Importing from Excel

This feature is equally useful for transferring the entire project or just a task list from Excel.

For successful import, take note of the following requirements:

• Microsoft Excel files must be in .xlsx or .csv format.
• .xls file format is not supported.

Before importing your file, we recommend removing any decorative or non-project content, such as company headers, logos, watermarks, or other corporate branding. These elements cannot be imported into your GanttPRO project and may interfere with the import process. Keeping your file focused on project data will help ensure a smoother and more accurate import.

To import your file from Excel in .xlsx format, click on the + icon in the top left corner of the page and then select Create new project 1. On the project creation page click on Import 2. 

Select the document from your computer and then click on Import 1. 

Set project

An import window will appear. Type the name of your project 1 if needed. Otherwise, it will be named as your Excel project.

After that, click Next 2 to move to the next step.

Select a header row

Here you can choose your header row 1. Selecting a header row is required so that on the next step you can map the column headers from your Excel file to the corresponding GanttPRO fields. 

By default, the first row is selected as the header row, but you can choose any other row. Please note that all rows above the selected header row will be excluded from the import.

If your file does not contain a header row, click My file has no header row 2 above the table.

Fully empty rows and columns are automatically removed, whether they appear before the data, between populated rows or columns, or after the data. This helps prevent issues during the columns mapping step.

Columns mapping

At the next step you will see your data. Assign the fields according to their contents choosing the options from the drop-down menu of each field.

There you have the following options 1:

• WBS number
• Task name
• Start and End dates and time
• Duration
• Progress 
• Task description
• Assigned
• Status
• Priority
• Estimation
• Time log
• Budget
• Actual cost
• Any Custom fields 3

If you map a column from your file to a custom field in GanttPRO, any values that cannot be matched automatically by exact value will be highlighted in red.

Values mapped to custom fields cannot be edited directly in the table. To adjust them, open Advanced mapping settings 1. There, you can manually match source values to the corresponding custom field 2 values or use AI mapping 3 to match them automatically for you.

You can create a new custom field from the import page using Add custom field in the dropdown menu. There are 9 types of custom fields available in GanttPRO. Once a new custom field is created, it will be assigned to the previously selected column. 

If you don’t need a field or it does not fit into any existing category, leave it within the Not used category 2. Do not forget to indicate the format of End and Start dates you have used in your Excel project for a correct import.

At this step you can:

• remove all extra spaces or irrelevant characters in cells;
• hover over any row to reveal the trash icon and remove the row from the import;
• create custom fields;
• fill columns with more information;
• show columns with errors 4.

If the system detects an error during mapping, the affected cells are highlighted in red. If the values in a column are incompatible with the selected GanttPRO field, the mapped field is also highlighted in red. For example, if you map a column containing text values to Start date, the system will flag the mapping as invalid.

You cannot proceed to the next step until all errors are resolved.

If your file contains cells with multiple values, enable the corresponding option above the table and specify the delimiter used to separate them. You can choose one of the suggested delimiters or enter a custom one.

Multiple values in a single cell are supported for the following fields:

• Assigned
• People (custom field)
• Multiselect (custom field)
• Labels (custom field)

The following GanttPRO fields cannot contain empty values:

• Status
• Priority
• Start date and time
• End date and time
• Duration (0 is considered as a value)
• Checkbox (custom field)

If any cells in these columns are empty, you can either fill them in manually in the table or click the gear icon next to the column header and choose the option to fill empty cells with default values.

The following GanttPRO fields can contain empty values:

• Assigned
• Progress
• Estimation
• Time log
• Budget
• Actual cost 
• Custom fields (except for Checkbox custom fields)

Once you have configured all the necessary fields, click on Next 5 to go to resource mapping step.

Resource mapping

The Map resources step is available only if the Assigned field in GanttPRO was mapped to a column in the imported file.

Each resource from the file can be:

• mapped to an existing user or virtual resource in the account 1;
• created as a new virtual resource;
• excluded from the import 2.

After you map all resources, you can define all milestones in a project.

Milestones defining

At this step, you can choose which tasks should be imported into the final project as milestones. To do this, select the checkboxes next to the relevant tasks 1.

If you mapped a column from your file to the Duration field in GanttPRO during the column mapping step, all tasks with a duration of 0 will be automatically selected as milestones.

After ticking milestones, click Import project 2 to import the file into GanttPRO. When the import process is finished, you will see your Excel project in GanttPRO. 

Check the Troubleshooting section, if you have some import-related issues.

Find out about alternatives to Excel.