Project Planner Reader

Project Planner Reader is a super handy software that lets you open and check out files made with Smartworks Project Planner (PPR format) or Microsoft Project (MPP format). While it doesn't let you edit anything, you can customize how you view the info and even print it out if you need to.

Simple Setup

Setting up this program is a breeze! It doesn't take much time at all. The interface looks just like Project Planner, so everything feels familiar. But here's the catch: all the options that aren't about viewing or printing are greyed out, which can be kind of annoying.

Understanding Your Projects

Once you've opened a PPR or MPP file, you'll see all sorts of project details like task IDs, names, start and end dates, duration, status, and even costs. If you want more info on a specific task, just double-click on it for extra details like dependencies or job notes.

Resource Management Made Easy

You can also dive into resources—like usernames, groups, types, and emails—and sort them however you want! Need to filter tasks? You can look for incomplete tasks for specific resources or check out critical tasks too. Plus, there's a search function for both your project plan and resources!

Gantt Charts & Calendars

You can explore Gantt charts for your projects, show grid lines, jump to certain dates and zoom in or out as needed. Filtering tasks by type is super easy too—whether they're ongoing or milestones. And don't forget about the calendar! You can adjust scales from one week to one month while filtering tasks by type as well.

Network Diagrams & Reports

If you're into visualizations, there's a network diagram feature where you can zoom in/out and focus only on the critical path. You can also whip up reports on various project summaries right away!

Graphs Galore!

The software has graphs for cost estimates and resource usage too! You can set planned versus actual costs and more based on different timelines. Want visuals? You've got options—bar graphs or line charts are available!

Printing Options

You can preview documents before printing them from any view mode. If you've got a PDF printer installed, saving projects as PDFs is easy! When printing Gantt charts, just pick your date range and choose what details to include.

User Interface Customization

You have some customization options too! Change colors for different task statuses like normal or completed ones. Plus, choose whether to show task names in Gantt charts!

No Stability Issues Here!

This tool runs smoothly without crashing or lagging during our tests—it uses minimal CPU and RAM.

A Few Drawbacks

The interface might throw you off since it doesn't clearly show what the program does. We had some trouble figuring things out because of this—and older versions did freeze sometimes while we explored.

Overall: Project Planner Reader does its job well if you're just looking to view and print Project Planner or MS Project files.