Link a task to a task in another project file

Your fit-out cannot start until the landlord’s works finish, and the landlord’s works live in someone else’s schedule. Plan > Links between projects… makes a task in this plan wait on a task in another file, the same cross-project link Microsoft Project makes. The other file’s task appears as a grey row in the grid and on the Gantt, at the dates read from its file, and your task moves when those dates move.

Pro and above

Add link, Remove and Update the plan unlock when the app is signed in to an organization on the Pro plan or above. Grey rows, the dialog and Read file work on every plan. See Unlock the paid features of Onplana Schedule.

Add a link

1. Open the schedule and choose Plan > Links between projects….

2. Under Add a link, pick the Task in this plan that has to wait.

3. Under Other file, select Choose file… and pick the other schedule.

4. Pick the task it waits on in Task in (followed by the file’s name).

5. Choose the Link type (FS, SS, FF or SF) and, if needed, a Lag (working days). A negative lag is a lead.

6. Select Add link. The other file’s task appears as a grey row, and your task is rescheduled from it.

7. Save. The link is written the way Microsoft Project writes it, so Project opens your file and resolves the link itself.

A Project XML file is read straight away. Another format, such as .mpp, has to be converted first, and the app asks before it does, with the same question it asks when you open that kind of file. See the privacy question in the main article.

When the other file changes

Each time you open the plan, the app looks for every linked file again, at the path saved in the link or under the same name beside your plan, and reads it. If the linked task has moved, the status bar says so: “Linked files have changed: 2 tasks here move to their dates when the plan is rescheduled.”

A linked that this computer has not converted yet is not read on open. The status bar names it, and Read file in the dialog reads it, after the same question as above.

In Plan > Links between projects…, the In its file column shows what was read for each link: when the task finishes, File not found, or No task 14 in the file. Select Update the plan to move your tasks to the dates read. The status bar confirms how many moved, with Undo.

The other file is only read. Its dates are never changed from this plan, and a grey row cannot be edited: it reads “Task 14 in Landlord works.xml. It is read from that file and cannot be changed here.”

Example

Your shop fit-out plan has Fit-out start. The landlord’s schedule, Landlord works.xml, has task 14, Handover of shell, finishing on 18 May. Add a link from Fit-out start to task 14, type FS, lag 2 days. The grey Handover of shell row appears, and Fit-out start moves to 21 May. A week later the landlord sends a new copy with handover on 25 May. You open your plan, the status bar says one task moves, and Update the plan puts Fit-out start on 28 May, with everything linked after it following.

Limits

• A link always makes a task here wait on a task in the other file. To make a task in the other file wait on yours, add the link in that file.
• The link names the other task by its ID in that file, as Microsoft Project does. Renumbering the other file can point the link at a different task.
• There is no Locate for a file that moved. Remove the link and add it again from the new place.
• While a linked file is not found or not read, the tasks that wait on it stay on the dates they had when the plan was saved.
• Links drawn on the Gantt or typed in Predecessors are for tasks in this plan. Links to other files are changed only in this dialog.

FAQs

Does Microsoft Project understand the link? Yes. It is saved in the fields Microsoft Project uses, and Project shows the grey row and moves your task from the other file when it opens yours.

Can I change the grey task’s dates here? No. Change them in its own file, then open your plan again or select Update the plan.

What if I open my plan on another computer? The app looks for the linked file at the saved path, then beside your plan. If neither has it, the link holds its task where the plan was saved and says which file it could not find.

Can I see links someone else made without Pro? Yes. Grey rows and Read file work on every plan. Adding, removing and updating need Pro.