Looking to Recover your Global.MPT? You’re in good company….

Posted: May 4, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: MS Project Custom Fields, MS Project Formatting, MS Project VBA, Program Management, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

When working with Microsoft Project (MSP), there is nothing more frustrating than losing the hard work you’ve put into a file whether it’s a schedule or VBA / Macros to work with your schedule.

Today I’m here writing about ways to try to recover your Global.MPT because I completely lost it today…. or so I thought.  I was happily coding away building an awesome script in VBA  and was feeling such success when this setback had me going from blissful to horrified in seconds.  The code hung and I had to force MSP to close.  Once I tried to open it back again and go to my code, it was all gone!  The first thought that crossed my mind was, “Why didn’t I back it up?!?”  followed by, “How  could I have done such a rookie mistake?!?”

I then tried to calm down and try to troubleshoot and see if I had actually lost it all.   The thing is, I keep a backup of all my code that I push to production from the development environment. The code that I build as helper functions such as adding text to the beginning or the end of a group of tasks quickly, this code I keep it in my .MPT file because I don’t want to keep it in the development environment and accidentally push it to production.  I had built quite a few of this functions in the last couple of weeks, but hadn’t taken the time to back them up…. they are just little helper functions anyway, right?  Hard lesson to learn was how important they are to me once I realized they were all gone….

A quick search online does not quickly give you ways to try to restore your Global.MPT file.  I had to dig deep to actually find different methods to try.  I will add the two that might give you results.  Firstly, to find where in your computer you might find your Global.MPT,  you can check out this article from Microsoft Support.

Once I found my Global.MPT  on my computer at:

“C:/users/[your user name]/App data/Roaming/Microsoft/MS Project/1033”

I then immediately:

  1. Closed Microsoft Project completely
  2. Copied the Global.MPT file to a new folder
  3. Once I had a copy, I went back to the above address and renamade the file and changed the extension of the file to .MPP
  4. Then I opened the newly renamed file in step 3 with Microsoft Project
  5. The organizer pops up, then choose the Modules tab and copy all the “lost” modules to your new MPT file
  6. Make sure to reset any references in your library you were using for your macros if any

Of course, this doesn’t work for everyone.  If you are one of the unlucky ones, I have one more trick up my sleeve.  I found this solution when I was ready to give up on recuperating my awesome code.  I had already started to mourn the loss of such great work…

  1. Go to C:\Users\[Your User Name]\AppData\Local\Temp
  2. Filter by Date
  3. Scroll down until you find your latest, mine was: “AutoRecovery Save of Global (183).MPT
  4. I immediately made a copy before I attempted to open.
  5. Once I had the backup, I renamed the file and changed the extension to .MPP
  6. I opened it and the Organizer was immediately launched.
  7. I copied over my code from the Modules tab to my new file.

I cannot tell you the immense relief I felt once I figured I hadn’t lost it all.  I can recreate the few lines I did lose, but those helper functions are life (and time) savers for sure!

The moral of the story for both you and I is to make sure to create backups of ALL your code.  Even code that you might not think is very important.  It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Some ideas to save your code would be first of all NOT keep the code in Global.MPT.  Even if you do, make sure to save your code in an actual .MPP file and create backups of that.  Also, you can export your modules as .bas files or .frm for forms to a folder on your desktop.  I’ve actually created code that exports all of them quickly.  That’s one of the sub routines I had thought lost forever!  That would have been a shame to lose….

Anyway, good luck  recuperating your Global.MPT file…. know that you are in good company!

MS Project 2010 Custom Gantt: Add dates to the bars

Posted: February 8, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: MS Project 2010, MS Project Formatting, MS Project Gantt Formatting, Program Management | Leave a comment

The project team has decided they want to see dates on their Gantt chart bars.  So how do you do?  Easy!  Here are the steps you take to change your Gantt in MS Project.  It is similarly done MS Project 2013, which I also used daily.  Here is a schedule with no dates on the bar chart.

To put dates on the Gantt we can start by adding them to the right side of the bars.

First right click on the Gantt > Bar Styles and make sure you have “Task” highlighted.  On the bottom section click on Text tab.  Once there next “Right” type Finish and click OK.

Once you click OK you will see the dates on the right of the bars:

If you want to take out the lines and arrows to have a a cleaner looking bar chart, you can right click on gantt > Layout  and make sure under Links change it to no arrows (first option).  Here you can also change the date format in your bar chart under Date Format.

Below you can see the changes I made to my Tasks and Milestones, plus I took off the lines and arrows.  I’m ready to submit my Gantt chart for a schedule presentation.  Look how pretty it looks….

Just by playing around with the settings in the two areas I pointed out today, you can change the settings on how your bar chart looks.  Hope that helps you on your journey of learning how to format in MS Project.

 

MS Project 2010 – How to Show and Hide Columns

Posted: January 26, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: MS Project 2010, MS Project Formatting | Tags: , | Leave a comment

I am frequently asked how to add and remove columns in Microsoft Project.  I help people who use MS Project 2010 and 2013, so it should work for both.  As I’ve mentioned before, for these examples I’m using MS Project 2010 because that’s what I have installed on my PC.  At work I use MS Project 2010 and 2013.

Show/Hide a Column

Let’s talk about removing columns first.  When I say remove column, I mean remove it from view or hide it.  MS Project acts like a database and stores all our hidden columns and all the information as long as we don’t delete data on purpose.  So how do we do it?

  • Option 1 – Select the whole column you want remove (hide) and click delete on your keyboard.  That’s it, the column is hidden from view.  But don’t fret, the column is still within the MS Project database which is your file.
  • Option 2 – Select the whole column you want remove (hide) and right-click on your selected column.  Choose Hide Column and your column will be hidden.

 

 

 

  • Option 3 – If option 1 scares you a little, that’s okay.  You can hide your column from options on the ribbon located at the top of MS Project.  First select a cell or the whole column you want to hide, then go to Gantt Chart Tools -> Format -> Column Settings -> Hide Column

 

 

Presto!  Your column is now hidden.

Show/Insert a Column

So you’ve hidden the columns you didn’t need.  But suddenly your boss calls you and tells you he wants to see the column you just hid!  How to show it again?  Well, as with most actions in MS Project, there are a few ways to do this.  Be patient, the solution is coming up!

  • Option 1 –  The easiest way to add a new column, at least for me, is to highlight (select) the column that is going to be to the left of the column you want to insert.  For example, if you want your new column to be the first column, then select the whole first column.  Then press the Insert key on your keyboard, then scroll down the menu until you find the column you want to add.  You can also start typing the name and it will start scrolling by itself.
  • Option 2 – This option is similar to option 1 where you select the column you want your new column to be at.  You right-click on this selected column and choose Insert Column from the menu that pops open.  Now scroll down and find the column you want to insert.

 

 

 

  • Option 3 –  If you prefer to use the ribbon, you can go to Gantt Chart Tools -> Format -> Insert Column.  Then scroll down until you find the column you need.

 

 

 

  • Option 4 – Believe it or not, there is a fourth way to add a new column into your project schedule.  In your current view, scroll to the last column and the last column should be a column that says Add New Column.  If it’s not visible and you really want to use this method, you can add it by going to your Gantt Chart Tools -> Format -> Custom Settings and choose Display Add New Column

 

 

 

 

That should do it!  Now you know how to manipulate your schedule to show/hide any column within the schedule.  Customizing new columns is for another post!  Enjoy your new knowledge.