MSProject Reporter Blog

Last time we briefly discussed some of the reasons why Project Managers often skip using the built-in Reports in MS Project, and we looked at some of the fundamental concepts around Tables and Views. Now that we (hopefully!) understand some of the differences between Tables and Views in MS Project, how do we create or modify them to generate the data that we need for reporting?

One way to manipulate a Table or View in MS Project to generate a desired Report is by adding, removing, and moving Columns in the Table; you can start with an existing Table which is similar to the desired layout, or you can create a custom Table.

Adding Columns to a Table

To add one or more Columns to a Table, do the following:

1. Select View > Table > More Tables…:

    

   

    

2. In the More Tables dialog box, select a Table which is similar to your desired end result (you may need to view some of the Tables to determine which is the closest match), then click the Copy button:

    

   

    

3. In the Table Definition dialog box, enter a Name for the new Table, then add Columns / fields to the Table by clicking in the first empty row in the Field Name column and selecting the desired field from the drop-down list:

    

   

    

4. Repeat the selection process for any fields that you would like to add to the Table (i.e. which fields you would like to include in your Report); you can also specify other options for each field, such as alignment, width, custom title, etc.:

    

   

    

5. Select the Show in menu checkbox, located near the upper-right corner of the Table Definition dialog box, then click the OK button.
6. The new Table should appear in the More Tables dialog box:

    

   

    

7. Click the Apply button to close the dialog box and display the new Table:

    

   

Removing Columns from a Table

To remove one or more Columns from a Table, do the following:

1. Rather than selecting View > Table > More Tables, simply right-click on the Column header that you would like to remove, then select Hide Column from the drop-down menu:

    

   

    

2. The Column will be hidden immediately from the Table:

    

   

    

   Note: the removed Column has not been deleted permanently from the Project schedule, but rather it was simply hidden from view; it can be re-added later if needed.

Moving Columns in a Table

To move / rearrange the Columns in a Table, do the following:

1. Rather than selecting View > Table > More Tables, simply click on the heading for the Column that you would like to move:

    

   

    

2. Click and drag the Column heading to the desired position (a shaded line will indicate where the new position will be when you release the mouse button):

    

   

    

3. Release the mouse button to "drop" the Column into its new position:

    

   

Preparing the Data for Presentation

As mentioned in the previous post, once the Project data is exposed and formatted to your liking, there are several options for presenting the data to the Project stakeholders:

• Print the Table directly from MS Project
• Convert the Table to PDF for electronic distribution, printing, or publishing on a web page
• Copy or export the data to another program such as MS Excel, MS Word, or MS PowerPoint
• Use the snapshot tool to capture a screenshot of the data, then paste into another program
• Use any of the multiple File > Save As… options to convert the data to another format

Next time, we'll look at how to use Filters in MS Project to narrow down the number of items in a Table for more concise Project Reporting.