# Milestones and project updates

Open a project's dashboard, follow its milestones and mark one as reached, then post a project update with a status and a progress that everyone following the project can read.

A milestone is a point the project must reach, such as the end of a construction phase, with a deadline and the tasks that lead to it. A project update is a short dated report: a status, a percentage of progress and a text. Both live on the project's dashboard. This page uses the demo project Home Construction, which has three milestones and two updates.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Milestones are switched on for each project, with **Milestones** in the **Settings** tab of the project: [Sub-tasks, dependencies and recurring tasks](sub-tasks-dependencies-and-recurring-tasks#project-options).
- Updates need no option. Posting one needs the **User** access right on **Project**.

## Open the dashboard {#dashboard}

1. In **Project/Projects**, point at the project's card and click its menu, the three dots at the top right.

![The menu of a project card, with its views, its reports and the Dashboard.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14850-ff60784d/projects-milestones-and-project-updates-card_menu-en.png)

On a phone, the three dots stand at the top right of each card.

2. Choose **Dashboard**. The same page opens from the **Dashboard** button of the project's form.

![The project's updates on the left; on the right, its figures and its milestones, a late one in red.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14852-e6c9b947/projects-milestones-and-project-updates-dashboard-en.png)

The left side lists the project's updates, the newest first. The right side holds buttons for the project's tasks, its timesheets and its burndown chart (plus its sales orders for a billable project), then **Milestones**, then **Profitability** for a project that is invoiced.

## Follow the milestones {#milestones}

Each milestone shows its deadline; one whose deadline has passed without being reached reads in red. **Edit Milestones** (or **Add Milestones** while there are none) opens their list, where you add a milestone with a name and a deadline. A task joins a milestone through the **Milestone** field of its form, and the project's card shows a flag with how many milestones are reached, red when one is late.

Click the box in front of a milestone once its work is done:

![One click on the box marks the milestone as reached.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14856-1f67a77b/projects-milestones-and-project-updates-milestone_reached-en.png)

The milestone is marked as reached with today's date; click the box again to undo it. A milestone whose linked tasks are all closed reads in green: it is ready to be marked as reached.

## Post an update {#update}

1. Click **New** on the dashboard. The form takes the status and the progress of the last update, and fills **Description** with a summary of the project: its tasks, its milestones and, for an invoiced project, its profitability.
2. Type a title, such as `Projects demo: Framing done`, choose the **Status** (**On Track**, **At Risk**, **Off Track**, **On Hold** or **Complete**), adjust the **Progress** and edit the text.

![A new update takes the last status and progress, and fills its description with the project's figures.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14860-5e7806ee/projects-milestones-and-project-updates-update_form-en.png)

3. Save, then click the project's dashboard in the breadcrumbs.

![The new update heads the list, with its author, status, progress and date.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14864-7cccc4b1/projects-milestones-and-project-updates-update_posted-en.png)

The update heads the list, and its status becomes the project's status: the coloured dot on the project's card and on the **Dashboard** button. The update keeps its own history in the chatter of its form ([Follow a record with the chatter](/docs/essentials/follow-a-record-with-the-chatter)). The customer and the project manager can also be told by WhatsApp when an update is posted: [WhatsApp in projects](/docs/whatsapp/whatsapp-in-projects).

## FAQ {#faq}

### I see no Milestones on the dashboard. {#no-milestones}

The project does not use them. Tick **Milestones** in its **Settings** tab.

### Can I change the status of a project without writing an update? {#status-without-update}

Yes. Click the coloured dot on the project's card and choose a status. The next update you post sets the status again.

### Where is the list of all late milestones? {#late-milestones}

In **Project/Projects**, the **Late Milestones** filter shows the projects that have one.

### Why does a new update already have text? {#prefilled-text}

The form builds a starting summary from the project's figures. Keep what helps and replace the rest.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/projects/milestones-and-project-updates
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Projects and timesheets 19.0.1.4
- Verified: 2026-10-28