Using the Backstage

Quick reference

• 00:03 In this lesson we're going to explore the Backstage.
• 00:06 Now, actually, when you run Microsoft Project for
• 00:09 the first time you'll get this Recent Backstage window.
• 00:12 This allows you to open projects, create a blank project, or
• 00:17 import projects from existing, from Excel, from SharePoint.
• 00:21 Or even select other sample project templates that Microsoft provides.
• 00:26 In this example,
• 00:26 we're going to choose this software development plan project template.
• 00:30 So double click on this file.
• 00:35 To get to the Backstage remember we click on the file tab at the top left hand side
• 00:40 project.
• 00:42 Along the left we have menu items and
• 00:44 on the right hand side is the Backstage window.
• 00:47 Right now we're looking at the info window.
• 00:50 And this provides us with an ability to manage our accounts if we're using
• 00:54 Microsoft Project Server.
• 00:56 We're not using Project Server in this fundamentals course.
• 01:00 So I'll skip over that.
• 01:02 The organizer allows us to copy our favorite views,
• 01:06 report settings from one project to another.
• 01:10 I'll cover that in a future lesson.
• 01:12 The new menu item allows us to create new projects very similar to that
• 01:17 Recent Backstage that we receive when we run Microsoft Project for the first time.
• 01:22 Open, Save and
• 01:23 Save As does what you'd expect, allows you to open a file and save files.
• 01:29 Let's click on the Print Backstage menu item, and take a look at this one.
• 01:36 The Print Backstage allows us to print our project and
• 01:40 see how it's going to look before it's printed.
• 01:43 So, for example, over here on the bottom right hand side of the screen I can
• 01:47 click these arrows to see what each page will look like.
• 01:52 And I like to use this icon at the bottom right hand
• 01:55 corner that says multiple pages.
• 01:57 If you mouse over this box here that has the four boxes in it,
• 02:02 just click on that, and now you can see every page your printer will print.
• 02:08 If you have different paper types, you can change that here.
• 02:14 And if you decide that maybe this is printing too much you can also change
• 02:18 the dates.
• 02:22 And now I have it fitting on one page.
• 02:25 There's also a Page Setup menu item here that allows me to
• 02:29 be more granular in configuring how my project prints.
• 02:34 So the Print Backstage menu item is actually very powerful, in that it allows
• 02:38 us to see exactly what we're going to get before we waste our paper and
• 02:42 print our project.
• 02:45 For just one moment I'm going to skip over Share and
• 02:47 Export, as these are the last two items I'm going to cover.
• 02:51 Close allows us to simply close our project file.
• 02:55 Account is a place where you can change your account information, any picture that
• 03:00 might show up, but also you can change the background of Project and the theme.
• 03:06 So you can play around with these at your own leisure.
• 03:08 We're not going to cover these in this lesson.
• 03:11 One other item that we'll cover in another lesson is the Options menu item.
• 03:16 I'm just going to click that.
• 03:17 And you can see in this case I get a pop-up dialog.
• 03:21 I don't actually receive the standard Backstage window.
• 03:26 And here we have a whole other set of menus and settings and
• 03:29 configurations for Project.
• 03:31 And we'll cover some of these in a future lesson.
• 03:34 We'll click Cancel for now.
• 03:37 Let's go back to the file tab and click the Share menu item.
• 03:43 The Share menu has two options.
• 03:45 One is to synchronize with SharePoint and
• 03:47 the other is to send a copy of your project via email.
• 03:51 The sync with SharePoint is actually very interesting.
• 03:54 Depending on which version you have, usually the Pro or
• 03:57 Professional version, you can put your project up onto a SharePoint site.
• 04:01 And other people can modify it and send those changes back.
• 04:05 If you have the standard version,
• 04:07 you can at least put your project up into SharePoint so other people can read it.
• 04:12 I'm not going to cover SharePoint, because that is a more advanced topic
• 04:16 that I will not cover in this fundamentals course.
• 04:18 E-mail opens up outlook and sends the attachment via e-mail.
• 04:25 Now when you send the attachment via e-mail, please note it's going to create
• 04:29 what's called an MPP file, that's the standard file format for Project.
• 04:34 It stands for Microsoft Project Plan, MPP.
• 04:37 Now when you send this file out to someone it is not a synchronized version,
• 04:43 what you're sending is a copy.
• 04:45 So whenever you send this, if someone else makes a change,
• 04:48 you can not synchronize it back to your original copy.
• 04:52 There's also an Export option, and this allows you to create a PDF or
• 04:56 XPS Document.
• 04:58 PDF is an Adobe format that's very popular,
• 05:00 and most people have what's called the Adobe Reader on their computer.
• 05:04 XPS is a Microsoft format that not as many computers can read.
• 05:09 So I'd suggest you use the PDF format.
• 05:11 And when you do this, Microsoft Project has the built-in ability to crate a PDF.
• 05:16 And it basically provides you with a similar user interface
• 05:20 as the print dialog.
• 05:22 So this is basically how you get around the Backstage.
• 05:26 As you can see, this is helpful for setting the configuration for
• 05:32 your project, which we'll cover later, creating new projects, saving your
• 05:35 project, closing your projects, and also printing and sharing your project.

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