When you start the application for the first time, the main components that can be noticed are:

For other views, the Active Window is splitted in two components (a table and a graph).

In later project steps you will notice a View Specific Toolbar (changing with the current View) below Application Toolbar. It comprises only the commands needed only for the associated view.

Also, at a later stage of your project a Details Window is available for task and resources (it appears below active window when is activated).

Some of the previously presented components can be hidden/showed:

Project Guide panel

a) click on the red-circled button below to Hide Guide panel (or in the View menu click Guide)

b) click on the red-circled button below to Show Guide panel (or in the View menu click Guide)

Project Guide Details panel

can be hidden by clicking on the corresponding Close button (as described before for the Project Guide). To activate Guide Details open View menu and click on Guide Details at the bottom of the drop-down menu.

If the current view contains tables with tasks or resources, a Details Window is available for them on right-click menu (on the table and graph area) or from the icon in the View Specific Toolbar.

Active Window

For some views, the Active Window is splitted in two components (a table and a graph), each of them might be extended or collapsed by hitting the small arrows on the panes separating line.

In Settings menu, Options, Schedule tab you can change the settings for the current project:

a) Date format (select from the drop-down list the desired aspect of the date)

b) Hours per day

The working hours considered in time calculations for every 1 day duration declared for a task in the table (e.g. if set 10 hours, a task with 1 day in the Duration column of the Gantt table and a calendar with 8 working hours, like Standard calendar, will appear larger than 1 day in the Gantt Graph). That means the total working time of a task is calculated multiplying the duration (if given in days) by the value set for Hours per day indicator. Graphic duration (in the Gantt Graph) will result from the calculated working time and the task calendar. Concluding, the working hours in the calendar have to be correlated with the value set for Hours per day.

c) Slack for critical tasks - a task is marked as critical if a delay with more than the slack value will change the Project finish date.

Increase this parameter value if you want to see "earlier" the tasks that may influence the end of the project.

d) Duration units (d = days, h = hours, m = minutes)

e) Currency units (editable field)

f) Force resources to use task calendar as default

marking this option the resources will work following task calendar instead its own calendar for every new task by default.

g) Custom program

Predefine here a working program that can be used for default special days definition in a calendar.

In Settings menu, Options, Startup tab you can check/uncheck to see the Welcome dialog when starting the application.

Click on the button in the upper right side of the table to customize it.

Select in the drop down panel the visible columns you need. The selection made here is also applicable for printing and the reports that can be generated in PDF format.

Below column titles there are three more options:

Drag and drop the column header horizontally to change column position.

Columns can be also inserted (if not already visible) or hidden from the drop-down menu opened by right-clicking on table header.

There are three custom columns available for users. After making them visible as explained above, to change their default names (Data1, Data2, Data3) right-click on the column header and select Edit name... command (available only for custom columns).

In Settings menu, Options, View tab select whether to view or not some graphic elements:

Customize how the taskbars and non-working time are drawn with the Round/Normal view command found on right-click menu or double-click in graph area (available for Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, Resource Sheet). Round view is the default selection and it extends taskbars lenght to the beginning of its first day if task start date correspond with the working time start date (according to the Project Calendar) and similar for the task end date. A correction is made for the non-working time, too. Normal view shows taskbars and non-working time approximately as they are.

In Settings menu, Options, Colors tab (or rigt-click in graph area of Gantt Chart, Bar colors command), the default colors for taskbars and completion bar can be customized. Select the element which color has to be changed (activities, phases, milestones, projects, critical, baseline or completion) and pick a color in Swatches tab or define its basic color values in RGB tab. As you set new colors, the modifications are made in the Gantt Chart, so you can see the results without closing the dialog window. The default colors can be set back by pressing the Restore default button for one element at a time, or Restore defaults for all elements at once. In Swatches view, recently used colors are stored.

To change colors for specific tasks, select the task and click on icon in View Specific Toolbar, or right-click on the taskbar, Customize bar command. If the current task is a phase, that mean it has subtasks (activities, milestones, subphases), the selected color can be used for them too, by marking the corresponding checkboxes. To quickly get back to default colors for the entire subtree including the phase, click on Default Subtree Colors button.

Printing is available for all views in View Selection Bar and corresponding steps in Project Guide.

To open Print Preview window go to File menu, Print preview, or click command in the Application Toolbar.

First commands in the toolbar are designed for page circulation (go to first page, previous page, next page, page up, page down, last page, go to page no..../....). A very intuitive way to go directly to a page is to activate (multiple page) command and click on the desired page.

To scale the information in the pages, use the button of the combo box labeled Scale to: and select a zoom percent or type directly in its editable field. The number of pages will be modified accordingly.

The next icon , if activated, helps to view header on all pages.

Page Setup button will open a new window with usual paper and printer settings.

Print to PDF... command is used to save the previewed report as a .pdf file.

Print command will trigger the printing process.

Close button will end the Print Preview dialog window and return to the current application view.

New (file) - create a new file

Open - open existing file

Save - save current file

Print - open print dialog

Print preview - open Print preview window

Undo - revert the latest action

Redo - revert the latest undo action

Current project: - select a current project from the combo box

New (project) - create a new project

Email assignments - send assignment information to resources

For each View (Project Portfolio, WBS View, Gantt Chart etc.) only the applicable commands are visible, from the following:

Insert line - insert a line above the selected task/resource/client

Insert subtask - insert a subtask (a task indented one level below the current one) = a subdeliverable for the current deliverable

Delete (project/task/resource/client) - delete the selected project/task/resource/client (this command works for multiple selection, too)

Indent task - move a task to a lower outline level; this task will become a subtask for the preceding task that was on the same outline level.

Outdent task - move a task to a higher outline level.

Move up - move a task one row up on the same outline level (among subtasks of the same phase)

Move down - move a task one row down on the same outline level (among subtasks of the same phase)

Expand all - expand all collapsed phases and projects down to the last level

Collapse all - collapse all expanded phases and projects up to the first level

Cut - cut the currently selected objects: projects/tasks/resources/clients (this command will remove some of the properties when pasted: links to tasks outside the selection, completion value, assignments etc.)

Copy - copy the currently selected objects (this command will remove some of the properties when pasted: links to tasks outside the selection, completion value, assignments etc.)

Paste - paste the objects from the clipboard

Link tasks - create a finish to start link between selected tasks (when multiple tasks are selected, the tasks will be chained by links)

Unlink tasks - break the link between selected tasks (when multiple tasks selected, all the links inside the selection will be broken)

Go to selected task - start date of the selected task will be moved to the focus point

Critical path - show/hide critical path

Assign resources - open Details window

Zoom in - change the timescale to see a plan in more detail

Zoom out - change the timescale to see a plan in less detail

Set as current project - set the selected project as current

Show/Hide details - toggle between view/hide Details window

Work - show work information in the right pane

Cost - show cost information in the right pane

Projects - show assigned project information in the right pane

Ctrl-N - open new file

Ctrl-O - open existing file

Ctrl-W - close current file

Ctrl-S - save current file

Ctrl-P - open print dialog

Ctrl-I - import file

Ctrl-E - export file

Ctrl-Z - undo last command

Ctrl-Y - redo last command

Ctrl-Right - indent current task

Ctrl-Left - outdent current task

Ctrl-Up - move up current task one row (on the same level)

Ctrl-Down - move down current task one row (on the same level)

Ctrl-NumPad + - expand all

Ctrl-NumPad - - collapse all

Ctrl-X - cut (entire row if selected, or selected text in editing mode)

Ctrl-C - copy (entire row if selected, or selected text in editing mode)

Ctrl-V - paste

Ctrl-L - link selected tasks

Ctrl-U - unlink selected tasks

Ctrl-G - go to selected task