Using the Organizer in Microsoft Project

When you customise part of Microsoft Project, whether it's a calendar, a view, a field or something else entirely, the customised element is only available in the file you're working on.  If you want to make your customised content available to other Microsoft Project files, you need to use a tool called the Organizer to copy it into the global template.  Read on to find out how.

Opening the Organizer

Getting into the Organizer is different depending on which version of Microsoft Project you're using:

• In Project 2003/2007, from the menu choose: Tools -> Organizer...
• In Project 2010, choose: File -> Info -> Organizer

The Organizer looks slightly different depending on which version of Project you're using, but the main features are shown in the diagram below:

This is the Organizer in Microsoft Project 2010. The features indicated by the numbered circles are described below.

1. At the top of the dialog box will be a set of tabs for the different categories of customised content in your Project file.
2. On one side of the dialog box will be a list of the customised elements in a file called Global.MPT.  This is the global template that all Project files are based on - anything in this list will be available to every Project file that you create.
3. On the other side of the dialog box will be a list of the customised content in the file you are working on at the time.
4. In between the two lists of customised content is a set of buttons for controlling the various customised elements.

Copying Content into the Global Template

Copying content into the Global template is remarkably simple.  The diagram below explains how it works:

It's a fairly straightforward process, but you can see an explanation below.

1. Select the customised thing you want to copy into the Organizer - here we've selected a custom field called Task Budget.
2. Click the Copy button to transfer a copy of the selected item into the Global.MPT list.
3. The selected item should appear in the list on the Global template side of the dialog box.

And that's it!  The selected item will now be available to any other project that you create.

There are other (fairly obvious) buttons in the Organizer that allow you to Delete... or Rename... items that you've copied into the Global template.

Comments on this blog

This blog has one comment: