Changes in Project 2010 (for IT pros)

Fluent UI

The Project 2010 user interface is redesigned and now uses the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface (UI). Introduced in the 2007 Microsoft Office system, the Fluent UI makes it easier for people to find and use the full range of features that Office applications provide, and to preserve an uncluttered workspace. For more information about the Fluent UI, see the resources in Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface Resource Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=111045).

Backstage view

The Microsoft Office Backstage view is part of the Fluent UI and a companion feature to the ribbon. The Backstage view, which can be accessed from the File tab, helps you find frequently used features for managing your Microsoft Project files. (The File tab replaces the Microsoft Office Button and File menu that were used in earlier releases of Microsoft Office.) The Backstage view is used to manage Microsoft Project Server connections, and to check out and publish projects.

Team Planner

Project Professional 2010 contains the Team Planner, a resource scheduling view that lets users see at a glance what their team members are working on and move tasks from one person to another. Users can also view and assign unassigned work, view over-allocations, and see task names and resource names.

Synchronization with SharePoint lists

In Project Professional 2010, users can export project files to a list in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010. This provides a quick and easy way for a project manager to share status or create reports that can be viewed across the organization. Microsoft Project Web Access is not required to synchronize with a SharePoint list.

For more information, see the following:

• Project 2010: Introducing Sync to SharePoint (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=212030)

• Microsoft Project 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=212031)

• Use Project with SharePoint (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=212033)

• SharePoint Foundation 2010 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=126317)

Manual scheduling

Project 2010 changes how projects are scheduled. Factors such as task dependencies and the project calendar no longer automatically adjust task dates when a task is manually scheduled. This feature can be especially useful for early planning when the duration of a task might not yet be known. Users can place a manually scheduled task anywhere in their schedules, and Project 2010 will not move it. Project managers who are accustomed to automatic scheduling with past versions of Project can turn off the new manual scheduling feature, either for specific tasks or for the whole project. Some projects may require the powerful scheduling engine of Project to handle scheduling.

Placeholder tasks

Placeholder tasks let users create a plan by using task names only. Users can enter any combination of start date, finish date, and duration and fill in the rest later.

Inactive tasks

Users can make tasks inactive and still keep them in their projects. The main value of this feature is that custom field information, resource assignments, and all other data stays in the task. (Note that these factors do not contribute to roll-ups.)Inactive tasks often have important information (such as cost information) that can be valuable for archival purposes and what-if planning.

Top-down summary

Creating subtasks and then rolling them up into summary tasks is no longer restricted. In Project 2010, users can create summary tasks first, and the summary tasks can have dates that do not exactly match the roll-up dates of the subtasks. At the beginning of the planning phase, users might only have some high-level information about key deliverables and major milestones of their projects. In Project 2010, users can divide projects into high-level phases based on the overall timeline and budget. This means that it is not necessary for dates of individual work items to line up exactly with dates of the high-level phases.

Compare projects

The compare projects feature in Project 2010 now includes Gantt bars to help users see more clearly how one version of a project differs from another version.

Timeline

Project 2010 now includes a timeline view. For new files, the timeline view is automatically displayed above most other views. This shows a concise overview of the whole schedule. Otherwise, users can turn on the timeline view manually. Users can add tasks to the timeline, print it, or paste it into an e-mail message for an easy-to-view project summary.

Enhanced copy and paste

This feature lets users copy and paste content between Microsoft Office programs and Project 2010, and keep formatting, outline levels, and column headers.

Excel-like features

Features similar to those in Microsoft Excel are available in Project 2010. These include the following:

• Simplified adding of new columns. When in sheet view, a user can click the Add New Column heading, and then type or select the name of a new or existing column. An existing column can also be quickly renamed by clicking its title and typing a different column name.

• Enhanced filter UI makes it easier for users to find tasks and resources.

• 32-bit color support and text wrapping enable users to create views that resemble Excel reports.

Find frequently used commands quickly

The most frequently used commands can now be found easily. By right-clicking any item in a view, such as bar, table cell, or chart, a mini-toolbar with a quick list of frequently used commands is displayed.

The view slider

In Project 2010, users can quickly zoom in and out of the time phased section of a view by using a slider in the status bar. Move the view slider to the right to zoom in a schedule and move the slider to the left to zoom out. The view slider works in the Gantt chart, network diagram, calendar, and all graph views.

Backwards compatibility

Project 2010 is compatible with previous versions of Microsoft Project.

Users can create files in Microsoft Project 2007 or earlier and then open and edit them in Project 2010, although certain features of Project 2010 are not enabled. If you save the earlier version files in the Project 2010 format, all Project 2010 is available.

In addition, you can create files in Project 2010 and then convert them to the Project 2007,Project 2003 , Project 2000 file formats.

Dialog boxes

The following dialog boxes contain features that are changed:

• Spelling options

• Customize

• Service options

• Options

VBA object model

The Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) object model in Project Standard 2010 and Project Professional 2010 includes new classes, methods, properties, and enumerations that support the new features in Project 2010. For more information, see Tables of VBA Object Model Changes (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=216929) and Working with VBA in Office 2010 (32-bit) and Office 2010 (64-bit) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=216930).

Custom forms

The ability to create and use custom forms through the user interface (Tools | Customize | Forms) is removed in Project 2010. If users previously created custom forms in their application, the forms can no longer be accessed.

This is an outdated and rarely used feature. The amount of effort required to maintain the feature (for example, updating the controls to be compatible with Project 2010) is not feasible. Use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to create custom forms that replace the previously created forms. Customers usually use VBA, Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO), or other methods to perform the same task.

OWC resource availability graphs

Because OWC is removed in Microsoft Office 2010, resource availability graphs have changed in Project 2010, and users can no longer see proposed availability on the selected task without temporarily assigning a resource to the task. In addition, users lose the split when they select to see the graph, can no longer graph multiple resources together (you must do this one at a time), and do not see numbers next to the graph saying how high the bars are. The team builder experience is also different from the assign resource experience. Team builder starts PWA, and the assigned resource uses resource graphs in Project 2010. The new graphs are customizable and are now printable.

Add-ins, sample macros, and project guide

Add-ins, sample macros, and sample project guide are not included with Project 2010.

The following add-ins are incorporated into Project 2010:

• Compare Project Versions

• Adjust Dates

The following add-ins are removed:

• Pert Analysis

• Copy picture (no longer automatically creates an Office document and cannot export to the JPG format)

• Format_Duration

• ResMgmt_TaskEntry

• Rollup_Formatting

• Toggle_Read_only

• Update_File

Save as Excel Pivot Table

Save as Excel Pivot Table is replaced by Desktop Reports in Project 2010, Professional and Standard.

The ability to save directly into a pivot table is removed.

The File | Save As menu previously included the following:

• Save as XLS

• Save as XLS Pivot Table

The File | Save As menu now includes the following:

• Save as XLS

• Save as XLSX

• Save as XLSB

Project 2010 now supports the new file formats in Microsoft Excel 2010. Users should use desktop reports to generate a normalized version of their tasks in Excel 2010.

Moving from Project 2003 to Project 2010

To move from Microsoft Office Project 2003 to Project 2010, you must first convert your Project 2003 data to the Microsoft Project 2007 file format. You do this through the Migration tool, a command-line utility that is available on the Project 2007 installation disk.

Running different versions of Project on the network

Project 2010 enables the user to save files in Project 2007 file format. Therefore, both versions can easily share data and run on the same network. Both can even be installed on the same computer though only one version can run at a time. For more information, see Use Project with previous versions (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=216931).

However, the 64-bit and 32-bit editions of Project cannot be installed on the same computer. For more information, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010.

VBA settings migration

In Office 2010, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) 6.0 was updated to VBA 7.0. VBA 7.0 settings were reset to their defaults after migration instead of automatically repopulating. This occurred because the registry settings for VBA are in a different hive in Office 2010, as shown in the following table.

To resolve this problem, copy the VBA 6.0 registry keys from the 6.0 hive to the 7.0 hive.

For more information, see User registry settings to migrate to Office 2010 and Compatibility Between the 32-bit and 64-bit Versions of Office 2010 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=185841).