Help

Glass Project works the way MacProject Pro did, so if you remember the original, most of this will feel familiar. This page covers the parts that are new or easy to miss.

Install

Download the disk image from the latest release.
Open it and drag Glass Project into Applications.
Open Glass Project. The first time, macOS asks whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet, and says Apple checked it for malicious software. Choose Open.

macOS's dialog on first launch: Glass Project is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it? Safari downloaded this file today. Apple checked it for malicious software and none was detected. Buttons: Cancel and Open.

Glass Project runs on macOS 15 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. You can also build it yourself from the source with Xcode.

Open a MacProject Pro file

Choose File ▸ Open (⌘ O) and pick the file. Glass Project opens MacProject Pro 1.5 projects and Perspectives, with their charts, notes, pictures, calendars, resources and saved searches.

It opens as a copy. The window carries the file’s name, but nothing is ever written back to the original. When you save, Glass Project asks where to put the new document.
It doesn’t need an extension. MacProject Pro files never had an extension, and copies off an old Mac often lose their hidden file type too. Glass Project reads what’s inside the file, so choose it anyway.
Older files. Files from MacProject II and earlier use older formats that Glass Project can’t read yet.

Files on old disks

If your projects are on floppy disks, an old hard drive or a disk image, that disk is probably in the Mac OS Standard (HFS) format, which macOS hasn’t been able to read since macOS 10.15. To copy the files onto your Mac, use a program that reads HFS disks, or a classic Mac emulator with a shared folder. Then open them as above.

The charts

Every chart MacProject Pro had is in the sidebar and the Chart menu: the Outline, Schedule Chart, Task Timeline and Project Table; the Resource Timeline, Resource Table, Resource Histogram and Allocation Table; the Cash Flow Table, Dependency Table and Project Overview; and the Calendars.

Zoom with a pinch, ⌥ ⌘ = and ⌥ ⌘ -, or the zoom control at the bottom of the chart. View ▸ Fit to Window (⇧ ⌘ R) shows the whole chart.

Build a schedule

Draw a task by dragging in an empty part of the Schedule Chart. Hold ⌥ while you draw for a milestone.
Link two tasks by dragging out of one box onto another. Drag out of a box into empty space to draw a new task that follows it.
Name a task by clicking inside its box and typing.
Set the details in Task Info (⌘ T, or double-click the task): duration, calendar, constraints, resources, costs, actual dates and custom fields.
Change the lag on a dependency by double-clicking its line.

The full list of keys and gestures is on the Shortcuts page.

Calculate and level

Analyze ▸ Calculate Now (⌘ =) works out every date, the slack and the critical path. Turn on Analyze ▸ AutoCalc to recalculate after every change.

Analyze ▸ Level Resources (⌘ L) looks for resources booked beyond what’s available. For each conflict it shows the choices MacProject Pro’s leveler would offer, ranked the way it ranked them. You pick one, skip the conflict or stop. Unlevel Resources puts everything back as it was before leveling.

Search, sort and Perspectives

Organize ▸ Search (⇧ ⌘ F) shows, hides or selects the tasks that match a formula. Searches saved in old files are there to reuse. Organize ▸ Sort (⌘ J) orders the tables. View ▸ Perspectives saves a chart, search, sort and zoom together under a name and a command key.

Two looks

View ▸ Appearance switches between Modern, the default, and Classic (1993), which draws the charts as MacProject Pro did. Modern follows the Mac’s Light or Dark appearance. Classic charts stay black on white, as they were.

Save, export and import

Save (⌘ S) keeps a project as a Glass Project document.
Save As (⇧ ⌘ S) with the format set to MacProject Pro Project writes a file that MacProject Pro 1.5 can open. File ▸ Export ▸ MacProject Pro 1.5 File does the same without changing the document you have open.
File ▸ Export also makes a PDF or PNG of the Schedule Chart, a PDF of the Task Timeline, a spreadsheet (CSV) of the tasks, and PNGs of the document’s pictures.
File ▸ Import brings in tasks from tab- or comma-separated text whose first line names the columns, such as Name, Duration, Resource, % Done. Separate several resources with semicolons. With the Resource Table open, the rows become resources instead.

Projects that work together

Subprojects: Task ▸ Link to Subproject (⇧ ⌘ L) makes a task stand for another project. Analyze ▸ Consolidate Project Family brings their dates and costs up to date.
Links between projects: select a task and choose Task ▸ Link to Task to make a task in another open project wait for it.
Shared resources: Analyze ▸ Resource Scope lists other projects whose bookings of the same people count in this project’s Resource Histogram.

Remove it

Quit Glass Project and drag it from Applications to the Trash. It keeps one preference, in ~/Library/Preferences/com.glassproject.plist. macOS may also keep its window positions in ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.glassproject.savedState. Delete those too if you want nothing left behind. Your documents stay wherever you saved them.