How to export Gantt Chart from MS Project as an image

Question

I want to know (if possible) how to export a Gantt Chart from MS Project 2010 to an image or similar to insert in PowerPoint.

I've searched over the internet and I found articles about exporting to excel, or this one about exporting TimeLines from MS Project as images, but this is not working as I have Gantt Chart.

Any help?

Thanks

Answer 1

The easiest way is to use the native Windows Ctrl-PrtScn button combination. This creates a bitmap image of the current Window in the clipboard.

You then switch to PowerPoint and paste the image in.

Of course, this leaves you with the MS Project interface in the image as well. So you then need to trim the image in Powerpoint. Alternatively, you can go to full-screen in Project before doing Ctrl-PrtScn.

If that is too many steps for you. I would recommend using a screen capture tool. If you are a Microsoft Office user, see if you have access to Microsoft OneNote which includes a quick screen-grab shortcut. Windows 7 also has the Snipping Tool which might be helpful.

---

UPDATE

There is also (or at least there used to be - I can't check whether it is still there in 2010 at the moment) a snapshot button in Project itself which captures an image of the current chart without Project's interface. The button looks like a camera.

Another possible alternative is to print to PDF. This would then let you either insert direct to PowerPoint or open and copy a selected part of the image. Though this isn't at all easier than doing a screen capture!

Finally, you can, of course, simply include an MS Project plan as an object in PowerPoint though this tends to make the PowerPoint files rather large and unwieldy.

Update 2

Thanks go to @Shivaranjan for the information that, in Project 2010 the camera button is now replaced as 'Copy Picture' as shown in the screenshots in the following links.

First click the copy picture button

and then choose how to export it

Answer 2

In MS Project 2010 (without the "classic" view):

1. Select which rows you would like to include in your capture.
2. Select the Task tab.
3. Click on the down arrow next to Copy.
4. Select Copy Picture.

A little Copy Picture dialog will then appear and you can choose how you want to export your image.If you use the defaults (just hit OK), it will copy an image to your clipboard for pasting into another tool such as PowerPoint.

Answer 3

On windows 7, Click start(windows icon botton left handside of the screen), type snipp and press enter. This should activate the snipping tool so you can capture the desire area of the screen you like, then save it as jpg or png format, or copy and paste into powrpoint.

Answer 4

Microsoft PowerPoint has a screen-grabbing tool, so you don't even need to save it as an image to add it to your presentation:

1. Open the "Insert" tab in the ribbon in PowerPoint
2. Click "Screenshot"
3. Either choose the MS project window and crop the image afterwards, or click Screen clipping and select the Gantt chart.

Answer 5

You can also print the entire project as a PDF and export the PDF into a JPEG file.

Answer 6

Better late than never, I suppose, but here's my .02$ that I've found.

• The screenshot works if all of your lines fit on the screen. If you're trying to display a detailed or moderately sized project plan this quickly becomes cumbersome, but you do have other options such as the "copy image" option (below)

• If you use the "Copy image" and you have a lot of lines (more than 100-ish), the image is larger than 22" long and starts to blur for whatever reason. Project gives you the option of keeping the full size, rescaling to 22", or cropping to 22". I usually either keep the full size or rescale while locking the aspect ratio (height:width). By the time you hit 300 lines, it is nearly unreadable regardless of the option, so this option goes out the window as well. In these cases I've done a couple other options:

• If you use MS OneNote 2013 or later (maybe 2010?), you can print the file directly to OneNote (change your page layout in print options to fit by 1 page wide by X pages long), then copy the images (multiple pages, unfortunately) from OneNote to wherever you're trying to go

• You can print/export to PDF and embed the document

• You can download a Gantt chart template for Excel and paste your data in (may require some field mapping/aligning, but it's an option)

• There are some third party Gantt chart illustrators that allow you (usually for a fee) to import your WBS into a table and it will spit out a reasonably good gantt chart.

Hope this helps - I was hoping for a more elegant solution, so if someone knows a macro or other export solution please let me know.

Answer 7

You could try the GanttMagic app for Windows 10, which can read your MS Project schedule and create a high-level view (no links, though) directly in PowerPoint. You can then edit the resulting slides to use your corporate theme if you want to. Worth a try. Find it in the Microsoft Store (free to use for a week).