MPP Viewer

A free, native macOS app for reviewing, creating, and updating project and portfolio plans
No Windows. No MS Project license. No subscriptions.
Open `.mpp` files • Create native `.mppplan` files • Built with SwiftUI • Powered by MPXJ

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Why MPP Viewer

• Review Microsoft Project schedules on macOS without opening Windows or buying Microsoft Project.
• Build native plans directly in the app with grid editing, Gantt editing, resources, calendars, statusing, and finance.
• Register multiple plans in a portfolio workspace with governance metadata, roadmap signals, resource capacity, and review snapshots.
• Run analysis, workload, validation, and earned value from the same project model instead of jumping between tools.
• Import operational spreadsheets, update status centrally, and export governance-ready outputs from the same workspace.

What You Can Do

• Open .mpp files for review, diagnostics, reporting, and schedule analysis.
• Create .mppplan files for fully native planning and ongoing project control.
• Track multiple plans in Portfolio for PMO-style oversight, governance, review cadence, and cross-project signals.
• Edit tasks in a grid, in Gantt, or through focused status and resource workflows.
• Manage backlog, sprints, workflow buckets, and hybrid delivery reporting in Agile Board.
• Track baselines, actuals, costs, overtime, CPI/SPI/EAC/VAC, and workload in one app.
• Import tasks, resources, calendars, assignments, dependencies, constraints, and baselines from mapped spreadsheets.

Quick Start

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases or install with Homebrew.
2. Open the included aurora-commerce-launch.mppplan to explore a fully populated native project.
3. Start in Portfolio for workspace context, Plan Builder to edit, or Status Center / Earned Value for controls work.

Performance Engineering

• Repo performance standards: docs/performance-guide.md
• Current remediation roadmap: docs/performance-remediation-plan.md
• Profiling workflow: docs/profiling-playbook.md

Document Modes

Document Type	Best For	Editing
.mpp	Reviewing Microsoft Project schedules on macOS	Read-only review and analysis
.mppplan	Building and updating plans directly in the app	Full native editing

Screenshots

All screenshots below were captured from the app using the included showcase native plan as the primary workspace sample: aurora-commerce-launch.mppplan

Core Review Views

Dashboard — project health overview with KPIs, milestones, and schedule status

Portfolio & Delivery Views

Portfolio Workspace — multi-project registry with executive metrics, governance metadata, and live workspace opening

Agile Board — hybrid backlog and workflow board with sprint planning, bucket controls, and delivery reporting

Task Table — hierarchical WBS with duration, dates, progress bars, and predecessors

Gantt Chart — zoomable timeline with critical path, baselines, milestones, and dependency arrows

Schedule View — MS Project-style split view with task list and Gantt side by side

Earned Value Analysis — CPI, SPI, EAC, VAC with S-Curve chart and task-level EVM table

Resource Workload — weekly allocation view with over-allocation highlighting

Native Planning Workflow

Plan Builder — grid-first planning with task hierarchy, assignments, finance, constraints, and baselines

Status Center — status-date updates, actual dates, actual costs, overtime, and live variance review

Resources — native staffing editor with rates, calendars, assignments, and accrual setup

Calendar — working week, project default calendar, and leave/holiday exception editing

Timeline — high-level phase and milestone summary for steering and executive review

Guide & Help — built-in onboarding, portfolio workflows, feature reference, glossary, document types, and shortcuts

Showcase Sample Plan

• Open aurora-commerce-launch.mppplan to explore the native planning workflow with tasks, hierarchy, resources, calendars, assignments, agile metadata, earned value, and workload already populated.
• The sample is intended for demos, screenshots, and first-run exploration of the app’s editing and analysis features.

Recommended Tour

1. Open the included aurora-commerce-launch.mppplan to see a fully populated native plan.
2. Start in Portfolio to see the workspace registry and governance fields, then open Dashboard for project health.
3. Move into Plan Builder, Agile Board, and Gantt Chart to see the three main native editing and delivery surfaces.
4. Open Resources and Calendar to see native staffing and working-time setup.
5. Use Status Center and Earned Value to apply actual dates, progress, cost, overtime, and controls review against a status date.
6. Finish in Workload, Validation, Diagnostics, Timeline, and Compare for review and follow-up.

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Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap Engagendy/tap
brew install --cask mpp-viewer

Direct Download

1. Download the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases
2. Open the DMG and drag MPP Viewer to your Applications folder
3. On first launch, right-click the app → Open → Open (required for unsigned apps)

The app bundles its own Java runtime and converter — no prerequisites needed.

Gatekeeper Bypass

Since the app is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate, macOS will show an "unidentified developer" warning. To bypass this:

Option A — Right-click Open (recommended): Right-click (or Control-click) the app → Open → click Open in the dialog.

Option B — Remove quarantine attribute:

xattr -cr /Applications/MPPViewer.app

Option C — System Settings: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the MPP Viewer message.

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Features

File Types

• Open Microsoft Project .mpp files for review and analysis.
• Create, save, and reopen native editable .mppplan files.
• Use document-based macOS behavior so plans open directly from Finder.

Native Planning

• Plan Builder for fast grid entry plus a detailed task inspector.
• Create, delete, duplicate, reorder, indent, and outdent tasks.
• Edit task dates, duration, milestones, predecessors, constraints, baselines, actual dates, and financial overrides.
• Grid-first editing designed to feel closer to Microsoft Project for rapid task entry.

Portfolio & PPM

• Portfolio registers multiple imported or native plans in one workspace.
• Track workspace, program, sponsor, objective, stage, approval state, review date, review cadence, strategic alignment, and risk score per plan.
• Review executive health rollups, governance ranking, roadmap milestones, cross-project dependency signals, and portfolio review snapshots.
• Open a selected portfolio plan into the live editable workspace without leaving the registry.

Agile Delivery

• Agile Board provides backlog, workflow lanes, sprint planning, and hybrid delivery reporting on top of the same native schedule.
• Organize work with statuses, buckets, sprints, epics, story points, parent grouping, tags, and optional detail panes.
• Use bucket ordering, workflow controls, sprint planner, and focus mode to manage delivery flow without breaking the native project model.

Visual Gantt Editing

• Gantt Chart supports both review and native-plan editing.
• Move task bars, resize duration, create and remove dependencies, and restructure task hierarchy.
• Create tasks and subtasks directly from Gantt.
• Use View | Edit mode so the chart stays clean in review mode.
• Includes baseline overlays, critical path styling, variance indicators, and zoom controls.

Imports, Templates, and Bulk Loading

• Import tasks, resources, calendars, assignments, dependencies, constraints, and baselines.
• Supports CSV and Excel-compatible .xls templates.
• Built-in mapping sheets let you map arbitrary column names before import.
• Import reports show created/updated/skipped rows, warnings, and jump-to-item actions.
• Template exports help teams prepare spreadsheets in the right format.

Resources, Calendars, and Staffing

• Native resource editor with name, type, initials, group, email, max units, rates, and cost-per-use.
• Native calendar editor with working days, work ranges, exceptions, default calendar selection, and leave-style exceptions.
• Quick task assignment from both the planner grid and Gantt.
• Resource workload and resource-risk views for overload detection and staffing review.

Statusing and Project Controls

• Status Center for status-date-based updates.
• Update actual start, actual finish, percent complete, actual cost, status notes, and assignment actual/remaining/overtime hours.
• Control filters for in-progress, overdue, needs-attention, and missing-actuals tasks.
• Live cost and schedule indicators such as BAC, AC, CPI, SPI, EAC, and VAC.

Finance and Earned Value

• Native plan finance authoring includes fixed cost, baseline cost, actual cost, resource rates, cost-per-use, accrual timing, and assignment overtime.
• Earned Value screen includes KPI cards, S-curve, and task-level EVM analysis.
• Financial metrics are available across planner, Gantt, dashboard, and status workflows.
• Abbreviations such as BAC, PV, EV, AC, CPI, SPI, EAC, VAC, and TCPI now have in-app glossary help.

Analysis and Review

• Dashboard and Executive Mode for health review, KPIs, milestones, and export-ready summaries.
• Validation for planning and data quality issues.
• Diagnostics and Dependency Explorer for schedule-logic analysis.
• Critical Path, Resource Risks, Workload, Timeline, and Schedule views for focused review.
• Compare view for diffing another .mpp or native plan against the current project.

Notes, Exports, and Reporting

• Persistent local review notes per task.
• Markdown, CSV, PDF, and Excel-compatible exports in relevant screens.
• Review pack and issue exports for recurring governance workflows.

Help and Usability

• In-app Guide & Help screen with screen-by-screen documentation, workflow guidance, document-mode guidance, and portfolio usage paths.
• macOS Help menu entries for the guide and financial glossary.
• Search across task name, ID, WBS, notes, resources, and custom fields.
• Keyboard shortcuts for navigation and planner editing.

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Building from Source

Requirements

Requirement	Version
macOS	14.0 (Sonoma) or later
Xcode	15.0+
Java	OpenJDK 21
Maven	3.8+

Development Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Engagendy/MPPViewerMacOS.git
cd MPPViewerMacOS

# Build the Java converter
cd MPPConverter && mvn clean package && cd ..

# Open in Xcode
open MPPViewer/MPPViewer.xcodeproj

Select the MPPViewer scheme, choose My Mac as the destination, and hit Run (Cmd+R).

Building a DMG for Distribution

./scripts/package.sh

This script builds the JAR, builds the app, bundles the Eclipse Temurin JRE and converter JAR into the app, and creates a .dmg ready for distribution.

Options: --skip-jar, --skip-app, --arch arm64|x86_64, --version X.Y.Z

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Architecture

MPPViewerMacOS/
├── MPPViewer/                          # macOS app (Swift/SwiftUI)
│   ├── App/                            # Entry point, routing, document handling, help
│   ├── Models/                         # Runtime + native planning models
│   ├── Services/                       # MPP conversion, validation, EVM, workload
│   ├── Views/
│   │   ├── Dashboard/                  # Health review, executive mode, snapshots
│   │   ├── Planner/                    # Native plan builder
│   │   ├── Gantt/                      # Interactive chart + editing
│   │   ├── Schedule/                   # Schedule review layout
│   │   ├── Tasks/                      # Task table, detail inspector, dependency exploration
│   │   ├── Milestones/                 # Milestone tracking and health analysis
│   │   ├── Resources/                  # Resource review + native editor
│   │   ├── Calendar/                   # Calendar review + native editor
│   │   ├── EarnedValue/                # EVM dashboard with S-Curve
│   │   ├── Workload/                   # Resource workload heatmap
│   │   ├── Timeline/                   # Executive timeline view
│   │   ├── Diff/                       # Comparison and baseline review
│   │   ├── Summary/                    # Project metadata
│   │   └── Components/                 # Shared UI, import mapping, controls
│   └── Utilities/                      # CSV/PDF export, print, date formatting
├── MPPConverterXPC/                    # XPC service target (sandboxed builds)
├── MPPConverter/                       # Java converter (Maven project)
│   └── src/main/java/.../MppToJson.java
└── scripts/
    └── package.sh                      # Build & package script

How it works

.mpp file → MPPConverterService (Swift)
                 ↓
         Java Process / XPC Service
                 ↓
         MPXJ (Java) → JSON
                 ↓
         JSONProjectParser (Swift)
                 ↓
         ProjectModel → SwiftUI Views

1. The app receives an .mpp file through the macOS document system
2. MPPConverterService invokes a Java process running the MPXJ-based converter JAR
3. MPXJ reads the binary .mpp format and outputs structured JSON
4. JSONProjectParser decodes the JSON into Swift model objects
5. SwiftUI views render the project data across all tabs

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Tech Stack

• UI Framework: SwiftUI with Canvas for Gantt and workload rendering
• Platform APIs: AppKit (PDF generation, printing, file dialogs)
• Project Parsing: MPXJ 13.4.0 — the industry-standard library for reading Microsoft Project files
• Build Tools: Xcode (Swift), Maven (Java)
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions — automated build, release, and Homebrew cask update on tag push
• Minimum Target: macOS 14.0 Sonoma

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue to discuss proposed changes before submitting a pull request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

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_{Built with SwiftUI for macOS • Powered by MPXJ}