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01-03-2022

Training > Additional Resources > Training blog > No “hacks” needed when you have Workfront 


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I’m constantly amused by the “life hacks” videos out there. Although they keep me entertained during late-night social media browsing, from what I've seen, none of them actually make the task at hand any easier. In fact, some of them seem pretty complicated. And let’s face it, I just don’t have the time or patience for that. 

 

At work, I often manage multiple projects at a time, plus complete assignments from projects my teammates are managing. But I don't need “work hacks” to make my work life easier because I have Adobe Workfront! 

 

The content development team manages ALL of its content creation through Workfront—videos, learning paths, product release updates … even this blog post. We’re big proponents of the saying, “If it’s not in Workfront, it doesn’t exist.” (Someone really needs to make T-shirts with that phrase on it.) 

 

Because Workfront is such an integral part of my work, I want to share my five favorite features. I use these pretty much every day and, honestly, can’t live without these. 

 

Proofing in Workfront 

When I was first introduced to proofing in Workfront, my immediate reaction was, “Where has this been all my life?” I spent 10+ years of my career proofing and reviewing content on paper, then passing it over the cubicle wall for the next person to review. I hate to think about how many reams of paper we went through each week. But with proofing, no paper is needed and multiple people can review the same proof at the same time. 


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Workfront’s digital proofing capabilities have become so vital to workflows during this work from home period. The content development team uses proofing to review everything we publish on Workfront One. Getting PDF guides, videos, and learning paths reviewed and approved would have been so much more difficult through emails and instant messages. 

 

Learn more with the Workfront for proofing users learning program on Workfront One. 

 

Inline editing 

I’ll admit that I’m not the greatest project planner in the world. I’m constantly changing my mind about task names, durations, planned hours, etc. And as team and personal priorities change, projects need to be updated. That’s why I’m glad inline editing exists. 


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Every Friday afternoon, I set aside time for project management. This is when I review my projects and other assignments to make sure everything is up to date and ready for me to jump back into work Monday morning. Being able to quickly update a task name or the planned hours makes my Friday afternoon updates much easier. 

 

Learn more in the Inline edit items in a list in Adobe Workfront article. 

 

Insert task above/below 

When I first started using Workfront, I insisted on adding new tasks at the bottom of the project. That meant I had to drag them to the right spot in the list and then indent them to achieve the proper parent-child hierarchy. I thought doing it this way would help me learn Workfront faster. 

 

It didn’t. It just made me frustrated—very frustrated—because I’d inevitably drop the task in the wrong place, the task hierarchy would get all messed up, and then I’d spend 10 minutes fixing things. 

 

Now, I use the insert above and insert below options to create pretty much every task. That way I have control over where the task goes in the project. (And I can use in-line editing to fill in all the fields.)


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Learn to manage tasks in your project with the Planner Fundamentals for the new Workfront experience, Part 2: Plan a project learning path. 

 

Favorites and recents 

I hop between multiple projects throughout the day. I couldn’t do this without the favorites and recents lists. I “favorite” the projects I’m actively working on so they’re easy to get to. And when my manager asks what I’m working on, a simple click provides me with a quick answer. 

 

This was another feature I didn’t use right away when I learned Workfront. Big mistake! I wasted so much time searching for projects, tasks, and documents when all I had to do was add them to my favorites list. 


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I know, I know … I could “pin” these daily work items and make them even easier to get to. That’s how several of my teammates use pins. However, I prefer to pin things like dashboards and reports to have them readily available, even if I don’t use them every day. 

 

Check out Recents and favorites in Adobe Workfront to save yourself some time finding your work each day! 

 

Chain tasks 

This final feature is one I learned about more than seven years ago when I started at Workfront but never really used, so I forgot about it. But someone brought it to my attention again a few years ago, and I’ve been using it ever since. 

 

Speed up project timeline building by using the “chain” feature to fill in task predecessors. Select each task by checking the box, right-click to select Chain, and the predecessors are filled in automatically. So much faster than entering each task number manually. 


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Learn how to Create predecessor relationships by chaining tasks with this article. 

 

Share your favorite features 

Let me know what YOUR favorite features are in Workfront on the Workfront Training Team discussion page on Community. 



Training updates 

  • Explore the latest updates to learning programs and learning paths for each Workfront product release with the new release updates page
  • The training curriculum guides allows you to view an alphabetized list of all training available or focus on learning paths specific to your job role. 
  • The Workfront for administrators learning program on the Getting Started page has been updated with additional content, to make sure you have all the information you need to set up and maintain your Workfront instance. 
  • Also updated recently were the Workfront Goals and Basic report creation learning programs. We also added a new intermediate reporting learning path called Beyond the basics: Filters
  • The Workfront training team now offers three certifications: Adobe Workfront Project Manager Professional Certification; Adobe Workfront Core Professional Certification; and Adobe Workfront Fusion Professional Certification. Find exam guides, prices, and registration links here. (The Workfront Core certification was formerly known as the system administrator certification.) 
  • If you couldn’t attend the Workfront virtual user group about custom forms, be sure to check out the recording. Learning program manager Betsey West has been earning rave reviews for her presentation. 

 

 

Best next actions 

Now that you’ve figured out what your favorite Workfront features are, what’s next? 

  • Share your favorite things about Workfront on the Community discussion page. 
  • Check out the release updates and curriculum guide pages. 
  • Try your hand at wildcards and custom prompts after completing the new Beyond the basics: Filters learning path. 
  • Register for one of Workfront’s certification exams. 
  • Send us feedback for improvements on the Community discussion page.