Build a schedule from chat
Ask for a plan in chat, then read the timeline it opens on in the Project editor.
✦ Course · Intermediate
Plan and track a project in the Project editor
Build a schedule from chat, link the work, set working days and owners, then save a baseline and track slippage against it.
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By the end you will have a linked, baselined schedule and be able to read its slippage in Tracking Gantt.
Build and structure a schedule Link work and read the critical path Track the plan against a baseline
6 min
Structure the work into sections, tasks and milestones
Put each task under its phase and mark the checkpoints as milestones.
Link tasks and read the critical path
Tell the schedule what waits for what, let it move the dates, and see which chain sets your finish.
Set working days, due dates and deadlines
Give the schedule your working week and shutdown days so due dates and deadlines land on days people work, then send the deadlines to your calendar.
Assign people and balance the workload
Give every task an owner, then find and clear the days someone is booked twice.
Save a baseline and track slippage
Save the agreed dates as a baseline, then compare progress against it in Tracking Gantt.
Import and export MS Project XML
Open an MS Project XML file here and send the plan back out as XML when you're done.
What each lesson covers
The course, lesson by lesson.
Build a schedule from chat
Ask for a plan in chat, then read the timeline it opens on in the Project editor.
This course uses the Project editor in the desktop workspace on a computer. On a phone, the Schedule Editor can edit a schedule made in chat, but it has fewer of these tools. Describe the job, the start date, the phases and who does what, and Oppermind opens a draft schedule with sections, tasks and milestones on a timeline. It picks durations and links, and may add tasks, milestones and owners of its own, so read the plan through and delete what you don't need. Each task row has a status box and its owner's initials. Green bars are finished, amber bars are under way and blue bars haven't started, but a bar on the critical path shows red (lesson 3 covers why). The line under the pane counts the tasks and the running work, gives the critical path length and names the view. While the pane is open, the composer carries an editing chip with the project's name, so your next message changes this schedule.
Practice. In an empty chat, click the Project plan chip and finish the sentence (if the chip isn't in the row, click the arrow at the end of the row to show every tool), or write your own request with a start date, the phases and the people. When the schedule opens, switch the view from Timeline to List and then Board, and switch back. Then click Timeline zoom, which starts at Fit, to step through Day, Week, Month and Quarter. On a narrow pane it sits in the More menu.
Plan a project to fit out level 3 of our office, starting Monday 5 October. Design: measure the floor (Priya), layout drawings (Sam), client sign-off. Build: strip out and partitions (Crew A), electrical rough-in (Sparky Co), paint and flooring. Handover: defects walk, keys to client.
Structure the work into sections, tasks and milestones
Put each task under its phase and mark the checkpoints as milestones.
Put each phase in its own section. A sign-off or a handover takes no time but people wait on it, so it goes in as a milestone. Task opens the New task dialog, where you set the title, owner, start, duration, priority, status and parent section, and pick the tasks it depends on. The diamond button adds a milestone through the same dialog with no duration. To slot work between rows, select one and press Ctrl+Shift+I for Insert task, which adds a five-day task straight below it. Move to section in the More menu shifts a task and its sub-tasks under another phase. Group: Section lays the Timeline out by phase. Click it to regroup the same rows by Status, Owner or Priority, and click ▾ on a heading to fold that group away. If you would rather not start from chat, Library has eleven starting templates, such as Office move and Event plan, and asks before one replaces the open project.
Practice. Keep the plan from the last lesson or start one from Library. Add a task under Build with an owner and a dependency, add a milestone for an inspection, then move one task to a different section and check it took its sub-tasks with it. Click Group: Section twice to see the rows by owner, then keep clicking until it reads Group: Section again. On a narrow pane it sits in the More menu as Group Timeline rows by section, status, owner or priority.
Select Strip out and press Ctrl+Shift+I, then double-click the new row and rename it Order furniture in Edit task. Then type: Add a milestone called Council inspection on Thursday 22 October.
Link tasks and read the critical path
Tell the schedule what waits for what, let it move the dates, and see which chain sets your finish.
A link says one task can't start until another finishes. Click the first task, then the second, and press Link tasks (F2) to make the second wait for the first. You can also pick predecessors under Dependencies in the task dialog, or remove one with × in Task info. A link that makes a loop gets a Not linked message. Respect links, in the More menu, moves any linked task that starts too early to after its latest predecessor finishes, and never pulls a task earlier. Tasks with no slack show red, and so do their owner badges. That red chain is the critical path, and the line under the pane gives its length. A day lost on it is a day added to the finish. When every task has a start date, the path reads the dates on the schedule, so a gap before the next linked task counts as slack. Critical path, in the toolbar or under More on a narrow pane, shows the chain on its own.
Practice. Link Strip out to Client sign-off, then both Electrical rough-in and Partitions to Strip out, and Paint and flooring to both of them. Run Respect links and see which bars are red and which keep their status colour. Then click Paint and flooring, click Strip out and press F2 to see the loop refused.
Make Paint and flooring wait for both Electrical rough-in and Partitions, then link Defects walk to Paint and flooring.
Set working days, due dates and deadlines
Give the schedule your working week and shutdown days so due dates and deadlines land on days people work, then send the deadlines to your calendar.
Choose Change working time… in the More menu before you rely on any finish date. It first asks for your working weekdays, such as Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri, then for holiday dates written as YYYY-MM-DD. The pane redraws straight away, and from then on finish dates, bars and deadlines skip the days nobody works. Each bar ends on its task's last working day, the same day Task info shows as Finish and List shows as End. Tasks you add later follow the same calendar. Set due date... on a task's right-click menu keeps its start and makes it end on the day you choose, counted in working days, or moves a milestone to that day. The Calendar view lays out the next four weeks with each task on its deadline day, and Send deadlines to Calendar adds every upcoming unfinished deadline to your Oppermind Calendar.
Practice. Set your working week and add one shutdown day. Right-click a task, choose Set due date... and pick a working day two days after its current end. Then open the Calendar view and send the deadlines across.
In More, choose Change working time…, keep Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri, then enter 2026-10-23 as a holiday for the building shutdown.
Assign people and balance the workload
Give every task an owner, then find and clear the days someone is booked twice.
Name the owner when you ask for a task, or tell the assistant who takes each one, and their initials appear on the row. Assign to..., Edit task, Task info and Team Planner all change the same owner, so badges, views and reports agree. Team Planner shows one lane per person. Drag a bar into another lane to hand it over, or along its lane to move it in time. The Utilization tab in Reports… shows each person's booked share of their time and lists, under Booked past a working day, every day someone has more than a day's work. Level resources in the More menu clears a clash by pushing the later task out. Set each Std. Rate in Resource Sheet to fill the Cost tab. When two people share a task, Cost splits its hours between them while Utilization counts both in full. Copy task link in the More menu gives you a link that opens the project on the selected task, for anyone who already has access.
Practice. Put a second owner on a task that overlaps another of theirs, then open Reports… and read the Utilization tab. Clear the clash with Level resources or by dragging a bar in Team Planner, and check that Booked past a working day has gone.
Put Crew A on Electrical rough-in alongside Sparky Co.
Save a baseline and track slippage
Save the agreed dates as a baseline, then compare progress against it in Tracking Gantt.
Once the client agrees the dates, save them. Set baseline in the More menu snapshots the start, finish and duration of every dated task and keeps it with the project. A second baseline asks before it replaces the first, from the menu or from chat. As the work moves, set % complete and Status in Edit task, or run Mark on track to set each unfinished task to the share of its working days already gone. Mark on track moves each status with its percentage, so Board cards move to running or done, and blocked tasks stay put until 100%. Tracking Gantt draws the saved plan as a grey dashed bar above each current bar, so a slipped task sits to the right of its baseline. If the slip needs a new plan, Replan asks the chat to review the tasks, dates and links and update the schedule. On a narrow pane it sits in More as Replan with AI. Check its changes against the baseline.
Practice. Set a baseline from the More menu, then make Layout drawings one day longer in Edit task and run Respect links. Open Tracking Gantt and follow the slip down the chain. If today falls inside the plan's dates, run Mark on track, switch to Board and see which cards changed column.
With a baseline already saved, type: Change Layout drawings to 6 days and 60% complete.
Import and export MS Project XML
Open an MS Project XML file here and send the plan back out as XML when you're done.
To bring a schedule in, use Import project… in the More menu or Import file on the toolbar. Both open .xml, .mpp, .csv and .json files. An MS Project XML file keeps its outline levels, notes, part-day durations, baseline, link types and lag, the project's working week and one-off holidays, and each person's Std. Rate. If anything can't come across, such as a Must Start On constraint, a task or personal calendar, a repeating holiday or a percentage lag, Oppermind lists it before the schedule opens. A .mpp file saved by Project 2007 or later, up to 12 MB and without a password, opens as a schedule copy, with a warning that custom calendars, cost rates and other advanced features aren't fully kept, so hold on to the original. To send the plan out, choose Export project… and then MS Project XML (.xml), which writes your working days, holidays, rates, link types and lag. Check the dates and links in the other tool before anyone relies on the file.
Practice. Export your schedule as MS Project XML, import the file again with Import project…, and compare the sections, links, baseline, working days and rates with the original.
In More, choose Export project…, then MS Project XML (.xml). The file downloads as Office-fit-out-Level-3.xml. Bring it back in with Import project… to check the round trip.
Keep going
Make the learning stick
Start with one real piece of work.
Open Oppermind beside the lesson, apply each step, and leave with something you can use.