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Highlights

This section contains the following topics:

About Highlights

Create Highlights

Define Highlight Settings

Define Highlight Conditions

Define Highlight Formats

Define Highlight Font Settings

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Save Highlights

Remove Highlights

Delete Highlights

About Highlights

Highlights are the fonts, colors, symbols, and patterns you can define for highlighting project data. Open Workbench offers a variety of highlights that you can use to make views and printed reports easier to read, analyze, and understand. You can define highlights for:

There is no limit to the number of highlights and highlight conditions you can create. You can create duplicate highlight conditions. Open Workbench applies highlights in the order listed in the Highlight Condition dialog box. When duplicate highlight conditions exist, the last condition entered is the one applied to the view.

While you can create and save many highlight files, you can apply only one (the default highlight file) to open projects. If you create multiple highlight files, you can specify which one to use by changing the default location and file name of the highlight file.

Create Highlights

When inserting field names in the Type of Element column, insert them into a cell on a row that already displays a highlight format you want applied. You can insert the same field name multiple times into different rows in the Type of Element column. Each occurrence of a field name appears differently when you display a project, depending on which highlight condition applies.

To highlight project data, you must first select field names to highlight.

To create a highlight

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. Select the field names that are part of the highlighting criteria. To do this, insert field names into cells in the Type of Element column.
  3. Define the conditions under which you want to see the highlight applied to this information.
  4. Define how you want this information to look.

More information:

Highlights

Define Open Workbench File Location Options

Define Highlight Formats

Define Highlight Settings

Use the View Highlights dialog box to define or edit the view's highlights properties.

Tip: To apply new highlights to a project, set the path and file name of the new .RWH file on the Locations tab in the Options dialog box.

To define a view's highlight settings

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. Define the following:
    List of field names

    Double-click item icons to display object names. Select a field or object to see the highlights associated with it.

  3. View the following highlight settings in the following columns
    Type of Element

    Defines the element to which the highlight is applied.

    Sample

    A graphic display of the highlight applied to the data. Double-click to select font attributes including color, or if it is a Gantt field, to display the Gantt Symbol and Color Settings dialog box.

    Conditions

    Defines the conditions in which the highlight is applied to the element. Double-click to define the conditions in the Highlight Condition dialog box.

  4. Click Save.

    The Save As dialog box opens.

  5. Do one of the following:

    The View Highlights dialog box closes.

More information:

Highlights

About Highlights

Create Highlights

Define Highlight Conditions

Define Highlight Formats

Define Highlight Font Settings

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Save Highlights

Remove Highlights

Delete Highlights

Define Highlight Conditions

Use the Highlight Conditions dialog box to specify the possible conditions for a field name and highlight combination.

To define the conditions for a view's element

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. In the list on the left side of the dialog box, double-click the Task, Resource, and Project Information folders.

    The list expands to display available fields in each folder.

  3. Double-click the field name for which you want to change highlights.

    Your cursor moves to the corresponding Type of Element cell in the Conditions column.

  4. Double-click a field name's condition cell or the empty entry.

    The Highlight Condition dialog box opens.

  5. Complete the following fields:
    List of field names

    Double-click item icons to display field names associated with the current view. Select a field to see the highlights associated with it. Drag field names to the Field column to begin creating or editing a view highlight.

  6. Complete the following in the Highlight grid:
    Field

    Drag a field name to this column. This can be a different field from the element type.

    Value

    Enter a value or select a value from a drop-down list.

    Compare

    Specify if the field name is equal or not equal to the value you select or enter in the Value column.

    And/Or

    Select And or Or to add additional conditions in subsequent lines.

  7. Click OK.

    The Highlight Condition dialog box closes.

More information:

Highlights

About Highlights

Create Highlights

Define Highlight Settings

Define Highlight Formats

Define Highlight Font Settings

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Save Highlights

Remove Highlights

Delete Highlights

Define Highlight Formats

When you define highlight conditions, it is important to define the highlight's appearance. Format highlights when you want information displayed using specific fonts, styles, or colors, or when you want to assign a color to cells that display project data.

You can apply custom colors to fonts, Gantt symbols, and CPM highlights. If you use text-based field names in a highlight, you can choose how the fonts are displayed. To do this, use the Font dialog box. A Preview box displays to show you how the text will appear when the highlight applies.

More information:

Change the Appearance of Fonts in Highlights

Change Gantt Symbol and Color Settings

Change the Appearance of Fonts in Highlights

To change the appearance of fonts in highlights

  1. Double-click the Sample cell adjacent to a field name that uses text.

    The Font dialog box appears.

  2. Use settings in the Font dialog box to define the appearance of fonts in the highlight.
  3. From the Color palette, do one of the following:
  4. Click OK.

    The View Highlights dialog box appears.

Change Gantt Symbol and Color Settings

If you use Gantt field names in a highlight, you can choose how the Gantt bars are displayed. Use the Gantt Symbol and Color Settings dialog box to determine how bars, lines, column heading blocks, and other design objects appear in a Gantt chart view.

A Preview box displays to show you how the Gantt bar will appear when the highlight applies. When defining Gantt bar symbols and color settings, you can define them to match a highlight condition, and then override the settings with other symbols and color settings for the bar when a different condition is met.

To change Gantt symbol and color settings

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. In the list of field names, expand the Highlight Information list and select a Gantt view.
  3. Scroll to find a Gantt element, and double-click a Gantt element sample, such as a bar.

    The Gantt Symbol and Color Settings dialog box opens.

  4. Do the following:
    1. From the Left Endpoint group, select the symbol, pattern, and color to use to display the left endpoint of the Gantt bar.
    2. From the Center Bar group, select the symbol, pattern, and color to use to display the body of the Gantt bar. If you want the Gantt bar to have a border, select the Draw Border check box.
    3. In the Right Endpoint group, select the symbol, pattern, and color to use to display the right endpoint of the Gantt bar.
    4. Select the Default Color check box to apply the default color (black) to the selected end point or Gantt bar color when the highlight condition is met.
  5. Select the Black Border check box to draw a black border around a Gantt bar or endpoint.
  6. Select the Draw Border check box to draw a color border around the Gantt bar.

    Click OK to save your changes.

Define Highlight Font Settings

Use the Font dialog box to set font and background attributes for a particular highlight.

To define the highlights font setting for a view's element

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. In the Sample column, double-click an element's sample entry.

    The Font dialog box opens.

  3. Complete the following fields:
    Font

    Select the typeface to use.

    Size

    Enter or select a font size. The default size is the same point size used for the Windows system font.

    Bold

    Select to display text in boldface. The default setting is off.

    Italic

    Select to display italic text. The default setting is off.

    Underline

    Select to underline text. The default setting is off.

Color
Foreground

Select to set the foreground (text) color of the highlight.

Default

Select to use the default font color for the foreground (text) of the highlight. The default is the foreground color used for window text in your Windows desktop color scheme. To change your color scheme, see your Microsoft Windows User's Guide.

Background

Select to set the background color of the highlight.

Default

Select to use the default background color for the highlight. The default is the background color used for window text in your Windows desktop color scheme.

Preview

Review the effect of your current selections.

More information:

Highlights

About Highlights

Create Highlights

Define Highlight Settings

Define Highlight Conditions

Define Highlight Formats

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Save Highlights

Remove Highlights

Delete Highlights

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Use the CPM Highlight Symbol dialog box to determine how bars, lines, column heading blocks, and other design objects appear in a selected CPM view.

To make design settings for CPM view objects

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. Complete the following fields:
    List of field names

    Expand the Highlight Information list and select a CPM View.

    Attributes:
    Type of Element

    Scroll to find a CPM element.

    Sample

    Double-click a CPM object (not a text sample) such as a box.

  3. In the CPM Highlight Symbol dialog box:
    Pattern

    Select the highlight pattern to apply to the CPM box.

    Color

    Select the highlight color.

    Preview

    Displays the selected pattern and color highlight as it will appear in CPM views.

More information:

About Highlights

Define Highlight Settings

Define Highlight Font Settings

Save Highlights

Define Highlight Conditions

Save Highlights

Use the Save As dialog box to save Open Workbench .rwh highlights files. To create a new highlights file, change the name of the file you edited.

To save a highlights file

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. Click Save.

    The Save As dialog box opens.

  3. Complete the following fields on the page, and click Save:
    Save in

    Defines the folder or subfolder to which to save the file.

    Files list

    Displays a list of existing file names.

    File name

    Defines the name of the file.

    Save as type

    Defines the type of file you want to save.

    Default: .rwh

    Your highlights file is saved.

More information:

Highlights

About Highlights

Create Highlights

Define Highlight Settings

Define Highlight Conditions

Define Highlight Formats

Define Highlight Font Settings

Edit CPM Symbol and Color Settings

Remove Highlights

Delete Highlights

Remove Highlights

If you do not want to highlight any project data, clear the default highlight file location. The default highlight file and location is set on the Locations tab of the Options dialog box.

More information:

Define Open Workbench File Location Options

Delete Highlights

To delete a highlight

  1. Select Colors and Shapes from the View group in the Project ribbon.

    The View Highlights dialog box opens.

  2. Select the row for the highlight you want to delete, and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

    The highlight is deleted.

  3. Click Save.

    The Save As dialog box opens.

  4. Save your changes.