Project File Corruption

[roadkill]

We have had a few instances recently of MS Project Professional 2003 files
suddenly becoming unrecognizable to MS Project Professional 2003. I
understand from some of the threads I've read here that there are known
causes of file corruption (e.g. bloating, circular references, etc.). Does a
list or informative article exist for these causes? Obviously we would like
to avoid corrupted files and the added work that they cause.

I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
Will

 

[John]

We have had a few instances recently of MS Project Professional 2003 files
suddenly becoming unrecognizable to MS Project Professional 2003. I
understand from some of the threads I've read here that there are known
causes of file corruption (e.g. bloating, circular references, etc.). Does a
list or informative article exist for these causes? Obviously we would like
to avoid corrupted files and the added work that they cause.

I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
Will

roadkill,
Although my fellow MVPs may not necessarily agree with me on this (we
have rounds of discussions before), whenever I work with Project files
over a long period of time, I always use Save As every time I save a
file. I have never experienced file bloat. Of course, I also do not link
summary lines (the main cause of circular relationships). Using paste
links is another good way to create file corruption because paste links
are very fragile and require a whole lot of discipline to maintain.

I don't know of any one place to find a "list" of things not to do, but
the above is my list - hopefully other users will chime in with their
lists.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[davegb]

We have had a few instances recently of MS Project Professional 2003 files
suddenly becoming unrecognizable to MS Project Professional 2003. I
understand from some of the threads I've read here that there are known
causes of file corruption (e.g. bloating, circular references, etc.). Does a
list or informative article exist for these causes? Obviously we would like
to avoid corrupted files and the added work that they cause.

I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
Will

My first question in these situations is, "Were the files attached to a
common Resource Pool?" Once I know that, I can make specific
reccommendations.

 

[RTucker]

I experienced a similar issue with a 30MB mpp file two years ago. VBA
corruption in the mpp file prevented macros from working with my file.
Assuming the circular logic errors are corrected, the solution I used is:

Save As... the corrupt file as type XML, then open a new file and import the
XML data. This retains the UniqueID for each task record.

If that doesn't work, open a new file, and Insert the suspect project file
at task row 1. Then, open the Task Information for this inserted project,
select the Advanced tab and deselect the hyperlink checkbox. This will
import all the records into the new mpp file, but it refreshes the UniqueID
of each task.

MSFT has KnowledgeBase articles on the subject.

 

[roadkill]

The corruption is more serious. I can't even get the file open. A window
pops up with the message "The operation cannot be completed because the
source file contains invalid project data or the total number of rows would
exceed the limit of 1,048,000 rows in a project. Validate the data in the
source file, insert fewer rows, delete some rows, or consider dividing your
project into subprojects to provide more space for tasks and resources."

The number of lines is only a few hundred and the file size is around 2.5M.
Any other ideas?
Will

 

[RTucker]

Will,

I'm thinking you have circular logic that's making MSP think there are a
zillion task records.

Launch MSP 2003 to a new file. (Don't open the corrupt file, yet)
Go to TOOLS-OPTIONS-CALCULATION and set it to "manual", not automatic. Click
OK
Go to FILE-OPEN
Select the corrupt file (Do not double-click it, and do not Open it, yet)
Click the down arrow beside the Open button. Select Open as Read Only.

If you can get the file open this way then you can continue.

Select the filter "Summary Tasks"
Expose the columns "Predecessor" and "Successor" in your table
Delete all the values in these two columns.
Perform a Save As... renaming the file to "without Summary Links.mpp"

Perform the XML export/import I explained earlier to refresh the mpp file's
core.
Review the file and re-establish the deleted links at the task level, not at
Summary levels.

I hope this works!!

Richard

 

[John]

The corruption is more serious. I can't even get the file open. A window
pops up with the message "The operation cannot be completed because the
source file contains invalid project data or the total number of rows would
exceed the limit of 1,048,000 rows in a project. Validate the data in the
source file, insert fewer rows, delete some rows, or consider dividing your
project into subprojects to provide more space for tasks and resources."

The number of lines is only a few hundred and the file size is around 2.5M.
Any other ideas?
Will

Will,
If you are using Project Server, you might want to take a look at the MS
knowledge base article at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812644

John
Project MVP

 

[RTucker]

That link didn't work for me, but this one did:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812644/

Will,
Per the KB article, did you set a password on your file at some point?

Also, the Workaround says that if you can't get the file open, your hosed.
That may be a politically correct answer from MSFT, because I know that you
can crack your way past the password in an Excel file pretty easy. Maybe the
same is true for mpp files?

RT

 

[John]

That link didn't work for me, but this one did:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812644/

Will,
Per the KB article, did you set a password on your file at some point?

Also, the Workaround says that if you can't get the file open, your hosed.
That may be a politically correct answer from MSFT, because I know that you
can crack your way past the password in an Excel file pretty easy. Maybe the
same is true for mpp files?

RT

RTucker,
I think it is "you're hosed" instead of "your hosed" - slight difference
in context.

I assume that if you set a password there wouldn't be any need to "hack"
around it, unless of course someone else set the password. In that case,
the best approach is to get the password from the individual who set it.
If that isn't possible, then why not try your password cracking process
on the Project file, it might work.

John
Project MVP