Working schedules offline

[Mark]

Proj Server 2003/Proj Pro user
1. Is there a way to designate the location where Server
should save the offline schedule file?

2. To access a checked out project the user must launch
Proj Pro disignating their Server Account and selecting
Work Offline. The "File|Open" procedure then displays
a "Open from Microsoft Project File Server" dialogue box
with only the checked-out projects listed.
It appears the schedule files must remain where they were
originally saved offline. Is there a way to make the files
portable so they can be worked on from another
workstation/version of Project Pro, and then checked back
into Server?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mark --

The offline project plan is saved on the hard drive of the computer from
which the user logs into Project Server through Microsoft Project
Professional. It is primarily intended for use with a laptop when a project
manager travels away from the company network as a part of his/her job. Do
you have some kind of special need where this arrangement will not work for
you? Let me know.

 

[Guest]

Dale,
We have some PMs who have laptops and some that do not.
When needed we have some "loner" laptops that staff can
use out of the office. If they wanted to take a schedule
file home I was looking for a way they could put it on a
diskette or micro-drive to make it portable without
setting up the laptop and connecting it to the LAN to pull
the file in.

As to the first question, I found where Project Server is
saving the file on the hard drive. The file is buried
several levels deep inside the Documents and Settings
directory. If it was possible to move it around as
mentioned above I wanted to direct Server to put it in
a "C" drive root directory to make it easy to find. This
may be a mute point if the file cannot be moved.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mark --

Yes, the offline file is buried on your hard drive, which probably tells you
that Microosft assumes people should not be messing with it. Obviously, you
could do the Save Offline feature and then copy the file somewhere else, but
you will do so only at your own risk. I will take no responsibility
whatsoever if you do this.

Frankly, I think it would be easier for your people to use those loaner
laptops when they need to work in Offline mode and then work with the
offline file in the manner in which it was intended. It's up to you, but
thanks for asking my opinion. Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Dale,
Your right, and I don't think we have a choice anyway.
Just to let you know I tried moving and copying the file
to another directory on the same computer's "C" drive and
the file became unusable. This seems to be Microsoft's
method of allowing users to work on the file disconnected
from the server but does not provide total independence to
use the file wherever the user wants to.

Dale you have been a great help and resource on this and
many other questions I have had. Thanks for your time and
assistance.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mark --

You are more than welcome for the help, my friend!