Import & Export

Importing Projects

Milestone can import project data from external tools:

1. Click Import in the project panel header
2. Drag-and-drop or browse to select a file:
3. CSV — Comma-separated values with columns for project name, phases, dates
4. XML — Microsoft Project XML format (.xml)
5. MPP/MPT/MPX — Microsoft Project native format (requires Java on the server)
6. Milestone parses the file and shows a preview
7. Click Import Project to create the project with all phases and subphases

After import, a summary shows the created project, phase count, and subphase count.

Supported Formats

Format	Extension	Requirements	Notes
CSV	.csv	None	Simple comma-separated values with project name, phase names, start/end dates
XML	.xml	None	Microsoft Project XML format — preserves full hierarchy and metadata
MPP	.mpp	Java (JRE 11+)	Microsoft Project native binary format — richest data preservation
MPT	.mpt	Java (JRE 11+)	Microsoft Project template format
MPX	.mpx	Java (JRE 11+)	Older Microsoft Project exchange format

Note

MPP/MPT/MPX file import requires Java to be installed on the server (included in the Docker image). CSV and XML imports work without Java.

Note

Importing is blocked while What-If mode is active — imports create the project immediately on the server and cannot be sandboxed. Exit What-If mode first.

What Gets Imported

• Project name and metadata (start date, end date)
• Phase hierarchy — top-level tasks become phases, nested tasks become subphases (unlimited nesting depth preserved)
• Dates — start and end dates for all phases and subphases

• Task names — preserved as phase/subphase names

• Completion — the task's % complete, kept between 0 and 100; tasks at 100 % land in the Kanban Done column, partly done ones in In Progress

Staff assignments, resource allocations, and custom fields from the source file are not imported — these are configured within Milestone after import.

Import files are limited to 20 MB; a larger upload is refused (file too large). Parsing runs in the background on the server, so a large file no longer slows down other users while it is processed.

Troubleshooting Import Issues

Problem	Solution
MPP import fails with "Java not found"	Java (JRE 11+) must be installed on the server. The Docker image includes it, but local development may not.
Phases appear flat (no nesting)	The source file may not have task hierarchy. Check the WBS structure in Microsoft Project before exporting.
Dates look wrong	Ensure the source file uses date formats that can be parsed (ISO 8601 or standard regional formats).
Large file takes too long	Very large project files (hundreds of tasks) may take several seconds to parse. Be patient during the preview step.
"File too large"	The upload exceeds 20 MB. Remove attachments or unused views in Microsoft Project, or export to XML/CSV.

Exporting Projects

To export a project:

1. Open the project edit modal (click Edit or right-click then Edit)
2. At the bottom of the modal, two export buttons are available:
3. CSV Export — Compatible with Microsoft Project and spreadsheet tools
4. XML Export — Microsoft Project XML format

The exported file includes the project hierarchy (phases, subphases), dates, assignments, and custom column values.

Site Excel Export

The Site Excel Export is a complete snapshot of everything that lives under one site — projects, users, equipment, skills, absence types, vacations, assignments, custom columns, bank holidays, and company events — bundled into a single multi-sheet .xlsx file. It is the canonical "everything for this site" backup format, useful for archiving, audit, or migration.

How to Export

1. Open Settings → Sites from the sidebar's Settings entry.
2. Locate the site you want to export.
3. Click the download icon (↓) next to the edit/pencil icon. Hover tooltip: "Export site data as Excel".
4. The browser downloads site_<name>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.xlsx. Large sites may take several seconds to generate — the icon shows a spinner while the export is being built server-side.

What's in the File

Each kind of data lives on its own sheet, so the file opens cleanly in Excel, LibreOffice, or any spreadsheet tool:

Sheet	Contents
Site	Site metadata: name, city, country, region code, active flag
Projects	All projects on the site with their phases and subphases (full hierarchy, dates, project manager, customer, completion %)
Users	Users assigned to this site (name, email, role, job title, active flag)
Equipment	Equipment items linked to the site, with type, active status and a Sites column listing every site each item belongs to
Skills	Skills defined on the instance (name, color, description)
User skills	User → Skill associations
Tag groups	Tag group definitions (name, single select, order)
Tags	Project tags that apply to this site (name, color, group, all sites / sites, order)
Project tags	Project → Tag associations, with the tag's group
Absence types	Absence type definitions (name, color, counts as unavailable, active, order)
Vacations	All absence entries for users on this site, including recurring patterns, with their Type and Type ID
Project assignments	Staff assigned at the project level
Phase assignments	Staff assigned at the phase level (with allocation %)
Subphase assignments	Staff assigned at the subphase level
Equipment assignments	Equipment booked against projects/phases/subphases
Custom columns	Custom column definitions for this site (name, type, scope, options)
Custom column values	Custom column values for every project/phase/subphase
Bank holidays	Public and custom holidays on the site (with year)
Company events	Company events linked to the site, with a Sites column listing every site each event applies to and a Staff unavailable column marking site closures
Equipment blocks	Maintenance/unavailability windows on the site's equipment
Staff notes	Notes pinned to the site's staff timeline
Card comments	Kanban card comments on the site's phases and subphases

Note

The Site Excel Export is restricted to Admins and Superusers. Superusers can only export sites they belong to — Admins can export any site. The Sites section of Settings is admin-only, so superusers export through the API (GET /api/export/site/{site_id}/excel).

Tip

Use this export before doing destructive operations (e.g. deleting a site, large bulk edits). The file is small enough to keep alongside regular database backups and is human-readable without needing to restore.

Spreadsheet Safety

CSV exports and the site Excel workbook escape any cell text that starts with a formula character (=, +, -, @, tab or carriage return), so a malicious project name or comment cannot run as a formula when the file is opened in Excel or another spreadsheet program. Such cells start with an apostrophe in the exported file. The project manager is included in CSV and XML project exports.