P6 will allow printing or plotting to any installed printer or plotter.
The printers installed on the computer will automatically show in the list of available printers. In the Print Preview window, click on the Print Setup button to open the Print Setup dialog box. From this dialog box, a printer can be selected, print properties set, and paper size and orientation chosen.
Figure 5-5 Print Preview Window
To change the way a particular layout will print out, click on the Page Setup button to open the Page Setup dialogue box. The Page Setup dialogue box has five tabs across the top (Page, Margins, Header, Footer, and Options). All five of these tabs have useful features for customizing a printout.
Page To create a printout that will fit onto one page width (landscaped):
• Click on the Page tab in the Page Setup dialogue box.
• Under Orientation, select Landscape.
• Under Scaling, click on the box next to Fit To: and change the number of pages wide to 1. Do not alter the number of pages tall. If the number of pages tall is left at zero, P6 will not scale the height of the schedule, and it will print out as many pages long as necessary to show the active layout’s activities.
• Click OK.
Options
The Options tab also provides key features for customizing the printout.
In the Options tab, in the Print area, there are a series of check boxes corresponding to different elements of the layout.
These boxes can be toggled in order to show only the elements that are relevant. For instance, to only show the Gantt Chart, then un-check all other boxes except for Gantt Chart. The layout would then only be a Gantt chart view, without the Activity Table.
If the All Columns box is checked, the printout will show all the open columns in the layout. However, if it is unchecked, the printout will only show those columns which are visible in the layout. So, if some of the columns are hidden by the split between the Activity Table and the Gantt Chart, the hidden columns will not display.
When the Gantt Chart appears in the printout, it is often expanded beyond the point where it will appear on only one page. The layout has already been set to show the entire timescale on only one page;
however, it is also necessary to ensure that the software knows what duration of the timescale to display.
Under the Options tab are boxes to choose the Timescale Start and Timescale Finish dates.
This allows the timescale to be made as small or as big as necessary for the current needs.
To set the timescale size:
• On the Timescale Start field, click on the Expand button.
This will open a box with a series of automatic date options; however, if it is necessary to select a specific custom date for the layout, then select Custom Date by clicking on it.
• A calendar will open. Using the navigation buttons, select a date on the calendar and click select.
• On the Timescale Finish field, click on the Expand button.
This will open a box with a series of automatic date options; however, if it is necessary to select a specific custom date for the layout, then select Custom Date by clicking on it.
• A calendar will open. Using the navigation buttons, select a date on the calendar and click select.
• Click OK.
Headers and Footers
Headers and footers are optional ways to add descriptive
information to printed layouts. The content of a header or footer is selected or entered, including items such as the project titles, important dates, Gantt Chart or Activity Network legend, a drawing, or a company logo.
Headers and footers can appear at the top and at the bottom, respectively, of the first or last page of a printed layout or on all pages, or on no pages.
The settings for headers and footers are defined in the Header and Footer tab of the Page Setup dialogue box.
Headers and footers are as wide as the page, but their height can be defined. The default height is 0.25 inches. To alter this height, use the up and down arrow keys next to the height field.
Headers and footers are also divided into sections. Each section can contain a different piece of information. Section 1 is the left side of the paper, Section 2 is the middle, and Section 3 is the right side of the paper. The default setting for the number of sections is three. The number of sections can be edited by using the up and down arrows or typing a number in the field.
To edit the type of information contained in a section:
• Under the section number, click on the pull-down tab.
• A menu will appear with choices for elements to place in the section.
• Choose the desired element by clicking on it.
Use the text formatting buttons to customize the font, font size, color, and layout of each section.