How to manage projects in Elbuz

Projects are a tool for organizing and managing your processes; they represent individual tasks or groups of tasks that unite everything the necessary data, actions and participants to achieve a specific goal. In simple words, a project is like a folder where all the materials, tools and work steps associated with it are stored.

Inside the project you can:

• ✅Create tasks
• 🎯Set goals and deadlines.
• 👥Assign responsible employees.
• 📅Track the progress of tasks.
• 📝Organize information for effective management.

Example: If you are launching a new marketing campaign, it will be a separate project where all stages are collected - from planning to analysis of results.

Projects help organize work, avoid chaos and keep everything under control.

Getting started with projects

Open projects using the shortcut on your desktop or through the main menu.
To open projects through the main menu:

1. In the main menu, select the "Organizer" section
2. In the menu that opens, select "Projects"

Overview of the project management interface

At the top of the window there are project management buttons, such as:

• Create a project
• Project categories
• Calendar categories
• Project statuses
• Visual connection graph
• Search by statuses and other parameters

Below the control buttons there is a list of projects with the ability to search by keywords . Projects can be displayed either in the form of a list or in the form of cards.

You can work with projects in editing or viewing mode.
For editing mode, you need to click on the “Pencil” icon, for viewing mode, you need to click on the “Eye” icon.

Approximate view of the project editing mode.

Also, some fields can be edited directly in the list without opening the project card.

Approximate view of the project viewing mode

Creating a project

Each project contains the main fields:

• Title (to understand what the project is about).
• Description of (details, goal, implementation plans, what needs to be done).
• Tasks (detailed list of tasks to complete the project).
• Due dates (when the project is due to be completed).
• Performer (who is responsible for execution).

How to create a project

1. Click the "+" button in the top menu. If necessary, you can immediately select a category where a new project will be created
   
2. Enter the name of the project
   
   💡 Helpful: Use a microphone to avoid typing manually.
3. Fill out the description in the visual editor
   
   💡 Useful: Dictate the description of the project using a microphone, correct and correct the text using AI, add pictures to the project through the AI generator.
4. Select an artist from the list of employees
   
5. Set priority ( low, medium, high)
6. Add tags for categorization
7. Attach files

Recommendations for filling out the project

📌 Project name:

• Use short but descriptive titles
• Add prefixes for categorization (e.g. [MRK] for marketing projects)
• Avoid too general statements

📝 Project description:

• Start with a short summary (1-2 sentences)
• State the specific purpose of the project
• Describe the expected result
• List the main steps
• Add important notes or limitations

⏰ Deadlines:

• Consider the time for approval and edits
• Add intermediate milestones
• Set realistic deadlines

👥 Assignment of performers:

• Clearly define the roles of participants
• Designate who is responsible for each step
• Add backup for critical tasks

Formatting a project description

Use the formatting buttons on the toolbar to:

• Set headings (H1, H2, H3)
• Make text bold, italic, underlined or strikethrough
• Change text color and background
• Create lists (numbered and bulleted)
• Insert links, images, videos, tables
• Add code blocks or quotes
• Add project text by voice (dictation)
• Change text using artificial intelligence

Useful keyboard shortcuts for working with text

Provides keyboard shortcuts to make formatting text easier. Here are the most useful ones:

Basic keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl+B — Bold text.
• Ctrl+I — Italic (Italic).
• Ctrl+U - Underline.
• Ctrl+Shift+S - Strikethrough text.

Insert:

• Ctrl+Shift+V — Paste without formatting (as text).
• Ctrl+K — Insert or edit a link (Link).
• Ctrl+Shift+K - Delete a link.
• Ctrl+L - Insert an image.

Undo/redo:

• Ctrl+Z - Undo.
• Ctrl+Y - Repeat (Redo).

Use AI to change and supplement the project description

By default, the following AI actions are available: :

• Chat AI
  What it does: Helps to conduct a conversation or search for answers to questions in a dialogue format.
  What you need it for: Used to receive advice, clarification or real-time help, whether searching for information or solving problems on a project.
• Contents at a glance
  What it does: Condenses text to highlight key points and main ideas.
  What you need it for: Convenient for quickly reading a long text in order to understand the essence without studying all the details.
• Correction and improvement of text style
  What it does: Corrects spelling and grammatical errors and improves text style.
  What you need it for: Suitable for improving the quality of text, making it more readable, professional, or tailored to the target audience.
• Short text extension
  What it does: Develops concise texts by adding details, examples and explanations.
  What you need it for: Useful for creating more informative content, adding context, or enriching text with new ideas.
• Translate text into another language
  What it does: Translates text from one language to another, preserving the original meaning.
  What you need: Used to create multilingual content, communicate with people from different countries, or learn languages.

You can add other actions, to do this you need to add a new template indicating the task (prompt) for AI, after which it will appear in the list for selection .

How to use the AI assistant to work with your project

Step 1 - Select the text

1. Select the desired text (optional)
2. Right-click over the selected text
3. Select the required action

Step 2 - Launch AI

The AI assistant window will open in which the selected text will be located.

1. Change the text before sending to AI (if required)
2. Click the "Submit" button "
3. Below will be the response from the AI in the visual editor
4. Change the AI text (if necessary)
5. Copy the text to the clipboard to paste into the project
6. Or paste new text directly into the visual project editor to replace the previously selected text, to do this, click on the button "To the left."

In this example, the selected text was expanded to detail the project.

Project statuses

Each project can have one of the statuses:

• 🆕 New
• 🗓️ Planned
• 🔄 In progress
• ⏸️ Suspended
• ✅ Completed
• ❌ Canceled
• 🗄️ Archived
• ⏳ Awaiting approval
• ⌛ Expired
• ➕Create your statuses if what you need is not in the list

How to change the project status

1. Click on the current status
2. Select a new status from the dropdown list

Project categories and tags

Categories and tags help group and quickly find the projects you need.

To add a category or tag:

1. Select the desired category from the list.
   By default, the following categories are available: training, health, home, shopping, urgent, administration, software development (it), product management, sales, marketing, finance, technical support, logistics and delivery, education, meetings, calls, travel, family, presentations, documents, social events, other, general, personal, templates.
   If a category is not in the list, you can create a new one through the directory of project categories.
   
2. Provide a tag name and press Enter to add. If a tag has been added previously, then it will appear in the list for selection.

Search projects

To quickly search for projects, use:

• Search bar at the top of the page - searches by title and description
• Filters by categories, tags, statuses
• You can sort and search by any fields in the "List" display mode

Start typing a search term to quickly find the projects you're looking for. 🔍

Set flags for projects

Each flag has its own purpose. Activate the flags that suit your purposes:

Activity

• What it does: Flags a project as relevant to you.
• When to use: For projects that you work with and are relevant to you.

Favorites

• What it does: Places the project in the list favorites for quick access.
• When to use: For frequently used projects.

Pinned to top

• What it does: Pins the project to top of the list.
• When to use: For important projects that always need to be on hand.

Archive

• What it does: Moves the project to the archive .
• When to use: For completed projects that need to be kept but removed from active use.

Trash

• What it does: Moves the project to the Trash for later removal.
• When to use: For projects that are no longer needed.

Template

• What it does: Marks the project as a template for reuse.
• When to use: To create basic templates that can be copied.

Encrypted

• What it does: Encrypts the project description with using a password.
• When to use: For sensitive data.

Visual Editor

• What it does: Includes advanced tools text formatting.
• When to use: For projects where you need to use styling, such as text highlighting, tables, or lists.

Adding files to the project

The adding files function allows you to attach additional materials to the project, such as like images or documents. This is useful for expanding information and storing related content in one place.

Follow the steps below to successfully add files.

Step #1 – Open the "Files" tab

There are two ways to add files:

• From local disk
• Via link

Adding file from local disk:

1. Click the "Select file" button.
2. A window will open to select files on your computer.
3. Select the desired file.
   • Images, documents and other popular formats are supported.
4. Click "Open" , after that the file will be attached to the project.

Adding a file via the link:

1. Click the "Add file via link" button.
2. Enter the file URL in the field that appears.
   • Make sure the link is to a downloadable file.
3. Click "Add" so that the file is uploaded and attached to the project.

Step #2 – Verify that the file was successfully added

1. Once added, the file will appear in the list of attached files.
2. Check that the file is displayed correctly:
   • Images will show a preview of them.
   • For documents, the file name will be displayed.

Setting up project reminders and notifications

You can set reminders for projects so you don't forget about important things.

How to set up a reminder

1. Open the "Reminders" tab 🔔
2. Select date and time or enter manually.
3. Set the frequency (if the project is repeated), the following modes are available: one-time, daily, weekly, monthly, annually.

Now the system will send you notifications according to the specified schedule until the project is completed. ⏰

If necessary, you can specify a reminder category, this will allow you to more effectively in the future use an event calendar in which your notifications will be distributed into folders.

Collaborate on projects

Share projects with colleagues and assign responsibility. By default, the project is visible only to the person who created it, if you want another user to see it, then give him access.

How to open access to the project

1. Open the user list
2. Select users by checking them

Project Templates

Use ready-made templates to quickly create typical projects.

How to create a project based on a template

1. Next to the "Create a project" button, click to the "Select template" item.
2. A list of templates to choose from will appear.

How to create a new template Projects

1. Create a new project.
2. Fill in the required fields.
3. Check the "Template" flag in the "Flags" tab.

Your template will then appear in the selection list templates To make the template available to all users, select the required ones in the project editing.

Encryption of the project description

The encryption feature allows you to protect the text description of the project so that only you can view or edit them using a password . The data is encrypted using the strong AES algorithm, and the password is stored exclusively in the local storage of your browser and is not accessible to third parties. This feature ensures reliable protection of your information.

How to protect your project description

1. Open the Flags tab.
2. In the list of available flags, check the box next to “Encryption”.
   
3. After activating the “Encryption” flag, a window for entering a password will appear.
   Enter a strong password. Password Recommendations: Length of at least 8 characters. Use letters, numbers and special characters.
   Confirm your password by clicking the “OK” button.
   
   💡 Important: The password is saved in your browser's local storage. If you change browser or delete data from the cache, access to the project description will not be possible without re-entering the password. If you forget your password, the project description will remain encrypted and access to the content will be impossible. There is no way to recover your password. We recommend that you keep your password in a safe place.

Encryption for new projects

You can enable encryption by default when creating new projects located in a certain category, for example, these could be the categories “Personal”, “Reflections” and others.
To activate this mode, open the directory of project categories and change the setting of the category you need by setting the "Encryption" flag

Adding links to a project

The adding links feature allows you to attach other elements to a project, such as tasks, notes, other projects, documents, presentations, forms and tables. This simplifies data management and creates visual connections between elements in a graph.

Follow the step-by-step instructions to set up connections.

Step #1 – Go to the “Connections” tab

You will see a list of already added connections, or an empty area if no connections have been created yet.

Step #2 – Create a connection

1. At the top, find the button with the icon "+" .
2. Click this button to open a list of available items.

Step #3 – Select an item to link

In the list that appears, you will see the available item types:

• Notes – to communicate with another note.
• Projects – for linking to another project.
• Tasks – for attaching to a task.
• Documents – to add an important document.
• Presentations – to add a connection to the presentation.
• Forms – for communication with the form.
• Tables – for connecting a table.

In the list of elements that opens, its type will first be indicated, then its ID and name. You can use the search bar to quickly find an item.

Step #4 – Add a connection

1. After selecting an item, click the Select button.
2. The connection will appear in the list of connections.

Step #5 – Check the connections are correct

1. Make sure that the selected items appear in the links list.
2. If necessary, click on the "Pencil" icon to open the associated element for editing.
3. Include a note about the connection in the Description column.

How to view connections in a visual graph

Related items will be displayed in a visual graph for simplicity working with interrelated data. The graph makes it easy to see the relationships between projects and tasks, mark related elements and edit them directly from the graph. To do this, open the additional menu and select "Graph"

An intuitive visual a form in which abstract information will be linked, you can zoom in or out, as well as open elements for editing directly from the graph.

Posting a project to the Kanban board

The function of placing projects on the Kanban board allows you to organize projects more efficiently and manage their implementation.

Kanban board is a simple visual tool for organizing your workflow.
With it you can:

• Track the progress of projects
• Increase productivity
• Effectively manage projects

How it works:

1. The board is divided into columns according to the stages of implementation
2. Projects are drawn up in the form of project cards
3. Cards move between columns as they are completed

This system allows you to clearly see status of each project and quickly manage the workflow.

How to post a project on the board

1. Open the "Advanced" tab
2. Click on the board selection field. From the drop-down list, select the board you want to post the project on.

You can manually place projects on boards, and also set up automatic movement through Kanban columns when the project status changes. By default, Elbuz already has ready-made Kanban settings, but you can change them individually for yourself. Setting up automatic movement of elements along kanban columns is described in detail in a separate section of the “Boards” manual. Brief description: In the Kanban board settings, define which statuses are associated with which columns. For example:
Status “New” = column “New projects”.
Status “In progress” = column “In progress”.
Completed status = Done column.

Tips for effective project management

Organize information

• Use clear, understandable titles
• Break down large projects to subtasks
• Use titles and lists in descriptions

Streamline your workflow

• Create templates for recurring projects
• Use tags for quick filtering
• Set up automatic reminders

Use AI effectively

• Dictate descriptions with your voice
• Use AI to improve text
• Use image generation for visualization

Maintain order

• Update statuses regularly
• Archive completed projects
• Delete obsolete data

Use visualization

• Post projects on Kanban boards
• View connections through the graph
• Add images for clarity
  

Glossary

• Project is a tool for organizing and managing processes that brings together tasks, materials and participants to achieve a specific goal.
• Tags - tags for grouping projects.
• Priority - the degree of importance of the project.
• Executor - responsible for execution.
• Status - the current state of the project.
• Kanban is a visual way to manage projects.
• The flag is a special project flag.
• Connection - connection of the project with other elements.
• Reminder - notification of deadlines.
• Encryption - protect confidential information.
• Visual editor is a text formatting tool.
• Archive - a repository of completed projects.
• Category - the group to which the task belongs by topic or direction.
• Sharing - the ability to give colleagues access to a task.
• AI (Artificial Intelligence) - Artificial intelligence, built-in assistant for editing, improving and analyzing the text of projects.
• AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) - An encryption algorithm used to protect the text of projects.
• Visual connection graph - A tool for visually displaying the relationships between projects and other elements of the system.
• Visual Editor - A convenient tool for formatting text with functions for adding images, tables, links, etc.
• Links tab - Section where you can attach related elements to a task (notes, projects, projects, tables etc.).
• Files Tab - Place to attach images, documents, and other materials to tasks.
• "Flags" tab - Section where special labels for projects are set, such as "Archive", "Favorites" " or "Encrypted".
• Graph - A visual form of representing relationships between elements, facilitating data management.
• Dictation - Speech-to-text function for creating voice projects.
• Kanban Board - A table divided into columns that helps visually track the progress of projects.
• Category Projects — A group of projects, united by topic for easy management and search.
• Shortcut Keys - Keyboard shortcuts for quick actions (e.g. Ctrl+ B for bold text).
• At a Glance - AI feature to highlight key points in text.
• Reminders - A tool to set notifications for project-related tasks.
• Linking statuses to Kanban - Automatically move projects between columns based on their statuses.
• Text Expansion - AI function for adding details to short text.
• Sorting - A tool for organizing projects by categories, tags, statuses or other parameters.
• Status Projects - Reflects the current status of the project (for example, "Important", "In progress", "Done" ).
• Tag - A tag that makes it easier to group and search for projects.
• Projects Template - A template that can be used to create standard projects.
• Encryption - The process of protecting a project with a password to maintain confidentiality.
• Link Item - An object associated with a project (for example, a document, task, or table).

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