Major Milestones Tips and Tricks June 2009

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Tips and Tricks for June 2009

Have a Question? We have the answers. The KIDASA Web site support and Q&A sections have been reorganized to better meet customer needs. Here are a few of the questions our support team fielded recently:

Tip of the month: Move a column from one side of the schedule to the other

Q: I have a schedule with 3 columns. I want the End Dates column on the right side of my schedule. How can I do this?

A. Using the arrow tool, click the top border of the column you want to move (1). The cursor will change to

Drag the column to the right side of the schedule. You will notice the insertion marker

Drop the column at the insertion point.

Zoom in on a spot

Q: How can I "zoom in" to see more detail on a schedule?

A: Hold the control (CTRL) key down and then right-click on the spot that you want to zoom in to see. Click again while holding the control key to unzoom.

See Also:

Continuous View

Switch To Views for Fast Date Switching

Scroll through a schedule by a few days, weeks, or months at a time

Q: I have a schedule that spans many months, but I only want to work on one week (sometimes one month) at a time. Is there any way that the schedule can just scroll into the next (or previous) week, month, quarter, year?

A: One way is to use Shift+PgDn or Shift+PgUp to scroll through dates. Another is to use the toolbar, Dates tab:

To set how many days you want to move forward or backward in time at one time, choose Full Dialog on the Dates tab.

Then, on the Schedule Details dialog box, enter the number of days to move forward or backward:

Duplicate Items when refreshing from Microsoft Project

Q: When updating our Milestones Professional presentation schedule, we are using a text field in Microsoft Project. Our question is, if the Microsoft Project file has two tasks with the same text "ID" then which task will the Milestones refresh program use to update the Milestones presentation schedule?

A: Only the first date is used. The refresh process will look for the first match of the text ID in your Microsoft Project file.

Show numbers instead of dates on a timescale

Q: I want numbers instead of letters or month names in the date headings. This is for a project proposal. I don't know when the project will start.

Choose in the toolbox.
Double click the date heading.
In the list of date headings, for yearly, choose 1,2,3,4......
In the list of date headings, for monthly, choose 1,2,3,....12,1. (If you do not want the month numbers to repeat, choose the option Monthly: 1,2,3,...12,13..)

To start with a number other than 1, enter a starting number, such as 3 as shown in the example below:

Can't Select Picture Previously Added

Q: I've put together a schedule that contains imported (copy-and-paste) graphics. For some reason, there is a graphic towards the top of my schedule that I can't get rid of. I can't even click on it. Any idea why?

A: Sometimes if a graphic gets inserted on a page after the first page and then later that page is deleted, then the graphic begins to appear on the first page but cannot be selected.

The fix in this case is to:

Temporarily change the lines per page to a smaller number to force more pages (File | Page Layout).

Go to the page where the graphic is.

Delete the graphic. (right-click and delete picture)

Change the line per page back to the normal value.

Substitutable Duration Text

Q: Can I show the duration of a horizontal task bar as the text for that bar? Can I add text to it? For Example [duration] working days.

A: Yes, it is possible. What you need to do is put substitutable text as symbol text. You can then center the text on the bar.

1. Click on the start symbol of your connector.

2. Enter the following into Line 1: text field "&durtoconnectedsym working days". For more information about substitutable text, click here .

3. To place text on the bar choose Text Placement / Vertical: Middle/ check on Center Text on Bar

Result:

Vertical Milestone Indicator Lines

Q: I would like to add vertical milestone lines across all tasks. The vertical milestone line would look like the current date line, but I would be able to add several as needed. Is that possible?

A: Yes. Curtains, or vertical shading can be defined for any vertical space within the schedule area. Curtains can be any color, pattern and can be shaded. By indicating the date range, the width of the curtain can be controlled.

To add curtains:

On the Format tab, choose Curtains in the Vertical Shading section.

You can add vertical coloring called Curtains to any block of time you designate.

Here's an Example:

For complete information and instructions, click here.

Milestones Professional Automation Reference

Q: I am trying to develop an application which ties together my Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with Milestones Professional so that I can consolidate my financial information with my schedule information. I know Milestones Professional fairly well but I am not familiar with programming. Is there any documentation anywhere?

A: Full documentation for Milestones Professional's automation interface can be found within the Milestones Professional software.

On the Help tab, choose Automation Help.

This will bring up the Milestones Professional OLE Automation Help: