1

I have prepared an excel file with data that I want to import into MS Project.

This should be done via the standard Create new Project from Excel workbook function where you map the column headers from the Excel file to the standard MS Project fields.

The Excel file contains primarily text that gets matched to the Text1, Text2, Text3, etc. standard fields in MS Project. Importing these fields works without problems.

One of the columns in the Excel file contains semicolon seperated values in order to establish predecessor-successor relationships between tasks from the get-go.

The values in the successor column are formatted as required by MS Project (seperated by semicolons, cell data type is Text). E.g.:

45;46;48;52;64;102;143;160;(...)

This particular column presents a problem to MS Project when importing. The mapping matrix does not recognize the excel columns anymore:

enter image description here

When I delete this column from the excel file, all column headers appear as normal.

There are a couple of additional details that I'd like to mention:

  • The successor column contains cells with a large number of successor references (currently the longest entry contains 954 characters in total).
  • I've tested the import of successors successfully in a smaller context (less successor values).
  • I'm using MS Project 2013
  • The Excel worksheet does not contain spaces or other special characters in its name - as outlined here:

How to Import Excel Worksheet into Microsoft Project?

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/projectserver/en-US/f4fe3b71-462a-4ee8-a941-ab84e63476fb/cant-import-excel-file-into-msproject-2013?forum=projectonline

Does anybody have an idea as to why this bug is appearing?

Or does the problem lie with the big scope?

Community
  • 1
  • 1
VikingR
  • 301
  • 1
  • 3
  • 8
  • 2
    Try reducing the longest successor lists to be no more than 900 characters. Years ago I found a similar limit to be a little over 900... You may have to manually recreate a few links, but you'll get most of it in automatically. And if not 900, try 800, etc. – Rachel Hettinger Apr 08 '16 at 14:17

1 Answers1

3

I still could not solve the problem when importing from an Excel worksheet. However, I've found a workaround by simply using a CSV file for the import instead.

The mapping matrix appears as usual and all successors are also imported correctly.

So, if you're having the same problem - save your Excel file as a CSV file and re-try the import from MS Project.

VikingR
  • 301
  • 1
  • 3
  • 8