The New Project Wizard steps you through creating your project. Follow these steps:
Switch to the Project Center by clicking the Project Center navigation button (Command-6).
Choose File > New > Project, or choose New > Project from the pop-up menu on the toolbar to open the first screen of the New Project Wizard. In this first screen, you can:
Enter a name for the project in the Name field.
Enter a due date, which is the date the project is scheduled to end. (If your project is ongoing, clear the Due Date checkbox.)
If you want, enter a description of the project, or any other notes, in the Notes to Self field. These notes will appear on the project’s Overview tab.
Drag an image from the Desktop to the Picture field, if you like. This image will also appear on the project’s Overview tab.
Color-code your project by clicking the Color swatch area to pop up a menu with color choices.
When you finish filling in the first screen, click the right arrow button to continue to the next screen of the Wizard.
In the Project Watch Folders section, if you’re comfortable with Entourage’s automatic creation of Project Watch Folders, do nothing. If you prefer to set up your own folders (or if you have an existing folder for the project), click Manually Set Project Watch Folders, then click the Change button and navigate to the folder you want to use.
If you don’t want an Entourage Project Watch Folder, clear the associated checkbox. You can also designate an existing email folder for the project by clicking the Change button, then choosing a folder from the resulting dialog.
In the Import Items section, choose whether to import items from an existing Category or from another project.
Click the right arrow button to move to the third screen.
In the Rules section, you can choose to associate email from project contacts. That means that any email from a contact listed in the Contacts tab of the project–even email that isn’t connected with the project–will be automatically associated with the project.
You can also automatically associate email with up to three specified subjects. Choosing Don’t Apply Other Rules to These Messages does just that; any mail rules that you have won’t be run on mail with the specified subjects.
Choosing Apply Rules to Existing Messages will run the project rules on all of your Entourage email messages.
Tip
If you need more sophisticated rules in order to associate your email, you can set them up after you finish the New Project Wizard; I explain how in Adding Items With a Mail Rule, a few pages ahead.
In the Finder Tools section, if you want an alias of the Finder Project Watch Folder to be placed on your Desktop, do nothing. Clear the checkbox if you don’t want the alias.
Click the right arrow button to get to the Summary screen. If you don’t like something in the Summary screen, you can click the left arrow to go back and correct it. Once the Summary looks right, click the right arrow button to create the project.
The new project appears in the Folder List in the Project Center, and it becomes available in the Project pop-up menu in Entourage’s toolbar. Take a minute to click through the different tabs in the Project Center window. Next, you’ll add items to the project.