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How to Print Schedules in Oracle Primavera Cloud

by | Jan 4, 2023 | Oracle, Primavera, Primavera P6, Tips & Tricks | 0 comments

When working on a CPM schedule, contracts generally require you to print the project schedule. In Oracle Primavera Cloud, you can print a variety of pages – such as the Activities page or the Resource Usage page. However, when attempting to print these pages, it’s useful to first format them. OPC pages display a lot of information, often too much to fit on one page. Thus, it’s useful to set up different print layouts to show only the needed data. You can then save these print layouts to Views for reuse on other projects.

This article will cover how to print and format pages in Oracle Primavera Cloud. The following examples are from OPC on a Google Chrome browser – but the process will be the same for Oracle Primavera Professional.

Turning On Enhanced Printing

Before being able to print a page in Oracle Primavera Cloud, we need to first turn on Enhanced Printing. Enhanced Printing allows you to use OPC’s print formatting tools to print documents. If this isn’t turned on, you won’t be able to use the program’s dynamic print formatting options. Enhanced Printing should be turned on by default. To check if it’s turned on, select the User Menu icon, and then Preferences.

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Under Preview Features, ensure that Enhanced Printing is checked. If it’s not, select it and press the Save button in the upper right hand corner. Then, exit out of the Preferences window.

Printing a Page in Oracle Primavera Cloud

Any page that can be printed in OPC will feature a Print icon within the page’s toolbar. Many pages within the program can be printed, including the Resource Assignments page and the Activities page. In this example, I’ll print out the schedule’s Activities page. To start with, I’ll open up a Project and navigate to the Activities page within the Schedule app.

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Before printing, you should format the page as needed. You can do this by switching to another View, or by adjusting the screen manually. These adjustments, such as changing the columns on the table or the bars on the Gantt Chart, will be reflected in the printed copy.
 
In this example, I’ll make a few adjustments to the View. I’ll start by switching the columns that appear by selecting the + button above the table. Here, I’ll use the search bar to show more columns and hide the ones I don’t need to display. For this print out, I’ll set the table to display the ID, Name, Planned Duration, Start, and Finish columns.

 

I’ll also adjust how the Gantt Chart looks by selecting the Gantt Settings button at the bottom of the chart. Here, I’ll turn on the Data Date line and the Relationship Lines. I’ll also adjust the time scale using the Timescale dropdown menu.

Once the layout is set as desired, select the Print button. The Print Options window will open, where you can see the current print view and adjust the print layout.

Adjusting the Print Layout

There are a variety of options to adjust the printed page. To start with, let’s look at the options under Settings. Here, we can configure how the page will be printed – such as the page size, the orientation, and the margins. You can also add a watermark to the page by selecting Show Watermark and entering in text.

Settings

In this example, I’m going to adjust the print format quite a bit. First, I’ll adjust the paper size using the Paper Size dropdown. If you’re planning to print to a PDF, rather than a physical printer, it’s recommended to use a larger page size. If you leave the default of 8.5″ x 11″, you will most likely need to print many pages for one schedule. In this case, I’ll choose ARCH B. I’ll add a watermark with my company’s name. I’ll also turn on Repeat Column Headers, which will display the column headers on each page – rather than just the first. Lastly, I’ll turn on Show Row Numbers, which will add numbers next to each activity row. This can be useful for navigating the printed copy.

Edit Content

Hovering the cursor over the print preview will provide more page editing options. We can adjust the content that appears in the printout by selecting Edit Content. This will change the Settings that appear on the right side of the screen.
 
Under Options, you can choose what to display on the Gantt Chart. I had already adjusted these settings with my layout – but if I hadn’t, I could adjust it here. For my printout, I’ll turn off the Sight Lines. This will remove the vertical lines that appear on the Gantt Chart.

Under Columns, you can pick and choose which columns to display in the table. You’ll have the option of turning on or off any of the columns displaying in the layout. You can only adjust the columns currently displaying in the table – which is why it’s important to set up your columns before printing. I’ll turn on all the columns by selecting Show All Columns.

Lastly, the Timescale column allows you to adjust the timescale and when the Gantt Chart begins and ends. I had already adjusted my timescale prior, so I don’t need to adjust this here. For the Start and Finish fields, you can choose to use rolling dates or custom dates. With custom dates, you can choose a date for the Gantt Chart timeline to begin and end. On the other hand, selecting Rolling Dates allows you to choose a variable time frame – such as Planned Start to Planned Finish. For my print, I want to see the first 3 months of my project schedule. For Start, I’ll choose Planned Start. For Finish, I’ll also select Planned Start – and type in +3 Months.

I’ll set my Gantt Chart to display the project’s planned start to the planned finish.

Edit Header and Edit Footer

If you click back on the print preview and then hover the cursor over the page again, there are options to edit the header and footer of the page. Both the header and the footer offer the same options – so we will just go over one in this demonstration. Selecting either Edit Header or Edit Footer will give you more options on the right side of the screen.
 
Under Settings, you can choose which pages to place the header/footer on – all pages, or just the first or last page. You can also edit the Revision Box here, which you can add to the header/footer as needed.
In the main workspace, a new toolbar will appear above the header or footer. Here, you can configure the toolbar sections. First, you can choose how many sections to add to the header/footer – from 1 to 5. By clicking within a section, you can choose what information to display within it. You could enter in text, add a Gantt Chart legend, add images (such as your company logo), or a Revision Box editor. Additionally, you can add variable data by selecting Add Field.
 
For my header, I’ll have three sections displayed. In the first section, I’ll place my company’s logo by selecting Add Image > Company Logo. For the second section, I’ll place the project name by selecting Add Field > Project Name. Lastly, for the third section, I’ll place a Gantt Chart Legend. Once you click on the print preview, you will be able to see what this header would look like printed.

Once you have adjusted the print settings as needed, press Print. You can then choose a printer to print to, or choose to print as a PDF.

Saving a Print Settings View

Once print settings have been set, they can be saved to a View. Instead of having to customize the print settings each time, you can simply switch to the saved View. Any print out I make with this View will use the same headers, footers, and timeline that I had set.
 
To save the print settings as a view, select the View menu on the Activities screen. In the dropdown menu, select Save View As. I’ll name this View ‘Print Settings’ so I always know to use it while printing. You can also choose whether to save the view to the User, the Project, or the Workspace. I’ll save this as a Personal view so that no matter which project I have open, I’ll have access it. Then, press Save.

Now, even if I open up another project, I can switch to the Print Settings view. When printing, I won’t have to adjust the print settings again – as they are saved with the View.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comment section on the bottom of this page, and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get more Oracle Primavera Cloud tips & tricks directly in your inbox!

Lauren Hecker is an Oracle Primavera Cloud Instructor and teaches onsite and virtual Oracle Primavera Cloudcourses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our OPC page. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!

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