In your browser
- Open the MPP Viewer.
- Drop your .mpp, .mpx or Project .xml file on the page. The Gantt chart appears free.
- Click PDF Gantt. The first time it asks for a license: $19 once, then PDF, Excel and CSV exports work in that browser for every project you open.
What the PDF looks like
Landscape Letter pages with the task table on the left (ID, name indented by level, dates) and the timeline bars on the right: summary bars, task bars filled by % complete, and milestones as diamonds. Long plans continue across as many pages as they need, with the header repeated on each page. The pages are pictures, so they print and email the same everywhere.
The free way: print the screen
For a short plan, open it in the viewer and use your browser's Print, then Save as PDF. That costs nothing. The browser cuts the chart wherever the page ends, though, so for anything longer than a page the PDF Gantt export lays it out properly.
With Microsoft Project
In Project, File, Print, then choose Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) gives the most faithful copy, with Project's own formatting. Getting the timescale to fit the page usually takes a few tries in Page Setup.
Need the data instead?
To filter or report on the tasks, see MPP to Excel.