Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit

Article
02/20/2014

Archived content. No warranty is made as to technical accuracy. Content may contain URLs that were valid when originally published, but now link to sites or pages that no longer exist.

With enhanced support for system policies, Microsoft Project 2000 gives administrators more control over their users' interaction with Microsoft Project than ever before. Administrators who take advantage of system policies can depend on a consistent configuration for all of their users and reduce the cost of supporting Microsoft Project throughout their organizations.

The following management and support information is included in this section:

System Policies

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit offers enhanced support for system policies. The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit Toolbox now includes a System Policy template you can use to set Policies for Microsoft Project.

System Policy Editor

By using a few straightforward procedures, administrators can use the System Policy Editor and the Microsoft Project 2000 policy template to control user settings across a network.

System Policy Reference

Look here for information about system requirements for using system policies and for details about the contents of the Microsoft Project 2000 policy template file.

Office Registry API

Microsoft Project 2000 includes a Microsoft Office application programming interface (API), the Office Registry API (ORAPI). ORAPI makes Microsoft Project 2000 more resilient than previous versions of Microsoft Project because now applications can restore default registry value data, rather than allowing an error in the registry to stop the application.

Help and Support

In addition to traditional Help topics, the Microsoft Project 2000 Help system now includes goal-based topics that guide users through the project management process from the new Project Map. Also, besides providing hundreds of topics and thousands of index entries, the improved Office Assistant does a better job of answering users' questions and even lets you add your own Help content. And Microsoft Web sites help you get up-to-date information and technical support whenever you need it.

Creating Help Topics

You can expand the scope of built-in Microsoft Project 2000 Help topics by creating your own Help topics with Microsoft HTML Help Workshop and the Microsoft Answer Wizard Builder. Users gain access to your custom topics from the Answer Wizard.

Linking the Answer Wizard to the Web

The new Help on the Web feature in Microsoft Project 2000 connects your users to information about Microsoft Project on the Microsoft Office Update Web site. You can customize Help on the Web to point to a site on your intranet, or you can use Help on the Web to collect user feedback for improving your custom Answer Wizard files and Help topics.

Protecting Against Macro Viruses and Using Security Features

Macro viruses can spread quickly when documents are shared, causing data corruption or loss. Microsoft Project 2000 provides advanced methods for protecting against macro viruses by using virus scanning applications and digital signatures. Microsoft Project 2000 also provides other security features for protecting your project files and information.

System Policies

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit offers enhanced support for system policies. We now provide a system policy template for Microsoft Project 2000 in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Setting the Standards for Your Organization

System policies help you control how your users work with Microsoft Project 2000. By using system policies, you can configure Microsoft Project to your own specifications. By using system policies, you determine which options are available to your users.

You create a system policy file and store the file on your server. When users log on to client computers, the system policy file is downloaded, and the system policies are enforced. If you need to change a policy, you update the policy file on the server, and then the policy is automatically updated on each client computer the next time users log on.

Because of differences in how the Windows registry works, the Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Microsoft Windows NT, and Windows 2000 operating systems require different formats for system policies. You can use the same System Policy Editor, however, to create policy files for client computers running any of these operating systems.

Note The Windows 3.1 operating system does not support system policies on client computers.

See also

The System Policy Editor you should use to set policies for Microsoft Project is the same one that is included in the Office Resource Kit Toolbox. This is a new version of the System Policy Editor. For detailed instructions about setting system policies with the new version, see "System Policy Editor" in this article.

New and Improved System Policies

With Microsoft Project 2000 you can implement system policies with the new System Policy Editor.

As part of the enhanced support for system policies in Microsoft Project, policies are stored in a separate HKCU\Software\Policies subkey in the Windows registry.

Other system policy enhancements in Microsoft Project include the following.

Easily enforceable policies

If a user changes a setting, that setting is changed back when the user quits and restarts the application, rather than when the user next logs on.

Safer policies

In Windows 2000, you can set an access control list (ACL) to lock the Policies subkey in the Windows registry. This step prevents users from changing policies by modifying settings in their registry.

More intuitive settings

The System Policy Editor allows you to set a policy as either enforced (selected) or not enforced (cleared). After you set the policy, you then specify the value for the enforced setting.

Policies that can be undone

In the previous version of the System Policy Editor, you could stop enforcing a system policy, but you could not return client computers to their original configuration. With Microsoft Project 2000, however, you can set a policy and later clear the policy — and return client computers to their previous state, whether that state is the application default or a user's customized setting.

Policies that accept environment variables

The new version for the System Policy Editor and the Microsoft Project 2000 system policy template now accepts environment variables. Environment variables take the place of actual file names, paths, and other changeable values. By using environment variables, you can use a variable instead of a specific path that might not be valid for every client computer. When the policy is enforced, the variable is automatically expanded to the correct value for each client computer.

Options That Can Be Set Through a System Policy

You can specify settings for most of the options in the Options dialog box (Tools menu) in Microsoft Project 2000 by using system policies.

The Options dialog box has two types of settings:

Application settings apply to the application itself.
Project settings apply to a specific project.

You can set system policies that control application settings in the Options dialog box (Tools menu). For Microsoft Project-specific settings, you can set policies that control what the default values will be for new projects. However, users will be able to modify these settings from the default.

Microsoft Project settings are stored in the project file itself. If a user opens an existing project file that has its own Microsoft Project-specific settings, these settings will not be changed through a system policy. Also, if a user changes Microsoft Project settings from the defaults specified by a system policy, these changes will persist for all new projects opened in that session (while Microsoft Project is still open). Only when the user exits Microsoft Project and restarts it will the system policy be used again as the default for new projects.

Unlike Microsoft Office, you cannot use system policies to enable or disable menu items or shortcut keys. You cannot use policies to control Microsoft Project-specific information in the Properties dialog box (File menu).

See also

All of the system policies are listed in the policy template. For more information about the policies in the template, see "System Policy Reference" in this article.

Working with the System Policy Template

A system policy represents a single option in Microsoft Project 2000. Each system policy corresponds to one or more Windows registry keys. A system policy template associates the option with the registry keys that the option affects.

When you create a system policy file, you base your file on the Project9.adm policy template. The template, which lists the options you can control for Microsoft Project 2000, is included in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

All policies in the system policy template correspond to options that users can set in the Options dialog box (Tools menu). The policies in the template are organized into a hierarchy to make them easier to find. They are organized to correspond to the user interface. For example, items found on the View tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu) are listed under Tools Options View in the template.

Note The System Policy Editor can also work with three Windows template files (Common.adm, Windows.adm, and Winnt.adm). These files do not contain Microsoft Project policies, but the Windows policies they contain may be useful in managing a workgroup. You can also use the System Policy Editor with Office 2000 policy template files.

Applying System Policies to Selected Users or Groups

You determine which users or groups are affected by a system policy. You can set policies for a single user, for a group of users, or for all users. You can also set policies for a single computer or for all computers. You make these choices in the System Policy Editor when you create a system policy file.

The Microsoft Project 2000 policies you create and distribute are stored as entries in the HKEY_Current_User\Software\Policies subkey in the Microsoft Windows registry.

Setting system policies for all users or all computers

You can set a policy for all of the users in your domain by double-clicking the Default User icon in the System Policy Editor. You can also set a policy for all client computers in your domain by double-clicking the Default Computer icon. When you double-click one of these icons, the Properties dialog box opens, and you can set the policies for that user or computer. You can set a policy for all users, for all computers, or for both.

Note The full name of the Properties dialog box changes depending on the name of the icon you double-click in the main window of the System Policy Editor. The dialog box is referred to generically in this section as the "Properties dialog box."

Setting system policies for a particular user or computer

You can set a policy for a specific user account by adding the user to the policy file. For example, suppose that your network includes a Guest account and you want to limit a guest user's access to options. You can use a system policy for the Guest account. Similarly, if all your guest users can use the same computer, you can set a policy for that computer.

Note The user name or computer name you specify in the System Policy Editor must already exist in the network system. You cannot create new user names or computer names from within the System Policy Editor.

Setting system policies for a group of users

You can also set policies for groups of users in your domain. For example, all of the users in a particular department may require the same options. If you create a Microsoft Windows 2000 user group for that department, you can control the options for all users in that group by setting a policy for it.

Note The group names you specify in the System Policy Editor must already exist in the network system. You cannot create new groups from within the System Policy Editor.

Sometimes a user is a member of more than one group. To avoid potential conflicts between group policies, you can set relative priorities so that group policies are applied in a particular order. When a user who is a member of several groups logs on, the policy settings from the highest priority group are processed last so that those settings override the settings from lower priority groups.

Note You must set group policies by installing the group policy capability on each client computer.

See also

The System Policy Editor provides a single interface for setting policies for users, groups, or computers. For detailed instructions, see "Setting System Policies for Your Organization" in this article.

Setting System Policies

After you have selected the policy template and specified which users or computers the policies affect, you are ready to set specific policies in the System Policy Editor. You can set a policy by opening the Properties dialog box for the desired user, group, or computer, and then selecting the policy you want to set.

Policies are organized by category within the policy template. The policy template for Microsoft Project 2000 is listed in the Properties dialog box.

Each policy has a check box to the left that indicates its current setting. When you select a policy, an edit control appears at the bottom of the dialog box so that you can provide additional information.

System policy settings

A system policy can have one of three settings in the Properties dialog box:

Selected

The policy has been implemented. Another check box below the policy indicates whether the setting is enforced as on or off. When a user logs on, the Windows registry changes to conform to the policy.

Cleared

The policy has not been implemented. If it was implemented previously, the previously specified settings are removed from the Windows registry. When you clear a policy, the option returns either to the application default state or to whatever setting the user had specified before you set the policy.

Unavailable

System policies can also be changed to an unavailable state, where the check box is shaded to indicate that the setting is unchanged from the last time the user logged on. When you first create a system policy, all of the settings are set to the unavailable (shaded) state. After you have selected a particular system policy and distributed the policy file, do not use the unavailable state to clear the policy. If you want to stop enforcing a policy, clear the policy check box.

Note The unavailable state cannot clear a policy because when you enforce a policy, a value entry for that policy is added to the Policies subkey in the Windows registry. If you set the policy to the unavailable state, the value entry still exists in the Policies subkey and is still enforced. Even if a user changes the option in the user interface, the setting in the Policies subkey overrides the changes.

See also

All of the system policies are listed in the policy template. For more information about the template, see "System Policy Reference" in this article.

Using Environment Variables in System Policies

Microsoft Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000 all include the capability to use environment variables in the Windows registry to take the place of actual file names, paths, or other changeable values. Environment variables in the Windows registry take the REG_EXPAND_SZ data type.

Although Windows system policies have used environment variables for some time, Microsoft Project 98 did not recognize the data type REG_EXPAND_SZ, so you could not use environment variables in Microsoft Project 98 system policies. However, you can use environment variables in Microsoft Project 2000.

For example, the Default file location policy allows you to specify a default path to the location where you want users to store Microsoft Project files. If you want to store users' Microsoft Project files under their user names on the network, you can use a network drive and the following environment variable:

X:\%USERNAME%

When you distribute the policy, the environment variable is written to each user's registry. Microsoft Project 2000 recognizes that %USERNAME% is an environment variable and expands it to whatever the %USERNAME% variable is set to on the user's computer. So Microsoft Project 2000 expands this example to X:\UserA for User A, X:\UserB for User B, and so on.

You could also use any other appropriately defined environment variable to set Default file location to a particular path or folder. Because Microsoft Project 2000 recognizes the REG_EXPAND_SZ data type, you can use environment variables that exist by default in the operating system or that you set on your own.

Note Windows 95/98 does not create environment variables automatically. You must create and define variables manually so that they resolve correctly for each user. For example, to create the %USERNAME% environment variable for Windows 95/98 clients, use a Windows NT or Windows 2000 logon script.

See also

Several Microsoft Project 2000 system policies accept environment variables. For a list of these policies, see "System Policies That Accept Environment Variables" in this article.

You can use environment variables in place of directory paths or specific user information.

System Policies and the Windows Registry

You use the System Policy Editor to create a system policy file, based on the system policy template, and then store that file on a network server. When users log on to the network, the system policy file is downloaded to client computers, and then the Microsoft Windows registry is updated to use the values specified in the system policy file.

Later, you can update client computers by using new system policies, and the Windows registry for each client computer is updated when the user next logs on.

Where are policies stored in the Windows registry?

The Policies subkey mirrors most of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\MS Project subkey. Placing all of the system policies together in the same subkey prevents Windows registry errors and also makes it possible for administrators to lock the Policy subkey in Windows NT and Windows 2000.

The following example shows the hierarchy of the Policies subkey in the Windows registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
    Software
        Policies
            Microsoft
                Office 
                    9.0 
                        MS Project

Locating the registry entry that corresponds to a system policy

Each system policy in a policy template corresponds to one or more entries in the Windows registry. If you want to find out exactly what entries in the Windows registry correspond to a particular policy, you can open the policy template in Notepad, and look for that policy.

The policy template files are divided into categories, and each category lists the Windows registry subkey that contains the entries for that category. Each specific policy entry in the template lists the Windows registry value name that the policy affects and the specific Windows registry value data that is set when the policy is turned on or off.

The following table lists the entries that appear in the policy template files when you open the files in Notepad.

Entry	Description
POLICY	Policy you are turning on or off.
KEYNAME	Registry subkey that is affected.
PART	Specific option you are setting with the policy.
VALUENAME	Registry value that is affected.
VALUEON	Registry value data that indicates when this policy is turned on.
VALUEOFF	Registry value data that indicates when this policy is turned off.

System Policy Editor

By using a few straightforward procedures, administrators can use the System Policy Editor and the Microsoft Project 2000 policy template to control user settings across a network.

Setting System Policies for Your Organization

By using the System Policy Editor, you can control which Microsoft Project 2000 options are available to your users. You can create system policies and easily distribute the settings from a central administrative installation point.

The System Policy Editor you use with Microsoft Project is the same one you use with Office, and it can be obtained from the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox. The Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox also includes the Microsoft Project 2000 system policy template. You must install the System Policy Editor and the template on your computer before you can create a system policy file.

Toolbox For information about installing the System Policy Editor and the policy template for Microsoft Project, see the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

When you create a system policy file for a client computer, you must run the System Policy Editor on the same operating system that the client computer is running. For example, to create a policy file for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 clients, you must run the System Policy Editor on either Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 because Windows 95/98 and Windows NT operating systems have different registries.

Note The System Policy Editor that comes with Windows 95 does not work with Microsoft Project 2000. Be sure to install the latest version of the System Policy Editor from the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox or the Office Resource Kit Toolbox or from Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 4.

Create a new policy file

When you use the System Policy Editor to create system policies, you first choose the template and create a new policy file, and then you set policies for your users. You cannot add a template after you have created the policy file. Make sure to add in your policy file every policy template you plan to use.

To create a new policy file

Start the System Policy Editor.
On the Options menu, click Policy Template, and then click Add to select the Microsoft Project 2000 template.
On the File menu, click New Policy to create a new policy file.

Add users, groups, or computers to the policy file

System policies can apply to all users, to a specific user, or to a group of users. They can also apply to a single computer or to all the computers on your network.

The Default User icon and the Default Computer icon are included in your policy file. To apply a system policy to all the users or all the computers on your network, start the System Policy Editor, and then double-click the Default User or Default Computer icon.

You can also add specific users, computers, or groups to your policy file by using the Add User, Add Computer, and Add Group commands on the Edit menu in the System Policy Editor. When you add a user, computer, or group, a new icon appears in the System Policy Editor. Use this icon to set policies for the new user, computer, or group.

Note The group names or computer names you specify in the System Policy Editor must reference user groups or computers that already exist on the network. You cannot create new groups or computer names from within the System Policy Editor.

After you've selected the users, groups, or computers to whom your policy applies, you set the policy or policies you want by using the corresponding Properties dialog box in the System Policy Editor.

Sometimes a user is a member of more than one group. To avoid potential conflicts between group policies, you can set relative priorities so that group policies are applied in a particular order. To set group priorities, click Group Priority (Options menu) in the System Policy Editor.

Set the policy

In the System Policy Editor, when you double-click one of the user, group, or computer icons, the Properties dialog box appears, listing the available system policies. You scroll through the list of categories in the Properties dialog box to find the policy you want. You expand or collapse categories by clicking the plus sign (+) or minus sign (–), similar to expanding or collapsing folders in Windows Explorer.

When you find the policy you want, you set the policy by selecting the check box next to the policy name. After you select the policy you want, you must specify additional information under Settings to determine what is enforced by the policy. The following example shows you how to set a simple policy in Microsoft Project 2000.

To set a policy for the recently used file list in Microsoft Project 2000

Start the System Policy Editor.
Double-click the Default User icon.
In the Default User Properties dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Project 2000.
Click the plus sign next to Tools Options.
Click the plus sign next to General.
Click the plus sign next to General Options for Microsoft Project.
Select the Recently used file list check box.
Under Settings for Recently used file list, enter 5 in the Number of entries list box.

Save and distribute the policy file

After you set the policy values you want, you are ready to save and distribute the policy file. For Windows 95/98 clients, save the policy file as Config.pol. For Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 clients, save the policy file as Ntconfig.pol. Then exit the System Policy Editor.

Next, you need to store the policy file on the network, where it can be downloaded to users' computers when they log on.

For networks running Windows NT Server, copy Config.pol or Ntconfig.pol to the Netlogon folder of the primary domain controller, as defined for your client computers. When your users next log on, the system policies are automatically downloaded to their computers and their registry settings are updated with the policy settings.

See also

All of the system policies for Microsoft Project are listed in the policy template. For more information about the policy template, see "Working with the System Policy Template" in this article.

For conceptual information about setting policies for specific users, groups, or computers, see "Applying System Policies to Selected Users or Groups" in this article.

You enable or disable options by selecting a policy and altering the settings for that policy. For conceptual information about setting policies, see "Setting System Policies" in this article.

System Policy Reference

Look here for information about system requirements for using system policies and for details about the contents of the Microsoft Project 2000 policy template file.

Client Computer Requirements for Using System Policies

Client computers must meet the following requirements to use system policies:

Operating system

Microsoft Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, or Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later. System policies are not supported for the Windows 3.1 and Macintosh operating systems.
User profiles

Client computers must have user profiles enabled.
Group policies

If you want to set group policies, the group policy capability must be installed on each client computer. For more information about group policies, see the resource kit for your Windows operating system.
Network distribution

For automatic downloading of policies over networks running Windows NT Server, Client for Microsoft Networks must be specified as the primary network logon client, and the domain must be defined on the client computers.

Note By default, Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later automatically download system policies from the appropriate network server. To change to manual downloading, see the resource kit for your client operating system.

System Policies in the Policy Template

The Project9.adm template contains policy settings that are common to all of the Microsoft Project 2000 applications. The following policies are available in the Project9.adm template.

USER SETTINGS

Microsoft Project 2000
ToolsOptions
   View
      Default View
      Date Format
      Show
         Status Bar
         Windows in Taskbar
         Scroll Bars
         Entry Bar
         OLE Link Indicators
         Project Screentips
   General
      General Options for Microsoft Project
         Display help on Startup
         Open last file on startup
         Prompt for project info for 
            new projects
         Set AutoFilter on for new projects
         Recently used file list
      General Options for 'Project1'
         Automatically add new resources and tasks
         Default standard Rate
         Default overtime rate
   Edit
      Edit options for Microsoft Project
         Allow cell drag and drop
         Move selection after enter
         Ask to update automatic links
         Edit directly in cello
      View options for time units in 'Project1'
         Minutes
         Hours
         Days
         Weeks
         Months
         Years
            Add space before label
         Hyperlink appearance in 'Project 1'
         Hyperlink color
         Followed hyperlink color
         Underline hyperlinks
   Calendar
      Week Starts on
      Fiscal year starts in
      Use starting year for FY numbering
      Default start time
      Default end time
      Hours per day
      Hours per week
      Days per month
   Schedule
      Schedule options for Microsoft Project
         Show scheduling messages
         Show assignment units as
      Scheduling options for 'Project1'
         New tasks
         Duration is entered in
         Work is entered in
         Default task type
         New tasks are effort driven
         Autolink inserted or moved tasks
         Split in-progress tasks
         Tasks will always honor their constraint dates
         Show that tasks have estimated durations
         New tasks have estimated durations
   Calculation
      Calculation options for Microsoft Project
         Automatic Calculation
         Calculate all open projects
      Calculation options for 'Project1'
         Updating tasks status updates resource 
            status
         Edits to total task % complete will be 
            spread to the status date
         Inserted projects are calculated like 
            summary tasks
         Actual costs are always calculated by 
            Microsoft Project
         Edits to total actual cost will be spread to 
            the status date
         Default fixed costs accrual
         Calculate multiple critical paths
         Tasks are critical if slack is less than
            or equal to
   Workgroup
      Default workgroup messages for 'Project1'
      Web server settings for 'Project1'
         Microsoft Project Central Server URL
         Identification for Microsoft Project 
            Central Server
         Send hyhperlink in E-mail note
         Allow resources to delegate tasks in 
            Microsoft Project Central
         Update project information to Microsoft 
            Project Central on every save
   Save
      Save Microsoft Project files as
      File locations
         Projects
         User Templates
         Workgroup templates
         ODBC Database
      Auto Save Options
         Auto Save every
         Save Interval
         Save Active Project only
         Prompt before saving
      Database save options for 'Project1'
         Expand timephased data in the database

System Policies in the Windows Installer Policy Template

The policies listed below are available in the Instlr1.adm template. The Instlr1.adm template is automatically installed when you install the System Policy Editor from the Office Resource Kit Toolbox.

MACHINE SETTINGS
Windows Installer
   Always install with elevated privileges
   Disable Windows installer
   Disable browse dialog box for new source
   Disable patching
USER SETTINGS
Windows Installer
   Always install with elevated privileges
   Search order
   Leave transform at package source
   Pin transform at transform source
   Disable rollback

System Policies that Accept Environment Variables

The following table lists Microsoft Project 2000 system policies that accept environment variables and the Windows registry entry that corresponds to each policy.

Policy name	Registry entry
Microsoft Project 2000\Tools Options\ Save\FileLocations\Projects	HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\9.0 \MSProject\Options\Save\DefaultProjectsPath
Microsoft Project 2000\Tools Options\ Save\FileLocations\UserTemplates	HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\9.0 \MSProject\Options\Save\DefaultUserTemplatesPath
Microsoft Project 2000\Tools Options\ Save\FileLocations\WorkgroupTemplates	HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\9.0 \MSProject\Options\Save\DefaultWorkgroupTempaltesPath

Office Registry API

Previous versions of Microsoft Project relied on the Windows application programming interface (API) to control interactions between Microsoft Project and the Windows registry. Microsoft Project 2000 includes a Microsoft Office API, the Office Registry API (ORAPI). ORAPI makes Microsoft Project 2000 more resilient than previous versions of Microsoft Project because now default registry value data can be restored, rather than allowing an error in the registry to stop the application.

Note A spreadsheet containing ORAPI values for Microsoft Project will be added to the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox. For updated information, check the Toolbox periodically.

Overview of ORAPI

Microsoft Project 2000 uses the Office Registry application programming interface (ORAPI) to control interactions between Microsoft Project and the Windows registry. In the past, a missing entry might bring Microsoft Project to a halt, lowering productivity and wasting time and money while the application was reinstalled. ORAPI eliminates these costly delays. If a value is accidentally deleted from the registry, Microsoft Project automatically looks up the default value and restores it to the registry; work can go on as usual.

Also, ORAPI reduces clutter in the Windows registry by storing default values in the application. Storing the default values in the application minimizes your hard disk use and speeds up registry access.

When Microsoft Project needs a value, the following events occur:

Microsoft Project calls ORAPI to read a value.
ORAPI searches for the value in the Windows registry.
If the value exists in the Windows registry, ORAPI returns the value to Microsoft Project.

– or –

If the value is not set in the Windows registry, ORAPI locates the default value and returns the default value to the application.

System Policies Override ORAPI Defaults

System policies always take precedence when the Office Registry API (ORAPI) reads a value from or writes a value to the Windows registry.

When ORAPI reads a value from the Windows registry, it first checks to see whether a system policy has been set for the entry; if a policy has been set, ORAPI returns the policy value. If no policy has been set, ORAPI returns any value from the registry that the user has set for the entry. If the user has not set a value for the entry, ORAPI returns the default value for that entry.

When ORAPI writes a value to the Windows registry, it first checks to see whether a system policy has been set for the entry; if a policy has been set, ORAPI does not write the new value to the registry. If no policy has been set, ORAPI checks to see whether the entry is present in the registry. If the entry is present in the registry, ORAPI writes the new value for that entry to the registry. If the entry is not present in the registry, ORAPI checks to see whether the new value is the same as the default value. If the new value matches the default value, ORAPI does not write the new value to the registry. If the new value does not match the default value, ORAPI writes the new value to the registry.

If the Policies subkey does not exist in the Windows registry, the Policies subkey steps are skipped in the preceding sequences.

See also

If you customize the Microsoft Project 2000 installation to allow users' settings to migrate from a previous version of Microsoft Project, their customized settings move to the new registry subtree. For more information about customizing the Microsoft Project 2000 installation, see "Custom Installation Wizard" in Part 3 – Customizing Installation of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

System policies help you control which Microsoft Project options your users can change. For more information about system policies, see "System Policies" in this article.

Help and Support

Getting Help in Microsoft Project 2000

Microsoft Project 2000 includes an extensive Help system to help users find the information they need. In addition, the Microsoft.com Web site has several areas that offer additional articles, tools, and information about Microsoft Project 2000.

New features in Help

The Microsoft Project 2000 Help system includes hundreds of Help topics and thousands of index entries. You can either browse or search for Help topics and index entries by using the new Microsoft Project 2000 Help navigation pane.

Much like the Help dialog box in Microsoft Project 98 Help, the Help navigation pane in Microsoft Project 2000 Help contains three tabs: Contents, Index, and Answer Wizard (which was labeled Find in previous versions of Microsoft Project). The Contents tab allows you to browse a categorized list of Help topics. The Index tab allows you to browse an index of keywords and symbols. The Answer Wizard tab allows you to enter queries in natural language, for example, "How do I print my project?"

You can use the options on the Microsoft Project 2000 Help menu to get quick What's This? information about many interface objects, information for users switching to Microsoft Project 2000 from other software applications, and links to Help content found either on users' computers or on the Web. In addition, the Office Assistant is available to offer suggestions as you work or to help you find information in the Help topics.

Running Microsoft Project 2000 Help on a locked-down system

The first time a user opens a Microsoft Project 2000 Help file, the HTML Help control creates an index of links between topics in the Help files. The index file is stored in the same folder and has the same name as the corresponding Help file (except it uses the file name extension .chw).

If the user does not have write permissions to the folders where the Help files are stored (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033), then these index files cannot be created. If the index files are not created, certain types of hyperlinks within the Help topics do not function. For example, the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Help files contain many cross-links that cannot function without these index files.

To fix this problem, you can grant users write permissions to the folders where the Help files are stored. Alternatively, you can create the Help index files for your users. To create index files for your users, run the PrepHelp utility, which is available on the Microsoft Office 2000 Update Web site. You must have write permissions to the folders where the Help files are stored to successfully run the PrepHelp utility.

Help available on Microsoft Web sites

The Microsoft.com Web site includes several areas where you can find useful information about Microsoft Project 2000.

Office Update

The Microsoft Office 2000 Update Web site provides product updates, downloads (including utilities, add-ins, and templates), and user assistance for Microsoft Project 2000, as well as the latest information about Microsoft Project 2000.

Microsoft TechNet

The Microsoft TechNet Web site is a Web resource for the IT community. Among the IT resources that you find here is the TechNet Reference section.

Microsoft Support Online

The Microsoft Support Online search page answers your questions about any Microsoft product, including Microsoft Project 2000.

Microsoft Developer Network

The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site contains a wealth of information for software developers and programmers.

The MSDN Web site contains several areas, including the Microsoft Scripting Technologies Web site.

Microsoft Seminar Online

The Microsoft Seminar Online Web site provides online seminars on various topics directly to your desktop from the Internet.

Microsoft Press Online

The Microsoft Press Online Web site keeps you up to date with the latest titles from Microsoft Press. The Microsoft Press Online Web site contains information about how to find many technical publications.

Microsoft Certified TechnicalEducationCenter

The Microsoft Certified Partner(s) for Learning Solutions Web site gives you thorough, in-depth instruction related to Microsoft Project deployment, administration, and support. Many courses covering other Microsoft products are available as well.

Microsoft Solutions Framework

The Microsoft Solutions Framework Web site is designed to support enterprise organizations by providing information about best practices for IT strategy and project planning.

Microsoft Certified Solution Providers

The Microsoft Certified Solution Provider (MCSP) Web site helps you find Microsoft-certified IT professionals to assist you in evaluating the capabilities of Microsoft Project 2000.

See also

You can create your own custom Help content and present it to users through the Microsoft Project 2000 Help system. For more information, see "Creating Help Topics" in this article.

Getting Help from Microsoft Product Support Services

You have several options for getting technical answers from Microsoft Product Support Services.

Support Online at Microsoft.com

For quick answers to simple questions, use the Microsoft Support Online search page to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other technical resources for fast, accurate answers.

Telephone support from Product Support Services

If your question is urgent and complex, you can call Product Support Services to get assistance from a support engineer.

Standard no-charge support

During business hours, you can receive unlimited free support for usability issues for Microsoft Project.

In the United States and Canada, you can contact a support engineer by telephone Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

In the United States:

(425) 454-2030

5:00 A.M. – 9:00 P.M. Pacific time

Note If Microsoft Project 2000 was preinstalled on your personal computer, you are not eligible for free support from Microsoft. Contact your computer manufacturer for support. For more information, see your computer documentation.

Pay-per-incident support

If you need help after hours, or if you have used up your standard no-charge support options, you can purchase support on a per-incident basis. Support fees can be billed to your VISA, MasterCard, or American Express card.

In the United States and Canada, you can call a support engineer at the following locations with questions about using Microsoft Project 2000.

In the United States:

(800) 936-5700

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, excluding holidays; $35 U.S. per incident.

TTY/TDD support

Teletypewriter/telecommunications device for the deaf (TTY/TDD) support is available Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, as follows:

In the United States:

(425) 635-4948

Then follow the prompts to hear recorded answers to your technical questions, obtain a catalog of available information, or order items by fax.

Business support services

There are a variety of support packages designed for businesses. To learn which package best meets your needs, go to the Microsoft Product Support Services Web site.

You can also call (800) 936-3500 for information.

On-site, multivendor, or proprietary product support

Microsoft Certified Solution Providers (MCSPs) and Authorized Support Centers (ASCs) specialize in providing support packages for hardware, network, and software products from both Microsoft and other vendors.

For more information about MCSPs, call (800) 765-7768 or go to the Microsoft Certified Solution Provider Web site.

For more information about ASCs, contact your Microsoft account representative, or go to the Microsoft Product Services Support Web site.

Support outside the United States and Canada

For information about support available in other countries, contact the Microsoft subsidiary that's nearest to you. For a list of Microsoft subsidiaries worldwide, click About Microsoft Project on the Help menu. Then, in the About Microsoft Project dialog box, click Tech Support.

Note Support outside the United States and Canada might vary. Microsoft support services are subject to then-current prices, terms, and conditions at Microsoft, which are subject to change without notice.

Creating Help Topics

Customizing Help Content for Your Users

Microsoft Project 2000 allows you to create all sorts of custom solutions for users. But what if users want help with your custom features? Or what if you want your users to be able to look up information about using your organization's templates or filling in your organization's forms?

Whether you are documenting a new add-in or including topics specific to your organization, you can create your own Help content and distribute it to your users. When a user asks the Answer Wizard (AW) a question about the custom feature, the new Help content turns up in the AW search, along with the rest of the Microsoft Project 2000 Help topics.

For example, users might need assistance with a Visual Basic for Applications tool created by your IS department. If you have also created custom Help content for this feature, users can type a question in the AW and find the answer, without knowing that they're searching for customized Help.

Creating custom content for use with the Microsoft Project Help system involves three steps:

Creating HTML-compatible Help files

Custom Help topics can include HTML Help files that reside on a Web site, or compressed HTML (CHM) files that you distribute to users locally or over the network.
Creating a new AW file

The Microsoft Answer Wizard Builder helps you build your own AW files, which the AW uses to locate topics in response to users' queries.
Registering your custom Help files

To make your custom Help content available to users, you copy the new AW file and Help files to each user's computer and update each user's Windows registry. The next time a user asks the AW a question, your custom Help content becomes part of the answer.

Note You cannot replace existing Microsoft Project Help topics; you can only add new ones.

Creating Custom Help Content

Before you create a custom Answer Wizard (AW) file, you need to create HTML pages on a Web server, or you need to create compressed HTML (CHM) files that can be either distributed to your users' computers or stored on a network server.

In either case, the Answer Wizard Builder analyzes the words contained in these files and creates an index that can be searched by the Answer Wizard when a user enters a question.

If you don't have any Help files, you can use HTML Help Workshop and the Answer Wizard Builder to create both custom Help topics and an AW file to go with them.

Determine where to start

Where you start the process of creating custom Help depends on what you have to start with. If you already have Help topics in WinHelp format or CHM files, you can import them into HTML Help Workshop. Or if you have HTML Help topics already posted on a Web site, you can point the Answer Wizard Builder to the Web site.

Start with WinHelp

If your WinHelp files don't require any editing, you can import them directly into HTML Help Workshop; you then use HTML Help Workshop to create a CHM file from the separate WinHelp files. Then use the CHM file in the Answer Wizard Builder to create the AW file.

If you want to edit or update existing WinHelp files, you must use a word processor (such as Microsoft Word) that can open rich-text format (RTF) files. After you change the RTF file, you can use the WinHelp compiler to create an updated Help (HLP) file. You can then use HTMLHelp Workshop to convert the updated Help file to an HTML CHM file.

Start with HTML files

If your Help content is currently on the Web, you can create an AW file by providing the Answer Wizard Builder with the URL to the Web site and the share location where the HTML files are hosted.

If you need to edit or update HTML files, modify them first by using a text editor, an HTML editing tool (such as FrontPage), or HTML Help Workshop. You can also use HTML Help Workshop to create a new CHM file based on existing HTML files.

Start with compressed HTML files

If your users do not have access to the Web, you can use HTML Help Workshop to create CHM files and store them either on the network or on individual users 'computers. You can use your existing CHM files in the Answer Wizard Builder or, if they need editing, modify them first by using HTML Help Workshop.

Start from scratch

If you don't have any existing content, you can create your own Help topics in HTML Help Workshop or in any other HTML authoring tool. Then just use the Answer Wizard Builder to create the AW file from the HTML or CHM Help content.

Choose a type of Help file

The format you choose for your Help files also depends on where you plan to store the files and how often you need to update the content.

Advantages of using HTML Help

HTML Help files are stored on a Web server. They offer the following advantages over other methods:

You can update Help content directly on the Web server, without interrupting users.
No disk space is required on the client side.
If you already have a Web Help site, you can use its contents to create the custom AW file.
You don't have to register Web-based help on your client computers — it's ready to use right away.

If you use HTML Help files, however, users must have access to the Web, and you must maintain the Web server and site. In addition, users might experience slow response times when they submit queries.

Advantages of using compressed HTML Help

CHM files are stored on a network share or locally on users' computers. They offer the following advantages over other methods:

Users get faster results when the CHM file is stored locally.
A single CHM file can contain multiple HTML files, so the administrator has fewer files to keep track of.
Users don't need access to the Web.

If you use CHM Help files, however, you must redistribute them across the network or on each client computer whenever you update the content. You will also have to register these files on each client computer before they can be used.

Make custom Help work like Microsoft Project 2000 Help

You can build your custom Help to work as a stand-alone Help system, using your own styles and window definitions in HTML Help Workshop. However, if you want your custom Help to work and look like the Microsoft Project 2000 Help system, use CHM files with the Microsoft cascading style sheets, and add your custom Help content to the Answer Wizard. Using the Answer Wizard ensures that your Help uses the same window definitions and functionality as Microsoft Project Help.

To make your Help look like Microsoft Project 2000 Help, you use the styles in the Microsoft Project 2000 cascading style sheet file (proj9.css). Attach the cascading style sheet file to your project, and use the styles in the cascading style sheet file when you create your Help text.

Note To view the definitions for each style in a cascading style sheet file, open the file in Notepad. Each style is listed, along with the formatting specifications for that style, such as font and size.

To select the correct style sheet automatically based on the browser level, add the following code to the header in each HTML page:

<link rel=stylesheet href="../Proj9.css" type="text/css">

Tip To view the HTML code used in any of the Microsoft Project 2000 Help CHM files, either open the file in HTML Help Workshop or double-click the CHM file. When the file opens, right-click in a topic, and then click View Source. You can also open the file in Microsoft FrontPage 2000 or a text editor to view HTML code.Toolbox HTML Help Workshop helps you create custom HTML-based Help content that can be used with the Microsoft Project 2000 Help system. To help you create files that look like Microsoft Project Help files, the Microsoft Project Help cascading style sheet file is included. For information about installing HTML Help Workshop and supporting files, see the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Adding Custom Help Content to the Answer Wizard

If you want your custom Help topics to work like Microsoft Project 2000 Help, make sure your Help is accessible through the Answer Wizard. By using the Answer Wizard Builder, you can create an Answer Wizard Builder (AWB) project file to which you add your HTML Help topics. The Answer Wizard Builder project produces a new Answer Wizard (AW) file that is used like an index by the Microsoft Project Help system to locate applicable information for users' queries.

If you significantly change your HTML Help files by adding new topics or by renaming or deleting existing topics, then you must create a new AW file to replace the old one. To create a new AW file, you can use the original Answer Wizard project, or you can create a new project.

Toolbox You can use the Answer Wizard Builder to help you create custom AW files for use with custom HTML Help topics and the Microsoft Project Help system. For information about installing the Answer Wizard Builder, see the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Create an Answer Wizard Builder project

When you create an Answer Wizard Builder project, the Answer Wizard Builder indexes the HTML Help topics you specify. You can then optionally assign user questions to each topic.

To create an Answer Wizard Builder project

If you installed the Answer Wizard Builder to the default directory specified during setup, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Microsoft Answer Wizard Builder.
In the Create a New Answer Wizard Project Using box, click CHM File or Web Site.
Enter the path to the CHM file, or enter the URL of the Web site and the share name of the Web server (plus the path to a particular folder, if necessary) in the appropriate text box, and then click OK.

The Answer Wizard Builder parses the CHM or HTML files and indexes the Help topics contained in them. When it is finished indexing the Help topics, the Answer Wizard Builder lists the file names of all the Help topics found at the location you specified in step 3.

Add user questions

Although the Answer Wizard Builder indexes your Help topics, you can improve the searching power of the Answer Wizard by assigning user questions to each topic. Questions that most closely reflect the questions that real users will probably ask are more likely to help you improve the usefulness of your topics. For example, you might select a topic about setting up a network printer and assign a question such as "What is the path to our department printer?"

Adding user questions is optional. They are an additional search mechanism designed to enhance the Answer Wizard, but are not required for the Answer Wizard to function normally.

Create a custom Answer Wizard file

When you are finished entering user questions (if you choose to add them), you must compile an AW file from the Answer Wizard Builder project.

To build a new custom Answer Wizard file

In the Answer Wizard Builder, click the Build button.

Tip Store the new AW file in the same folder where you saved the AWB project file.

See also

Not all language versions are supported by the Answer Wizard. For information about international considerations for the Answer Wizard, see "Recommended Operating Systems for International Use" in Part 7 – lnternational Use of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

Making Custom Help Content Accessible to Users

After you create custom Help content, you need to make your custom Help and Answer Wizard (AW) files accessible to your users by following these steps:

Determine whether you are going to store the custom Help files on each user's computer or on a network share.
Distribute the files to that location.
Update each user's Windows registry to point to the correct location.

There are separate registry entries for AW files and compressed HTML (CHM) files. You do not need to register uncompiled HTML files.

Tip You can store an AW file in any location as long as your users have access to the location. Storing the AW file on users' computers can improve access speed, especially if you have a congested network.

After the AW file and CHM or HTML files are in the desired location, the Windows registry of each client computer must be updated to reflect the location of the AW file and CHM files.

Note If you need to update the contents of an AW file after you've registered the file, just replace the file with an updated version. You don't need to register the file again, as long as you use the same file name.

If you have not yet deployed Microsoft Project 2000, you can use the Microsoft Project Custom Installation Wizard to include the custom Help and AW files in your client installation. The Microsoft Project Custom Installation Wizard also helps you update the registries for your client computers with paths to these new files.

If you have already deployed Microsoft Project 2000, you must edit the registries for your client computers.

Note Unlike Office, Microsoft Project 2000 does not allow you to specify the location of the Answer Wizard file through a system policy. You need to create this registry entry manually.

Register a new Answer Wizard file before deploying Office

If you haven't yet deployed Microsoft Project 2000, you can use the Microsoft Project Custom Installation Wizard to register the AW file. On the Add Registry Entries panel of the Microsoft Project Custom Installation Wizard, add a new entry in the registry in one of the Answer Wizard subkeys.

Values for the new entry take the REG_SZ data type. Use a unique name for the entry name and use the path where the AW file resides, including the AW file name, as the value.

The Answer Wizard subkeys are stored in the following path in the Windows registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\MS Project\Answer Wizard

For example, if you create a new AW file called Plugins.aw for Microsoft Project and place it in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office folder, you add a new entry called PluginsAW to the following subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\MS Project\Answer Wizard

Then you assign the following path as its value:

C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office \plugins.aw

Register a new Answer Wizard file after deploying Microsoft Project

To register a new Answer Wizard file after deploying Microsoft Project, you need to edit the registries on the client computers manually.

Note You must have your users restart Microsoft Project in order to use a new AW file. Restarting Microsoft Project is not necessary if you reset the list of AW files by calling AnswerWizard.ResetFileList in Visual Basic for Applications.

Register a new CHM file

You can use the Custom Installation Wizard to register a new CHM file before you deploy Microsoft Project 2000, or you can register the CHM file manually after deployment. Either way, to register the CHM file, you create a new entry in the registry in the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\HTML Help

Values for the new entry take the REG_SZ data type. Use the CHM file name as the entry name and the path where the CHM file resides as the value. For example, if you create a new CHM file called Plugins.chm and place it in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office folder, add a new entry called Plugins.chm and assign the following path as its value:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office

See also

The Custom Installation Wizard can install your new CHM and AW files, and even update registry settings on all client computers when you deploy Microsoft Project 2000. For more information, see "Custom Installation Wizard" in Part 3 – Customizing Installation of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

The System Policy Editor can save you time by helping you push registry settings out to all client computers on your network. For more information, see "System Policy Editor" in this article.

Linking the Answer Wizard to the Web

The new Help on the Web feature in Microsoft Project 2000 connects your users to information about Microsoft Project on the Microsoft Office Update Web site. You can customize Help on the Web to point to a site on your intranet. You can also use Help on the Web to collect user feedback to improve your custom Answer Wizard files and Help topics.

Expanding Help on the Web

You can use the new Help on the Web feature to extend the Answer Wizard by providing additional or updated information for users whose queries are not satisfied by the Help topics returned by the Answer Wizard.

For example, suppose that one of your users asks the Office Assistant, "Why isn’t Microsoft Project Central responding?" Unless you've created custom Help content, the Answer Wizard returns a list of Help topics about Microsoft Project Central. But the final link returned by the Answer Wizard reads None of the above, look for more help on the Web.

Clicking this link connects users to a feedback form, which they can use to comment about their search. When they submit the feedback form, they are redirected to the Microsoft Office Update Web site, and their search is automatically repeated on the latest Microsoft Project content. They find a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles about Microsoft Project Central, as well as information about typical server issues.

At the same time, their comments are collected and sent to Microsoft, where support engineers evaluate the data and use it to improve both Answer Wizard Help topics and the Office Update Web site.

If you want users to connect to information on your intranet instead (or if your users don't have access to the World Wide Web), you can customize the Help on the Web link to point to one of the sites on your intranet. For example, users might ask about the server that runs Microsoft Project Central and then click None of the above, look for more help on the Web. You can redirect their search to the intranet site, where you have a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Microsoft Project 2000, including any current server issues.

To redirect the Help on the Web link, you just change the destination URL. You can also customize the text in the Office Assistant and some of the text in the Help topic pane.

Depending on how creative you want to get and how many development resources are available to you, you can create Active Server Pages (ASP) pages that make the Help on the Web feature even more useful to your organization. The following examples show you a few of the many ways you can customize Help on the Web to suit your needs.

Directing users to a static page on your intranet site

If you don't want to create a custom ASP page, you can create a static Web page instead. For example, create a Web page that has a list of FAQs and a telephone number or e-mail address that users can use to contact your organization's support staff.

To implement this solution, all you have to do is create the Web page, delete the text in the Help pane, and supply the static Web page address as the destination URL.

Using queries to create or expand your custom Help files

If you aren't yet prepared to create a complete custom search system for your users, but you don't want to lose their questions, you can collect their comments without directing them to a Web site. You can keep track of the kinds of questions your users are asking and implement a method for handling them later.

If you've already created custom Help and Answer Wizard files for your organization, tracking users' queries and comments can help you find ways to expand your custom Help. By using their queries, you can research and write more topics and Answer Wizard questions for your custom Help file, as well as supplement the online Help system that comes with Microsoft Project 2000.

To implement this solution, create an ASP page that logs users' queries and comments. Change the text in the Office Assistant to "Send us comments about your search," and change the text in the Help pane to inform them that their comments will be sent to you. Change the feedback URL to point to your ASP page, and you’re done.

Continuing users' searches on your intranet site

You can set up Help on the Web so that it searches your intranet rather than Microsoft.com for more information. You can also collect users' feedback for your own use, rather than sending it to Microsoft.

To send users to your Web site, create an ASP page to capture users' questions and search your organization's Web site. Change the text in the Office Assistant and text in the Help topic pane to tell users where their questions are being sent and where their browsers are being redirected. Update the feedback URL to point to your ASP page.

Users can search your site for the latest information about internal tools. You can also collect comments about Microsoft Project 2000 and send them on to Microsoft if and when you choose.

Sending questions to your support staff

You can use a custom ASP page and some of your coding experience to set up a complex system for handling user questions. For example, you can have users fill in the feedback form with all of their pertinent questions and comments and route the form to your support staff.

Then you can redirect your users to an ASP page with FAQs or provide a link to a Web site that they can use to search for more information. If they still can't find the answer, your support staff has had time to receive the query, research the answer, and supply a solution to the problem.

See also

You can create custom Help content and integrate it with the Office Help system, including the Answer Wizard. For more information, see "Creating Your Own Help Topics" in this article.

Customizing Help on the Web

You can customize Help on the Web by changing any of the following items: the default URL, the text in the Office Assistant, and some of the text in the Help pane. Since the Help on the Web feature is shared with Microsoft Office, to customize this feature you need to set Office system policies, and the customizations will apply to Microsoft Project as well as Office.

Change the default URL

By default, the Help on the Web link in the Office Assistant points to the Office Update site on the Microsoft Web site. The default URL is https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/office/redirect/fromOffice9/AnswerWizard.asp. However, you can change the default URL to point to another Web site, such as your organization's home page or support Web site.

To change the default URL, set the Feedback URL policy.

To change the default URL

In the System Policy Editor, double-click the Default User icon.
In the Default User Properties dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Office 2000.
Click the plus sign next to Assistant.
Click the plus sign next to Help on the Web.
Select the Feedback URL check box.
Under Settings for Feedback URL, type the URL you want to use.

Note The maximum length of the text string for the feedback URL is 255 characters.

Customize the text in the Office Assistant

You can customize the text of the final Answer Wizard link, None of the above, look for more help on the Web. For example, you can include the name of your organization by changing the text to None of the above, look for more help on the Organization Web site.

To change the text in the Office Assistant, set the Feedback button label policy.

To change the text in the Office Assistant

In the System Policy Editor, double-click the Default User icon.
In the Default User Properties dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Office 2000.
Click the plus sign next to Assistant.
Click the plus sign next to Help on the Web.
Select the Feedback button label check box.
Under Settings for Feedback button label, type the text you want to use.

Note The maximum length of the text string for the feedback button label is 255 characters.

Customize the text in the Help window

You can customize some of the text in the Help window. By default, the following text appears in the middle of the Help window, just below the user question: "Click the Send and go to the Web button below to launch Microsoft Internet Explorer and send your question to a site that provides further assistance. You can switch back to Help at any time."

You can add the name of your Web site or organization to this text. To change the text in the Help window, you set the Feedback dialog text policy.

To change the text in the Help window

In the System Policy Editor, double-click the Default User icon.
In the Default User Properties dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Office 2000.
Click the plus sign next to Assistant.
Click the plus sign next to Help on the Web.
Select the Feedback dialog text check box.
Under Settings for Feedback dialog text, type the text you want to use.

Notes The maximum length of the text string for the feedback dialog text is 255 characters. The Help on the Web feature is automatically disabled if there is no default Web browser on the user's computer or if there is no feedback URL defined in the Windows registry.

See also

You use system policies to change the Help on the Web feature. For more information about the system policies and the System Policy Editor, see "System Policy Editor" in this article.

You can create custom Help content and integrate it with the Help system, including the Answer Wizard. For more information, see "Creating Help Topics" in this article.

Customizing the Answer Wizard Feedback Form

When your users click None of the above, look for help on the Web in the Answer Wizard, they are directed to a feedback form in Help. They use this form to enter comments about the problem that they are trying to solve and the kind of information they expected to find. When they submit their comments, they are directed to the Office Update Web site where the search is automatically run again to find any updated information.

Meanwhile, the data from the feedback form is submitted to the support staff at Microsoft, where the information is used to improve the next version of Answer Wizard topics, as well as the information available on the Office Update Web site.

The Answer Wizard feedback form is dynamic. It collects users' comments and also forwards pertinent information about the failed query. By default, the form sends the information to the Microsoft support staff for analysis. If you want to redirect information to your own organization's support staff, you can customize the form and create a custom Active Server Pages (ASP) file to handle the information from the form.

The Office Resource Kit includes information on how to customize the feedback form, as well as a sample .asp file (answiz.asp), illustrating how to do this. You need to change the following three options in the sample Answiz.asp file.

Option	Description
f_log=1	Set to 0 to disable logging of users' questions. Default is 1.
f_redirect_to_MS=1	Set to 0 to disable sending of information to the Office Update Web site. Default is 1.
where_if_not_MS="alert.htm"	Set to the URL of the page you want users to see after they submit the feedback form. This option is valid only if you have set the redirect option to 0.

Toolbox The Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox includes a sample ASP file for customizing the Answer Wizard feedback form. For information about installing the Answiz.asp file and other sample HTML files, see Help on the Web Sample Files in the Office Resource Kit Toolbox.

Protecting Against Macro Viruses and Using Security Features

Scanning for Viruses Before You Open a Project

Microsoft Project 2000 now allows virus scanning programs to check documents before you open them. When you open a project, it is checked by the virus scanning program before the project file is opened.

Virus scanning programs that can check Microsoft Project 2000 files are registered on the computer when the programs are installed. This registration enables Microsoft Project to determine how to pass the files through the scanning program before the files are opened. When you open a Microsoft Project file, a message is displayed in the status bar indicating that the file is being scanned.

Files that are password-protected cannot be checked by virus scanning programs because these documents are encrypted and cannot be read. When you open a password-protected file, the virus scanning program is bypassed.

Signing Macros Digitally to Verify the Source

Macro viruses are programs written in the macro languages of applications. These viruses can do serious harm to programs and data. Without proper precautions, macro viruses can be transmitted to a computer and stored in the global template when an infected project file is opened in Microsoft Project.

Microsoft Project 98 can protect against macro viruses by warning that the project file being opened contains macros. You can then choose to disable the macros or keep them enabled when you open the file.

Microsoft Project 2000 expands on macro virus protection by allowing macros in documents to be digitally signed. A digital signature is binary data that is calculated by applying an algorithm to the original data (in this case, the macro code) and a numeric private key. The private key has a corresponding public key.

When a second algorithm is applied to the digital signature and the public key, the algorithm determines whether the data was signed by a user with access to the private key. Therefore, the digital signature can be used to prove that the data is really from the user or source that the digital signature claims to be from.

Using certificates to sign macros

A certificate is a set of data that completely identifies an entity and is issued by a certificate authority only after that authority has verified the entity's identity. The data set includes the public key tendered to the entity. The entity obtains a certificate that also includes the private key, so the certificate can be used to sign data.

A certificate that contains only a public key is called a public certificate. A certificate that contains public and private keys is called a private certificate or personal certificate. Certificates are automatically installed as needed and stored in the registry by the operating system.

VeriSign is an example of a certificate authority. You can also produce your own certificates by using Windows NT or Windows 2000 Certificate Services or by using the Selfcert.exe program. This program is installed with the Office Tools/Digital Signatures feature in Office or Microsoft Project Setup.

Note Certificates created with Selfcert.exe are not verified by any authority, and any user with access to Selfcert.exe can create them. Therefore, it is recommended that users not trust self-signed certificates unless they know for sure that the certificate is valid. (You can determine who signed a certificate by viewing its properties.)

Not all certificates can be used for all security needs. Types of certificates include the following:

Identity Proves user identity when the user is authenticated on a server computer.

E-mail Digitally signs e-mail content to prove that it was produced by a specific user; encrypts the content so that it cannot be read or tampered with on a network.

Code-signing Digitally signs code to prove that it was produced by a specific publisher; prevents code tampering.

When you sign Microsoft Project 2000 macros, you must use a code-signing certificate. A public version of the certificate is stored with the digital signature in signed files. Personal certificates, which can be used to sign and encrypt the macros because they contain private keys, are also stored on the client computer.

Managing certificates with Internet Explorer

You can manage the certificates installed on a computer by using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

To manage certificates by using Internet Explorer 4.x

On the View menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Content tab.
In the Certificates area, click Personal to manage the personal certificates installed on your computer.
To manage the list of trusted certificate authorities that is stored on your computer, click Authorities.

To manage certificates by using Internet Explorer 5

On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Content tab.
To display the Certificate Manager, click Certificates.

Use the Certificate Manager to manage the personal certificates, public certificates, and list of trusted certificate authorities on your computer.

Using certificate timestamps

Certificates are given expiration dates after which the certificates are no longer valid. Expiration dates are chosen so that the amount of time between the issue date and expiration date of a certificate is too small for anyone to make the required computations to produce a private key from a public key and thereby falsify digital signatures.

If a macro is signed with a certificate after the certificate has expired, the signature is not considered valid. Certificate authorities provide a certified timestamp that can be applied as part of a digital signature when a document is signed. The timestamp proves when the document was signed and can be compared to the expiration date of the certificate to verify that the document was signed before the certificate expired.

You can specify the URL of a timestamp authority for Microsoft Project 2000 to use in the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VBA\Security

Within this subkey, you specify values for the following entries:

TimeStampURL String value that provides the URL.
TimeStampRetryCount DWORD value that specifies how many times to attempt to connect to the timestamp URL.
TimeStampRetryDelay DWORD value that specifies how many seconds to wait between retries of the timestamp URL.

Signing macros by using the Visual Basic Editor

You sign Microsoft Project 2000 macros in the Visual Basic Editor before saving the macro.

To sign a macro in the Visual Basic Editor

With the macro open in the Visual Basic Editor, click Digital Signature on the Tools menu.
Click Choose.
In the Select Certificate dialog box, select the certificate you want to use.

All personal certificates installed on your computer are listed.

Setting Security Levels

Microsoft Project 2000 can be set to a high, medium, or low security level.

High security Macros must be signed by a trusted source. Otherwise, macros in documents are automatically disabled without notice when the documents are opened.

Medium security Users are prompted to enable or disable macros in documents when the documents are opened. Microsoft Project is set to the medium security level by default.

Low security No macro checking is performed when documents are opened and all macros are enabled. This security level is not recommended because no protection is active when it is selected.

To set the security level in Microsoft Project 2000

On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Security.
Click the Security Level tab, and then select a security level.

Specifying trusted sources

When you open a project file with signed macros in Microsoft Project 2000 and the certificate has not previously been trusted, you can choose to trust the source. If you choose to trust the source, all documents with macros signed by that source are trusted and are automatically enabled when documents are opened, regardless of the security level set for the application.

You can choose to trust all installed add-ins and templates so that any COM add-ins and the Global.mpt template file are trusted even though the files are not signed.

To specify trusted sources in Microsoft Project 2000

On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Security.
To view or remove sources that have been trusted, click the Trusted Sources tab.
To trust add-ins and templates that are installed with Microsoft Project, select the Trust all installed add-ins and templates check box.

Presetting trusted sources for all users in your organization

To preset trusted sources on users' computers, you can use the Profile Wizard to save your security settings. On a computer that has Microsoft Project 2000 installed, open documents with macros signed by the sources you want to trust. Choose to trust the sources as you open each document.

Use the Profile Wizard to create an OPS file based on your configuration. Then use the Custom Installation Wizard to include your OPS file on the administrative installation point. When users run Microsoft Project Setup from the administrative installation point, the sources that you specified as trusted sources are also specified as trusted sources on users' computers.

See also

You can use Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows NT Certificate Services to create and manage certificates. Windows NT Certificate Services is available in the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. Windows 2000 Certificate Services is available in Windows 2000 Server. For more information about Windows NT Certificate Services, see the "Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack online Help" on the Windows NT Server Web site.

For a list of certificate authorities that you can use, see the Microsoft Security Advisor Web site.

You can use the Profile Wizard to preset security levels and trusted sources. For more information, see Profile Wizard in Part 3 – Customizing Installation of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

You can use the System Policy Editor to preset security levels and specify whether to trust installed add-ins and templates. For more information, see "System Policy Editor" in this article.

Protecting Project Files and Information

Microsoft Project 2000 supports three levels of file protection. The user who creates a file has read/write permission to a Microsoft Project file and controls the protection level. The three levels of file protection are:

File open protection

Microsoft Project requires the user to enter a password to open a file.

File modify protection

Microsoft Project requires the user to enter a password to open the file with read/write permission.

Read-only recommended protection.

Microsoft Project prompts the user to open the file as read-only. If the user clicks No at the prompt, Microsoft Project opens the file with read/write permission, unless the file has other password protection.

Microsoft Project does not use the symmetric encryption routine known as 40-bit RC4. It uses an XOR-based encryption scheme when saving a file with password protection. Additionally, users cannot protect elements within a Microsoft Project file, but must use password protection to protect the entire file. For highest-level security for Microsoft Project files, users can use their operating system security.

See also

For information about security in Microsoft Project Central, see "Security and Authentication for Microsoft Project Central" in Part 6 – Microsoft Project Central of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

For information about setting up a database to store project and database security, see the file ProjDb.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder\Pfiles\MSOffice\Office/1033.

Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit

On This Page

System Policies

Setting the Standards for Your Organization

New and Improved System Policies

Easily enforceable policies

Safer policies

More intuitive settings

Policies that can be undone

Policies that accept environment variables

Options That Can Be Set Through a System Policy

Working with the System Policy Template

Applying System Policies to Selected Users or Groups

Setting system policies for all users or all computers

Setting system policies for a particular user or computer

Setting system policies for a group of users

Setting System Policies

System policy settings

Using Environment Variables in System Policies

System Policies and the Windows Registry

Where are policies stored in the Windows registry?

Locating the registry entry that corresponds to a system policy

System Policy Editor

Setting System Policies for Your Organization

Create a new policy file

Add users, groups, or computers to the policy file

Set the policy

Save and distribute the policy file

System Policy Reference

Client Computer Requirements for Using System Policies

System Policies in the Policy Template

System Policies in the Windows Installer Policy Template

System Policies that Accept Environment Variables

Office Registry API

Overview of ORAPI

System Policies Override ORAPI Defaults

Help and Support

Getting Help in Microsoft Project 2000

New features in Help

Running Microsoft Project 2000 Help on a locked-down system

Help available on Microsoft Web sites

Getting Help from Microsoft Product Support Services

Support Online at Microsoft.com

Telephone support from Product Support Services

TTY/TDD support

Business support services

On-site, multivendor, or proprietary product support

Support outside the United States and Canada

Creating Help Topics

Customizing Help Content for Your Users

Creating Custom Help Content

Determine where to start

Choose a type of Help file

Make custom Help work like Microsoft Project 2000 Help

Adding Custom Help Content to the Answer Wizard

Create an Answer Wizard Builder project

Add user questions

Create a custom Answer Wizard file

Making Custom Help Content Accessible to Users

Register a new Answer Wizard file before deploying Office

Register a new Answer Wizard file after deploying Microsoft Project

Register a new CHM file

Linking the Answer Wizard to the Web

Expanding Help on the Web

Directing users to a static page on your intranet site

Using queries to create or expand your custom Help files

Continuing users' searches on your intranet site

Sending questions to your support staff

Customizing Help on the Web

Change the default URL

Customize the text in the Office Assistant

Customize the text in the Help window

Customizing the Answer Wizard Feedback Form

Protecting Against Macro Viruses and Using Security Features

Scanning for Viruses Before You Open a Project

Signing Macros Digitally to Verify the Source

Using certificates to sign macros

Managing certificates with Internet Explorer

Using certificate timestamps

Signing macros by using the Visual Basic Editor