How to: Publish or Refresh Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project
When you create a Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project file, the work item information currently in the database is copied into the spreadsheet or project file. When you open the file again, you can update your file with current information from the work item database. Updating the file ensures that your spreadsheet or project file reflects the changes that have occurred since you created the file.
Note
If your work item list is connected to a query, you can rerun the query to update the work item list to reflect the current query results.
Refreshing work items replaces the work item data in your document with the version from the work item database. This process erases any changes you have made. If you want to preserve your changes, publish them before you refresh the document.
Publishing work items sends the changes you have made to the work item database.
Microsoft Project allows you to control which work items are published and refreshed. For more information, see How to: Enable or Disable Publishing of Work Items in Microsoft Project.
To publish or refresh work items, follow the procedures in the next section.
Required Permissions
To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the Contributors group or have the View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.
To refresh work items
On the Team menu, click Refresh. You can also click the Refresh icon on the Team toolbar.
Note
In Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the Team menu is located on the Add-Ins tab on the ribbon.
To publish work items
On the Team menu, click Publish. You can also click Publish on the Team toolbar.
Note
If a data conflict or validation error occurs, you must address the issue before publishing changes are successful. For more information, see How to: Resolve Data Conflicts in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project, and How to: Resolve Data Validation Errors in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Resolve Data Validation Errors in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project
How to: Update a Work Item List from a Query
How to: Connect a Work Item List to a Work Item Query
How to: Upload a Document in Team Explorer
How to: Upload or Save Documents to the Project Portal
How to: Add or Remove Columns in the Work Item List