Export an XML from Microsoft Project
The Project XML contains the whole schedule, and it opens without Project. It is what to ask for when someone sends you an .mpp.
The procedure
Open the schedule in Project
Any version from Project 2003 onwards.
File, Save As
Choose the location, then open the list of file types.
Choose "Microsoft Project XML (*.xml)"
Then save. Project writes a single file containing the whole schedule.
What that file contains
- Tasks, their hierarchy, their durations and their progress.
- Links, their types and their lags.
- Constraints, deadlines and manually scheduled tasks.
- Calendars, with their work weeks and exceptions.
- Resources, assignments and stored baselines.
What to check afterwards
Drop the file into the workshop and open the "Gap between the file and the recalculation" panel. It says, task by task, whether the stored dates and the recalculated dates agree. A general gap of a few hours almost always points to a calendar that was not exported.
Frequently asked questions
- Project does not offer the XML format.
- It is in the file type drop-down under "Save As". On some corporate installations a group policy hides it: ask your administrator.
- The XML is much bigger than the .mpp.
- That is normal: XML is text, the .mpp is compressed. A 500-task schedule gives an XML of a few megabytes, which the workshop reads in under a second.