Move from Microsoft Project
in 5 steps
Onplana includes a built-in migration wizard that imports your projects, tasks, dependencies, resources, and costs. Most migrations complete in under a day.
New here? Start with why teams switch from Microsoft Project to Onplana. Already evaluating dedicated replacements? See Onplana vs OnePlan. Just need to open a .mpp file? Use Onplana Schedule, our free Windows and Mac app.
Looking at the full 2026 picture? Onplana's Microsoft retirements 2026 hub maps every Microsoft sunset that hits PMOs this year, with deadlines, impacts, and the migration path for each.
Buy through Microsoft? The Onplana Migration Tool is on Microsoft Marketplace (starts free), so you can add it on your existing Microsoft billing.
Watch the import happen
A real Microsoft Project file imported into Onplana, tasks, dependencies, resources, and costs preserved.
Start from your .mpp or Project XML file
The starting point is a file: a .mpp or Project XML file saved from Microsoft Project, or an export from Project Server. Plans in Planner and Project for the web come in through Microsoft sign-in instead.
Native .mpp upload
Upload a .mpp file saved from Microsoft Project. Onplana's parser reads the binary format server-side, no XML conversion step needed. Works with Microsoft Project 2007–2024 (.mpp).
Project XML
Open a plan in Microsoft Project and use File → Save As → XML Format (*.xml). Upload the file to Onplana's migration wizard. Works with Microsoft Project 2007–2024 (MSPDI XML).
Upload to the migration wizard
Navigate to the Migration Wizard in Onplana and upload your file.
File upload
Drag and drop your project file. We support .mpp (Microsoft Project binary), .xml (MSPDI), .mpx, .xer (Primavera P6), ProjectLibre .pod and GanttProject .gan files (for teams who already left Microsoft Project for a free tool), and Excel / CSV spreadsheets, up to 50 MB. Onplana parses the file server-side and extracts tasks, dependencies, resources and costs. Imported into a new project, a .mpp or Project XML file's baseline comes across as a baseline in Onplana. The file's working calendar does not: the project uses your organization's working calendar. A spreadsheet WBS keeps its hierarchy: outline levels, dotted WBS codes, parent columns and indentation are all understood.
Finance data preserved
Cost columns travel with the schedule. Planned Cost, Fixed Cost, Baseline Cost, and project Currency Code (e.g. EUR, GBP, USD) are all captured automatically. The total planned-cost rollup auto-populates Project.budget on import with source IMPORTED_MPP, so earned-value reports work out of the box. When 80% or more of tasks carry cost, the EVM engine uses your imported values directly, no rate-card setup needed first.
Map fields
The field mapper shows you every column from your source and lets you switch any of them off before import.
Auto-mapping
Standard fields (Task Name, Start, Finish, Duration, Work, Resources) are mapped automatically. The importer recognizes all standard Microsoft Project field names.
Custom fields
Enterprise Custom Fields (ECFs) in your Microsoft Project and Project Server files become Onplana Custom Fields automatically, with their values.
Preview and validate
Review every task as it will land before committing, and go back a step to change the mapping.
Task preview
See every imported task with its status, priority, assignee, and dates, and search to the rows that need a second look.
Gaps flagged
The preview flags untitled and undated tasks. To check a file for dependency loops and orphaned links first, run it through the free Schedule Health Check.
Go live
Commit the import, invite your team, and keep the exported files as your rollback until you're confident.
Invite team
Send invite links directly from Onplana. New members join with the right org role and project membership pre-assigned.
Parallel running
Keep the source .mpp and XML files, and the plan in Microsoft Project, while your team settles in; most teams run both for 2–4 weeks before cutting over.
Want to follow along inside the product? The docs have a step-by-step import guide covering .mpp upload, XML, XER and spreadsheets.
What gets migrated
Onplana supports all standard Microsoft Project fields out of the box.
✅ Fully supported
- Projects (name, dates, budget)
- Tasks + subtasks (all standard fields)
- Task dependencies (FS, SS, FF, SF + lag)
- Resources / assignees
- Milestones
- Baselines (baseline 0, into a new project)
- Enterprise Custom Fields (ECFs)
- Work breakdown structure (WBS)
⚠️ Partial / manual
- SharePoint document libraries
- Resource rate cards (re-enter in Onplana)
- Views and filters (recreate in app)
- Timephased data (aggregated)
- Risk registers (export separately)
- Issues lists (export separately)
❌ Not migrated
- Email alerts/reminders (recreate)
- Power BI reports (rebuild in Reports tab)
- Custom ribbons / macros
- VBA automation scripts
- Working calendars (the project uses your organization's)
Six controls that keep this reversible
A migration is only as risky as the point of no return. Every step below is designed so you can stop, check, and turn back before that point arrives.
Check the plan before you touch anything
The Schedule Health Check reads an exported .mpp or Project XML file and reports what it carries: logic, constraints, baselines and the gaps. It writes nothing and needs no account, so it is safe to run before any decision.
Check a schedule freeYour source files stay untouched
Imports read your .mpp and XML exports. The originals are never modified, so the files you archived remain your fallback copy.
Preview an importPreview every mapping before it commits
Every field the import will write is listed before anything is written, and any of them can be left out. Formula and lookup-table fields are not carried.
Run the compatibility checksRun both systems in parallel
Keep Microsoft Project and Onplana side by side until the team trusts the new one. The usual gotcha is status divergence, and it is manageable when you plan for it.
Use the cutover templateWrite the rollback plan first
Decide the go or no-go criteria and the way back before cutover week, not during it. A written plan keeps reversing course cheap.
Validate before you decommission
Check the migrated data field by field while the source plans are still in use. Retiring the old tool is the only genuinely irreversible step.
Pressure-test the migration with your own data
Three free tools, no signup or credit card. Run them against the .mpp or Project XML files you exported before you commit.
Score every destination
Upload an exported .mpp or XML and see what carries over to Onplana, to a portable file, and to the other tools you are weighing.
Run the migration toolPreview your import
Upload a real .mpp file. See exactly what would land in Onplana, task fidelity, dependencies, costs, custom fields.
Preview a .mpp importEstimate full migration cost
Three-year breakdown across licenses, parallel running, training, integrations, and cleanup. Calibrated to your seat count.
Calculate costWhat the importer does for you
Three things the import does on every file, so the first week is checking the plan rather than rebuilding it.
Field mapping
Standard Microsoft Project fields map on their own, and enterprise custom fields become Onplana custom fields with their values.
Dependencies and preview
All four dependency types and their lag come across, and the preview shows the tasks and dates before anything is created.
Cost data
Planned, fixed and baseline cost travel with the schedule, and the planned-cost total fills in the project budget.
Recommended migration timeline
Allow at least 3 months for a safe migration with validation and team onboarding.
Evaluate & plan
- Sign up for free
- Import 1–2 pilot projects
- Review field mappings
- Get stakeholder sign-off
Migrate & validate
- Import all projects
- Validate data accuracy
- Configure teams + roles
- Set up automations
Run parallel
- Train your team
- Run both systems side-by-side
- Resolve edge cases
- Freeze changes in the old plans
Full cutover
- Switch all workflows to Onplana
- Archive the source files
- Cancel licenses you no longer need
- Enjoy a modern platform
A file per contractor, one project
Programmes rarely arrive as one file. A construction schedule comes in as a plan per contractor, a plan for equipment, a plan for the fit-out, each maintained by someone else and each exported separately. Import the first one as usual, then import each of the others into that same project rather than a new one.
Each task records the file it came from. To tell one contractor's branch from another once they are side by side, import each file under its own summary task or tag. That is the point of merging them: dependencies you could not draw while the plans lived apart, and the contradictions that only show up once they do. An equipment delivery that lands after the activity that installs it. The same crane booked twice. Procurement lead time that quietly eats every day of float.
Importing is additive today, so a revised file from the same contractor is appended rather than matched against the version you already have. Matching a re-import to the branch it came from is a separate piece of work.
How to combine several schedule filesMigration FAQ
Deep-dive guides
Long-form guides for checking a Microsoft Project file before you move it, and for bringing in Planner, Project for the web and To Do.
9 .mpp Compatibility Checks
Pre-migration audit nobody runs, surfaces fields that won't map cleanly.
Read guideMigrate Microsoft Planner
One-click import + optional live sync via Microsoft Graph webhooks.
Read guideImport Project for the Web Premium
Dataverse-backed importer that brings dependencies + effort + resources across.
Read guideMicrosoft To Do Bi-Directional Sync
Per-user mirror of assigned tasks to phone, watch, and Outlook.
Read guideMicrosoft Project Alternatives 2026
Full market roundup, Onplana, Monday, Asana, Smartsheet, Jira, Wrike.
Read guideWhich PMO are you?
The tool is the easy part. The practice is what moves.
Moving off Microsoft Project, what actually moves is a practice: demand intake, stage gates, resource capacity, baselines, earned value, and the audit trail behind them. The Onplana for PMOs page walks that practice end to end, by industry, with the plan tier for each step.
- Aerospace & defense
- Government & public sector
- Banking, financial services & insurance
- Energy & utilities
- Pharma & med-tech
- Healthcare & telecom IT
Does your PMO bill time?
Microsoft’s answer for you is Project Operations, at $135 a user a month.
If your plans exist because somebody invoices the hours in them, Microsoft’s product for that is Dynamics 365 Project Operations, and adopting it is a Dynamics implementation rather than a migration. Onplana runs the schedule, the timesheets and the rate cards on every plan, and Onplana Services adds the clients, the pipeline, the quotes and the margin at $24 per seat.
Start your migration today
Create a free account, open the migration wizard, and import your first project in minutes. No credit card required.
No Microsoft account needed, choose "Continue as guest".