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Creating Your First Project

A project holds everything for one piece of work: its pages and elements, files, team members, clients and timeline. Create a new one for a new client job, a shoot, an event, a campaign, or a phase of work that needs its own space. This page walks you through creating one.

Your account already comes with a project called My First Project, so you can start working as soon as you've signed up.

Personal Or Team Project​

A project can be a personal or a team project depending on whether you add team members to it:

  • Personal project: No team members. Only you can see it and any calendars and inventories connected to it. Everyone with an active Formta plan can create a personal project.
  • Team project: You've added team members. The team members you've added and your team's admins can see it. You'll need a Studio or Pro plan to add other users to your projects

See Team vs Personal Projects.

Creating A Project​

Step 1: Open New Project​

On the Projects page, click New Project, or press N anywhere in Formta. On the Calendar page, N adds a new event instead.

Step 2: Add Project Information​

  • Project Name: Make sure to name your projects in a way that works for you and your team, so it's easy to find it again
  • Timeline: Add the project's start and end dates. You can extend the end date later if needed
  • Priority: Select Low, Medium or High so you and your team know what to prioritise when working on multiple projects at the same time

Step 3: Add Team Members​

On a Studio or Pro plan you can add team members, which makes it a team project:

  1. Select the team the project belongs to, or add a name if it's a new team
  2. Under Team member, select someone you already work with. If you're an admin in the selected team, you can also enter the email of someone you want to invite if they're not already on the team
  3. Under Access, select Admin, Team or Freelancer (see Roles). For a freelancer, also select For how long they'll be on your team
  4. Under Inventory access and Calendar access, select which inventories and calendars they can use
  5. Click + to add another person

Click Next when you're done. If someone you've added needs one of the users your team pays for and none are free, Next changes to Upgrade, so you can add another user to your plan first. Skip step 3 if you want to create a personal project.

Step 4: Select How To Start​

Your project is now created and you'll be asked how you'd like to start:

  • Show me how Formta works: A guided tour of the most basic functions
  • I want to start with a template: Select the type of project you're creating, and your project starts with the project structure already set up
  • I'm moving from another tool: Import projects you've exported from other tools (see below)

Select one and click Next, or click Skip and go to project to start with an empty page.

Step 5: Select A Template​

If you've selected I want to start with a template, select the type of project you're creating. If your project doesn't match 100% the options, select the one closest to it and make your own changes to adjust the structure. You can then save the new structure as your own template (see Project Templates)

Ten templates are included on every plan:

  • Art direction: Brand campaigns from concept to social media, website, print, billboards, TV and online ads
  • Graphic design: Brand assets, concepts, sketches and the final design
  • Design: From user research and analysing the problem to prototypes and user feedback
  • Interior design: From the design brief and site assessment to material selection, orders, installation and styling
  • Architecture: From the project brief and site assessment to construction documents, permits and bidding
  • Photography: Call sheets, shot lists, equipment, locations, models, image processing, photo selection and file delivery
  • 3D art: From story development and storyboards to modelling, texturing, rigging, lighting, rendering and visual effects
  • Events, galleries & studio spaces: Crew, volunteers, vendors, venue, stage design, tech riders, safety plans and tickets
  • Creative teams & studios: Campaigns with design briefs, copywriting, social media, advertising and media
  • Producers & project managers: Productions with sponsors and funding, vendors, locations, logistics and safety plans

Then click Continue. If you'd rather start empty, select Give me a blank page instead. After you've picked a template, Set Up Your New Project asks which notifications you'd like for this project. Click Save and continue, or Skip.

Importing Projects From Another Tool​

If you've selected I'm moving from another tool, you'll see Import Your Projects:

  1. Export your projects from the tools you use now. Task and kanban exports (CSV, Excel, Trello) and calendar files (.ics) all work
  2. Add the files to your project by dragging them onto it, or click the drop area to select them
  3. For each file, select whether the content is Tasks, Events or Meetings
  4. To import more than one project, click Add another project, name it and add its files. On a Studio or Pro plan, click Add member to add team members by email. If a file lands on the wrong project, just drag it to the right one
  5. Click Create project, or Create 2 projects if there's more than one
  6. When Your Projects Are Ready appears, you'll see how many projects were created and how many items were imported. If you've imported more than one project, it also says which one opens. Click Go to Project to start working, or Show Me How Formta Works for a guided tour of the most basic functions

After You've Created The Project​

If you've started from a template, your project already has pages with the elements set up, ready for you to start working. If you've started with an empty page, click on the project page where you want an element, and type / to open the element menu and add it in that spot.

Some good elements to start with for organising a project:

  • Timeline: Shows your project's events, tasks and meetings
  • To Do Kanban: Tasks as cards you move between columns
  • Budget Sheet: Keep track of income and expenses, which you can connect to the Project Budget Status Chart to see the data visually
  • Inventory List: Overview of the files and assets you need for the project, you can filter it by category, tag or location and that way have a shortcut to the files and items that are relevant to that page
  • Whiteboard: For brainstorming with your team

Some good elements for creative work:

  • Moodboard: For collecting your visual inspiration
  • Storyboard: Plan a story frame by frame in detail
  • Photo Selection: Show photos to a client for review
  • Colour Palette: Define your brand colours or a scene's colour set
  • Mindmap: Map out your ideas and how they're connected

Changing A Project Later​

  • Name: Double-click the project name in the header, or edit it on the Projects page
  • Status, due date and priority: Change them in the project's row on the Projects page
  • Team members: Hover Share in the header. On a personal project, select Share with team. On a team project, select Add new team member
  • Clients: Hover Share in the header and select Send to client. If you first want to see what your client can see before sending it, hover View as and select Client

Project Limits​

How many projects you can have depends on your plan:

PlanProjects
Personal10
StudioUnlimited
ProUnlimited

Tips​

  • Use names you'll recognise later, like the client and the year. "Acme Spring Campaign 2026" is easier to find than "Project 17"
  • Add team members when you create the project, so you don't have to do it afterwards
  • Start from a template the first time you do a new kind of project. It makes it less overwhelming to get started
  • Adjust the project structure to your needs and save it as your own template, this way you don't have to do this step every time you start a new project

Next Steps​