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The Project Structured template includes a custom Microsoft Project file (mpp). The template and the Project file are designed to work together. The Project file includes a macro that facilitates easier setup and syncing. It ensures the Project Tasks list connects to the custom Microsoft Project file and takes care of the extra column mapping between SharePoint and Microsoft Project.

The macro runs every time you open the project file. This means that every time you open the file will see a security notice. You should click Enable Macros.

The macro updates the BrightWork columns in the Project file every time you make an update in the Project file, if any of the updates require it. These BrightWork columns are text columns that sync with SharePoint - they are not standard Project calculated columns because you cannot sync Project calculated columns with SharePoint. The macro does the calculations instead and updates the text columns accordingly. One thing to understand about this is clicking Ctrl Z (Undo) on your keyboard when making updates in the Project file may not work exactly as you expect with the BrightWork added columns.

Reserved Columns in Microsoft Project

In Microsoft Project there are a number of Task custom columns that are used by the sync process. These columns are updated by the macro and are therefore reserved. You should not use these columns for you own purposes.

The reserved Task custom columns are:

  • Date1 and Date2

  • Number1 to Number12

  • Text1 to Text6