Microsoft Project Atlas
Microsoft Project Atlas is an independent technical reference maintained by the Project Plan 365 team. It brings together Microsoft Project’s history, editions, platforms, and working concepts in one place so readers can understand what Project is, how its different products relate, and which capabilities belong to which generation.
Start here
Section titled “Start here”Use these pages as a quick path into the reference:
- What Is Microsoft Project? — the core concepts and product family in one overview
- Installing Microsoft Project — choose the right desktop installation path
- Creating a Project in Microsoft Project — start a desktop, enterprise, or Planner plan
- What Is an MPP File? — understand the standard Project plan file
What you will find here
Section titled “What you will find here”The reference covers the Microsoft Project family across its major forms:
- Project desktop, including the Standard and Professional editions
- Project Server for on-premises enterprise project and portfolio management
- Project Online and its Project Web App service
- Project for the web and its transition into Microsoft Planner
- Core ideas such as tasks, resources, assignments, calendars, dependencies, costs, and progress
The goal is practical understanding. Pages explain terminology, product boundaries, version changes, and scheduling behavior in plain language, with links to the underlying Microsoft material and other historical sources where they add useful context.
How the reference is built
Section titled “How the reference is built”Microsoft Project Atlas separates discovery, research, writing, and review. Source inventories record the documentation landscape. Research records capture atomic facts, confidence, uncertainty, and disagreements. Public pages then turn those facts into original explanations rather than reproducing source articles.
Product names and lifecycle statements are dated because Microsoft Project has changed substantially over time. Legacy releases, current products, and successor experiences are identified separately so that historical information is not mistaken for current guidance.
This is a growing reference. The initial foundation focuses on Microsoft Project’s history and the basic product family; additional concepts and practical topics will be added as their evidence is researched and reviewed.