Leveraging the Microsoft Project Organizer

The ‘Organizer’ within Microsoft Project (Standard and Professional) allows one to quickly copy various Microsoft Project objects (fields, groups, filters, calendars, tables, modules, reports, and views) from one MS Project file or Enterprise Project schedule to another.

In a Microsoft Project Server or Project Online environment, some users often build their own local MS Project elements (i.e., tables, fields, views, etc.) and want to share with other users.

USING THE MS PROJECT ‘ORGANIZER’

• Access the MS Project ‘Organizer’ 
  • WHO:        Project Manager / Administrator              
  • WHERE:  MS Project (Standard or Professional)

To use the ‘MS Project Organizer’ to share elements between project schedules (or the Enterprise Global Template for Project Online/Server):

1. Open the project schedule with the desired elements to be copied (shared) in Microsoft Project (either ‘Read-Only’ or ‘Read-Write’ mode)
2. Open the ‘receiving’ project schedule to receive the desired elements, also in Microsoft Project.

3. Open the MS Project ‘Organizer’ by navigating to:

a. File >> Info >> Organizer (‘Organize Global Template’ dropdown menu) >> ‘Organizer’

4. Setup ‘…available in’ lists

a. the ‘Organizer ‘Dialogue Box, ensure the ‘sending’ project schedule is selected in one of the ‘… available in’ boxes (left or right), depending on the tab selected (i.e., ‘Views available in,’ if the ‘Views’ tab is selected) and the ‘receiving’ project schedule (or Enterprise Global Template) is selected in the other.

5. Copy the desired elements by:

a. Selecting the tab associated with the element to be copied (i.e. if copying a table, select the ‘Tables’ tab).

b. With the appropriate tab selected, select the element name (i.e. Table name) from the ‘sending’ schedule.

c. Clicking the ‘Copy >>’ or ‘<< Copy’ button (depending on which project was selected first), to copy the selected element to the ‘receiving’ project

6. Rename the copied element by:

a. Selecting the ‘copied’ element from the receiving project, then clicking the Rename… button.

b. Entering a new name for the element (i.e. ‘Enterprise Import Table’)

c. Clicking OK.

7. ‘Copy,’ ‘Rename’ & repeat for remaining elements by:

a. Selecting the tab associated with the remaining elements to be copied (i.e., if copying a table, select the ‘Tables’ tab).

b. With the appropriate tab selected, select the element name (i.e., Table name) from the ‘sending’ schedule.

c. Clicking the ‘Copy >>’ or ‘<< Copy’ button (depending on which project was selected first, to copy the selected element to the ‘receiving’ project.

OPTIONAL:  Rename the copied element by:

i. Selecting the ‘copied’ element from the receiving project, then clicking the Rename… button.

ii. Entering a new name for the element (i.e., ‘Enterprise Import Table’)

iii. Clicking OK.

8. Close the ‘Organizer’ and Save your changes:

a. Of the desired elements have been copied, click Close, to close the ‘Organizer’ Dialogue Box.

b. Test to ensure that the new elements are visible and available in the ‘receiving’ project.

c. Save, close (and check-in, if an Enterprise Project) the ‘receiving’ project to save the latest changes.

d. Close (without saving changes) the ‘sending’ project.…

For more information on how we can help you and your project management team, send us an email

If you are looking to kick start your project management journey, sign up for our Microsoft Training Classes. We hope you find this blog post helpful.  For more tips and tricks on Project Management, follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram