Share via

can project reference an excel spreadsheet

Anonymous
2012-07-23T12:46:27+00:00

I have pretty basic project file that tracks all of my opening dates, which unfortunately change on a weekly basis.  The opening dates are tracked on a spreadsheet.  Is there any way to have Microsoft project lookup the opening dates so I don't have to manually input them?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Access | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

3 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. John Project 49,710 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2012-07-23T20:22:20+00:00

    BigKM72,

    Excel is generally intuitive and user friendly, Project is not. However, if all you really need is a Gantt Chart representation of your jobs, you should be able to do that with an import map as I mentioned. You will have better luck if you only import the start date and duration. Project will then calculate the finish date based on a standard work day calendar of 8hr/day, 5days/week with a normal default start time of 8:00 am. You can modify the work calendar if your work week/day is different.

    John

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-07-23T15:40:10+00:00

    We wanted a visual tool showing all of our jobs (which are not linked together) start and completion dates.  This way we don't overbook ours managers. 

    We don't actually enter the start and completion dates; another department does.  Then I re-enter them into project (yes, big time waster, but if it's what your boss wants you do it!).

    I am new to project so the fastest way I knew to get it done was manually.  Now that I have created the chart I would like to make it more user friendly- for myself.

    I am pretty fluent in excel, so I figured I would be able to figure Project out.  It's proven to be a little more difficult, but that's because I don't work in it every day.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. John Project 49,710 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2012-07-23T14:59:40+00:00

    BigKM72,

    Yes, but tell us something. Why are you using Project if all dates are manually entered? Entering dates manually in Project defeats Project's scheduling engine. If you want to use Project for scheduling, then why are you using Excel?

    There are various ways to transfer data between Project and Excel. The simplest is probably with an import map which you will find under File/Open. Select  "Excel Workbook" as the file type and the import wizard will appear allowing you to map Excel data to Project fields.

    Another approach is through VBA. This gives a more flexible approach but it of course does require knowledge of VBA.

    John

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments