In GanttPRO simple Gantt chart software, you can create your own Gantt chart template from scratch or save your project as a template if you have already created one and want to use it as a reference later on.
This feature is available for all the plans, except Basic.
- An Account Owner can save all projects as a template.
- An Account Admin can only do it in those projects s/he is part of.
- An Enterprise user with a Custom role may have either Account owner’s or Account admin’s permissions to save a project as a template.
- Other user roles don’t allow saving any projects as a template.
In order to do that, click on the three dots button in the top right corner 1 of the page and then choose Save as template 2.
Then, enter the name of template 1. If you want to share the template with the Owner and/or Administrators, check the box for Share template with the team 2, and click on Save 3.
Note: You can also use this feature to copy a project.
The template is now available on the 'Create new project' page. If you want to open it, click on the plus icon in the top left corner of the page and select Create new project 1. Then choose the saved template from the list in “My Templates” 2 and click on Create new project 3.
Project data transfer
By default, your saved template will include:
- WBS
- Tasks
- Customized task colors
- Tasks descriptions
- Dependencies
- Custom columns
- Project settings
Project settings like Auto scheduling, Duration step, Workload, Progress, Workload calculations, and Resource calendar are always included in your saved template, regardless of any custom values you set in the 'Create new project' page.
When you save a project as a template, the following data is also stored:
- Project calendar
- Custom fields values
- Resources
- Assigned
- Project start date
After selecting your saved template and clicking on 'Create new project', you'll see an 'Advanced settings' window. Here, you can check or uncheck the boxes 1 for the additional data you need to transfer to a new project and click on Apply 2.
By default, everything is included.
Project calendar:
- Check this box to include 'Working Days', 'Working Hours', and 'Exceptions' from a project saved as a template.
- Important: If this box is checked, the project calendar details from your saved template will be automatically applied to your new project. This overrides any custom calendar settings you enter in the 'Create new project' page.
- Thus, you have to uncheck this box if you wish to manually set different project calendar values for your new project.
Custom fields values:
- Custom fields are transferred by default from your template.
- Check this box if you want to also transfer the values in these custom fields from your saved template.
Resources:
- Check this box to include all resources that were part of the project when you saved it as a template. Remember, you can only transfer those resources that are currently available when you start a new project using this template.
- If this box is unchecked, your new project will only include the project creator.
- Check the 'Assigned' box to transfer task assignees from the saved project template. This includes transferring users and virtual resources, along with their cost values. Note that costs won’t be transferred.
Project start date:
- When this box is checked, by default, your saved template will include the original project start date.
- To change the start date:
1 Click on the date to select a new one.
2 Click 'Take from template' to revert to the original start date from the template.
3 Click 'Today' to set the start date to the current date.
- Important: Checking this box means the start date from your template will be used for your new project, overriding any custom start date you set in the 'Create new project' page.