Top 10 Essential Microsoft Project Templates for Project Management
Every project manager should have a range of Microsoft Project templates in their company. I’m an Excel fanatic, and it’s a common mistake that I make, that I don’t use Microsoft Excel templates and Forms for Microsoft Projects.
For example, whenever I need to track metrics from multiple reports which have the same CSV format, Excel templates and forms will make my work easier.
With projects which have the same format, integrating Excel templates and Forms with Microsoft Project will help simplify hundreds of data into one cohesive workflow.
Is it reasonable to wonder how many templates you actually need? You may certainly overdo it, but to effectively use Microsoft Project templates and Forms, we advise that you limit yourself to just a few so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Remember, it’s always a good practice to reuse templates in your projects, especially when they’re just similar projects. But of course, there’s no harm in having different project templates that you can mix and match.
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In this article, we will go into the details of the best templates and forms for Microsoft Project that you can download on the Homepage to make your work faster and more efficient.
10 Microsoft Project Templates for More Effective and Efficient Workflow
1. Project To-do-list (Excel)
Creating a project to-do list is the foundation of every project. Project to-do lists are crucial for the effective fulfillment of a project schedule because they outline the primary activities that must be completed. They also make you more productive. Plan and manage your projects, including tracking progress visually with Excel data bars. To track a new project, copy and paste your project into a different tab.
2. Project Task List (Word)
Use this easily customizable project task list template to assign tasks to team members and monitor project progress. Make use of the columns for due dates and time finished in this straightforward project job list MS Word template to increase your project management efficiency.
To represent project segments, color the rows (categorized information). Each column and each task are capable of having various values. This will assist you in organizing the jobs according to the specific data you want to track for each activity.
3. Project Tracker (Excel)
This user-friendly project tracker template allows a manager to keep track of projects by category and the employee who is assigned to each one. A built-in calculator that uses conditional formatting and user input to flag over/under are simple to use.
Use this simple Excel project management template to streamline your project planning. By including their names in an attachment and sending the email to them, you may persuade team members to assist you in tracking the project. This not only adds value but also makes it simpler for team members to be acknowledged for their contributions and to be seen as a member of the team.
4. Project Status Report (Word)
To keep your important stakeholders informed of progress, use this pre-formatted project status report template. The built-in themes and styles of this project status reporting template allow for simple customization. It fits the other Timeless design templates. Find more templates that are similar by searching for a Timeless design.
5. Project Timeline (Excel)
Utilize this professional Excel project timetable template to keep track of your project’s schedule. Simply enter activities into the table below, and you’ll see how they instantly populate the project timeline template.
On this Excel project timeline template, you may horizontally navigate through the months by using the slider. This project timeline template is simple and easy to use.
6. Project Timeline with Milestones (Excel)
List out your project milestones and this accessible template will create a visual mapping of them in a timeline diagram. This Excel project timeline template provides a clear example of a professionally designed project timeline. Easily input your project milestones and edit this project timeline template to create a simplified streamlined view and enhance your timeline project management.
7. Marketing Project Plan (Excel)
This simple marketing plan template may be used by small firms or information workers to keep track of each deliverable for a project or marketing campaign. You can customize this marketing project plan template by inserting your marketing information and changing the colors to match your campaign.
8. Gantt Project Planner (Excel)
You can track and coordinate the activities of a project with this Gantt chart Excel template. This makes it ideal for project planners. Based on the popular Gantt chart concept, this Excel project planning template utilizes a straightforward visual representation to explain how a project will be handled over time.
To hold task owners responsible, you may input the start dates, durations, and current states of each job and share them with your team. This Excel Gantt chart template can handle both big and little projects for short-term and long-term time frames. This template is also very simple to use, so you need not worry if it’s your first time.
9. Project Performance Report (Excel)
Use this simple template to provide high-level status updates on a number of projects. What’s great about this template is that it makes customization simple by utilizing a table and conditional formatting, which includes online help and download.
Excel was used to develop this project performance report template. On the right side of the page, there is a data summary table that you may edit by adding your own data. This contains references from the chosen area and a custom report data range that you may use. Additionally, a table structured particularly for a project performance report is included.
10. Project Communication Plan (Word)
With the help of this user-friendly communication planning template, you can create a strategy for communication throughout a project. This communication plan template comes with a title page and sections that go into depth about project-related documents, team organization, team goals, team assignments, change management procedures, and more.
Wrapping Up
Project managers can make their work simpler and more effective by using Microsoft Project templates. Not only do these templates simplify the project process but they also reduce time spent on each project. This will then allow you to manage the projects more efficiently.
What’s good is that these project templates aren’t difficult to learn and use. These templates provide a good starting point for different types of project plans and an easy way to organize tasks. Once complete, Microsoft Project templates can also be shared with your project stakeholders for easy reference.
For courses on project management and tools please check our course list.
For more information on Asana and other project management software read our blogs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a Microsoft Project templates?
You start by creating your own Microsoft Project Templates in one of the spreadsheet programs such as Excel. Then, you open that spreadsheet file and save it as a template. Finally, you open the template in a program like Word or Excel. Whenever you start a new project, you will be able to see your saved template as the starting point of your management plan.
How do you make a project private in Microsoft?
Public projects are only seen by those that are signed into your organization. On the other hand, access to private projects and services is restricted to people who have been given permission to access the project and have signed in. By changing the visibility from public to private, you may change the project’s visibility from the project settings.
How do I track multiple projects in Microsoft Project?
You can track multiple projects on Microsoft Project through a Gantt view, which displays a detailed view of all the project’s tasks. The Gantt view is the default view for Gantt charts in the Microsoft project. You can also use the menus to set a project’s default Gantt view. The project can organize tasks into groups, make calculations and export the tasks when you feel like tracking them in different ways.
Related Blogs:
- The Best Excel Project Management Template in 2021
- Creating Your First Project in Microsoft Project – Simon Sez IT
Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
