When you install the Compare Versions COM add-in in Microsoft Project 2000, you can review differences between a current version and an earlier version of the same project in a detailed report. You may also want to use this tool to contrast a current version and a projected version of the same project.

Note   This Compare Project Versions add-in for Microsoft Project 2000 is for US English only. However, the add-in is available in multiple languages. Please refer to the Microsoft Download Center to obtain the add-in for your specific country.

After installation, the Compare Project Versions toolbar is displayed in Microsoft Project by default. This toolbar is also accessible from the View menu.

With its toolbar buttons you can easily:

• Compare two versions of a project.
• Focus on specific task or resource changes in both projects.
• Specify the items and columns you want to display in the Comparison report.
• Review a legend for the Comparison report.

Compare two versions of a project

If you have two versions of a project and would like to find out what exactly changed from one version to the next, you can open them both in Microsoft Project 2000 and compare them using the following steps:

1. In Microsoft Project, open the two versions of your project that you want to compare, and make sure that the newest version is the active project.
2. Click Compare Project Versions.
3. Under Choose the project versions you want to compare, verify that the correct project versions are selected in the Project version 1 (earlier version) and Project version 2 (later version) boxes.
   Note    Instead of opening both projects before clicking Compare Project Versions, you can use the Browse buttons in the Compare Project Versions dialog box to locate both versions, or locate the version that you want to compare your current version to.
4. Under Choose the tables to be used in the comparison, specify the tables that contain the data you want to compare in the Task Table and Resource Table boxes.
   Note    Tables such as the Earned Value table contain more fields than can be displayed in the Comparison Report. You may want to customize this table (or create a new table) to display the specific fields you need before comparing project versions. To customize or create a table, point to Table on the View menu, and then click More Tables.
5. Click OK.
   Note    Progress is shown at the bottom left corner of the window while the comparison tool creates a third, temporary project file to display the tasks and resources of both versions for comparison reporting purposes only. This Comparison report file is not a project schedule, but you can save it for future reference.
6. If you're unfamiliar with the color coding and symbols in the Comparison report, click Yes to see a legend.
7. In the left column of the report, hover over indicators such as green flags and red plus signs, to learn more about the task or resource.

Notes

• Microsoft Project cannot run the comparison when you open a project in the Internet Explorer using the Browse buttons in the Compare Project Versions dialog box or when you open a project that's embedded as an OLE object in another document.
• The Compare Versions COM add-in only compares tasks and resources. It cannot compare assignments.

Focus on specific task or resource changes in both projects

To get a before and after picture of a specific change, you can display the Comparison report alongside both project versions, with focus on the specific change in both versions.

• Click Go to Task/Resource in Project Versions.

Specify the items and columns you want to display in the Comparison report

The Compare Project Versions toolbar contains two sets of filters you can apply to focus on information you need to see:

1. To filter by specific items, click the items you want to display in the Select Tasks/Resources to Show in the Comparison Report box.
2. To filter by specific columns, click the columns you want to display in the Select Columns to Show in the Comparison Report box.

Review a legend for the Comparison report

The Compare Project Versions toolbar provides the following legend describing the color coding and symbols in the Comparison report:

• To display the legend, click More Information.