Import a Microsoft Project file

1. Choose File, Import.
2. Choose Microsoft Project.
3. Select the appropriate format from the drop down menu. Click Next.
4. If you chose MPX in the previous step, choose Project. Click Next.
5. Click Select and choose the files you want to import.
   
   Type a password for any file that is password protected.
   
   Click the Import Action field and use the drop-down menu to choose how the project data is imported.
   
   Select Create New Project to create a new project while the existing project's data remains the same.
   
   Select Add into Existing Project to append to the selected WBS.
   
   Select Replace Existing Project or Update Existing Project to delete an existing open project without preserving information and replace it with the project imported from the Microsoft Project file.
6. Double click the Import To field and specify where to import the projects. Click Next.
7. Add a new template or modify the existing template (if necessary). The template contains options for exchanging data with Microsoft Project. When you finish, click Next.
8. Perform this step only if you chose Update Existing Project as the import option:
   
   In the Update Project Options dialog box, click Modify and choose the data to import by modifying the layout configuration (if necessary).
   
   In the Modify Import Configuration dialog box, select the data you want to modify. If resource security is enabled, some restrictions apply when importing activity resource assignments.
   
   Select the action to perform during the import process. Mark the Delete checkbox to remove unreferenced data (i.e., data in the project you are updating but is not included in the import file) from the project. (The Delete field applies only to relationships to external projects, thresholds, activities, activity relationships, and activity resource assignments. Global data types are not affected by this setting.) Click OK.
9. Click Next to review the settings for your import.
10. Click Finish.
11. Click Close.

Notes

• When connected to a P6 EPPM database, if P6 Professional Applications are set to use remote mode, you can continue to work while an XML import process completes.
• You must be an Admin superuser with all resources access to import MSP XML files.
• P6 Professional supports the import and export of Microsoft Project (MSP) 2002 and 2003 files using MSP or MPX formats and MSP 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013 files using MSP XML format.
• If you are transferring data in XML format, you must map Cost-type custom fields in MSP to Cost-type UDFs in P6 Professional. Likewise, you must map Number-type custom fields in MSP to Number-type UDFs in P6 Professional. If there is a mismatch in the custom mappings you define, you will receive an error during import or export. You can define custom mappings when you create or modify a template in the Modify Template dialog box.
• Microsoft Jet 4.0 users should install Service Pack 6. Import errors may occur on computers running Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service Pack 5 or earlier.
• If you manually plan future period distribution for resource/role assignments to activities in P6 Professional, here are some import considerations for projects with manual future period assignment values:
  • Suspend and resume dates in MSP are not honored when imported to P6. When you import an MSP project that has suspend and resume dates, the suspend time is imported as a 0 (zero) bucket value.
  • The MPX file format does not support time-phased data and therefore does not support manual future period buckets. When you import an MPX file, if you choose the Replace Existing import action and the project you are replacing contains manual future period buckets, all manual buckets will be deleted.
  • Since ProjectLink was removed from P6 Professional, importing a Microsoft Project XML file that was exported from P6 Professional is not supported.
  • You must have the Project Superuser security profile to use the Update Existing Project option to update existing P6 Professional projects with MSP.