Why No HTML in Microsoft Project 2007?
By Bob Plankers on Apr 19, 2007 in Outright Rant
Why can’t I save my project as a web page?
“Microsoft Office Project 2007 does not support the ability to save a project file as a Web page. Instead, you can save a project as a more flexible XML file. This enables you to apply any style sheet to the XML file.”
And by “more flexible” they mean “not useful to someone who just wants to share a project plan with colleagues on Macs and Linux boxes.”
B as in B. S as in S. The reason I can’t save my Microsoft Project file as a web page is then there wouldn’t be a need for the Microsoft Project Server 2007! Frankly, I cannot think of a single reason they wouldn’t have an HTML export feature in a recent product release.
Microsoft: not interested in helping you just get your work done.
11 Comment(s)
By tMiller on Apr 19, 2007 | Reply
You need to realize what Project Server 2007 offers to enterprise businesses… HTML pages are static and not representative of current updates to projects. If you are using MPP2007 to make proposals, you are using the wrong tool. Projects are dynamic entities that must be real-time and Microsoft knows this and built Project Server for that reason.
By James Stone on Apr 20, 2007 | Reply
You should use Project-ON-Demand from Projity (http://www.projity.com) We are using them at IBM and it is a complete replacement of Microsoft Project but in your browser. It eliminates all the crap you are mention
By Bob Plankers on Apr 20, 2007 | Reply
Dynamic in what regard? In all the projects I’m working on I maintain the project plan, and as I update it I’d like to just export it as HTML so that others can view it. The project might be fairly dynamic, but the plan isn’t dynamic enough to warrant another piece of software. Right now I publish it as PDF for that reason. Also, I don’t work in a Windows Server environment, mostly all UNIX hosts, so it’s easy for me to do HTML to a Samba share. Not as easy to bring up a Windows Server software package.
I am getting access to a Project Server 2007 implementation right now so I’ll see what it’s about.
By Chris on May 5, 2007 | Reply
Huh? Project Server 2007’s got Project Server Web Access where everything is dynamically made availiable as a web page.
By Bob Plankers on May 5, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, but MS Project 2007 (*not* Server) can’t save as HTML. That’s my complaint.
By Grant Clark on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply
The answer is simple, don’t use MS Project 2007, instead use MS Project 2003 where you can simply click “File | Save as Web Page…”.
Very frustrating indeed unless you have time to construct your own XSL file to render the XML in a gantt chart… good luck with that :P
By Grant Clark on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply
What really gets my knickers in a knot is them saying “bla bla you can apply stylesheet bla bla” and that’s it. Not, here’s a good place to start if you want to build a stylesheet, or here are some examples, or my personal favourite, oh, did we casually forget that you can only do that with Project Server 2007 :P
By Joe Hickey on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply
Removing the option to save as HTML makes no sense. If I want to quickly share the schedule with an engineer it was always the best option. I agree that with the lack of helpful tips from MS on what to use as an alternative.
By Helper on Oct 15, 2007 | Reply
Try this out: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa164658(office.10).aspx
It links to an XSL that is bare-bones but can serve as a good base for your own HTML.
By NC PMP on Feb 26, 2008 | Reply
Here is a workaround:
1. Load the little app at this link:
http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2005/05/28/export_ms_project_to_html.html
2. Save your project plan as 2003 version.
3. Run the app that you downloaded.
It is a little rough around the edges but it works fairly well.
I love being able to save as HTML and was quite dismayed that Microsoft eliminated that feature.
By scollege on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
Yeah. MS really dropped the ball on this one, I think. And I’m certain Bob Plankers is quite correct - they surely removed it so they could sell MS Porject Server instead.