CUSTOM REPORTS IN MICROSOFT PROJECT

Part one of a two-part series of blogs

Reporting on progress is an essential part of running a successful project. It's a shame that the preset reports in Microsoft Project are so limited. This blog explains how to create your own custom reports so that you can see the data you need.

Custom Reports in Microsoft Project (this article)
Creating Custom Reports

This blog is part of a complete guide to customising Microsoft Project. Wise Owl also run MS Project training courses.

Posted by Andrew Gould on 13 January 2012 | no comments

Custom Reports in Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project contains many reports to help you summarise the information in various areas of your project. Each of the existing reports can be edited to show different information, levels of detail and timescales, but it's a pain to have to do this every time you run a report. To save time you can create a custom report and reuse it in every other project you create.

Viewing Existing Reports

Microsoft Project already contains a large number of preset reports, many of which you may find useful. To view the existing reports:

In Project 2003, from the menu select: View -> Reports...
In Project 2007, from the menu select: Report -> Reports...
In Project 2010, from the Ribbon select: Project -> Reports

Each of the above options will lead you to a version of this dialog box:

This dialog box is from Project 2010.

To view a report, first double-click on one of the categories shown above, then double click on one of the individual reports as shown below:

These are the individual reports in the Current category.

When you've double-clicked on a report you'll be taken to a print preview where you can choose to print the report.

They're meant to be functional rather than attractive!

What's Next?

Now that you know how to view existing reports, part two of this blog series will show you how to create your own custom reports.