Primavera P6 .xer files
How to open a Primavera P6 .xer file without P6
You do not need a P6 licence to read an .xer. Upload it to the free XER viewer to see it in your browser as a Gantt chart and task table with the critical path, or open it in Onplana Schedule, the free Windows and Mac app, which also edits the plan and saves it as Microsoft Project XML. Neither needs an account.
Updated .
Two free ways to open it
In your browser, to look
Nothing to install. Read-only.
- Go to the free XER viewer and choose Open a file, or drop the .xer onto it.
- Say yes when the viewer asks to send a copy to be converted. An .xer is Primavera's own format, so the conversion is the step that reads it.
- Read the plan: the Gantt chart, the task table, the critical path and any activity's details. Files up to 20 MB.
On Windows or Mac, to work on it
Onplana Schedule, the free desktop app.
- Download Onplana Schedule for Windows or Mac and install it. No account is needed.
- Double-click the .xer, or drop it on the window. The app asks before it sends a copy to be converted.
- Edit names, durations, dates, predecessors, constraints and percent complete; the plan reschedules as you go.
- Save. The plan is written as Microsoft Project XML beside the original, and the .xer itself is never changed. Files up to 50 MB.
Either way, an .xer file is converted on Onplana's servers to open it, and the uploaded copy is deleted within 24 hours.
What you see from the file, and what you do not
Shows
- Activities in their WBS outline, as a Gantt chart and a task table
- Durations, start and finish dates and percent complete
- Relationships of all four types, with their lag
- Constraints, as a column in the table
- The critical path and float, computed from the links in the file
- The details of any activity
Does not, and what happens instead
- A baseline. P6 keeps a baseline as a separate baseline project, so the schedule file carries none and the Baseline toggle has nothing to show.
- Editing in the browser. The online viewer is read-only; Onplana Schedule, the desktop app, edits.
- Saving back as .xer. Onplana Schedule saves Project XML, which P6 Professional imports.
- Files over 20 MB in the online viewer, or over 50 MB in the desktop app and the workspace import.
What an XER file holds, and which viewer suits which job, is on the free XER viewer page. Bringing the plan into a shared workspace instead? The import and export page lists what comes across from a P6 file.
Questions about opening .xer files
Can I open an XER file without Primavera P6?
Yes. The free XER viewer on onplana.com shows it in your browser as a Gantt chart and task table with the critical path, read-only. Onplana Schedule, a free app for Windows and Mac, opens the same file and also edits it. Neither needs a P6 licence or an account.
Is my XER file uploaded?
Yes, to be converted, because an .xer is Primavera's own format and the converter runs on Onplana's servers. The viewer and the app both ask before they send a copy, and the uploaded copy is deleted within 24 hours.
Can I convert an XER file to Microsoft Project XML?
Yes. Open the .xer in Onplana Schedule and save: the app writes Microsoft Project XML beside the original, which Microsoft Project opens. It does not write .xer.
Can I send an edited schedule back to Primavera P6?
Not as an .xer. Onplana Schedule saves Project XML, and Primavera P6 Professional can import that through File > Import > Microsoft Project, for an admin superuser, with custom fields mapped to P6 user-defined fields during the import.
Why is there no baseline?
P6 keeps a baseline as a separate baseline project, so the .xer of a schedule carries none. To see a baseline beside the current plan, open the baseline project too and use Compare with another version in Onplana Schedule, which matches two P6 versions by Activity ID.
Can I check the quality of a P6 schedule?
Yes. Run the health check from inside the XER viewer, or open the file in Onplana Schedule and choose Plan > Schedule quality for the DCMA 14-point checks. Checks that need a baseline are not assessed on a P6 file, since the file carries none.
Open your .xer now
Look at it in the browser, check it, or work on it on your own machine. All three are free.
Schedule Health Check
The check page takes .mpp and Project XML. For an .xer, run it from the viewer, or save the plan as Project XML in Onplana Schedule and upload that.
Run the Health CheckOnplana Schedule
Open, edit, compare and save P6 plans on Windows and Mac.
Primavera and P6 are trademarks of Oracle. Onplana is not affiliated with Oracle.