Work offline from Project Server

Project Professional 2010 enables you to work on a project plan when you are not connected to Project Server. There are two ways of working offline from Project Server.

• Offline    Typically, project managers work offline from Project Server by selecting Work Offline when they start Project Professional. For example, if you are working on a project plan and you have a business trip scheduled, you can check the project out from Project Server before you leave, and then synchronize your changes with Project Server when you return from your trip.

• Offline unexpectedly    If your computer becomes unexpectedly disconnected from Project Server (such as during a power failure), you can continue to make changes to your project plan. The next time your computer is connected to Project Server, the changes you made will be synchronized to the server.

• Save for sharing    You can also save a project in Project Server to the a .MPP file format. The project file can then be sent to team members using e-mail or by saving to a file server. Changes to the shared file can be synchronized with the project on Project Server.

Note:  Working offline from Project Server and saving a project for sharing are features available only to users of Project Professional.

In this article

Work on a project offline

Work Offline unexpectedly

Share a project

Work on a project offline

Step 1: Check out a project

1. Start Project Professional and connect to Project Server.

2. On the File tab, click Open .

3. In the Open dialog box, click Retrieve the list of all projects from Project Server.
   The Open dialog box will display a list of projects in Project Server.

4. Click the project you want to open, and click Open.

5. After the file opens, set Project to work offline from the server.

   1. On the File tab, click Info.

   2. On the right, click Manage Accounts, and then click Work Offline.

6. When you are done editing the project offline, you can close Project.

Keep in mind, that when you open Project Professional to work on the project offline in the future, you need to select the server to which it was initially saved, and then click Work Offline in the Login dialog box.

Note:  If you do not select the server to which the project file was initially saved, then you will not be able to open the project file.

Step 2: Synchronize changes with Project Server

1. Start Project Professional.

2. In the Login dialog box, select the server to which the offline file was initially connected. Do not click Work Offline.
   

   Note:  If you do not select the server to which the offline file was initially connected, then you will not be able to open the file.

3. On the File tab, click Open.

4. In the Open dialog box, double-click the project name to open it from the local cache.

5. On the File tab, click Close.

6. When prompted to check in the file, click Yes.

Your project file is now synchronized with the version on the server.

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Work Offline unexpectedly

If your computer becomes unexpectedly disconnected from Project Server (such as during a power failure), you can continue to make changes to your project plan. The next time your computer is connected to Project Server, the changes you made to the project will be synchronized to the server.

Do the following when you want to save your changes back to Project Server.

1. Start Project Professional.

2. In the Login dialog box, select the server to which the project was initially saved. Do not click Work Offline.
   

   Note:  If you do not select the server to which the project was initially saved, then you will not be able to synchronize the project with Project Server.

3. Close Project Professional.
   If you are prompted, save and check-in the project.

Share a project

You can save a project from Project Server for sharing. When you do this, you can send the file to team members as an e-mail attachment or to a file server. Use this method to share a file (rather than working on a project offline) when you want multiple people to work on the same file. When you receive the file back from them, you can synchronize the changes with Project Server.

Step 1: Save a project for sharing

1. Start Project Professional and connect to Project Server.

2. On the File tab, click Open .

3. In the Open dialog box, click Retrieve the list of all projects from Project Server.

4. On the File tab, click Save & Send.

5. On the right, click Save Project as File.

6. Click Save for Sharing.
   

   Note:  The Save for Sharing command is available only if the project has been saved to Project Server.

7. Click Save As
   

8. Type a name for the project file. You can either type a new name or use the name that matches the name of the project on the server.

After saving the project with the new file name, you can send the file in e-mail to team members, who can open the file and make changes.

Note:  Changes can only be made by team members if they have Project Professional 2010.

Step 2: Synchronize the shared file with Project Server

Once the file has been returned to you, you can open it and synchronize the changes with Project Server

1. Start Project Professional and connect to Project Server.

2. In the Login dialog box, select the server from which the shared file was initially created. Do not click Work Offline.
   

   Note:  If you do not select the server from which the project file was initially created, then you will not be able to synchronize the shared file with Project Server.

3. On the File tab, click Open.

4. In the Open dialog box, double-click the project name to open it.

5. On the File tab, click Save As.

6. Select the name of the original project from which the shared file was created.
   If the shared file name matches the original project name, then the project name will be displayed in the Save to Project Server box.

7. Click Save. The shared file will now be synchronized with the original project.

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