ensures that the part numbers are available in just a click and that they are input correctly on each cell, as you only have to enter the information once.
Intuitive Sheet View Print
Customers can easily print the Sheet without the Gantt bars. The Sheet Print functionality allows you to customize your output, including timeframe, columns and more. You can even choose how you want it to fit on the page, including width, which is ideal for lengthy projects
We Want Your Feedback on the Sheet!
If you’re a current customer, we would love to hear how you are using the Sheet and any features you would like to see in the future. We built the Sheet view to help customers work faster on a grid view so customer feedback is important to us.
Board, List and Calendar Update: You Can Now See Summary Tasks
Summary Tasks are an important part of project planning and reporting, particularly for time-driven projects. It’s important for customers on the Board, List, and Calendar to see Summary Tasks due to potential impact with other tasks in the plan. You can now clearly see Summary Tasks on other project views.
This extension of the Gantt functionality allows the tool to be more flexible and customizable. You can see each of the subtasks and the Summary Task’s total progress, which is a rollup of the tasks beneath it.
You can see if a subtask is also a Milestone task or a Summary Task and important information such as assignee. If you wish to make changes to any of the subtasks, you can do so without navigating away.
Milestones Are Now Labeled on the Board, List and Calendar
Milestones are tasks with a one-day duration that indicate a due date. Most projects include several Milestones throughout the project that can be easily tracked. Our Reports and Dashboards allow you to track Milestone tasks to prevent slippage. Customers can now see Milestone tasks on the Board, List and Calendar to be tracked from project creation to completion.
Customize Your View by Filtering Special Tasks
Our December release focused on bringing Gantt specific information to the other Project views so teams could more freely work in their preferred view. Along with the ability to see Milestone and Summary tasks on the Board, we released the ability to filter by special tasks.
This update allows you to see all types of tasks or isolate certain tasks depending on the project or your specific role. For example, a user may filter by Summary Tasks only to see a high-level view of the project.
Improved Gantt Navigation and Customization
Customers rely on the Gantt view so they can execute their time-driven waterfall projects. We have made numerous improvements on the Gantt view including expanding our keyboard shortcuts, the introduction of blank rows and more.
Expanded Keyboard Shortcuts
One of our goals with the December release was to release features that helped customers use the software more intuitively. We are excited to announce that we have expanded our Gantt keyboard shortcuts so you can access important functions quickly. You can now work faster on the Gantt by using a keyboard shortcut, right-clicking or using the Gantt ribbon.
Introducing Blank Rows on the Gantt and Sheet
We introduced the ability to leave blank rows in a project plan, without affecting the WBS. This important change allows customers to leave space in their project plan as they plan. In addition, customers can seamlessly import and export a project with blank rows to a MPP or XML file as well as Print.
Gantt Right Click Menu Changes
Customers can access lots of useful Gantt functionality on the right-click menu. We have redesigned the right-click menu so it’s easier to navigate. We have also added the ability to insert a row above, a row below and Share Task.
Introducing Our New Contextual Knowledge Base!
Our brand new contextual Knowledge Base is now live! If you are working in the software, click the question mark on the upper right hand corner and then click Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Base will open up in a new tab so you can view the article as you work in the software. The article will intuitively suggest other Help articles so you can learn more. You can also search for articles on the Knowledge Base homepage.
If you are a current customer, you will see these new features the next time you log in. If you are not a current customer and would like to see how ProjectManager.com can help, go here to start your 30-day-free trial.
