Microsoft Project isn’t available for Mac so we’ve looked at the best free project planning tools out there for Mac users.
If you need something that can genuinely compare with a professional tool like MS Project, then first we strongly recommend checking out our look at the best alternatives to Microsoft Project on Mac.
Finding the best project management for your needs can be difficult. Although the most popular project management software, Microsoft Project, is currently Windows-dependent, there are other project management tools available that'll work with your Mac. In this article you'll learn what to look for in Mac project management software. Therefore, you also do not need Microsoft Project viewer. As mentioned, MS Project documents can be opened and edited with Merlin Project just fine. Free demo version of Microsoft Project alternatives for Mac and iPad. Every professional project management. Microsoft project for mac free download - Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac 7.0.3 Update, Parallels Desktop for Mac, Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac Update, and many more programs. As mentioned, MS Project documents can be opened and edited with Merlin Project just fine. Free demo version of Microsoft Project alternatives for Mac and iPad. Every professional project management application should allow full version testing before buying. If you are looking for an alternative to MS Project your practical experience with. Manage your projects more efficiently with the right timeline, budget, and resources. Work together in Project and see who’s available in real time with Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business (each sold separately). Which version of Windows do I need to run Project Professional 2019 or Project.
Many of them like the excellent Teamwork Projects have free versions for those on a budget, and pretty much all of them allow you to at least try a free trial.
If you’re on a really tight budget though and want something 100% free to create Gantt charts and Kanban boards on your Mac, read on.
With this in mind, whether you’re a freelancer, NGO or small business looking for something free or open source, here are the best free alternatives to Microsoft Project for Mac in order of ranking.
Although Teamwork Projects is a professional project management tool, it also allows you to use a version of it for free. Teamwork Projects is an incredibly powerful alternative to Microsoft Project and yet the Free Forever plan allows you to manage a maximum of 2 projects with 100MB of free storage.
If you just need to manage a few projects at a time, or can delete projects once they are complete, you can easily keep using Teamwork Projects for free for as long as you want.
Teamwork is tastefully designed with a clear, color coordinated dashboard that allows you to instantly switch between Gantt Charts and Kanban boards. You can import and export Microsoft Project MPP files and you can even sync it with the Windows version of Microsoft Project (although this isn’t available in the free version).
Other great features include automatic Triggers and Webhooks to alert other stakeholders and team members when work is complete, useful mobile apps to track projects on the move and contact management.
You can even try the paid plans for free and after 30 days, it will automatically revert to the Free Forever Plan if you don’t want to subscribe.
You can start using Teamwork Projects for free now.
If you already have an eligible Office 365 subscription, then did you know that you can use Microsoft Planner for free on Mac?
In June 2016, Microsoft launched Microsoft Planner (sometimes referred to as Office 365 Planner) – a free online basic project management tool for Office 365 users that works on both Mac and PC.
The slight catch is that Microsoft Planner is only available to Office 365 users on specific plans such as Enterprise E1–E5, Business Essentials, Premium and Education. The standard Office 365 Business Plan & Pro Plus plans are not included for example so you must check your Office 365 dashboard to see if it is available to you.
Planner isn’t exactly a replacement for Microsoft Project but it is similar to web-based, easy to use Kanban oriented Project Management tools such as Trello.
Planner can be launched from the Office 365 app launcher and allows you to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, set due dates, share files, send email updates and use a whiteboard.
For Project Managers, Planner gives a simple overview of the status of tasks assigned, unassigned, not started, in progress, completed and late along with the person working on them.
Microsoft claims that one regional authority in Cascais, Portugal with over 1000 employees has moved all of it’s work planning to Planner already and claims significant improvements in collaboration between employees.
At the moment, Planner is quite basic but Microsoft plans to build on it with the ability to assign tasks to multiple users, external user access and more customizable boards among others.
ProjectLibre (formerly OpenProj) is a free open source desktop project management tool that you can download on Mac and other platforms. ProjectLibre can import MS Project 2003, 2007 and 2010 files and is based on the same user experience that you get in Project.
For example, you can create resources and dependencies in ProjectLibre similar to the way you can in Project and it uses the same Gantt chart view to display your projects. The reporting features are basic but reports are easy to generate and you can export all of them to PDF format.
Cheddar, fontina, gruyere, parmesan, and pecorino are all excellent options, but the combination of cheeses I go back to over and over again is a hearty amount of extra sharp white cheddar (I like Tilamook) and a smaller, but potent amount of pecorino-romano cheese. How to make a rue sauce for mac and cheese. The cheddar turns creamy and smooth and the pecorino adds a pop of salty cheese flavor to the sauce.Okay, now this is where I get on my soapbox for a second. (Check the package directions, then reduce it by 2 minutes). Then when my timer goes off, I drain and rinse the pasta before tossing it with the sauce, which stops the pasta from cooking and gets rid of extra starch that would make the cheese sauce thicker in the oven.My Favorite Cheeses For Macaroni and CheeseDepending on your mood, the cheese you use in macaroni and cheese can vary.
The downside is that ProjectLibre uses Java which is notoriously buggy, slow and insecure on Mac. This means the the interface can be slow and unresponsive at times even when performing the most basic of functions.
If you just need something that can handle WBS, resource association and exporting to PDF, ProjectLibre does the job.
For long term use with more complex activities, it will probably end up driving you mad especially because there’s very little Help documentation when you get stuck (although there’s a very active online community).
Like ProjectLibre, Gantt Project is another Java based desktop free projects management app for Mac which can also import and export Microsoft Project files.
As the name suggests, Gantt Project uses Gantt charts to display project details and there are more ways to customize the Gantt views than in LibreOffice.
Gantt Project does all the basics like creating tasks and milestones, breaking down tasks and it draws dependency constraints.
It has better reporting features than ProjectLibre although there are virtually no costing tools or ability to add holiday or level resources.
Gantt Project is however completely free to use for as long as you want including for commercial use with no license fees.
2-Plan Project Management Software is a cross-platform Java based desktop alternative to Project for Mac that can be extended with different plugins.
2-Plan is aimed more at large organizations with complex project planning needs and as a result is quite complicated to learn compared to Gantt Project and ProjectLibre.
Right-click on it and select the Format option from the context menu. If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your PC, it should be there. Keep in mind that you can only format storage devices that are currently not in use. How to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Windows will present you with a formatting window where you can specify various formatting parameters.
There are various free plugins to extend the functionality of 2-Plan. However, most of what you need even for complex projects is provided for free in 2-Plan and if you’re willing to put the time in, it’s a pretty powerful Project planning solution.
The big downside is that it’s another Java based application and you will find it slow, unresponsive and awkward to use at times.
We hope this article has helped you find a free equivalent to MS Project on your Mac that’s right for your needs.
If you have any comments, suggestions or experiences with the software featured here, feel free to share them in the comments below.
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