October 2018 Newsletter

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Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2019

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2019 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional). To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2019” page.

Upgrade to Milestones Simplicity 2019

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Simplicity 2019 for only $55 (if you already own any version of Milestones Simplicity). To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Simplicity 2019” page.

October 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for October 2018

Add pages to the schedule
How do I add a page to my schedule?

Add tasks from Microsoft Project to an existing schedule
I have a Milestones schedule which I imported from Microsoft Project. Now, I would like to add several tasks to the schedule without re-importing. What’s the best way to do this?

Add text to a horizontal bar
I want to have text inside a horizontal bar on my schedule. Is this possible?

Add, Move, and Delete Freeform Text
Is there a way to add another header to the chart other than the title?

Copy the structure of a schedule only
Could you tell me if it is possible to copy the structure of a schedule without the data?.

Duration Values for Single Milestones
Why does a single milestone automatically have a 0-day duration instead of 1 day?

Remove the border
How can I remove the border around the schedule?

Fiscal and calendar quarters
How can I have fiscal quarters and calendar year quarters, as shown below?

Copy toolbox rows
My schedule has several different colored bars. I want to set one up in the toolbox and then copy all the settings to another row so that I can then just set the colors. Is this possible?

Make some of the date headings longer
I want to make some of the headings (monthly headings at top of chart) longer in length so I can space out the symbols for that month.

Hyperlink from schedule to document
I need to add a page of text explaining why any scheduled date has changed. Is there a way I can link “Milestones” to a “Word” document?

Create a template to use in with Microsoft Project
I want to create a single template I can use for multiple Microsoft Project files. Can I do this or do I have to have a template for each Microsoft Project file?

Copy a task row from one schedule to another
How can I copy a task row from one Milestones schedule to another?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for October 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users. To join, head over to the following website and click Join: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817 Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

September 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Refresh your Milestones Schedule from MS Project

When your dates change in Project, and your Milestones schedule is linked to project, you have got to update those dates somehow.

In Milestones, that update process is called “Refreshing”. We’ve made a video showing you the process and a few of the options that go with it:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

September 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for September 2018

Apply a template to an existing schedule
When I apply a template to an existing schedule, the symbols and connectors do not look as I expected. What could cause this?

Shift All Dates
I have a schedule which I used last year for a project. I have a project coming up which starts in a couple of months. The project schedule will be close to identical and I would like to start with an exact copy of the schedule I used, but have it start on a future date. Is this possible?

Duplicate activity bar
I have a task in a milestone schedule that somehow has two activity bars on it. I can modify the gray bar which is the one I want, but I am unable to modify/delete the red activity bar underneath. I tried to create another task with only the one activity bar but it created dual activity bars again. Any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?

Change the default save location
I would like to change the default location where charts are saved. How can I do this?

Vertical connections on a multi-page schedule
My schedule has many vertical connectors, connecting dates across pages. When I look at the connectors, it’s often challenging to determine which page they are connected to. Is there anything I can do to make this easier?

Symbol text refreshed when no tag on symbol
I’m using Milestones Professional. Many of my symbols include symbol text as part of the symbol text. Some of them do not include the symbol text tag. However, all of the symbols are getting updated, regardless of whether or not they have a tag. What could be happening?

Dependent tasks won’t move
I have vertical links between symbols on different task rows. Why won’t dependent symbols and task bars move when I move the parent task?

Shade every other task row
I want to add a background color to every other line in order to read the schedule more easily.

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for September 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

August 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Import from MS Project with “Let the Wizard Guide You”

“Let the Wizard Guide You” is one of our MS Project importing options.
We created a video showing you how to use this process, and how to set up your own Custom Symbology:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

August 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for August 2018

Count of activities
Is there an activity count somewhere, tracking milestones and/or discrete activities added to the schedule?

See information about a symbol when hovering
How can I turn on the information for a symbol?  I used to see it but now when I hover the mouse near a symbol nothing appears.

Erase blue boxes around symbol descriptions
I cannot figure out how to erase the blue box around the task descriptions that are imported from MS Project.

Refresh a Milestones Professional schedule from several Microsoft Project schedules
I want to create a Milestones Professional schedule and refresh it from several Microsoft Project schedules.  Is there a way to accomplish this with one refresh instead of having to refresh once for each Microsoft Project schedule?

Consecutive monthly headings
How do I get a date heading to number the months consecutively instead of starting over with month 1 after month 12?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for August 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

July 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Set up a Stoplight Column

Check out the video below to find out how to add and customize a Stoplight Column inside Milestones Professional.

See how easy it is below:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

July 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for July 2018

Why are summary bars not showing
Why aren’t my summary bars showing up?

Why are some symbols not filled
Why are some of the symbols and connectors on my chart filled in while others are not?

Symbol ValueSet values not adding up
I am using type 4 (symbol) ValueSet and displaying a total in a DataGraph on the last page. For some reason, the total appears to be wrong.

Add a stoplight column
What is the easiest way to add a stoplight column to my schedule? I want to control the color of the stoplight for each task.

Separate projects visually on a schedule
I am showing several projects on one chart. I need some ideas for separating them visually.

Change the date range for a single page on the schedule
After inserting the second page, how do you change the date headings on it without changing the first page?

Locked Symbols
I have attached a chart that I created in Milestones Professional. This is a chart that is used for a lot of briefings for the government. Unfortunately my engineer and I opened it to make some changes and if you try a lot of the bars are locked and I cannot change the links or delete.

Copy a column of text from Milestones to Excel
I’m seeking help on how to export a column of text (Task Names) from Milestones Professional to Microsoft Excel.

Show only the month with the symbol
How can I make the symbol date show only the month?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for July 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

June 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Flag and Filter your MS Project file!

You probably don’t want to import your entire MS Project file into Milestones, especially if you have thousands of tasks!

Our new video shows you a few different methods to limit which tasks get imported, to make your life easier:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

June 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for June 2018

Moving a master schedule
I have moved a master schedule and its slaves to a different folder on my PC. How do I get it to update the links for the slave schedules so that the point to the new folder I’ve moved them too?

Show date headings at both the top and bottom of the schedule
Is it possible to display the date headings below the schedule?

Angled symbol text
How can I show some of my text at an angle so I can get more information onto my crowded schedule?

Copy all pages to PowerPoint
How can I copy my multi-page schedule into PowerPoint without pasting one page at a time?.

Autosave to protect files From system and software crashes
If my computer or software crashes or reboots while I’m saving a Milestones schedule, how can I recover the file?.

No numbers below DataGraph
I have two data graphs on my chart. Since my timeline covers about 2 years, the data table associated with the graph is not legible. I would like to have only the graph with no data table. From what I can tell, the only options I have are Data Above the Graph or Data Below the Graph. However, I want to leave out the numbers entirely.

Using substitutable text strings and default symbol text
I’m making a “no-columns” presentation schedule. Is there an easy way to attach my task names as symbol text?

Earned value columns
I need to use Earned Value in my Milestones schedule, but I’m not sure what each column means or how it calculates information. Can you help me with this information?

Rolled up symbol to show up on summary bar
How can I get one of the symbols on a lower outline level to show up on my summary bar?

Adding links on crowded schedules
My schedule is very crowded and I often have trouble selecting symbols due to their closeness. Because of this, It’s very difficult to add vertical links between two symbols. Any suggestions?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for June 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

April 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Check your Project to Milestones Links!

It’s very handy to be able to double-check how symbols and rows in Milestones are linked to your MS Project schedule.

Our new video shows you 5 different methods, including a cool new addition for viewing the tag right on the schedule:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

April 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for April 2018

Hide indicator symbols on blank lines
I have indicator symbol values that are “0”. How do I get Milestones Professional NOT to draw an indicator symbol on lines that are blank?

Help finding “invisible” symbols
I have deleted some stuff from a chart, but there are several blank symbols scattered around and I’m having trouble finding them

Adjust the position of symbol within a task row to relieve crowding
Symbols on a task row are close together, if not on top of each other. How can I display them better?

Change symbol date format to a custom format
My computer is set up for English and with United States settings. However, I want to make the dates on my schedule reflect a date order used by my customers. Instead of mm/dd/yy, I would like to use dd/mm/yy. Is this possible?

Symbol count SmartColumn
What is a “Symbol Count” SmartColumn?

Symbol Date Format
Any symbols I add show Month/Year instead of Month/day/year. (e.g. – 6/11 instead of 6/28 for a milestone of 6/28/2011). I would like the dates which appear above the symbols to show the month and the day. How do I change this?

Duration on a summary bar
I have a duration column. On the summary bar, the duration appears to be the total of the lower level durations. I don’t want the cumulative duration of all the tasks but the duration from the start of the first task to the completion of the last task.

Exclude hidden tasks when filtering
I am making an upper level schedule, and am using the Split Summary Bar setting. I would like to filter the schedule so that I can exclude certain tasks and then show just the tasks I want on the summary bar. The problem is that when I filter, the summary bar is still showing the unwanted tasks.

Export from Primavera
I would like to import from Primavera. Is there anything special I need to do to generate the XML files which Milestones can use?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for April 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

February 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Create PDF with Bookmarks from Milestones Professional

If you want to use Bookmarks in the PDF that you save from your Milestones Professional schedule, check out this video:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

February 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for February 2018

Add a percent complete symbol in a column
How do I add a percent complete symbol to a column?

Show percent symbol on a task row
I see that it is possible to add a pie symbol to a task row as a normal symbol. Can you tell me how to set this up?

Stamp a schedule with a file name and date
Can I add a file name and date as together somewhere on the schedule?

Convert to PDF
Can I convert my Milestones schedules to PDF files for distribution?

Eliminate the dashed vertical line
What is the dashed vertical line on my schedule, and how do I make it disappear?

Special symbol needed
I would really like to show a symbol that looks like this one on my schedule. Is it possible?

Specifying print size
I have the chart size set to 7.5″ horizontal and 5.5.” vertical. However, when I print the chart, it fills the entire page, rather than printing at the size I have specified. How can I get it to print using my specifications?

Standard curtains for all my projects
I would like the same curtains to appear on all of my schedules. How can I do this?

Shade task rows to create a “Swim-lane” chart
I want to create a “Swim-Lane” chart. How do I shade the lines?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for February 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

January 2018 Newsletter

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Video: Change or Update your UniqueIDs in Milestones Professional

If you need to replace multiple UniqueIDs (or just a lot of instances of a single UniqueID), give this video a shot:

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

January 2018 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for  January 2018

Don’t want short pages when using page breaks
Is there a way to use a page break which doesn’t truncate the bottom of the chart? I want my pages to all be the same number of tasks per page.

Link to active task Tag and Update issue
I find that the Unique IDs on a task row are sometimes changed when I use Link to Active MS Project task, “Tag and Update”.

Trouble pasting into PowerPoint
Hmmm…. what’s this? Too complex? What does this mean?

Unidentified symbol issue
I’m working on a chart and just noticed that there is a light blue bar looking symbol in one of my task rows that I didn’t add and cannot land on with my cursor (even tabbing through). I don’t know where this could have come from. I don’t use this color anywhere in my chart so I don’t know where this could have come from. Any ideas on how I can get rid of it?

What are all these lines?
I can’t figure out what all of these lines are on my schedule. Any idea?

Trouble selecting a symbol on my crowded schedule
I am having trouble selecting the symbol I want to change. My schedule is extremely dense (40 per row!) Any ideas would be great.

Added a vertical link but it doesn’t show up
I have added a couple of vertical links on my schedule but they do not appear.

Vertical connectors on a multi-page schedule
My schedule has many vertical connectors, connecting dates across pages. When I look at the connectors, it’s often challenging to determine which page they are connected to. Is there anything I can do to make this easier?

Vertical connectors in the legend
Can I show a vertical connector in the legend?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for January 2018

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

December 2017 Newsletter

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Stay on Track This Holiday Season with Custom Symbols

Using bitmaps instead of built-in symbols can help you to better visualize your project:

Download the schedule here:

Be sure to check out our Custom Bitmap Symbol Tutorial Video to see how to use your own bitmaps.

See all the videos we created in 2017

We created a lot of Tutorials for Milestones Professional in 2017, check them all out below:

Tutorial: Create a Custom Bitmap Symbol
Tutorial: Row Height / Rows per Page
Tutorial: Adding Symbols to your Schedule
Tutorial: Link entire rows to MS Project
Tutorial: Attach a Date Heading to a Task Row
Tutorial: FreeForm Text
Tutorial: Import and Refresh from MS Excel
Tutorial: Modify Bars on your Toolbox
Tutorial: Refresh from Multiple MS Project files

Be sure to check out our Videos page to see even more videos.

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

December 2017 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for December 2017

Refresh from Microsoft Excel
I have a challenge. In my new organization, they use Real Time Enterprise instead of MS Project. The Task Order Schedule is at least 9k lines. I can export to Excel but I’m not sure how to build a Milestone chart with the key deployment tasks that we need to monitor. What would you suggest? That RTE file has UIDs so that’s good. But I’m spending way too much time comparing last week’s schedule to this weeks.

Date heading only shows letter for part of the heading
My date heading shows some months with the full name and others with an abbreviation. Is there a way to make it consistent?

Move symbols ahead by 4 months
How can I move a group of symbols about 4 months to the right all at the same time?

Horizontal bar has white stripe
I am using Milestones Professional to build a chart for our management. The task bars I am inserting (which should be solid) have a white stripe through the middle of them. Here’s a picture.

Custom Headers and Footers
I need to display custom header and footer information on all pages of my schedule. Is this possible?

Collapse expand indicators questions answered
I would like to have the summary bar line up with the rolled up symbols from below. How can I change the color of the roll-up triangle?

What can affect Fill to Status Date?
I have the Symbols: Fill to Status Date and Bars: Fill to Status Date options toggled on. However, it is not working. What could be disabling this feature?

Need larger toolbox
Is there a way to increase the size of the tool box? it is too small to see what symbols I need to use. I’m using a very high res monitor.

Three rows per page in PowerPoint
I am presenting my Milestones Professional schedule in PowerPoint and want to only show three rows on each PowerPoint slide. Any way to do this?

Stamp a schedule with a date, page number, and more
How do I add a date and time stamp to show when the schedule was created (up in the right-hand corner of the schedule)? How can I place a date and time stamp in the lower left corner as a “footer”?

What is the red line which zig zags down my schedule?
What is the red line which seems to go in and out from the current date line?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for December 2017

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.

November 2017 Newsletter

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Video: Refresh from Multiple MS Project Files

Check out our video that shows how to connect multiple MS Project files for refresh in Milestones Professional 2017. Be sure to check out our other videos as well.

Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017

Click here to Upgrade to Milestones Professional 2017 for only $149 (if you already own any version of Milestones Professional).

To see what has changed, check out our “What’s New in Milestones Professional 2017” page.

November 2017 Tips and Tricks

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for November 2017

Strange line on my schedule
I have a line on my schedule which seems to run down the current date but tracks to the fill on the bar. What is this line?

Line thickness in PDF files
Why are the line weights so heavy when creating a PDF? It really makes the schedule hard to read and is not good for presentations. Is there something I can do to fix this?

Milestones 2015 locks up at startup
I’ve had Milestones Professional 2015 for a while. Now, it locks up when I start it up. What’s up?

Invisible Symbol
How can I create a bar with no symbols on the ends?

Combine schedules
I have 4 individual Milestones files that I want to combine into one file. How do I do that?

Customized Date Formats
I would like to show a date as June 13, 2019, rather than 6/13/2019. Can I change the date format?

Nothing in Start and End Date SmartColumns
I don’t see anything in the Start and End Date SmartColumns. Any idea why?

Display the date line in back of symbols and bars
Is there a way to display the date line so it shows in back of symbols and bars instead of in front of them?

Show dates in French
I want to show my schedule dates in French. Is this possible?

Add a link
Hey, can I insert a link into my schedule? Does it go in a text box or is there some special vehicle for it?

For these and more, view Tips and Tricks for November 2017

Join the Milestones Professional Users LinkedIn Group

For anyone interested, there’s a free Milestones Professional user group on LinkedIn you can join to share best practices, network with other users, and maybe learn some tips along the way from other experienced Milestones users.

To join, head over to the following website and click Join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6796817

Note: This user group is an unofficial group run by Milestones software users, and is not managed by KIDASA Software, Inc. A free LinkedIn account is required to join the group.