How to: Add Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project

You can use Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project to add new work items to your Team Foundation Server work item database. To add new work items using Microsoft Project, see How to: Change How Fields are Mapped to Microsoft Project.

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 add work items using a new Microsoft Excel worksheet

1. In Team Explorer, under your team project name, select Work Items.

2. On the Team menu, select Add Work Items with Microsoft Excel.

3. In Excel, on the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click Choose Columns.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Microsoft Project, use the Team menu.

4. In the Choose Columns dialog box, click Add Required to automatically add columns for all required fields.

5. In the Available Columns box, select the other columns you want in your worksheet, and then click > (Add).

6. Click OK.

   The worksheet is updated with the columns you have selected.

7. Add work items by filling in the columns.

   Note

   Some columns might be read-only because their contents are automatically generated by Team Foundation.

8. When you have added all the work items that you want to add, on the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click Publish.

   The system adds the work items in your spreadsheet file to your Team Foundation database.

9. If you want to access your spreadsheet file later, save the file. You can also upload the document to the project portal.

   For more information, see How to: Upload a Document in Team Explorer, or How to: Upload or Save Documents to the Project Portal.

To add work items using an existing Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project file

1. Open the existing Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project file.

2. To make sure the worksheet has the most current information from Team Foundation, in Microsoft Project, on the Work Items toolbar, click Refresh and in Microsoft Excel, on the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click Refresh.

3. Add new rows to the file as you want. You may have to add or remove columns in the work item list or project file.

   For more information, see How to: Add or Remove Columns in the Work Item List.

4. When you have added all the work items that you want to add click Publish.

   The system adds to your Team Foundation database the work items that you added to your spreadsheet or project file.

   Important Note:
   You must enter a value in the Work Item Type column before you publish the new work items.

See Also

Tasks

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

How to: Resolve Data Validation Errors in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project