One of the key advantages of the Project for the Web application is that it seamlessly integrates with the Teams application. So in this article, I would like to explain the interaction between the two applications and what is possible in terms of Project for the Web usability if you live in Teams all day long.

What is Project for the Web?

Project for the Web is a web-based application that allows organizations to manage projects that require task dependencies and light resource management. Historically, Planner has been the tool of choice for task management on Teams. However, it is meant for Agile/Kanban-style projects. For more sophisticated ones, Project Managers had to rely on the Microsoft Project Desktop application, but it was only used by project managers and did not allow for team collaboration. Project for the Web is a lightweight, web-based version of MS Project Desktop, allowing project managers and teams to collaborate in real-time and set dependencies, manage the effort, etc. To read more about Project for the Web, click here.

Project for the Web is part of Microsoft 365 Group

One important similarity of Project for the Web application with other applications is the fact that it is part of a Microsoft 365 Group. Just like Teams, Planner, SharePoint Team Site, etc. – Project for the Web is managed by Microsoft 365 Group security. Microsoft 365 Group allows task assignment to users from the pool of Microsoft 365 Group users and allows those users to edit/complete tasks.

Project for the Web integration with Teams

Since Project for the Web and Teams share a Microsoft 365 Group, they also have a pretty seamless integration. Here is how you can rip the benefits of the integration.

Add as a Tab

The first one is pretty standard – just like you can add Plan from Planner or Lists from Lists app, you can also add a Project for the Web schedule as a tab/app in a Microsoft Team channel.

Once you add it to a given channel, you can access all 5 views and manage the tasks from the convenience of the Microsoft Teams channel.

Chat on a task

Another capability in terms of Project for the Web Teams integration is that you can chat about any task on the Project Schedule. This is powerful. While we could supply comments on Planner applications for a long time, we could never really chat about a task on a schedule built in Desktop MS Project. We can do so now that we have a web-based version of the application. This allows for a focused discussion about any given task and provides more context, history, and task status for anyone working on the project schedule.

To chat about the task, in a schedule embedded in Teams, just click three dots next to a task and then choose Start Conversation.

You can view the history of comments/conversations about a given task by clicking three dots and then choosing View task conversation.

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As mentioned in an earlier article, Project for the Web is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 Group. The same membership that controls access to a SharePoint site and Teams, also controls what users can or can’t do within the Project for the Web application. So in today’s post, I would like to explain this “relationship” a bit further, especially when it comes to assigning tasks within the Project for the Web application. Specifically, I will explain the difference between Members vs. Other people in Project for the Web.

No Group when the Schedule is initially created

When you initially create a project schedule, it is not attached to any Microsoft 365 Group. This allows you to get started with some tasks and even task assignments without connecting the schedule to any existing Microsoft 365 group or creating a new one. You can connect the schedule to a group or create a brand new group by clicking on Group Members in the upper-right-hand corner.

What happens when you assign a task in a schedule not connected to a group

In case you start creating a schedule, and it is not yet connected to a Microsoft Group, and then you decide to assign a given task to any user other than yourself, it will come up with the following message:

“This project has not been shared with a group yet and assignees will not be able to see their assigned tasks until it is shared. Would you like to continue assigning this task or share the project with a group?”

If you choose Add a group option, it will prompt you to other create a new Microsoft 365 Group, or choose an existing one. If you click on Just assign, it will allow you to assign a task to the user without creating a Microsoft 365 Group. However, it will also warn that resources won’t be able to view assigned tasks or manage them until the group is created.

What happens when you assign a task in a schedule to users outside of the group

There is also another scenario that is possible. You might connect the schedule to an existing Microsoft 365 Group (or create a new one), but when you assign tasks, you might assign them to users inside and outside of a group. If you assign to users inside of a group, it is all good. However, when you assign tasks to users not part of the group, you will get the following message:

“The person you are trying to assign is not a member of this group, and will not be able to see their assigned tasks until they are added. Would you like to continue assigning and add them to the group?”

If you choose Assign and add, the user will get the task assignment and become part of a Microsoft 365 Group. In other words, that user will also have access to all the other assets of a Group, like a SharePoint site, Outlook group calendar, a Microsoft Team, Planner, etc.

If you choose Just assign, the user will get the task assignment, but won’t become part of a Microsoft 365 Group.

Members vs. Other people in Project for the Web

If your schedule has task assignments for users inside and outside the Microsoft 365 group, you can easily see the rosters by clicking Group members in the upper-right-hand corner.

The Members tab will list the members of a Microsoft 365 Group.

The Other people tab will show the users who have been assigned a task on a schedule but who are not part of a Microsoft 365 Group.

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If you create a schedule using the Project for the Web, you will notice that it has five distinct tabs/views available to manage, organize and assign tasks. So in today’s article, I would like to explain the available views in Project for the Web, their purpose, and limitations.

What is Project for the Web?

Project for the Web is a web-based task management application that allows teams to manage tasks with dependencies and also track the effort spent on those tasks. Think of Project for the Web as the step up from Planner, which is meant for less formal and smaller projects.

Example of the Schedule built in Project for the Web

Several views are available within Project for the Web, and that’s what I would like to explain in this article.

5 Views in Project for the Web

View 1: Grid View

This is a default view that opens when you access any given schedule within Project for the Web application. Essentially it is a table/excel-like list of tasks that allows you to quickly assign them, display built-in fields, create custom fields and organize them using the subtask functionality.

Grid View in Project for the Web

What is possible using the Grid View

Grid View, compared to other views listed below, gives you the most flexibility in terms of task management. It is a single place where you can assign tasks, change the start and finish dates, change durations and effort, attach documents, create checklists, add notes, and attach files. Essentially this is the view you will probably spend most of the time in while managing a project.

Managing a task in a Grid View of Project for the Web

View 2: Board View

The Board view displays the tasks in Kanban-style mode, similar to what we have in Planner. Just like we have buckets in Planner to organize tasks into various groups, in Project for the Web, we can also organize the tasks into buckets. The Board View takes all the subtasks that do not have children subtasks underneath and displays them in Kanban-style format. By default, they are organized into Bucket 1, but you can rename this default bucket and create additional ones as necessary.

Board View in Project for the Web

Unfortunately, those buckets (bucket names) are not tied to any of the tasks/parent tasks on the Project Schedule. So however you organize your tasks into buckets on the Board View does not impact anything on the Grid View.

What is possible using the Board View

Clicking on a task in the Board View allows you to fill in the task details in a similar manner as you could on the Grid View. In addition to standard fields for the task, you would also see additional fields on the form related to the Board/Kanban-style project management: Bucket and Sprint.

The Board View is useful if your project is more of an Agile type, rather than Waterfall, which requires you to set up dependencies. Another bonus available in the Board View is to group buckets by Sprint, in case you are once again using Agile/Scrum methodology to manage your projects.

View 3: Timeline View

The Timeline View allows you to visualize the tasks in Gantt chart mode. Since we have dependencies on tasks, we can visualize those dependencies using the Gantt-type format.

Timeline View in Project for the Web

What is possible using the Timeline View

When you display the task list using the Timeline View, it only displays the tasks, no other fields, and then displays the visual representation of a task (the Gantt Chart itself). Moving the bars allows you to adjust the start date, finish date, and duration. You can also create/adjust dependencies by dragging lines/arrows between the tasks on a Gantt Chart.

View 4: Chart View

The Chart view is not a view of tasks, but rather some basic reports/analytics on the schedule. It pretty much displays the general overview of the project, including which tasks are late, in progress, completed, and not started.

Chart View in Project for the Web

What is possible using the Chart View

In Chart View, you can’t really do anything. It is a read-only view where you can visualize a basic report that is available. You can’t really manage tasks from that view.

View 5: People View

Think of People View as another way to assign tasks. It essentially lists all the team members of the project (Microsoft 365 group) and allows you to visualize the distribution of tasks among team members. On the left-hand side, it shows Unassigned tasks, then next to it on the right, it displays the names of the team members with their assigned tasks underneath.

People View in Project for the Web

What is possible using the People View

Bu design, you can change task assignments easily by dragging the tasks from one column to another. To change other information about a task, you would just click on the task itself to open up a task form.

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If you started using Project for the Web to manage projects within your organization, I am sure you encountered the mysterious Quick Look column that appears on every project schedule by default. In today’s post, I would like to explain the purpose of this column and what it does.

What is Project for the Web

Project for the Web is a web-based application that allows teams to manage tasks. Unlike its cousin Planner, Project for the Web allows teams to create more sophisticated task schedules, set dependencies on tasks, and manage effort and resources. To read more about Project for the Web and some of its capabilities, read this post.

Sample Project for the Web Schedule in Project for the Web

Quick Look Column in Project for the Web

When you create a new schedule within Project for the Web, you get to see the Quick Look field available within the task plan by default. It is a Read-only field that a user can’t fill out. So what is it? Let me explain.

The Quick Look field shows whether or not a given task has additional information not displayed on a task schedule. Here is the additional information you can fill out on a task and shown as an indicator in the Quick Look column:

• Task Notes
• File Attachments
• Checklist

By default, when you create new tasks, these fields will obviously be blank. However, if you click on the “i” Project Details panel and populate a task with some task notes, attach a file or utilize a checklist option, it will show you the appropriate indicators within the Quick Look column. Otherwise, the users reading or completing the task might miss this important additional information and might not even know it even exists.

In the below example, I added some notes, attached a file, and added a few items to the checklist within a task.

And this is how the task grid looks to the users once the information is populated.

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In today’s article, I would like to continue to familiarize you with the Project for the Web application. Specifically, I want to explain the difference between subtasks and task checklists.

What is Project for the Web?

If you are new to Project for the Web application, I suggest you check out this post first, where I explain the relatively new application at a high level and tell you about its major features and capabilities.

Project for the Web Subtasks

One of the biggest advantages of Project for the Web compared to the Planner application is that you can organize tasks into multiple levels of categories and subcategories, just like you would see such an arrangement on a Gantt Chart Schedule. Below is an example of what I am talking about.

To achieve this level of organization, you would choose the parent category and create a subtask using the task below. You can create multiple levels of subtasks/categories/nested structures. So in other words, a subtask is a manageable effort/task that can be recorded, executed, and tracked on a project schedule.

Project for the Web Checklist

We never really had Checklist capability in the past, at least with the desktop version of the MS Project. However, now that we have Project for the Web, we can break down a task into smaller increments by using the Checklist functionality. This was probably copied from Planner, where we had this capability for quite some time.

If you click “i” on a given task in Project for the Web, it will open up a task details panel where you can create a checklist inside of a task.

Checklist Limitations

• The checklist does not show up in the schedule (unless you display the Quick Look column indicator)
• A checklist can’t be assigned resources, dates, duration, or effort (like a task)
• Hard to track the status
• Any given task can only have a max of 10 items in its checklist

Checklist or Subtasks?

From my experience, a checklist might be handy for really small tasks that do not require much tracking in terms of effort, resource assignment, or dates. It might be an excellent way to break a single task into smaller steps, without “polluting” your schedule/timeline. The only thing I want to clarify is that the checklist items should belong to the same individual(s) as those appearing on the task itself. If this is not the case, the checklist items should be their own task with their own user assignment. Otherwise, there is a really good chance those checklist items will never be completed 😊

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There are a few ways to create a new schedule in Project for the Web application. So in today’s post, I would like to summarize them all.

What is Project for the Web?

Project for the Web is a Microsoft web-based application, one would use to manage projects. It is meant to be more sophisticated in terms of task management/project management capabilities and is intended to be a step up from the Planner application. Check out this post to learn more about the app.

Example of a schedule in Project for the Web

How to create a schedule in Project for the Web

There are several ways to create a new schedule in Project for the Web. To access all the options, first, navigate to https://project.microsoft.com/ or click on Project for the Web from the Microsoft App Launcher.

Option 1. Create from Blank

The first way to create a new schedule is to start from scratch.

1. From the Project for the Web Homepage, click New project
2. Next, click Blank project
3. A blank project schedule will then be created
4. You can then click on the title of the Project to change its default name from Untitled Project + change some other parameters about it (i.e., Start Date)

Option 2. Create from Template

Another way to start a new schedule is to create one from a template. Just like in Lists, we have the option to create a list based on a certain business use case, we do have the same capability in Project for the Web. Microsoft has a few templates available to give you some ideas about tasks/dependencies based on certain use cases. For example, there are sample schedules for construction projects, software development, etc.

1. From the Project for the Web Homepage, click New project
2. Next, on the pop-up that appears, choose a template from the ones presented on a screen
3. Once you choose a given template, it will show you a preview of it. Click the Use template button.
4. The schedule with sample tasks will now be created in the Project for the Web. You can change it/customize to your process from there.

Option 3. Import from MS Project .mpp file

This option is great if you have used MS Project (the desktop version) in the past and have some schedules already created there. This option allows you to (almost) seamlessly import a desktop .mpp file to Project for the Web. I blogged about this method in this article a bit earlier. The article mentioned above also discusses some of the limitations you will encounter with the import process.

Option 4. Copy from existing schedule

Finally, we have an option where you can take an existing schedule and copy it over to a new schedule. This option is great when you or someone else has already created a Project Schedule in Project for the Web, and you need to copy it for a similar project.

1. On a given project, click three dots in the upper-right-hand-corner, then choose Copy project
2. This will create a copy of the Project. You can then change its name and customize it further.
3. It is important to note that if the original Project you copied was already part of a certain Microsoft 365 group, the copied Project would not be part of that same group. You will need to manually associate that new schedule with the same group or another group.

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One of the capabilities we recently got in Project for the Web is the ability to have custom fields within a project schedule. So today I want to explain how to create custom fields in Project for the Web.

What is Project for the Web?

Project for the Web is a Microsoft application available within Microsoft 365 that allows organizations to manage projects. It fills the gap between Planner, which is more of an informal task management application, and Microsoft Project, which is a desktop project management application that is sophisticated in terms of capabilities but also a bit confusing and not unintuitive to regular users. I actually compared the various task management options within Microsoft 365 in this article, so check it out.

Example of a schedule in Project for the Web

Built-in fields in Project for the Web

Project for the Web already contains some built-in fields (columns) that you can add/display on any project. Essentially, these are core columns/fields that are either necessary for the Project for the Web to work/function or allow for some additional capabilities in terms of project tracking.

Some built-in fields include Start, Finish, Duration, % completed, Assigned to, and a few others.

When you create a new project, some fields are displayed by default in a Grid, and you can always show/hide others by clicking on the + Add column.

How to create custom fields in Projects for the Web

Just like we can create custom metadata in SharePoint lists and libraries, we can also create custom columns in Project for the Web Task schedules. In Project for the Web, we call these custom metadata fields. Here is how to create a new custom field.

1. Click the Add column button, then + New Field
2. On the next screen, choose the type of column you want to create and its name
3. As of the writing of this post, only certain types of columns are supported (shown below)
4. For this article, I would like to add a Cost column (number field), to track the cost of each task on my schedule. The roll-up question is whether or not the numbers for the subtasks will be added together (rolled up/summed up) on the parent tasks.
5. In my case, I will choose to sum up all the subtask costs (roll-up). You may select other math functions as well (i.e., show the min or max, or an average of the task numbers).
6. Click Create to create the field
7. The custom field will now appear in the schedule
8. By the way, in case you chose roll-up, this is what it looks like. In my case, I chose Roll up Sum of all subtasks, so it totals up the numbers (costs in my case) for the parent task.

How to fill in information for the custom fields in Project for the Web

If you want to fill out the custom fields with specific task information, you do so by filling it out like any other field on a task. You have two options:

• Option 1: Complete the information by filling out a field in the Grid mode (like you do in Excel)
• Option 2: Click in the Task Details Panel and complete the information there

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There are several different ways to create a new Project Schedule in the Project for the Web applicaiton and one of the options is to import an existing Microsoft Project file. I would like to explain how to do just that in today’s post.

What is Project for the Web

If you are new to Project for the Web, it is a task management application available within Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Unlike Planner, which is an informal, Kanban-style task management tool, Project for the Web allows you to set dependencies on the tasks, populate tasks with effort, and create custom fields. I introduced you to this wonderful application in an earlier article of mine.

An example of the Project for the Web application

How to import a Microsoft Project schedule into Project for the Web

Suppose you are considering switching to Project for the Web. In that case, the chances are, you probably already used a desktop version of the Microsoft Project and happen to have some schedules created in that application. Luckily, Microsoft made the transition of switching to the cloud version of the application easy, by allowing us to import a desktop version .mpp file into Project for the Web. So in today’s article, I would like to explain how this works and explain some limitations associated with the import process.

For this post, I will use the simple schedule I have in MS Project below.

Existing MS Project schedule

To import an .mpp project schedule to Project for the Web, do the following:

1. Navigate to Project for the Web application by clicking Microsoft 365 App Launcher > Project
2. Click New project Button
3. Then, choose the Import project button
4. From the next pop-up, click Choose .mpp file button
5. Browse to the location of your .mpp file and click Open
6. It will then go ahead and import the file and provide you with a summary of unsupported items that were not imported (more on this later in this post). Click OK.
7. Your schedule will now appear in Project for the Web! Mazel Tov!

Limitations on the .mpp project schedule import to Project for the Web

1. You can only import an .mpp file into a new Project for the Web Schedule, not an existing one.
2. You can only import an .mpp file into a schedule once. If you made a change to the .mpp file after the initial import, you would need to import to a brand new schedule
3. Since Project for the Web is a lightweight version of the desktop application, some fields and information that exist in the desktop version of the application will not be imported to Project for the Web. Some examples include: Assigned Resources, custom fields, and certain types of dependencies. For a complete list of the columns that are not supported/imported, check out this Microsoft article.
4. Currently, Project for the Web only supports a maximum number of 500 tasks. So if you have a sophisticated and extensive schedule in MS Project, it will not be imported to Project for the Web. Check out this post for a complete list of Project of Project for the Web limitations.

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