Getting Started with IntelliGantt for SharePoint 2013

We published the 'how to install' post the other day and now we will be posting a series on the basic features of IntelliGantt for SharePoint 2013. Yes, we were so excited about colors that we did sneak another post in, but this is the official 'Getting Started' information.

First, a word about why we are not in the Microsoft SharePoint Marketplace store yet. We're actually all ready to go with the SharePoint Store licensing and everything except for one requirement-- apps must run on IE9. This is a problem because while IntelliGantt for SharePoint is very HTML5 compliant, IE9 is not. We run just fine on IE10 and IE11, the latest few iterations of Chrome, Firefox and Safari, but if you're running IE9, well, please upgrade.

Now let's get started.

After installing IntelliGantt for SharePoint in your App Catalog and placing an instance in your site, let's look at the first couple things most people will want to do. Most sites have a default Task List as part of their template, but some don't. We will start off with a site that does have a 'Tasks' list, but we will show you how to add another task list just in case.

IntelliGantt for SharePoint can handle as many task lists as you like in your site, which makes it very useful for aggregating things into a single display to work with. To add a second task list to this site we click on the '+' sign next to PROJECTS. This brings up a form that lets us name the new Task List we will be creating.

Once created we will see the second task list appear in our PROJECTS selection control. This is a standard HTML5 multi-selection control you can use to select either a single task list by clicking or touching, or multiple task lists by mouse+ctrl or more touching. When you select a project, it highlights in the PROJECTS control and appears in the task grid/gantt chart.

Since we just added this task list there aren't many tasks in it. In fact, there's exactly zero. So let's add a few. Click on the vertical '+' icon to the left of the task grid. This means we will be adding things to the currently selected row. By default the task icon will also be selected, but if you play around with the tool and use the other add options, you may need to reselect the task icon so that the 'down' and 'indent' arrows appear. These arrows tell IntelliGantt for SharePoint how to add new tasks. The 'Down' arrow means add a task below the current selection as a sibling to the current selection. The 'Indent' arrow means add a task as a child of the current selection.

Click the 'Indent' arrow four times and we will add four child tasks like so:

Click on the display name of the task in order to invoke in-place editing. Type in a better name, like 'Renamed'. The only cell that doesn't support in-place editing is the column under the first 'Expand' header. Every other column supports an in-place editor for that field type-- text, dates, choices, flags, currencies and percentages.

We're starting to create our first project by adding a few tasks and renaming them. You can continue adding more tasks, but you'll also want to know how you can quickly find things again. Simply type in the display name (or any other attribute value) of the task you'd like to find into the 'type to find' text box. This does an instant search by keystroke on the client so you never have to bug SharePoint to find things again.

Try building a more complex project and also check back with the underlying SharePoint Task Lists to see your data there as well-- safe and secure. We will be posting more 'helper' posts in the days to come. You'll also be able to find help on our IntelliGantt for SharePoint help page or ask a question in our forum.