Editing Microsoft Project files on Mac

[Buttery Ken]

Hi Folks

Does anyone have a solution for this? Am I limited to Parallels and using Windows? 90% of my tooling I can do on Mac so would love to be able to edit MPP files on here too.

Cheers

[Magnum 475]

There used to be a Mac app called Project 365.

The free version was only a viewer, but the paid version was full create / edit for MS project files.

Not sure if it’s made it to M1 Macs though.

[Murph7355]

When I was Mac based (7yrs ago now) I used an app called Merlin for this.

[Mr Pointy]

If you want to be sure of compatibility you'll need Parallels & a Windows copy of MS Project. You can get it for £29.

[Buttery Ken]

Thanks all. Project Plan 365 looks good but is about £10pcm.

I've got access to a virtual desktop with Project in, so I think given I'll only be using it for 1hr a week (hopefully!) I'll try that route first. If it becomes a pain I'll look at PP365/Project in Parallels.

Thanks

[C n C]

In the past (4 or 5 years ago) I've used Project Libre on a Mac for creating and editing MS Project files and sharing with MS Project users. It worked ok for simple project plans, but I'm not sure how compatible it is for more complex resource levelling stuff and the like, although it claims to support quite a bit of functionality.

Having said that, it appears to be continually updated/developed (latest Mac version Jan 2023), so it might be worth having a look at.

At least it's low cost (free).

[Buffalo]

You could try the omni group software suite. Its mid price but v good. It can read and export to MPP although it loses some format when converted from its native format.

I use omnigraffle and omniproject

[Kaelic]

Doesnt the online version of MS project work fine on a mac in the browser?

If so that should work for you.

[Buttery Ken]

Thanks everyone.

I'm trying Project Libre as of today. So far it can open and work with the MPP files I mostly use, so it's looking good.

I can't use the online version as that doesn't let you work effectively with MPP files. You can import them but then there's no way of getting them back to MPP.

Cheers

[Buttery Ken]

Buttery Ken said:

Thanks everyone.

I'm trying Project Libre as of today. So far it can open and work with the MPP files I mostly use, so it's looking good.

I can't use the online version as that doesn't let you work effectively with MPP files. You can import them but then there's no way of getting them back to MPP.

Cheers

Yeah this isn't working for me - very laggy. I've just tried to drag the splitter bar between the task and gantt view slightly to the side and got the beach ball for 10 seconds. I'm on an M2 Air with 16GB RAM which flies through everything else.

I'm going to try Project Plan 365.

[Mr Pointy]

What's wrong with the Parallels route as you described in your opening post?

[Buttery Ken]

Mr Pointy said:

What's wrong with the Parallels route as you described in your opening post?

Tried it, but sadly can't access the resources I need from a Parallels VM.

[Bikerjon]

Buttery Ken said:

Tried it, but sadly can't access the resources I need from a Parallels VM.

What resources are they?

[Buttery Ken]

Bikerjon said:

Buttery Ken said:

Tried it, but sadly can't access the resources I need from a Parallels VM.

What resources are they?

It's stuff in a place that I can't get to. I don't really want to go in to the detail.

I've done some work using Project Plan 365 tonight and it works well

Looks like it'll cost me £120 per year though