Duplicating Projects
When you need to run the same kind of project again — a repeating client engagement, a recurring audit, the next release cycle — you rarely want to rebuild the setup field by field. PMSuite's supported way to reuse an existing project's structure is the Project Template: you create a template that holds the reusable shape of the work, then start each new project from it.
This article covers how to reuse a project setup, what carries over, and what you still have to fill in on the new project.
Who can use it
Users whose role grants manage access to Projects — typically Company Admin. Project visibility and what each role may create or edit are controlled in Settings → Roles & Permissions (permission levels: None, Added, Owns, All).
If a user cannot see the option to add a project or a project template, check Roles & Permissions first, then have them log out and back in — permission changes do not always apply to an already-active session.
Prerequisites
- An existing project whose setup you want to reuse. See Creating a Project.
- Permission to create projects and project templates.
How to Access
- Projects list:
/account/projects - Add Project:
/account/projects/create
On the Add Project screen you can either start from scratch or start from a Project Template.
How to reuse a project setup
Step 1: Capture the setup as a Project Template
Create a project template that describes the reusable version of the project. A project template holds:
- Project Name
- Category and Sub Category
- Allow manual time logs toggle
- Project Summary
- Notes
Give the template a name that describes the type of work ("Quarterly Client Audit"), not one specific run of it.
Step 2: Start the new project from the template
Go to Projects → Add Project (/account/projects/create) and choose to start from a Project Template instead of a blank project. The template's values pre-fill the new project.
Step 3: Fill in the run-specific details
A template only carries the fields listed above. Everything else on the project form is specific to this run and must be set now:
- Short Code, Project Name — make the name unique to this run.
- Start Date, Deadline
- Client and Department
- Add Project Members (multi-select)
- Currency, Project Budget, Hours Estimate
- Calculate project progress through (method selector)
- Visibility and approval toggles: Public Gantt Chart, Public Task Board, Task needs approval, Create Public Project
- Enable Mindboard, Send task notification to client, Allow manual time logs
- Label, file upload
You can also assign the project's Client and its members directly from the create/edit form. See Project Members.
Step 4: Rebuild the work items
Add the tasks and milestones for this run:
- Tasks — add them in the new project from the Tasks tab. See Creating Tasks. Keeping a written checklist of the standard task list for that type of project makes each run quick to set up.
- Milestones — add them with Milestone Title, Milestone Cost, Status, Add Cost to Project Budget, Milestone Summary, and Start/End Date. See Milestones.
Effect on other features
- Tasks and milestones in the new project are independent records. Editing or completing them does not affect any other project.
- Time logs start empty. Logged hours and the Timesheet tab both begin from zero on the new project. See Time Tracking.
- Finance records — invoices, estimates, orders, expenses and payments belong to the project they were raised against, so the new project starts with a clean financial slate.
- Discussions and Notes are per-project and do not carry over.
- Client portal visibility on the new project follows that project's own Label and Status client-visibility toggles.
- Google Calendar: if Google Calendar Settings are active and verified, records created in the new project are pushed from PMSuite out to Google Calendar. Sync is one-way — items created in Google Calendar do not appear in PMSuite.
Limitations
- A project template does not carry tasks, milestones, members, files, or dates. It stores only Project Name, Category, Sub Category, Allow manual time logs, Project Summary and Notes. Workaround: keep a written checklist of the standard tasks and milestones alongside each template, then add tasks, milestones and members once from the project screen right after creating it.
- Winning a deal does not create a project. Projects are a separate object and are never auto-created from the sales pipeline. Workaround: create the project manually from the template as a deliberate step after the deal is marked Win.
- Recurring work inside a project is not handled by copying the project. Recurring tasks require the task's Cycles field to be populated, and the next instance is generated only when the current one is marked Complete. Workaround: for work that repeats at task level rather than project level, use Recurring Tasks instead of creating a new project each cycle.
Troubleshooting
- The option to start from a template is not offered. Confirm at least one project template exists, and that your role has manage permission on Projects in Settings → Roles & Permissions.
- A team member cannot see the new project. Check their Projects permission level in Roles & Permissions (None / Added / Owns / All) and confirm they are listed in Add Project Members. Have them log out and back in after any permission change.
- Milestones or budget figures are missing for some users. These are governed per role in Settings → Roles & Permissions, where each module and action (view / create / edit / delete) is set independently to None, Added, Owns or All. A view level of None hides the records entirely — raise the level, then have the user log out and back in.
- Tasks cannot be attached to a milestone. Add the milestone to the new project first — the Milestones field on a task only offers milestones that already exist in that project.