Limiting Client View of Project

[JRD]

Hello,

New to Microsoft Project, new to the Microsoft Project Discussion Board.
My company e-mailed a .gif file version of the the preliminary schedule to
our client for review and comment. so the client could not see the full
loading of the schedule as it stands right now, just the parts he needs to
see. The client e-mailed back that he would like to be able to copy and
paste the schedule, but is unable to do so in its current form. We're having
difficulties doing the same from the .gif version of the schedule as well.
We thought of saving the file as a read-only, then sending it to the client,
allowing him to copy the schedule, but read-only still allows him to see all
the information we have loaded into the schedule, just not change it, which
defeats our purpose here. Short of creating a separate, limited information
schedule for the client's use, breaking the current schedule down into master
and subschedules or banging my head into my desk out of utter frustration,
any suggestions on how to create a version of the schedule with a limited
view that the client can copy and paste?

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Julia

 

[John]

Hello,

New to Microsoft Project, new to the Microsoft Project Discussion Board.
My company e-mailed a .gif file version of the the preliminary schedule to
our client for review and comment. so the client could not see the full
loading of the schedule as it stands right now, just the parts he needs to
see. The client e-mailed back that he would like to be able to copy and
paste the schedule, but is unable to do so in its current form. We're having
difficulties doing the same from the .gif version of the schedule as well.
We thought of saving the file as a read-only, then sending it to the client,
allowing him to copy the schedule, but read-only still allows him to see all
the information we have loaded into the schedule, just not change it, which
defeats our purpose here. Short of creating a separate, limited information
schedule for the client's use, breaking the current schedule down into master
and subschedules or banging my head into my desk out of utter frustration,
any suggestions on how to create a version of the schedule with a limited
view that the client can copy and paste?

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Julia

Julia,
You know, I never tried the banging head approach. I know it works for
lots of things but I didn't know it worked with Project....

You're right about sending the actual Project file. There is simply no
way to keep the client from seeing any and all data. The best you could
do is to encode sensitive data but that's an iffy approach.

You might want to take a look at our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
Take a look at FAQ 16 - Project viewer
One of those methods might work for you.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Brian Leach]

Hi Julia,

We make Steelray, the leading Microsoft Project viewer, and we'd be happy to
work with you!

You would need to delete or disguise the information you didn't want the
user to see. Then, you would simply email the user the .mpp file and they
can use Steelray to view, navigate, search, and copy/paste from the file.
Go to the website (http://www.steelray.com) and download a free
fully-functional trial.

If you fill out the form at http://www.steelray.com/salesform.php and
mention my name, I'll make sure you get an extended license key. (That offer
is extended to anyone reading this)

Brian Leach
Steelray Software
http://www.steelray.com

 

[JRD]

John,

Fortunately, for me at least, Option C (banging my head into my desk) was
determined to me the most inefficient option. Thanks for your suggestions.
We ended up using Adobe Acrobat to convert it into a JPEG file and sent the
client that version. They seem happy with it.

Best,

Julia

 

[John]

John,

Fortunately, for me at least, Option C (banging my head into my desk) was
determined to me the most inefficient option. Thanks for your suggestions.
We ended up using Adobe Acrobat to convert it into a JPEG file and sent the
client that version. They seem happy with it.

Best,

Julia

Julia,
Great, it sounds like a win-win for both of you.

John

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Does he want to cut and paste to modify the schedule and send the revisions
back to you or does he want to paste selected information from the view into
other documents for his own use? If it's the latter, how about creating a
view of the information he needs to see and send it him printed to a PDF
file?