Import a Microsoft Project file

If your plan already lives in Microsoft Project, you do not have to rebuild it by hand. Upload the file you already have and Onplana reconstructs the project, its tasks, the work breakdown structure, dependencies, and milestones as a new project you own.

Supported formats

• .mpp (recommended). The native Microsoft Project binary. Just upload the file you already have, no export step. Microsoft Project 2003 and earlier are not supported.
• .xml (MSPDI). Project’s “Save as XML” format, useful when you only have an XML export.
• .mpx and .xer. Older interchange and Primavera formats.

The upload size limit is shown in the import dialog.

What comes across

1. Project: name, start and end dates, description.
2. Tasks: titles, start and due dates, percent complete (mapped to status and progress), and priority.
3. The work breakdown structure: the full parent and child hierarchy is rebuilt as subtasks.
4. Milestones: preserved with their dates and shown as diamond markers on the Gantt chart.
5. Dependencies: all four link types (finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, start-to-finish) with their lag in days.
6. Resources: team members are matched to your organization by email. People who do not match an existing member are listed as warnings rather than created automatically.
7. Costs and custom fields: planned, fixed, and baseline costs, plus Project’s custom columns, come across where present.

Run the import

1. Open Migrate from the navigation (or go to /migrate).
2. Upload your file. Onplana detects the format automatically, you do not pick the type.
3. Review the field mapping Onplana proposes and adjust if a column should map differently.
4. Confirm the resource matching step: matched people join the project, unmatched names are flagged.
5. Review the summary and create the project.

Tip

After the import, open the new project’s Gantt chart to confirm the timeline and dependency arrows look right. The import history at Migrate → History keeps a record of every import, including any warnings, so you can see exactly what was matched and what was skipped.

Planning a wider move off Microsoft Project? The migration overview on the main site covers timelines, what carries over, and how Onplana pricing compares.

FAQs

Will importing change my original Microsoft Project file? No. The upload is read only; your .mpp file is untouched. Onplana creates a brand new project from a copy of the data.

Why are some of my team listed as warnings instead of added? Resources are matched by email address. If someone’s email in Microsoft Project does not match their Onplana account, they are flagged so you can add them by hand rather than creating a duplicate person.

My costs did not import. Why? Microsoft Project treats a zero cost as “no cost configured”, so blank and zero-cost lines come across as empty. Lines with a real cost value import into the project’s planned cost.

Do I need a paid plan to import? No, import works on every plan. Some of what comes across (the Gantt chart, custom fields) is only visible on the plans that include those features, but the underlying data is always imported.