Presenting on a large screen

Presenting on a large screen

Goal: show the Gantt full screen, without ribbon and panels, for example on a projector or TV in the site meeting.

When you need this

Ten people are looking at one screen in the site cabin. The ribbon, the status bar and the properties panel then take up space the schedule needs, and they distract. In presentation mode the app keeps only the task table and the Gantt, over the whole screen.

Steps

Prepare the view

In presentation mode the ribbon is gone, so set up what you want to show beforehand.

1. Press Calculate (F5), so the dates shown are right.
2. Set the view you want to show, for example a layout that shows only the critical tasks (see Creating and using a layout).
3. Choose a time scale and zoom at which the task names are readable from a distance, and collapse or expand the phases with Collapse and Expand in the Outline group of the View tab.
4. If you want to use them, turn on Split view and Mini-map (see Using split view and the mini-map).

Start the presentation

Choose View › Presentation › Presentation. In the desktop app you can also press F11. In the browser F11 belongs to the browser itself: it puts the browser window in full screen and leaves the app as it is. The ribbon, the tabs, the status bar and the right-hand panel disappear. You see the task table, the Gantt and, if you turned them on, the histogram and the mini-map. For a few seconds at the bottom it says Press Esc or F11 to exit full screen.

In the desktop app you start the presentation from any tab with F11, also from Table or Report. In the browser you start it only with View › Presentation › Presentation. You always see the Gantt of the open project, and when you stop you are back on the tab where you began. In the browser that is therefore View.

Stop the presentation

Press Esc or F11. The ribbon and panels come back on the tab where you began.

Pitfalls and what the app does

You can still edit in presentation mode. Clicking, dragging, editing cells and Delete still work. If you drag a bar by accident, it moves and the schedule becomes out of date. A task you delete by accident you bring back with Ctrl+Z, also in presentation mode. So click carefully when you are working with a group.

Notifications stay visible. A message from the app, for example a save error, also appears in presentation mode. There is no ribbon or status bar otherwise, so such a message is the only sign that something is wrong.

Set up split view, mini-map and layouts beforehand. You need the ribbon for them, and that is gone in this mode. Zooming does work, with the mouse wheel or with Ctrl+= and Ctrl+-. + and - work too, but only when the focus is in the Gantt. After starting, the focus is often in the task table, so click in the Gantt first.

Full screen does not work. Besides hiding the ribbon, the app also really requests full screen. If your browser or window refuses that, only the ribbon and the panels disappear. The presentation still works. If you leave full screen in another way than with Esc or F11, for example with a key of your operating system, presentation mode stops as well.

Presentation mode is not remembered. After closing and reopening the app it is off.

See also

• Using split view and the mini-map: two time windows or an overview strip during the presentation.
• Creating and using a layout: setting up the view you want to show with one click.
• Keyboard shortcuts: F11 and the other keys.