The menu system is a familiar way to access commands, functions, and settings in Microsoft Project 2007. The File menu contains the actions and settings associated with project plans and the application.

The File menu is where you go to create, save, and close project plans. You can also print or set print options in the File menu. The File menu in Project contains the Send To submenu, allowing you to send the file to another application for processing (such as email). You can change document properties. Finally, you can Exit the program. In this Reference note, we’re going to review the Open option.

File… Open

When you click on the File menu and select Open, the Open dialog box opens:

From here, you can navigate to the folder you want to open your project plan in. Near the bottom, there is an ODBC button. This button allows you to open a project plan from a data source such as an enterprise database server. This option is not typically used by most Project users.

When you find your file and click it once, you have a couple of options you can select. If you click on the arrow on the right side of the Open button, a menu appears allowing you to:

• Open the file normally
• Open Read-Only permitting you to open the file as a read-only file and not accidentally make any changes
• Open as Copy so you do not change the original
• Show previous versions of the Project Plan if you’re using a versioning system

You can also open other file types into Microsoft Project. By default, Microsoft Project Files is the filter applied when you go to open a file. If you click on that menu, you will see a dozen options to list the files in that folder. If you are trying to find a file which is not a Microsoft Project file in that folder, change this option to discover it.

Once you’ve selected the project plan you want to open, click the Open button.