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MS Project on Mac

R

richardtrench

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 7, 2015
4
0
NSW Australia
Hi all,

I have a MacBook Air and I run MS Office 2011 however I now need MS Project also. office doesnt seem to have Project as part of it. I contacted MS and they told me that Project isnt currently available on Mac. They did mention however that I could run Windows alongside my OS, however this is going to cost me a lot more than I had hoped to pay. Is there any other way of running MS Project on my Mac? Ive looked at a few other Project Management apps available for Mac, but MS Project is what I use at work and seems superior than anything Ive seen available for Mac.

Any ideas?

Richard
 
The only way of running MS Project is use Windows either in bootcamp or virtualization, i.e., VMware Fusion.

There are project management tools for OSX like OmniPlan but if you need the actual MS Project application running then you are stuck with using windows.
 
maflynn said:
The only way of running MS Project is use Windows either in bootcamp or virtualization, i.e., VMware Fusion.

There are project management tools for OSX like OmniPlan but if you need the actual MS Project application running then you are stuck with using windows.
Click to expand...

Thanks, So this would involve purchasing Windows 8 and then purchasing MS Project?

If I purchased them and update my Mac in the next few months, can I transfer them over to my new one or do they just sell them for one machine?
 
richardtrench said:
Thanks, So this would involve purchasing Windows 8 and then purchasing MS Project?

If I purchased them and update my Mac in the next few months, can I transfer them over to my new one or do they just sell them for one machine?
Click to expand...

Yes on both accounts, you'll need to purchase windows and Project, but the license will be transferable to a new machine if you upgrade to a new machine.

Project standard is a very expensive piece of software. I just looked at it here:http://products.office.com/en-us/Project/project-standard-desktop-software Hopefully your company will pay for it.
 
Yes, Its very expensive. Once purchased, is that it? No subscription costs or renewals?

What would be the best alternative available on Mac?
 
Project Pro is 25 dollars a month, i.e., subscription based. The standard version is a one time cost.

I linked one of the better project apps for OSX above (OmniPlan). It has a free trial, so take a look.
 
richardtrench said:
Hi all,

I have a MacBook Air and I run MS Office 2011 however I now need MS Project also. office doesnt seem to have Project as part of it.

Any ideas?

Richard
Click to expand...

iTaskX is also an option. It reads / writes Project files. I have use edit for relatively straightforward plans with no issues. It is also affordable at less than $100.
 
I'm a bit late to this thread and have a couple of tips, having lived in PM software at times for over 20 years.

First, don't purchase Project Standard yet. MS just announced Office 2016 a couple of weeks ago, to be sold "later this year". Project 2016 should come out about the same time, and you'll be faced with the upgrade cost at some time in the future. FWIW, sometimes you can find a legit CAL on eBay much cheaper if you do want to buy a CAL.

I run Win 7 and Win 8.1 in Parallels Desktop, and Project Lite - which works well for some of our projects. About $300 for both licenses of Windows, plus $75 for Parallels, plus $7 per month for Project Lite.

As for a Mac app, I strongly recommend Merlin, and favor it over both OmniPlan and iTaskX. OmniPlan just isn't powerful enough (I do use other Omni Group products) and iTaskX was far too buggy every time I tried it. My only other recommendation regarding the Mac apps is that if you're moving files back and forth you'll likely see some conversion issues - I stick to Project if we're going to use Project, and the same goes for Merlin files - Merlin will open and save the two types of Project files (MPP and MPX) - but I tend to stick to one or the other app. I actually find Merlin easier to use and equally as powerful as Project Standard, and get more compliments on Merlin's output. Good luck!
 
campyguy said:
As for a Mac app, I strongly recommend Merlin, and favor it over both OmniPlan and iTaskX. OmniPlan just isn't powerful enough (I do use other Omni Group products) and iTaskX was far too buggy every time I tried it. My only other recommendation regarding the Mac apps is that if you're moving files back and forth you'll likely see some conversion issues - I stick to Project if we're going to use Project, and the same goes for Merlin files - Merlin will open and save the two types of Project files (MPP and MPX) - but I tend to stick to one or the other app. I actually find Merlin easier to use and equally as powerful as Project Standard, and get more compliments on Merlin's output. Good luck!
Click to expand...

+1

Long time user of Project over many versions, also used Primavera (multiple versions) Artemis and Hoskyns PMW. So I have been using project management tools since about 1985. On my Mac I do prefer Merlin, although in most organisations where I act as a sub-contractor they tend to use MS Project which I use mostly on the customer's equipment and software.
 
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