“Sharing custom fields: If I create a customized text field in Microsoft Project using a drop-down (or look-up table), how can I get that information to travel from view to view? If I am in the Gantt view, and I add the field, I would hope that when I go to the resource view, I should be able to add that same text field (with the same data in it)?”

When you create a custom field (Tools->Customize->Fields)  in a task-based view, such as the Gantt Chart view, it will be available (Insert->Column) in other task-based views (and easier it find if you rename the field while you’re creating it.)

However, it will not be available in resource-based views, such as Resource Usage.  That’s because you’re now looking at resource (or assignment) characteristics, not task characteristics.  (Task:Text1 is not the same field as Resource:Text1).  You could create another similar custom field for resources, or you could take a look at a different view, perhaps Task Usage, which has similar information, but is task-orientated.

Views in Microsoft Project aren’t really like sheets in Excel, even though they look similar in the most recent releases of Project.  You should think of MS Project as a single database, and each view is giving you insight into certain tables within the database.