Can a Project Standard file be imported into Project Professional

[Ira Smith]

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of diving into the trial edition of Project Standard. I
am really enjoying the software and its capeabilities. I am very happy for
these timed trial copies because they let me get my feet wet with the
application and its concepts before I decide to buy it or not.

While I do like Project Standard, when I get to the purchase decision I may
opt for the Professional edition just because of the added features it gives.
My question is, can I somehow save or backup the work I have done in Project
Standard and copy or import it in to the Professional version if I do buy the
professional version?

Many thanks,
Ira

 

[davegb]

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of diving into the trial edition of Project Standard. I
am really enjoying the software and its capeabilities. I am very happy for
these timed trial copies because they let me get my feet wet with the
application and its concepts before I decide to buy it or not.

While I do like Project Standard, when I get to the purchase decision I may
opt for the Professional edition just because of the added features it gives.
My question is, can I somehow save or backup the work I have done in Project
Standard and copy or import it in to the Professional version if I do buy the
professional version?

Many thanks,
Ira

Project Pro will read and use your Project Std files just fine. It just
adds a "layer" of features for sharing those files and their data with
others.

 

[Ira Smith]

Thank you so much for the verification on this matter. I was hoping I could
do something of the sort and even if I opted to buy Standard to start with at
least I know I have a clear path to the Pro when it comes to moving my
project files.
Ira

 

[Steve House]

As Dave said, the files are 100% compatible between the two versions
and you can go back and forth with impunity. You mentioned you were
trying to decide whether to go with Standard or Pro. Unless you are
in a Project Server environment, there is no advantage to be had with
the Pro version. In fact, unless you also have Server installed and
visible to your workstation, almost all the features that are in Pro
only will be greyed out and unavailable anyway.

Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Ira Smith]

Many thanks for that helpful tidbit of advice. Just knowing the files are
compatiable across the two versions is of great help to me. Also knowing
that the Pro features are not accessible unless Project Server is in the mix
does help. While still being a new user of Project, I can already see the
added benefits of Project Server and the ability of web users to access the
system.

Thanks,
Ira

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Server is a very powerful product but be aware that installing and deploying
it is very much a non-trivial task. It's definitely NOT a simple matter of
installing the software CD and you need a fairly hefty amount of other
software - namely SQL Server, Woindows Server, and IIS - to use it. For a
PMO with enterprise wide project management requirements it's a great
solution. For simply communicating resource assignments, etc, it's hunting
flies with an elephant gun.

 

[Ira Smith]

Steve,

Thank you for the explanation and comparison. Yes tis true that other
software is necessary, and for that perhaps it will not be an obstacle for me
if I try to get the idea across to try Project Server.

When you indicated that SQL would be necessary, I take it Project Server
needs its own SQL server or at least access to a SQL Server to create its own
database?

Thanks,
Ira

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Ira --

Yes, Project Server 2003 needs SQL Server installed as all of the enter
project and enterprise resource data is stored in a SQL Server database. In
the future, if you have questions specifically related to Project Server,
you might consider asking them in the microsoft.public.project.server
newsgroup which is totally devoted to Project Server 2002 and 2003
questions. Hope this helps.

Steve,

Thank you for the explanation and comparison. Yes tis true that other
software is necessary, and for that perhaps it will not be an obstacle for
me
if I try to get the idea across to try Project Server.

When you indicated that SQL would be necessary, I take it Project Server
needs its own SQL server or at least access to a SQL Server to create its
own
database?

Thanks,
Ira

 

[Ira Smith]

Dale,

My bad on that one. I am very new to the MS discussion groups here and did
not realize there was more than one grojp for Project.

Do appreciate the response and I'll for sure use the server group if I have
further questions about it.
Thanks,
Ira

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Ira,

Please see FAQ Item: 24. Project Newsgroups. FAQs, companion products and
other useful Project information can be seen at this web address:
http://www.mvps.org/project/.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Ira Smith]

Mike,

Thanks for the additional information and the link. The information there
does look helpful to be sure.
Ira

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Ira

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP