by Sam Huffman, PMP MCITP

In my position as a trainer I am continually asked if there are any specific advantages to purchasing Microsoft Office Project 2007 or upgrading from a previous version. If your organization is looking into this software tool, please read on. This article is for you.

Out of the many features that form a compelling argument to upgrade, there are 5 that I think are huge:

1. Multiple levels of undo;
2. Change highlighting;
3. Cost and Budget resources;
4. Project Task Drivers;
5. Visual Reports.

Most of these features are accessible and may be configured by the user or can be turned on or off. This first article will focus on the Undo feature.

Multiple levels of undo

Finally the tool will allow more than one undo. This one feature may be worth the upgrade, particularly if you make frequent mistakes or change your mind. Thank you Project Team!

The maximum number of undo’s that you may have is 99. This number is adjusted in the Options dialog box under the General tab. See Figure 1.


Figure 1: Undo Levels

The Undo Last Command (Ctrl Z) and Redo Last Command (Ctrl Y) buttons give you quick access to immediate undo / redo actions. See Figure 2. The dropdown arrow associated with each option allows you to undo or redo at a specific level in your list of actions. See Figures 3 and 4. Alternatively, the Edit menu will also give you Undo and Redo options.

Figure 2: Undo and Redo Last Command


Figure 3: Undo Button and Dropdown


Figure 4: Redo Button and Dropdown

Obviously the Undo and Redo commands are powerful but they have some limitations. According to Help and Microsoft Product Support, there are some actions that can’t be undone. They are:
• Opening an enterprise project;
• Saving the project;
• Publishing the project to Project Server;
• Deleting an inserted subproject;
• Changes made in the Organizer;
• Adding resources from Project Server;
• Inserting another project from Project Server;
• Changing custom field properties;
• Closing an open project that contains cross project links to another open project;
• Closing the only open project.

In my next article we’ll look at Change Highlighting.