To set up any .MPP file for Real-Time Collaboration (rTc), follow this procedure:

1. Sign In or Sign Up to the Business (PMO) Subscription using your email & password in Project Plan 365 app.
2. Having the Editor role, open the MPP file that you want to collaborate on with others, and save it to Drive 365 cloud service.
3. Check off the resources you want to include, and then click on the Add Team Members button.
4. Open the project from Drive 365. By default, the .MPP file will open in Exclusive Mode, and in order to collaborate with other team members, go to menu Share – Real-Time Collaboration.
5. Also, you can share the link from your plan with other team members, by using the Share functionality from the Share menu.

There are two modes in which you can open a project from Drive 365: exclusive and real-time collaboration. In the exclusive mode, you are the only one who can edit the project if you are the first editor who opened it. If another editor wants to open the same file, he will have the possibility to edit the file in Read-Only Mode but cannot overwrite it. In real-time collaboration mode, multiple team members can make changes to the same project at the same time. Only a team member with an Editor role can enter in exclusive or real-time collaboration mode. As an editor, when opening a project from Drive 365, it will be automatically opened in Exclusive mode if the file is not opened in Exclusive mode by another team member. If the file is already opened in exclusive mode by another team member, you will receive the following message:“Currently the project is opened by … in Editing Mode. Click ‘Read-Only’ to open the file in read-only mode.” Click on the Read-Only button to open the project. You will be able to edit the file but won’t be able to save it over the original file from Drive 365, instead you can save it to a different storage location. Click on the Cancel button if you don’t want to open the project in Read-Only mode. If the file is already opened in Real-Time Collaboration mode, you will automatically enter also in Collaboration mode. 

In Project Plan 365 app you can share a project as a link, as a PDF or as MPP file.

For more information about the Share functionality and its benefits, please see the Share Project Plans with Others page, which also includes a video.

Is the real-time collaboration feature available only for the Business Subscription or also with the Standard Subscription?

The real-time collaboration mode is possible only with the Business Subscription. Each team member that wants to collaborate needs to have the Editor role in organization and must have access to that project (if the project belongs to a division).

In order to format the rows in Real-Time Collaboration, select a task/multiple tasks or a cell/multiple cell, then go to the Format menu – Font option. Another way to access “Font” dialog is to select a task/multiple tasks or a cell/multiple cell, right click on them and from the contextual menu select "Font" option. A dialog will appear from which you can make the desired format changes.

Why I can't use the"Real time collaboration" feature?

First, you need to Sign In with your email and password inside Project Plan 365 application. You can get a link to your project only if it is saved on a cloud platform by clicking menu Team Share - Share or menu File – Share. Viewing and updating the project require authentication on the cloud platforms or SharePoint, respectively, and permissions need to be granted there, otherwise, the application will warn the team members that they do not have enough rights to view/update the MPP file. 

The list of users who are in real-time collaboration mode at the same time is shown above the grid.

You can customize the inactivity period before the file in real-time collaboration mode closes. In order to do that, go to the File menu and select Options. Select the Advanced tab and from General Options, customize the Collaboration Timeout as you desire. For changes to take effect, click OK. The minimum value for the collaboration timeout option is 5 minutes and the maximum is 120 minutes.