Convert to Excel Without Reformatting

REDesigner09 · Jan 3, 2012

Hi,

Is there a way to convert my MS Project 2007 WBS tasks to Excel, without having it get reformatted?

Ideally, I would like a WYSIWYG formatting from MS Project to Excel 2007, without minimal to no formatting corruption.

Is this possible & if so, how?

Thanks

REDesigner09 · Jan 11, 2012

Hi,

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

ierland · Mar 2, 2012

What do you exactly mean? While exporting to Excel you do not want only the data but also some colours and other formatting stuff from MS Project?
What do you exactly want to Export? Have you alreday looked into the graphical reports?
An alternative might be some template in Excel with conditional formatting, based on e.g. overview level, task or milestone, summary yes/no etc.
Perhaps upload a small example + a clear wish list.

REDesigner09 · Mar 2, 2012

Hi,

With MS Project (2007), when copying & pasting its contents into Excel, the format changes - looses colors, column sizes, etc., which for the majority of this, is no big deal.

However, the durations from MS Project gets converted in Excel showing both date & time. Although doable, I can extract the date in Excel with a function or two.

I'm trying to verify the durations & have the ability to manipulate if needed. However, I can't do this "cleanly" & seeking ways to do so.

What do you suggest?

ierland · Mar 3, 2012

Currently I do not have MS Project 2007 readily available. Next week I hope to be able to look into this.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

REDesigner09 · Mar 16, 2012

Hi ierland & others,

Is there a solution for this?

Thanks

ierland · Mar 17, 2012

Hi,

Finally today I could get hold of a 2007 version. I am now not sure what you exactly are talking about. Can you upload a small example, have an URL for it or send me a private message for sending a file so that I can look into your problem in more detail. Perhaps indicate then as precise as possible what you want to achieve.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

ierland · Mar 23, 2012

Are you no longer interested in any help or did you resolve the issue yourself? In the latter case I would be interested in your approach.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

REDesigner09 · Mar 23, 2012

Hi,

I've been away for a while. I'll create something & upload shortly.

Thanks

REDesigner09 · Mar 27, 2012

Hi ierland,

Attached is an example Excel file of extracted data from MS Project 2007.

As you will see, columns B through J is extracted data or data that was copied & pasted from MS Project into Excel.

My columns M through O are excel functions extracting the date only or removing the time that MS Project seems to give, even though I don't care to have.

The intent of this document is see how my durations are adding up between Planned Start & Finish. I also planed to do some other things with this Excel file, such as trying to modifying the dates to get more desirable project plan.

It would nice if when copying & pasting from MS Project to Excel, it would keep the same MS Project format - Showing primary tasks & sub-tasks & so forth.

Currently, it does not & unless I manually modify through Excel, I do not see an option to keep the same formatting.

What are you suggestions?

Thanks

IRstuff · Mar 27, 2012

It would be useful to see what the project file looks like

TTFN
faq731-376

ierland · Mar 27, 2012

It is a pity that you did not add the corresponding MS Project file.
I am not sure if you have used an import export map.
Your dates would not be a problem. Just use the correct formatting in Excel to "remove" the hours.
In MS Project Duration is given in WORKING DAYS (or weeks, etc.) [normally of 8 hours a day] You appear to like the difference in Calendar days. That is another value. In MS project you could also add a Custom Field with the difference in Calendar days.
It is not clear for me how you want the MS Project structure be reflected in Excel. You could easily also download Overview Level. I use that if I want Summary Tasks in a different column [on a separate Workbook Sheet] This could be achieved with rather simple expressions.
Do you want to merge values from Excel with MS Project? In that case I recommend also to include UniqueID.

Some field require a little bit of magic in Excel but most fields you can easily import or export.

I am, however, curious what you want to achieve in Excel compared to directly manipulating in MS Project. If it is just about dates rather than changing Predecessors and Successors, why not use an Interim Baseline? You can always return to your old situation. On the other hand maintenance of a project plan means constantly updating the existing information in MS Project.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

REDesigner09 · Mar 27, 2012

Hi ierland,

I was looking for the MS Project, but appears I deleted it. I will make another & submit with Excel file to see what you can do.

As explained before, I just simply copied from MS Project into Excel.

When I do this, I loose the WBS structure & bit of the formatting. I don't mind loosing some formatting, but I don't want to loose all the formatting.

As explained above, the main purpose is so I can mimic the MS Project & put some other parameters & or charts to the project plan.

Thanks

ierland · Mar 28, 2012

As you can make visual reports with MS Project 2007 and anyhow can add Custom fields, I am still wondering what you want to achieve in Excel that would not be possible in MS Project.

There are sometimes text changes I will do in Excel, just because it is easier there to do text manipulation. However, in general, MS Project is THE product to do anything about scheduling.

Therefore I am very curious to know what you would do in Excel that is not possible in MS Project, apart from some report charts. That possibility is now incorporated in MS Project 2007 and above.

Up to now, only the text manipulation and some pre-calculations before entering data into MS Project, have been for me the only needs to use Excel as well.

There might be a potential other use. If people don't have MS Project, an export to Excel might perhaps be useful. However, normally I would make a pdf-file.

Theoretically one could export to Excel, change some data and merge these again with the plan in MS Project. If remote amendment [such as Actual Work] would become a frequent goal, there was in the past an easy Outlook tool. Today MS makes is necessary to use the expensive and complicated MS Project Server. If you would have many project with shared resources on several locations with a need to constantly updating your projects, then MS Project Server may become essential.

For simpler combinations of projects a resource pool may do. I get the feeling, perhaps wrongly, that you have just a rather simple project, being more used to Excel working with that where probably MS Project itself could help you as well. This is not uncommon, as most people believe that they can just start using MS Project and real good (advanced) MS Project courses are more or less rare.

I am still awaiting both files and a more detailed explanation what you want to achieve. Maybe I can be of any help although miracles are not always readily possible. Others could also contribute with good solutions as there is hardly ever a single solution for a given problem. A lot remains a matter of appreciation. That could also apply to your wish to use Excel.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

ierland · Apr 16, 2012

Do you expect to provide a sample MS Project file + explanation why export to Excel is necessary or have you forgotten about the issue?

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

REDesigner09 · Jun 9, 2012

Hi ierland,

Sorry, I've been away from this forum for a while. Are you still interested with assisting me? If so, I'll submit something.

Thanks

ierland · Jun 10, 2012

Although you are not very fast in responding I would still be prepared to look into your problem, although without any guarantee that I can solve it. I will be away a few days next week as well. However, the sooner you upload something the faster I can find some spare moments. In addition can you explain what you want to do in Excel that is not possible within MS Project? I know there are some (rare) cases. So I am always curious to know your application.

Why an easy solution if you can make it complicated?
Greetings from the Netherlands

REDesigner09 · Jun 13, 2012

Hi ierland,

It took a while, but I finally took some time out of my very busy schedule to submit something. I know you are also quite busy, but your assistance is greatly appreciated.

I made a bogus project up within MS Project which is a typical layout of one of my projects. I have a target completion date (10/01/12) in which I'm trying to define a series of deliverables or tasks between the start & finish dates.

Additionally, I'm trying to demonstrate or show project progression by showing planned vs. actual durations.

Perhaps because I'm better with using Excel, I am also trying to use it to manage my projects. So, you will see within the Excel file, I extracted the raw data & pasted it in. I have some columns to the right of the table which can convert the dates-time to just dates.

It's not shown here, but if I can extract the MS Project raw data "cleanly" enough here, I can also do a number of things to produce task warnings or show a number of different charts. As you will see, my color formatting from MS Project to Excel is lost. Not a huge deal because the data is more important, but it would be nice to keep it.

Please review attachments & provide feedback.

Thanks again...

Perhaps this bogus project plan is too simplified, but with bigger ones, but you should g

REDesigner09 · Jun 13, 2012

Oops,

Part of my message got cut off & it does not appear that I could upload 2 documents at once.

Here's the message:

It took a while, but I finally took some time out of my very busy schedule to submit something. I know you are also quite busy, but your assistance is greatly appreciated.

I made a bogus project up within MS Project which is a typical layout of one of my projects. I have a target completion date (10/01/12) in which I'm trying to define a series of deliverables or tasks between the start & finish dates.

Additionally, I'm trying to demonstrate or show project progression by showing planned vs. actual durations.

Perhaps because I'm better with using Excel, I am also trying to use it to manage my projects. So, you will see within the Excel file, I extracted the raw data & pasted it in. I have some columns to the right of the table which can convert the dates-time to just dates.

It's not shown here, but if I can extract the MS Project raw data "cleanly" enough here, I can also do a number of things to produce task warnings or show a number of different charts. As you will see, my color formatting from MS Project to Excel is lost. Not a huge deal because the data is more important, but it would be nice to keep it.
Perhaps this bogus project plan is too simplified, but with bigger ones, there will be many more layers. With these, I want to also be able to manipulate my dates & then past in or manually adjust dates within MS to get desired plan & durations.
Please review attachments & provide feedback.

Thanks again...

I seem to be having issues uploading a MS Project file. From the Excel file, it should be simple enough to duplicate though.

REDesigner09 · Jun 16, 2012

Hi ireland & Others,

Not sure why, but for some reason, I can't upload the MS Project file.

To re-iterate my intents:

I would like to take my full MS Project layout or plan & past its raw data into Excel. Once I can get the data "cleanly" extracted, I use Excel functions to extract the dates. With this, I can produce a handful of other metrics or perform some verifications that I can't do within MS Project.

I just need a method to not have Excel (radically) modify the layout or to keep all the WBS levels & its indentations.

Is this possible?

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Convert to Excel Without Reformatting

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