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Saving file to xml in Project 2016

Anonymous
2018-06-10T07:52:51+00:00

Lately, I received two different Project files from two people (no connection between them).

Trying to save the file to xml format (for HCP analysis) ends in crash of Project 2016. 

The xml file is being created just up to line <Drawings/>

Does anyone knows why it happens / how to avoid the crash?

Thanks!

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John Project 49,705 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2018-06-10T15:05:53+00:00

Tal,

Its not the Windows version that's important as much as the Project version. The latest Project 2016 version is WInproj.exe 16.0.4690.1000. If that's not what you have, run Windows Update.

Based on the problem you have and your description of the file histories I'd say the files are corrupt. One of the most used (and effective) ways to clear corruption is saving to XML however that's obviously not working in this case. I have no idea why saving to XML would cause Project to crash but here is what I suggest. Take a look at the following Wiki article and use methods 1 and 3.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/32054.ms-project-clearing-file-corruption-andor-bloat.aspx

Hope this helps.

John

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  1. John Project 49,705 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-06-10T17:49:04+00:00

    Tal,

    You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. Circular relationships are difficult to track down but it appears you got it working so I'd first save the files to Project 2016 format and then try method 3 again. That should clear out a lot of the bloat the files have accumulated over the years of editing.

    John

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-10T17:33:41+00:00

    John, 

    First - thanks for your answer.

    The winproj.exe version is 16.0.9330.2073, and checking for updates results in "no new updates". So I guess it's ok :-)

    I tried method 1 - ("save as" to a new file, and then save to xml). Project crashed :-(

    I tried method 3 - The Project first respond was that there is a circular link and mentioned a task - and therefore it can't calculate. I investigated the links around this task - and couldn't find the circular link. "OK" to the message (without any change of mine), finished method 3 until the end and save to XML. It worked!! :-) :-)

    Thanks again!!

    Tal.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-06-10T10:17:44+00:00

    Hi Charlie and Good morning!

    Yes - it is only while trying to save to xml - and what "caught  my eye" was that the save of the xml, in both cases, stopped at the same point (and caused the crash of Project). The last line in the XML is <Drawings/>.  Meaning, that there was a problem in the next line which should have been <DataLink/>. This might hold an answer - I didn't figure it out yet.

    One more thing that is unique to both files is, that these are OLD files, meaning, people take a file, and reuse it in a new project, and reuse it... It is easy to find, since the Unique ID in one file is 8000+ and in the other is more than 11000(!) while the files themselves have only a few hundreds of tasks... In my diggings I found clues for MS Project 98(!) in one of the files... 

    I looked at the discussion you linked, but as you said, it's not exactly this problem.

    My windows version is 1803, and there are no updates waiting... :-)

    Thanks!

    Tal.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-06-10T08:30:08+00:00

    Good morning!

    Is it only when you try to save them as xml? I’d make sure there are no updates waiting for project (settings - update and security - updates) and I’d also try to repair office via programs and features.

    I found this:

    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lyn...

    Which is similar, but isn’t exactly your problem. Figured maybe it was worth a look.

    I’m going to keep digging and see what I can find.
    What version of windows are you running? Click start, and type “winver” and hit enter, a box should pop up. 1709? 1803? Let me know.

    Thanks!

    • C

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