Saving, history and opening projects

You never have to press Save in Ganttry. It saves your project as you work, keeps earlier plans you can look at, compare with today's and go back to, and keeps all your projects in one library. When you want to keep the plan as it stands under a name — before a big rework, say — you save a version. When two people change the same project at once, it shows you both and lets you choose — nothing is ever overwritten without you knowing.

Where to find it#

• The save chip, on the right of the top row: Save now, Save a version… and History….
• Tools ▾ → Save a version… or History….
• On the Company page's Overview, History… on a project's row opens that project with its History.
• Your projects: File ▾ → Open project… (Ctrl+O) opens the Open a project page, and each row on Home or on that page has a ⋯ menu of its actions.

Saving#

Saving is automatic: about half a second after you stop typing, the project saves. The save chip shows where it stands — "● Unsaved changes", then "… Saving", then "✓ Saved 1:21 PM". Click the chip for Save now, Save a version… and History…; when it reads "⚠ Another version saved — review", a click opens the review described below.

On the Work page, progress updates save as soon as you record them.

Save a version#

Save a version… keeps the whole plan as it is now, under a name, in History: its tasks with their dates, links, crew needs and bookings. Choose it from the save chip, from Tools ▾, or at the top of History.

It saves your newest edits first, then shows What's saved — the number of tasks and the day the plan finishes. Give it a Name of up to 40 characters, add a note of up to 500 if you like, and press Save. The status bar reads Saved "Plan A" in History.

• Each saved version of a project needs its own name; letter case and extra spaces don't make a name new. Names starting with "the plan from before" are kept for the plans a restore saves.
• A project keeps 20 saved versions. At 20, the dialog says so and saves nothing; delete one in History, then save again.
• Saved versions stay until someone deletes them, or until the project itself is deleted.
• If a teammate saved the project after the dialog opened, Save says so and shows the plan with their change; press Save again to keep that.

History#

History… lists the project's earlier plans in two lists, newest first, under a line with the project's task count and finish today.

• Saved versions — the versions people saved by name, with a count such as "3 of 20". Each row shows the name and note, who saved it, when, the day it finishes and its number of tasks. The "Before restoring …" rows a restore saves (below) are in this list too, but don't count toward the 20.
• Automatic saves — the plans Ganttry saved as people worked: "the last 30 · a new one every 5 minutes, or when someone else saves". Each row reads "Revision" and a number, the newest marked latest, with when, by whom and the number of tasks. Older ones roll off as new ones come.

Every row has Look, Compare with now and Restore…; its ⋯ menu holds the rest:

• Keep this one… — on an automatic save or a "Before restoring …" row: names it and makes it a saved version, so it stays. It counts toward the 20.
• New project from this — makes that plan a separate project, named after the version (such as "Bridge 12 (Plan A)"), and opens it. The copy has no bookings and no one on Assigned To; the status line says so.
• Rename… — changes a saved version's name or note.
• Delete… — removes a saved version or a "Before restoring …" row for good, after asking. Only the person who saved it, or an admin, can delete it; for anyone else it is grayed, and says who can.

On a phone, tap a row for its actions.

Look and Compare with now#

Look opens a version read-only over the editor, under an amber band that names it — "Plan A · Saved Sep 29, 4:40 PM by Dana Ruiz" — with Compare with now, Restore… and Close. You can scroll, select, collapse and expand rows, copy, switch panes, and fit or hide columns; nothing you do there edits or saves anything. A row's right-click offers only Collapse (or Expand) and Copy, and Tab moves focus on instead of indenting. Close or Esc returns to the editor exactly as you left it.

Compare with now sets the version against the plan on your screen, unsaved edits included. It shows each plan's finish and the working days between them first, then the tasks that moved, the tasks added and removed since, how the bookings differ, and any change to shared coverage. On a wider screen, Show every change, field by field lists the rest. To write up what changed between two progress updates, see Schedule update narrative.

Restoring a version#

Restore…, on a row or in Look's band, changes nothing until you confirm; nor does the button at the foot of Compare, which names the version ("Restore Plan A…", or "Restore the earlier plan…" on a "Before restoring …" row). Each opens a confirm, "Restore Plan A?", which saves your newest edits, reads today's plan and lists what the restore does:

• Kept from today — on the tasks in both plans, today's bookings (while Keep today's bookings is ticked) and everything recorded on them: progress, actuals, checklists and attachments, whether a crew or the office entered them, and the office's notes. A restore never takes back a crew's record.
• Kept because it has progress, a checklist tick or an attachment — a task only in today's plan stays when it has progress, a status other than To do, an actual date, remaining days, a ticked checklist item or an attachment, whoever entered it. A note alone doesn't keep it.
• Comes back unbooked — tasks only in the version return without the people and machines booked or assigned on them, who may be busy elsewhere by now; People shows them as needing people.
• Dropped · only in today's plan — the other tasks only in today's plan go, with their bookings and their notes.

It also says how the finish moves, and lists any shared coverage that changes. Keep today's bookings is ticked each time it opens. Untick it to bring back the bookings and Assigned To the version had instead; the confirm then lists today's bookings that go and the version's that come back. Progress, actuals, checklists, notes and attachments stay either way.

Before it restores, Ganttry saves today's plan as "Before restoring Plan A", and the confirm says so. Unless Switch to Draft first is picked on a Live project (below), the button names the version; press it and the project takes the restored plan at once. The status bar reads Restored Plan A · today's plan is in History.

Undoing a restore#

A restore can't be undone with Ctrl+Z: undo starts over. To go back, restore the "Before restoring Plan A" row. Its confirm asks "Restore the plan from before Plan A?", the tasks it brings back keep the bookings they had (Comes back with its bookings), and its button is Restore the earlier plan. That restore saves a "Before restoring …" row of its own, so it can be undone too.

A project keeps the newest 3 "Before restoring …" rows. Keep this one… makes one a saved version that stays.

Live projects#

Every project is Live unless it is in Draft, and crews see a restore of a Live project at once — on crew links, itineraries and field phones. So restoring a Live project takes Master planning, which company admins have by role. For them the confirm opens with Switch to Draft first picked: the project goes to Draft, crews keep today's plan until someone publishes, and the button reads Switch to Draft and restore. After it, the status bar reads Bridge 12 is in Draft · Restored Plan A · today's plan is in History. Restore now restores it with crews seeing it at once.

Anyone else still gets Restore… and can read what it would do, but the confirm says "Only an admin or a master planner can restore a Live project." and who to ask. Any Admin or Editor can restore a project in Draft.

In Training, a student's copy, the class board and the projects students create there need no one: anyone who can edit them restores them, and the confirm says that anyone with a link to the project sees the restore at once. A project a course uses as its template or answer key can't be switched to Draft, so its confirm never offers Switch to Draft first.

Opening and managing projects#

Every project is saved in Ganttry, and Home lists them all. File ▾ → Open project… (Ctrl+O, from the editor or any page) opens the Open a project page: Home in an opening mode, with the search box ready. Type part of a name and press Enter to open the top match; press Enter on an empty box to open the most recent project that isn't open, or Esc to go back. Without an account (on this computer only, or in the demo) this page is where your projects are listed.

Each row on Home or on the Open a project page ends with ⋯, the row's menu. Right-click a row, or press Shift+F10 or . on it, for the same menu. From it you can:

• Open the project (Back to this project on the one that's open);
• Make a copy… under a new name, leaving the original exactly as it is (the open project copies as it stands on screen). The copy has no bookings and no one on Assigned To, and the status line says which it left out;
• Save as a project template…, signed in, for a project you can add to — see Project types and project templates;
• Move to group…, signed in, to put the project in another of your company's groups, where you're allowed to. It reads "This project can't be moved to another group." where you can't. See Companies, groups and roles;
• Rename… the project. A rename is an edit like any other, and the box says what crews see: on a Live project they see the new name at once; on a Draft project they keep seeing the published name until you publish. A name another project already has asks first;
• Archive a finished project — archived projects are hidden until you tick Show archived in the Sort ▾ menu, and Unarchive brings one back;
• Delete… a project for good, where you have the right. It asks first, and warns that this can't be undone. Its History goes with it.

A Field account's rows have no Archive, Move or Rename.

Import… on Home, or File ▾ → Import file…, adds files (see Importing a project), and Ctrl+S saves the open project to a file on your computer.

When someone else saved first#

Signed in, every save checks whether someone else saved the same project first. If someone did, a review opens — another version was saved — showing exactly what differs, field by field, and you choose:

• keep their version;
• keep yours, replacing theirs — except for progress you hadn't seen, such as a crew's report (below);
• Save yours as a separate copy: their version takes over this project, and yours becomes a new project in the library without its bookings or assignments. The status line ends · the copy has no bookings or assignments — or names only the bookings, or only the assignments, by what yours held;
• or Decide later.

The review's table lists every task that only one of the two versions has, under a count such as 1 changed field · 27 tasks only in theirs. The table scrolls on its own, so the choices under it stay where they are. Past 80 changed fields, it gives the rest as a count, such as …and 12 more changed fields.

Keep yours keeps progress you hadn't seen#

While you edited, someone may have changed a task's progress and status, ticked a checklist item or added an attachment: a crew reporting from the field, or someone in the office. If you hadn't changed that part of the task, keeping yours keeps their change. The review says so before you choose, and names each task's change after whoever changed that task last.

• When Ganttry can tell the change came from the crew, the review calls it a crew report: Keep yours also keeps Sal Rinaldi's crew report on Crew task 3 (east): 50%, In progress. The button reads Keep yours (with Sal Rinaldi's report).
• Otherwise it is a progress update: Keep yours also keeps Dana Ruiz's progress update on Crew task 4: 20%, In progress. The button reads Keep yours (with Dana Ruiz's update).

After it, the status line says what was kept, such as Your version saved, with Dana Ruiz's progress update kept (theirs stays in version history).

Where both of you changed the same part of a task, the later change wins, and the review says which before you choose, such as Your 30% on Crew task 4 stays. It is newer than Sal Rinaldi's 50%. "Later" means the last change to the task, a rename included, timed by your computer's clock and the server's. Notes are the office's and always stay yours. When nothing of theirs is kept, the button reads Keep yours (replaces Kim Walsh's), as before.

When their save was a restore, the review says so — "Since your last save, Kim Walsh restored Plan A. Keep yours puts back the plan from before that restore." — as long as Ganttry can check in time.

The review on the People page leaves the copy out for the projects People saves on its own: People saves only bookings, and a copy never carries any. The project open in the editor is the exception. People saves it through the editor, so its review is the editor's own, also when Review under Needs attention on People opens it, and offers Save yours as a separate copy. Like any copy, that copy has none of the bookings, not even those made on People.

Nothing is overwritten silently. When a teammate saves while you have no unsaved changes, you simply get their plan, with the changed cells flashing briefly — see Companies and groups. While you have History, Save a version… or anything opened from History open, their save waits and lands when you close it.

If a save fails#

If a project's save has already failed — the chip shows "⚠ Save failed — click for Save now" or "⚠ Another version saved — review" — and you try to leave it, Ganttry asks whether to stay or leave anyway. Leaving tries the save once more. If that fails too (you are offline, someone else saved, or storage failed), your changes are kept in one recoverable place rather than lost, and the status bar shows Couldn't save "project" — click to recover.

Recovering re-opens that project. If nobody else saved it meanwhile, your changes go back on automatically; if someone did, the same review opens, comparing your recovered changes with the saved version, and keeping yours keeps the progress you hadn't seen in the same way, with the same words. The message stays — even after a crash or an accidental close — until you deal with it or a later save of that project succeeds.

Without a company account#

Projects are saved in your browser, and so is their History. It works as above, except that there is no Live or Draft, no People, no teammates and no check on other projects:

• Automatic saves are the browser's backups of each project: "the last 5, 4 minutes apart". Their rows read "Backup".
• Saved versions: 5 per project, plus the newest 3 "Before restoring …" rows. Rows name no one, and anyone using the browser can rename or delete them.
• Project settings → Autosave backups → History… opens History too.
• All of it stays in this browser. A file you save with Ctrl+S holds today's plan, not its History; another browser or device has none of it, and clearing the browser's data for the site loses it. Deleting a project deletes its saved versions and backups with it.
• When the browser is nearly out of room, Save a version…, Keep this one… and a restore refuse and change nothing, rather than leave your plan itself no room to save. Delete a saved version in History, then try again.

If a second browser tab edits the same project, the status bar warns you and offers to load that tab's plan. Until you load it (or reload the page), or edit this plan so it saves, Save a version… and a restore refuse and change nothing.

The public demo works the same way, in your browser: you can save versions, look, compare and restore. It keeps nothing between visits — every refresh of the page erases your changes and every saved version, and starts the sample again.

Who can use it#

Admins and Editors see the save chip, History and the library in the editor; a Field account never does. Any Admin or Editor can save, keep, look, compare, rename and restore; restoring a Live project outside Training takes Master planning. Delete… on a saved version is for the person who saved it, or an admin. Deleting a project is for those with the right to delete it — a group's or company's admin, in the projects they manage. Without a company account, whoever uses the browser can do all of it. See Who can see and do what.

Good to know#

• Ctrl+S doesn't save to Ganttry — it downloads a copy of the project as a file. Saving to Ganttry is always automatic.
• Undo history starts over when a different plan loads — a restore, a resolved conflict, a recovered draft. See Editing in the grid.
• Saved versions belong to their project: a copy of the project starts with none, and crews, crew links, share links and My tasks never see them.
• A shared view-only link has no save chip. An account that isn't part of a company yet doesn't save automatically, even though its chip reads "✓ Saved".