WBS Schedule Pro Newsletter

Featured Topic
Exporting Projects to Excel

The WBS Schedule Pro Excel Export Wizard allows you to export WBS Schedule Pro data to a nicely formatted Excel Spreadsheet. 
WBS Chart
To export to Excel from within WBS Schedule Pro, choose the Project tab and click the Excel button:
Excel Button in WBS Schedule Pro

Select the fields you wish to export:

The WBS Schedule Pro Excel Wizard transfers the data to an Excel Spreadsheet:

Notice the Summary Task formatting, currency formatting, indenting and automatic grouping.

Microsoft Project Users
- Instead of exporting directly from MS Project to Excel, use WBS Schedule Pro to export your MS Project plans to Excel for better spreadsheets!

Why? Because Microsoft Project's Excel Export has many limitations that are overcome by using WBS Schedule Pro. These include:

1. Cell Formatting - Exporting from Microsoft Project to Excel formats all cells as plain text. Fields like Cost are not set to a currency format, dates are not set to a Date format, % Complete does not get displayed properly, etc.

2. Task Indenting - The Summary Tasks and Tasks in your Microsoft Project plan are all placed at the same level. The indenting you did in the Gantt Chart in Microsoft Project are no longer displayed in the Excel file.

3. Notes - From Project to Excel, the Notes field will be truncated to the first 255 characters or the first line break (whichever comes first). There is no easy way to get the complete Notes field directly from Project to Excel.

Opening your MS Project plans in WBS Schedule Pro and exporting to Excel bypasses many of the limitations of exporting from MS Project directly to Excel. 

Read more about it on our website
Previous Newsletters on our Website
Archived Newsletters now available on our website
For those receiving the newsletter for the first time, welcome! We hope you find it useful and encourage you check out previous issues for valuable tips and tricks. 

For those who have asked for access to the old newsletters, here you go:

Archived Newsletters on our Website
WBS Schedule Pro Tip: Did you know?
You can annotate your WBS and Network Charts with Text Boxes
In a WBS Chart or Network Chart, Right-click and select Add Text Box (or Add Linked Text Box) to add a free-form text box to annotate your chart. Like this:
Tips for using Text Boxes:
1. Right-click on white space and select Add Text Box to add a Box that stays in that spot.
2. Right-click on a Task and choose Add Linked Text Box to add a Box that points to and follows that Task.
3. Click and Drag from a Task to the Text Box to add a line and arrow pointing to that Task.
4. Doubleclick the line or arrow to edit colors and shapes.
5. Click within the Text Box and drag it to position it elsewhere.
6. Click the edge of the Text Box and drag to resize it.
7. Right-click inside the Text Box to edit styles and settings.
WBS Schedule Pro 5.1.0015
The latest version of WBS Schedule Pro is 5.1.0015. Go to File-About to see which version you have. There were no major changes since 5.1.0014 but we did add a neat new way to see your project data. See the topic below.

If you are using 5.1.xxxx but earlier than 5.1.0015, use the Check for Updates feature to upgrade to the latest version.

If you have 5.0.xxxx you can download 5.1.0015 from our website. Going from 5.0 to 5.1 requires an Uninstall and Reinstall (don't worry, your data is safe).

The above are Minor updates and are always FREE for 5.x users. See below for upgrading prior versions.

Click here to Download Version 5.1.0015

See a list of Version 5.1 Features, Fixes and Enhancements
Popup Task and Link Information
Task Information Popup

With the latest version of WBS Schedule Pro (5.1.0015) you can hover over a Task in a WBS, Network or Gantt Chart to display a popup form displaying information about that Task.
Task Info Popup
Link Information Popup
 
You can also hover over a dependency link in a Network or Gantt Chart to display a popup form that shows Predecessor and Successor information.
Link Info Popup
WBS Chart Pro and PERT Chart EXPERT users
It's been well over a year since the release of WBS Schedule Pro. If you haven't upgraded, what are you waiting for? The new WBS Schedule Pro software has so much to offer with combined WBS, Network & Gantt Charts plus many new and exciting features.

Click here for Upgrade Ordering Information
Top 10 Most Popular New Features in WBS Schedule Pro
  1. Combined WBS, Network and Gantt Charts for all-in-one planning and scheduling.
  2. Excel Export for quick and easy spreadsheets.
  3. A Notes Pane for adding extensive descriptions to your tasks.
  4. Free-form Text boxes for annotating charts.
  5. The new Ribbon makes features easier to find.
  6. The Word Export for exporting WBS Dictionaries.
  7. New and easier ways to create Headers and Footers for printing.
  8. More Right-Click access to menus and features.
  9. Advanced Task Linking including the Many-to-One and One-to-Many Link feature.
  10. The Grouping feature for showing alternate hierarchies.
Microsoft Project 2016 Compatibility
WBS Schedule Pro and Project 2016 - Only WBS Schedule Pro version 5.1.0014 or later is fully compatible with Project 2016. See the Download page for information on updating.  

The old WBS Chart Pro and PERT Chart EXPERT software is not compatible with Project 2016. Yet another reason to upgrade!

Download Page
Using Task Sheets
The Task Sheet in WBS Schedule Pro
Here are some tips for using Task Sheets in WBS Schedule Pro 
  1. Double-click the separator bar in the column header to Best Fit a column.
  2. Right-click a column and choose Insert Column to add a new column.
  3. Right-click a column and choose Hide Column to remove it. This hides the column but does not delete the data in that column.
  4. Right-click a column and choose Clear Column to remove data from that column. Great for setting WBS codes back to their defaults.
  5. Double-click a column header to edit formatting.
  6. Select multiple columns, right-click and select Column Definition to edit the formatting for several columns at once. Great for setting Date Formats for many date columns at once.
  7. Click the leftmost ID field and drag up or down to move Tasks and Summary Tasks.
  8. Click any column header and select the Task Info button to change all tasks at once. Great for setting % Complete to 0% or for setting all Constraints to As Soon As Possible.
  9. To wrap text in a column, right-click a text-based column, choose Column Definition and choose Wrap. Try this on the Notes field or Name field.
  10. To rename a column, double-click it and enter a new name in the Title. This renames that column only. To change the name of a field chart-wide, select Project-Fields and enter a Title there.
Video Tutorials
Check out the latest YouTube Videos

 
Here are our most popular videos to help get you started:
  1. Overview of the WBS Schedule Pro Software (6:16) -  Great for new users or if you just want an overview of the features and capabilities of the WBS Schedule Pro software.

  2. How to Plan a Project in WBS Schedule Pro (6:03) - Basic planning techniques for quickly and easily creating projects in WBS Schedule Pro using a WBS Chart, Network Chart, Gantt Chart and Task Sheet.

  3. Using WBS Charts in WBS Schedule Pro (19:04) - A detailed description of the WBS Chart features.

  4. Using Network Charts in WBS Schedule Pro (8:47) - A detailed description of the Network Chart features.
Happy New Year!
To all new WBS Schedule Pro users, long-time users and potential users, thank you for keeping up-to-date with us. As always, we welcome any questions, suggestions and/or comments.

The Critical Tools Team
Critical Tools, Inc.
(512) 342-2232
info@criticaltools.com
www.criticaltools.com