PRJ: Some Fields Lost When Table Saved in MPX 4.0 (124368)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Project 98 for Windows
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 95 4.1
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 4.0
  • Microsoft Project for the Macintosh 4.0
This article was previously published under Q124368

SUMMARY

When you save a Microsoft Project file in an MPX format, only the task and resource fields listed in the Export tables are written to the file. If you intend to import the file back to Microsoft Project, you should modify these tables to ensure that all required fields are present before you save them in the MPX format.

MORE INFORMATION

When Microsoft Project saves a file in the MPX 4.0 file format, it uses information from the task and resource Export tables to determine which task and resource information to include in the file. Only task fields listed in the task Export table are written to the MPX file, and only resource fields listed in the resource Export table are written to the MPX file. For this reason, task or resource information contained in fields not present in either of these tables will be lost when the MPX file is opened later.

Task Export Table Fields

The default task Export table included with Microsoft Project 4.0 contains only the following fields: 
% Complete                       Free Slack
Actual Cost                      ID
Actual Finish                    Late Finish
Actual Start                     Late Start
Actual Work                      Milestone
Baseline Cost                    Name
Baseline Duration                Outline Level
Baseline Finish                  Predecessors
Baseline Start                   Priority
Baseline Work                    Remaining Cost
Constraint Date                  Resume
Constraint Type                  Resume No Earlier Than
Cost                             Rollup
Created                          Start
Delay                            Stop
Duration                         Summary
Early Finish                     Text1
Early Start                      Total Slack
Finish                           Unique ID
Fixed                            WBS
Fixed Cost                       Work

Resource Export Table Fields

The default resource Export table included with Microsoft Project 4.0 contains only the following fields: 
Accrue At                        Initials
Actual Cost                      Max Units
Actual Work                      Name
Baseline Cost                    Overtime Rate
Baseline Work                    Overtime Work
Code                             Standard Rate
Cost                             Text1
Cost Per Use                     Unique ID
Group                            Work
ID
If you want to retain information from fields not included in these default tables, you should add any additional fields to these tables before you save a Microsoft Project file in the MPX 4.0 format.

Fields missing from the default task Export table that you may want to add include the following:

Fields not Included in the Export Table

Cost1                            Marked
Cost2                            Number1
Cost3                            Number2
Duration1                        Number3
Duration2                        Number4
Duration3                        Number5
Flag1                            Subproject File
Flag2                            Text2
Flag3                            Text3
Flag4                            Text4
Flag5                            Text5
Flag6                            Text6
Flag7                            Text7
Flag8                            Text8
Flag9                            Text9
Flag10                           Text10
Start1                           Finish1
Start2                           Finish2
Start3                           Finish3
Start4                           Finssh4
Start5                           Finish5
Fields missing from the default resource Export table that you may want to add include the following:

Fields not Included in the Resource Table

Email Address                    Text4
Text2                            Text5
Text3

To Add Fields

To add fields to either of these Export tables, follow these steps:

  1. On the View menu, point to Table, and then click More Tables.
  2. To specify the type of table you want to edit, click to select either Task or Resource.
  3. In the list of tables, click to select Export, and then click Edit.
  4. In the Table Definition, scroll through the table until you reach a blank line.
  5. In the available blank rows, type the field names you want to add, and click OK.
  6. In More Tables, click Organizer.
  7. Click to select Export from the list of tables in the right pane.
  8. To copy the table to the GLOBAL.MPT file, click Copy, and then click Close.
  9. On the left-hand side of the Tables tab, click to select Resources.
  10. Repeat Steps 7 and 8 so that the Resource Export table is copied to GLOBAL.MPT.
  11. In More Tables, click Close.
The values in these fields will be retained when you save the file in the MPX 4.0 format.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

84119 Project: Using .MPX Files with the Export Table

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/25/2003
Keywords:kbinterop kbprb kbusage KB124368
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.