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Current
News - KIDASA Software - www.kidasa.com |
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In This Issue:
Windows 7 Compatibility |
Make a Clean, Simple Schedule
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Tips & Tricks
FREE 30 Minute Demonstration |
Milestones in Wide-Screen |
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Milestones Software
is now officially Windows 7 Compatible
We are
pleased to announce that our family of project
management software, which includes Milestones
Professional 2008, Project Companion
2008, and Simplicity 2008, has earned
the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo. This will
allow our customers to continue running our
software just fine even as they transition to
Windows 7.
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Tip of the Month: Make Clean,
Uncluttered Schedules
Often, a simple publication quality
timeline is needed for a print or
online publication. Reasons are many
but might include:
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A
newspaper article which shows
important events.
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Key events in the evolution of a
particular technology.
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The life of a famous person.
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A
countdown to a pending event.
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Key historical events with
economic data overlaid, showing
trends and how events affect the
economy.
No
matter what the need, if the
timeline is illegible, complicated
and has too much information, the
reader will simply avoid looking at
it. If it’s easy on the eyes,
attractive and simple, the reader
will naturally view it as part of
the article they are reading.
The SH 45 Project schedule and the
Man on the Moon schedule below
offer an excellent model:


To create a schedule like this
easily, follow these steps:
1.
Have only one column on the left and
right, with the same background
color as the heading background.
2. Set the frame color to the same
color as the heading background
color (Format | Frame, Highlights |
Background color, border, frame
corners)
3. Do the same with the Legend
background (Layout | Full Legend
Settings | Background Color)
4. Use a large bar connector with
invisible symbols.
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Setting
up a custom date format |
| Question:
I see on the date headings an option for FYxx.
Is there a way I can make it CYxx? |
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It is easy to make the
year read CYxx (or
anything else) using
custom date headings.
Double-click on the Date
heading.
Click the "Create or
Edit Custom Date
Headings" button
Enter a series of Date
Headings and End Dates
to cover your schedule
time.
Choose this Custom Date
Heading from the Heading
Type drop down menu for
one of the
four Date Headings.
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Use
additional symbols for
indicators |
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Question: How do I import more
symbols for use as indicators? |
The symbols available
for use in the indicator
columns are the symbols
from the toolbox.
So, to get different
indicator symbols,
simply change the
symbols you are not
using
in your toolbox to ones
you want to use as
indicators, and then
they will be available
to use as indicator
symbols.Note that the
symbols on your toolbox
and in the dropdown menu
match each other:

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Get rid
of gridlines in your
schedule |
| Question: Is there any way to hide the
gridline below an individual task row? |
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You can edit the
gridlines on individual
task rows by following
these steps:
Right click on the top
row, and choose
Gridline/Shade...
Uncheck the "Show
Gridlines" checkboxes.

The bottom gridline for
the task row will
disappear. (Don't worry
about the light blue
line, it disappears when
printing. You can turn
off these Line Guides
though by unchecking
View | Optional | Line
Guides). |
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Displaying Unicode with
Milestones |
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Question:
Is it possible to make schedules
using a language other than
English? |
Milestones supports Unicode text, so any language is possible. Also, you can customize many displayed items on your chart by going to the Format | International menu. You can change the way months, weekdays, currency, etc. are viewed this way.
Check out this sample Chinese chart, formatted accordingly:

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Properly
formatting your text for
readability |
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Question: When I retrieve data from a
Microsoft Project file, the text fields
sometimes overlap, how can I fix this? |
There are a few ways to move
symbol text to increase
readability.
Click on the symbol and change
the Vertical, Horizontal,
Background, and Line by Line
text placement. Or you can just
click the symbol and press alt +
an arrow key to move the text
around.
Another way to change the
placement of text is to create
an invisible symbol somewhere,
and place text on that symbol.
Then you might try creating a
vertical link to another symbol,
so it appears that the text
block is pointing towards the
right symbol.
Also, try using the Text tool
(the T on the ToolBox) to add
text wherever you like, (and
then move it around by dragging
it with the arrow tool). |
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Free 30 Minute
Demonstration
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Did you know that
we offer a free 30
minute introductory demonstration session twice a
month? And after the first 30 minutes, the
training remains very affordable!
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What
Milestones Can Do For You
Price: Free
Twice a month on the 2nd and 4th
Wednesdays at
12PM CST. We show you examples of schedules made
with our software, and explain the best methods
for help on getting started, and then have a Q&A
Session with an expert from our support team. |
After going to the free demonstration,
check out how affordable it is to get even more
training:
Fundamentals of Milestones Professional
Price:
$50/person
Introduction to the window, the
toolbox, the toolbar, and how to get started,
and then we have a Q&A Session with an expert
from our support team. 45 Minutes total, which
includes time for some Q&A at the end |
Fundamentals of the Milestones Project
Import Wizard
Price:
$50/person
Introduction to the Project
Interface, refreshing, and custom templates.. 45 Minutes, which includes
time for some Q&A at the end. |
Basic
Training
Price:
Varies
Learn how to build a Milestones
Schedule from scratch with our basic training
class.
Milestones Professional 2008: $150 / 2 hours
Project Companion: $100 / one hour
Simplicity: $50 / one hour |
Advanced Training - Milestones
Professional
Price: $250
/ 3 hours
This advanced training is based
on your own personal scheduling needs, and can
be modified to include whatever it is that you
need to learn most about. Milestones
Professional Only. |
Schedule Makeover
Price:
$75/hour
Have an upcoming presentation,
and need your schedule to really shine? We can
help you make your schedule more attractive for
only $75/hr. |
Advanced In-person Training
Price:
$1500 + Travel/Hotel
If your organization has many people
who need to be trained, a one-day class might be
the best choice. We will send one of our
software experts to your location to train up to
20
users at once. |
Send us an email for details:
milestones@kidasa.com
Or:
Click here to order training today!
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Order a training session today.
Learn more.
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| "Thank you so very much for a clear,
concise, and comprehensive training session
on Milestones Professional 2008. I have
used the program infrequently over the past
5-6 years, but now that I understand the
full capability of the program, I fully
intend to use Milestones as my primary
project management tool." - Satisfied
Customer |
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Have a
Wide-screen Monitor? Check out this useful tip:
Did you know that the
Milestones Professional Enhanced Toolbar can be easily set to
appear on the left side of the screen, instead of the
top? This format allows you to view your schedule at an
even larger size.
Before:

After:

To make this change, simply go to Tools >
Program Options > General
and check "Toolbar is on left of Schedule." Easy!
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The
current version of all Milestones software is version
2008.
UPGRADE NOW

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Did you miss
the
last newsletter?
Here's what
was included: |
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Tip of the month: Create a
mini-schedule
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Easily add
Columns with Stoplight Status Indicators
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Import several dates for a
single row on a schedule
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Work with Microsoft Project
Custom Templates.
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Customize Summary
Bars
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Adding
vertical milestone lines across all tasks.
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©
Copyright KIDASA Software, Inc. 2009 All Rights Reserved
1114 Lost Creek Blvd., Suite 300 Austin, TX 78746
512-328-0167 sales@kidasa.com |