What is PortfolioStack?
PortfolioStack is a project planning and portfolio management tool built for business leaders, project managers, and consultants — especially those working across multiple projects or programs at once. It combines a searchable catalog of pre-built project templates with a full portfolio execution workspace.
There are two things PortfolioStack does that most tools don't. First, it gives you a catalog of over two thousand pre-built project archetypes. Each one comes with a full work breakdown structure — every phase, every task, compliance obligations, required skills, tools, and more. You don't start from a blank screen. Second, it lets you take those projects and organize them into portfolios — so you can see your entire workload in one place and actively manage it.
- 2,000+ pre-built project templates across industries and roles
- Every template includes tasks, phases, compliance rules, skills, and tools
- Build portfolios to group, track, and manage projects together
- Live views: editable grid, metrics dashboard, timeline, and resources
- No account required to search and explore the catalog
Searching the catalog
The search page is your starting point. The entire project catalog is searchable without creating an account, so you can explore before committing to anything. Results update as you type, and you can combine keyword search with industry and role filters to narrow results from thousands of templates to exactly what you need.
The Industry filter uses NAICS codes — the North American Industry Classification System. You can search or scroll to pick an industry. The Role filter narrows results to templates that involve a specific owner or contributor role, and it understands common abbreviations and aliases — so "PM," "project manager," and "program manager" all resolve correctly.
- Type any keyword to search names, industries, descriptions, and tags
- Filter by NAICS industry to narrow to a specific sector
- Filter by role to find templates involving a particular owner or contributor
- Active filters appear as chips — click the X to remove any one, or clear all
- Pagination at the bottom when results exceed one page
Tip: The URL always reflects your active search and filters. Copy and share the link to send a specific result set to a colleague.
Inspecting a project
Once you find a project that looks relevant, PortfolioStack gives you a lot of detail before you ever add it to a portfolio. Clicking a result card opens a preview panel with quick stats and an expandable task list. From there, clicking View Full Details takes you to the full project detail page.
The project detail page is organized into tabs, each covering a different dimension of the project. From the header you can also star the project to save it to Favorites, share it, add it to a portfolio, or export it.
- Plan — the full work breakdown structure: every task with phase, category, owner role, duration, and cost
- Rules — compliance obligations mapped to the project, tagged by governing body or regulation
- Measures — evidence items and KPIs tied to specific tasks
- Skills — competencies your team needs, with links to training resources and learning pathways
- Tools — platforms and software involved, with links to vendor documentation
Tip: At the bottom of every tab, a More Like This section shows related templates. If the current project isn't quite right, these often lead you to a better match.
Creating a portfolio
A portfolio is a named collection of projects that you manage together. Creating one takes about thirty seconds — just give it a name and it's ready. You'll need a free account to create and save portfolios.
Once created, the portfolio opens to five views: Home, Metrics, Grid, Timeline, and Resources. They all start empty until you add projects. You can rename the portfolio, pick an icon, duplicate it, or share it at any time.
- Go to Portfolios and click the New Portfolio card
- Enter a name and press Create — the portfolio opens immediately
- Rename it at any time using the pencil icon in the header
- Pick a portfolio icon by clicking the avatar in the header
- Use Share to send a read-only link; use Export to download the data
Adding projects to a portfolio
There are two ways to add projects to a portfolio. The first is from inside the portfolio itself using the Add Projects drawer. The second is from the search page or a project detail page using the portfolio icon or Add to Portfolio button. Both methods work the same way — use whichever is more convenient for where you already are.
- From inside the portfolio: scroll to the bottom of the Home tab and click Add Projects — a search panel opens on the right
- Use the ⓘ info icon on any result to preview the project before adding it
- Click the + button to add — the button turns into a checkmark confirming it was added
- From search or project detail: click the portfolio icon on a result card, or the Add to Portfolio button in the project header
- Both open a picker where you can select an existing portfolio or create a new one
Tip: Added projects appear as cards on the portfolio Home tab, each showing the project name, industry, task count, and a live progress bar.
The portfolio grid
The Portfolio Grid is the main execution workspace in PortfolioStack. It pulls every task from every project in the portfolio into a single editable table. The WBS code and Task Name columns are sticky — they stay fixed on the left as you scroll right so you always know which task you're looking at.
WBS codes are prefixed by project number — so 1.1.1 is the first task of the first project, 2.1.1 the first task of the second, and so on. The columns you can edit directly in the table are: Days, Start Date, Estimated Cost, Status, and Notes. Everything else is read-only or computed.
- Filter by status, due date, project, owner, category, phase, or task name using the filter bar above the grid
- Click the Expand button to go full-screen for wider column visibility
- Hover any row and click the ⤢ icon in the WBS cell to open the task detail drawer
- The row drawer shows all task fields in one panel — edits reflect in the grid immediately
- Click any Skills, Tools, or Apps chip in the table to open the linked resources panel
Tracking status, dates, and costs
Keeping your portfolio current is how the Metrics Dashboard and Home tab stay accurate. The Grid makes updates fast — click directly in a cell to change it, or open the row drawer to update multiple fields for one task at once.
- Status: click the status chip to choose Not Started, In Progress, Blocked, or Complete — the dashboard updates immediately
- Start date: click the Start Date cell to open a calendar picker — changing the date automatically recalculates the end date and shifts every downstream task
- Duration: click the Days cell and type a new number — the same cascade logic applies
- Cost: click the Est. Cost cell to open the rate panel where you can override the labor rate and category multiplier for that task
- Notes: click the Notes cell and type anything — blockers, decisions, follow-ups — scoped to this portfolio only
Tip: For a thorough update on a single task, use the row expand drawer (⤢ icon in the WBS cell). It puts schedule, cost, status, and notes all in one panel so you don't have to click across multiple cells.
The metrics dashboard
The Metrics Dashboard gives you a live visual summary of your entire portfolio — no reports to build. It reads directly from the statuses, dates, and costs in your Grid, so keeping those current is what makes it useful.
- KPI cards: Total Tasks, Completion percentage, Total Budget, Timeline (earliest start to latest end), and Compliance Coverage
- Status donut: shows the proportion of tasks by status — Not Started, In Progress, Blocked, Complete
- Clickable status badges: click any status to jump to the Grid with that filter applied — great for a weekly blocked-task review
- Per-project progress bars: click any project name to filter the Grid to just that project's tasks
- Workload by owner: task counts per role — click an owner to filter the Grid
- Quick Filters: one-click shortcuts for Due within 14 days, Overdue, Blocked, and all status types
- Compliance rings: obligations addressed by active or complete tasks, and evidence produced by completed tasks
Compliance, evidence, skills, and tools
Unlike most project tools, PortfolioStack has compliance, skills, and resources already mapped into every project template. You don't need to look these up separately — they're built in and accessible from multiple places in the product.
On a project detail page, the Rules, Measures, Skills, and Tools tabs each surface a different layer of this information. Inside a portfolio, the Resources tab aggregates everything across all projects in one consolidated view — useful when staffing a program and you need to know the full range of competencies and platforms involved. At the task level, the row expand drawer gives you inline access to the obligations, evidence, skills, tools, and apps for that specific task.
- Rules tab (project detail): compliance obligations tagged by governing body, with the tasks that address them
- Measures tab (project detail): evidence items and KPIs linked to specific tasks
- Skills tab: competencies needed, with links to learning pathways and training resources
- Tools tab: platforms and software with links to vendor documentation
- Portfolio Resources tab: all skills, tools, and apps aggregated across every project in the portfolio
- Task row drawer: obligations, evidence, skills, tools, and apps for that specific task — with resource links inline
Apps: each task can have linked app templates — structured micro-applications for creating the artifact that task requires (checklists, registers, policy documents, and more). Clicking an app chip opens it in an embedded panel, pre-filled with your project name, task name, and organization.
Exporting portfolio data
When you're ready to share portfolio data or work with it outside PortfolioStack, two export options are available from the Export button in the portfolio header: Excel and Google Sheets.
- Excel (.xlsx): downloads immediately to your browser — contains all task data from your portfolio grid
- Google Sheets: creates a new spreadsheet in your Google Drive and opens it in a new tab — requires a one-time Google account connection
- To connect Google Sheets, click Export → Google Sheets → Connect with Google, then sign in and authorize the connection
- Once connected, future exports go straight to a new spreadsheet without re-authorizing
- Manage or disconnect the Google connection any time from Account Settings → Integrations
Plan requirement: Google Sheets export requires a plan that includes export integrations. If you see a lock icon next to the Google Sheets option, upgrade from Account Settings → Subscription.