How to create a Project that is already in progress?

Hi,
I am new to ProjeQtor. I have experience building projects in MS Project and ProjectLbre. I am not an IT Project Manager.
I am trying to build an in progress project that is already 10% complete. The problem I am facing is that I cannot set the start date in the past for any activity I create. My project has 188 activities. All projects by default are initiating on the present date. Even I have to change the start date of the first activity, the start date of the linked activities is not changing.  This is a repetitive project and I wanted to use the same template for different clients. I would appreciate it if you could help me with how to do it or point me towards a tutorial explaining this.

Thank You

Thank You so much. It is a cool tip.

That answer really helped. I was also wondering how to change the status of the copied project? When I create a new project by copying the template project, the status of the project, task and sub-tasks is 'copied.' Will it matter if I keep the status as 'copied' or is there any way by which I can change the status to recorded in one go? Does it really matter if I keep the status as copied?