Create a custom field

Microsoft Office Project 2007 provides several custom fields that you can define to meet your organization's needs. You can customize a field, and then insert it into your project. If you don't need an entirely new custom field, you can also simply rename existing fields to customize them.

What do you want to do?

Customize a field

Import a custom field

Insert a custom field

Rename a field

Customize a field

1. On the Tools menu, point to Customize, and then click Fields.

2. Click Task if you want the field to be available in task views, or click Resource if you want the field to be available in resource views.

3. Select the type of field you are customizing from the Type list.

4. Click Rename to permanently rename the field in this project. Type the new name in the dialog box that appears, and then click OK.

5. Under Custom Attributes, choose how you want the data in the field to be entered.

   • If you want the custom field to use a list — for example, to create a list of different cost centers in your organization — click Lookup. In the dialog box that appears, enter each list item in the Value column, choose whether you want one of the list items to appear by default, and then click Close.

   • If you want the custom field to be populated using a formula, click Formula. In the dialog box that appears, use the Field and Function boxes to build a formula, and then click OK.

6. Under Calculation for task and group summary rows, choose how you want the values in your custom field to roll up. That is, how the values are summarized at the task and group summary levels for this custom field.

   Note: Outline code and text fields do not roll up. Also, the Use formula option is only available if you have defined a formula for the field, under Custom Attributes.

7. Under Calculation for assignment rows, choose how you want the values in the custom field to be distributed.

   • Click None if the contents of this custom field are not to be distributed across assignments.

   • Click Roll down unless manually entered if the contents of this custom field are to be distributed across assignments, for example, in the Task Usage view or Resource Usage view. In this case, data is divided among the assignments unless data is manually entered into an assignment row.

8. Under Values to display, choose how you want the data in the custom field to be displayed.

   • Click Data to display the actual data in the field contents in all views in which the field appears.

   • Click Graphical Indicators to specify the criteria and associated indicator images to be displayed in the field in place of data.

     Note: If you are updating the fields in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 with the new custom field that displays an indicator, you may need to refresh [that is "change" ] information in the column once to see the new indicator in a view in Microsoft Office Project Web AccessProject Web Access.

Once the field is customized, you can insert it in the appropriate task or resource views in your project.

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Import a custom field

If another project or template has a custom field that you would find useful in your project, you can import it to save you the time it would take to create an identical new custom field.

1. On the Tools menu, point to Customize, and then click Fields.

2. Click Import Field.

3. Select the project that contains the field you are importing from the Project list.

4. In the Field type area, select Task, Resource, or Project.

5. Select the name of the field you are importing from the Field list.

6. Click OK, and the field's name, value list, formula, and graphical indicators are imported to your project. You can modify these values as appropriate, and then insert the field in your project's views.

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Insert a custom field

Once you have customized a field, the next step is to insert it in a view.

1. Click the column header for the column that you want to appear to the right of the custom field.

2. On the Insert menu, click Column.

3. Click the name of the custom field in the Field name list. If you permanently renamed the field when you customized it, it will be listed under its new name.

4. If you do not want to use the permanent name of your custom field, type a new name in the Title box.

5. Select how you want the column aligned, using the Align title and Align data lists.

6. Type a width for the column in the Width box. You can also adjust column width in the view itself, by dragging the edge of the column to make it wider or narrower.

7. If you want the column header text to wrap to multiple lines if the column is too narrow to display it on one line, select the Header Text Wrapping check box. Clear this check box if you want the header to only be displayed on one line.

8. Click OK to insert the column in the displayed view.

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Rename a field

If a field in your project captures the right data, but a different title would more accurately describe what's being captured, you can simply rename the field. Renaming the field involves first hiding the column, and then showing it again with the new field name.

1. Make a note of the current name of the field that you are renaming.

2. Right-click the column header for the field you are renaming, and then click Hide column. The column will disappear from the current view, but the data that the column contained is still safely stored in the database.

3. Click the column header for the column that you want to appear to the right of the field you're renaming.

4. On the Insert menu, click Column.

5. Click the original name of the field, which you noted previously, in the Field name list.

6. Type the new name for the field in the Title box.

7. Click OK to rename the field.

   Note: The new name will be used for the current view only. If you have this field displayed in multiple views, you may want to rename the field using these steps in the other views, as well.

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