P6 Professional interface tour and navigation

Every P6 skill in this track starts from the same screen. Before you can review a contractor's logic, check float or run an update, you need to find your way around Oracle Primavera P6 Professional: where the menus and toolbars are, how a project is opened, what the Activities window shows and which keys change data. This lesson is the tour. Nothing here is hard, but owners who skip it make expensive mistakes, such as rescheduling a contractor's evidence copy by accident.

Learning outcomes

• Name the main parts of the P6 Professional screen: menu bar, toolbars, window tabs, Layout Options bar, and the top and bottom layouts.
• Open a project in the right access mode and move between the Projects, WBS and Activities windows.
• Read the Activities window: the Activity Table, the Gantt Chart, the data date line and the Activity Details tabs.
• Use layouts, filters and a handful of shortcut keys, and know which keys change data.

The lesson

Which P6 this lesson covers

As Lesson 1 explained, P6 Professional is the Windows desktop client, and the P6 EPPM web application is a separate interface onto the same kind of database. This tour covers P6 Professional, Version 26, which is what most schedulers use to build and review CPM schedules. The web screens look different and get their own lessons later.

A note on names. Older P6 training material talks about a "Directory bar" down the left side of the screen. The current Oracle help describes the same jobs being done by the Enterprise toolbar and the Project toolbar, plus the Enterprise and Project menus [1][2]. If a colleague mentions the Directory bar, they mean these icons.

The screen from top to bottom

Figure 1 is a labelled diagram of the Activities window, the screen you will spend most of your time in. It is drawn as a diagram, not a screenshot, so the exact icons on your screen will differ.

1. Menu bar. File, Edit, View, Project, Enterprise, Tools, Admin and Help. Almost every command lives here, even when a toolbar icon also exists.
2. Toolbars. The Enterprise toolbar opens enterprise-wide windows such as Projects, Resources, Reports and Tracking. The Project toolbar opens the windows for the open project, such as Activities, WBS, Resource Assignments and Project Expenses [2][3][4]. Some icons, such as the EPS and OBS dialogs, are hidden by default.
3. Window tabs and the active tab title bar. Each window you open appears as a tab in the order you opened it. Click a tab to switch, drag it to reorder, and use the X on the active tab title bar to close it [2].
4. Layout Options bar (Oracle also calls it the Display Options bar). It sits at the top left of each window and is the quickest way to change columns, grouping, filters, fonts and the bottom layout [2].
5. Activity Table. One row per activity, grouped (usually by WBS) with columns you choose.
6. Gantt Chart. The bars for the same rows, against a timescale.
7. Data date line. The vertical line on the Gantt Chart showing the project's data date: the point from which P6 calculates the remaining work [6].
8. Activity Details. A set of tabs in the bottom layout for the selected activity: General, Status, Resources, Predecessors, Successors, Codes, Notebook and more. You choose which tabs show and in what order by right-clicking the tab area and choosing Customize Activity Details [5].

The main windows

Oracle groups P6 Professional's main windows into two families [2]. Enterprise windows show data for the whole database: Projects, Resources, Reports and Tracking. They stay open until you close them. Project windows show data for the project or projects you have open: Work Breakdown Structure, Activities, Resource Assignments, WPs and Docs, Project Expenses, Project Thresholds, Project Issues and, when connected to a P6 Professional database, the Risks view. Project windows close automatically when you close all open projects.

The Projects window (Enterprise, Projects) shows the EPS tree and every project you can reach. It is where you see project-level details such as the data date on the Dates tab. That EPS tree is the structure we design in Lesson 3.

Opening a project

You can open a project from the Welcome dialog when P6 starts (Open Existing or Open Last), or at any time with File, Open, which brings up the Open Project dialog [7]. Select the project or EPS node, use Ctrl to pick several, and click Open. Opening from this dialog closes whatever was open before, so select everything you need at once.

The dialog also has an Access Mode section with three choices [7]:

• Exclusive: only you can edit; others can open the project Read Only. You need the Open Projects Exclusively and Check In/Check Out Projects privileges.
• Shared: several users can work in the project at once.
• Read Only: you can look but not change.

The Users button shows who else has the project open. For an owner, Read Only is the right default for anything that is evidence.

Inside the Activities window

Open it from the Project toolbar or Project, Activities [1]. The window can be split into a top layout and a bottom layout, each with its own toolbar. Oracle lists which views can go where: the Activity Table and Gantt Chart can sit in either; the Activity Network is top only; Activity Details, Trace Logic and the resource profiles are bottom only [1]. You can also open a second activities view beside the first to compare a project with its baseline.

Right-click in the table for Expand All and Collapse All when the WBS bands get long. If a project has empty WBS bands, Group and Sort has a Hide If Empty option that hides them without changing the rolled-up figures [1].

Layouts and filters

A layout is a saved view: columns, grouping, bar styles, timescale and which panes are showing. Use View, Layout to open, save or manage layouts. The Open Layout dialog lists the layouts available to you, which fall into three types: Global (everyone), User (just you) and Project (tied to one project). Layouts can be exported and imported as .PLF files, which is a simple way for an owner's team to share one standard review view [8].

A filter decides which activities appear. View, Filter By opens the filter options. Filters are how you go from 900 activities to the 40 on the critical path or the 12 starting next month. Layouts can carry their filters, so build a layout for each recurring question you ask.

Scheduling and the data date

P6 does not recalculate dates as you type. You tell it to, with Tools, Schedule or the F9 key [9][10]. The Schedule dialog shows a Current Data Date field, an Options button for the scheduling options, a Log to File box and a Schedule button [9]. Oracle defines the data date as the starting point for schedule calculations, the date you move forward when you record progress [6].

Keys worth learning on day one

P6 has shortcut keys (single keystrokes such as F9) and hot keys (Alt plus a menu letter, then a command letter). Figure 3 shows a starter set from Oracle's lists [10][11]. Two of them change data, so treat them with care: F9 recalculates the schedule, and F10 commits your changes to the database.

View the data

Key	Command	Menu
Ctrl+O	Open	File
F9	Schedule	Tools
F5	Refresh Data	File
F10	Commit Changes	File
Insert	Add	Edit
Ctrl+F	Find	Edit
Alt+P, A	Activities	Project
Alt+N, P	Projects	Enterprise
Alt+V, F	Filter By	View
Alt+V, O	Layout	View
Shift+F9	Level Resources	Tools
Ctrl+W	Close All	File

Northgate worked example

Northgate Distribution Centre (fictional) is a 12,000 m² tilt-up warehouse in Vaughan, Ontario, built by Halvorsen Builders Ltd. (fictional) for Northgate Logistics Inc. (fictional) under CCDC 2-2020. Halvorsen submits native P6 XER files. As set up in Lessons 1 and 3, Northgate keeps its own P6 database: P6 Professional connected through Cloud Connect to an Oracle-hosted EPPM database, with an EPS that separates the accepted baseline (NDC.BL), the GC's submissions as received (NDC.SUB) and owner review copies (NDC.REV). See the Northgate fact sheet.

Halvorsen's baseline schedule has arrived and has been imported, untouched, into NDC.SUB as project NDC-BL00. The owner's scheduler opens it for a first look. Here is the route.

1. Log in to the Northgate owner database from the P6 Professional login dialog.
2. File, Open. In the Open Project dialog, expand the EPS to NLI, Capital Projects, Ontario, NDC, NDC.SUB and select NDC-BL00. Set Access Mode to Read Only. This is an evidence copy.
3. Check the data date first. Go to Enterprise, Projects, select NDC-BL00 and open the Dates tab in Project Details. For a baseline, the data date should sit at or before the contractor's schedule start, Mon Mar 1, 2027 (M3). A data date weeks later than that is the first question for Halvorsen.
4. Open the Activities window (Alt+P, A). Apply the owner's shared layout, "NDC Owner Review", imported once as a .PLF file so everyone on the owner's team sees the same columns: Activity ID, Activity Name, Original Duration, Start, Finish, Total Float and Calendar.
5. Look before you change anything. Collapse to the WBS level and check the summary bars run from Mar 1, 2027 to the contract milestone M9, Ready-for-Takeover on Fri Jan 14, 2028. Then expand and click a few key activities, such as tilt-up panel erection, and read their Predecessors and Successors tabs in Activity Details.
6. Do not press F9. If the owner wants to test the schedule, for example by rescheduling with the owner's options, the scheduler copies NDC-BL00 into NDC.REV and works on the copy.

Ten minutes of this tells the owner whether the submission is worth a full review or should go straight back with comments. Later lessons turn each of these glances into a proper check.

Screenshot to come

Screenshot to come

Screenshot to come

Screenshot to come

Owner's move

• Demand a shared review layout. Build one owner layout, export it as a .PLF file and make everyone on the owner's team use it. Arguments about "what the schedule shows" often turn out to be two people looking at different columns and filters.
• Check that evidence copies open Read Only. Give the owner's team project profiles that only allow reading in the submissions branch, so the rule does not depend on remembering an Access Mode setting.
• Reject a submission whose data date makes no sense. The data date is the first thing to check on every baseline and update, before any other review.
• Insist on schedules being reviewed in P6, not in PDF printouts. The Activities window shows logic and float that a printed Gantt chart hides.

Common mistakes

1. Pressing F9 on a submission. Rescheduling a contractor's file with your options changes its dates. Work on copies.
2. Opening in Exclusive by habit. It blocks colleagues and, for evidence, gives edit rights you do not need. Use Read Only.
3. Losing work to an unsaved session. Know what F10 Commit Changes does in your set-up, and do not close P6 mid-edit.
4. Confusing a layout with a filter. A layout is the whole view; a filter only chooses rows. Save layouts with the filters you meant.
5. Reviewing with someone else's layout. A personal layout may hide columns such as Total Float or apply a filter you cannot see at a glance. Check the Layout Options bar.

Quick quiz

1. In current Oracle help for P6 Professional, which toolbars do the job of the old "Directory bar"?

   1. The Edit and Assign toolbars
   2. The Enterprise and Project toolbars
   3. The Top Layout and Bottom Layout toolbars
   4. The Tools toolbar only

2. Where can Activity Details be displayed?

   1. Top layout only
   2. Bottom layout only
   3. Either layout
   4. Only in a separate dialog

3. Which Access Mode suits an owner opening a contractor's evidence copy?

   1. Exclusive
   2. Shared
   3. Read Only
   4. Any mode, as long as you do not save

4. What does F9 do in P6 Professional?

   1. Refreshes data
   2. Schedules the open project(s)
   3. Opens the Projects window
   4. Levels resources

5. Layout files shared between users have which file extension?

   1. .XER
   2. .XML
   3. .PLF
   4. .MPP

Show answers and explanations

1. B. The Enterprise toolbar opens enterprise windows such as Projects; the Project toolbar opens project windows such as Activities and WBS.
2. B. Oracle's help lists Activity Details as a bottom-layout view.
3. C. Read Only lets you look without changing anything. Exclusive and Shared allow edits.
4. B. F9 is the shortcut for Tools, Schedule. F5 refreshes data and Shift+F9 levels resources.
5. C. Layouts export and import as Primavera Layout Files (.PLF). XER and XML carry project data.

Key terms

Enterprise toolbar

Icons that open windows for the whole database, such as Projects, Resources, Reports and Tracking.

Project toolbar

Icons that open windows for the open project, such as Activities, WBS and Resource Assignments.

Activities window

The main P6 Professional window for viewing and editing activities, with top and bottom layouts.

Activity Table

The grid of activities and columns in the Activities window.

Activity Details

Bottom-layout tabs showing the selected activity's general data, status, resources, relationships and more.

Layout

A saved view of columns, grouping, bars and panes; Global, User or Project; exportable as a .PLF file.

Data date

The date from which P6 calculates the remaining schedule; moved forward when progress is recorded.

Access Mode

Exclusive, Shared or Read Only, chosen when opening a project.

References

1. Oracle, Activities Window, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 26.
2. Oracle, Using main windows, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 26.
3. Oracle, Enterprise Toolbar, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 25.
4. Oracle, Project Toolbar, Primavera P6 Professional Help.
5. Oracle, Activity Details, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 25.
6. Oracle, Data date, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 26.
7. Oracle, Open a project, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 26.
8. Oracle, Open Layout dialog box, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 26.
9. Oracle, Schedule a project, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 24.
10. Oracle, Using Shortcut Keys, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 24.
11. Oracle, Using Hot Keys, Primavera P6 Professional Help, Version 24.

Verified on November 4, 2026.

Next lesson in this trackEPS and OBS in Primavera P6