ProjectPipe Help Center

How can I import data?

You must prepare a csv file to import -- "comma-separated value" files can be saved by spreadsheet programs like Excel. The first row must have the column names, and the rest of the rows must have data to import. The only required column is "name", all others are optional.

Once your csv file is ready, you can import it into ProjectPipe:

• Click the type of data to import in the left navbar (e.g., Task, Risk).
• Click the Import link in the command bar.
• Select the csv file to upload, and click the Import button.
• You are then shown the changes that are about to be made. Green rows are new items to be added, yellow rows are existing items to be updated, and red rows are existing items to be removed. On yellow (update) rows, you can hover your mouse over each triangle (delta) to see the old and new values of that column.
• If you press the Accept button then the changes will be applied, and the Cancel button discards your changes.

Advanced Topics

If you include a column named "id", then ProjectPipe assumes that these are ids from ProjectPipe (possibly obtained by a previous csv export) and will match these ids against preexisting data. These ids are called "primary keys" in database jargon. A blank id value means to add a new item. An id value prefixed with the letters "del" means to delete that item -- e.g., an id of "del123" means to delete object with id 123. NOTE: If you do not include an "id" column then all rows will be new inserts.

Some columns are references to data in other tables -- called foreign keys in database jargon. For example, a Task's status field is a reference to the "Task Status" table. There are two ways to write references:

• Hardcode the id - e.g., "1": specify the id of the referenced data.
• Specify the id and its name - e.g., "1 (New)": specify the id and name of the referenced data. During import the current id is found by searching by name.

The latter format for references is normally preferred, where the name and id are both specified (ProjectPipe exports csv files in this format). The primary keys of reference data may change if the database is restored from backup, in which case the name will yield the correct referenced data even though the id is out of date.