Formatting XLS Files for Import to Wrike
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Availability: Legacy Professional, Legacy Business, Legacy Enterprise.; Unavailability: Legacy Free.; |
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Availability: Team, Business, Enterprise, Pinnacle. ; Unavailability: Free; |
To import data from Excel into Wrike, the XLS file must be formatted correctly. There are two ways to get a correctly formatted XLS file: to download a sample XLS file and add the data you need to import there or format your XLS file manually.
Tip
To download a simple template with only the basic required columns, follow the steps below. For a more advanced XLS template with additional columns, click here.
You can specify current account members in the Assignee and User-type custom fields. To map users correctly during import, add each user’s primary email address to your Excel file.
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Navigate to the relevant folder, project, or space.
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Click the three-dot menu 1 button, located under the Space's name if you're in a Space. For a folder or project, you can find it at the end of the toolbar.
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Hover over Import 2 and select Excel 3.
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From the pop-up that appears, click Download a simple template 4.
Add the data you want to import to this sample file and start importing it to Wrike.
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Open a new Excel spreadsheet.
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In the first row, use the following terms as column headers: key, parent task, title, status, priority, assigned to, start date, duration, end date, depends on, start date constraint, and description. Required headers are title and description. The columns can be empty, but the required headers should be filled in on the top.
Note
For the Key column, remember to add a key number for each new row. It has to be unique, but there's no specific order required. The key column is essential when importing data from Excel into Wrike for several reasons:
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Unique Identifier: It acts as a unique identifier for each row, ensuring that every task or item remains distinct, which is crucial even if tasks lack dependencies.
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Dependencies: For tasks with dependencies, the key column specifies relationships; For example, if Task B depends on Task A, the key number of Task A would be referenced in the depends on column for Task B.
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Import Process: It is necessary for the import process to function properly. Without it, errors like Invalid key value 'null', expected integer more than 0 and less than 1000000 may occur.
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Template Usage: Although not always visible in Wrike's basic template, the key column must be added manually to ensure a successful import.
In order to successfully apply custom statuses from account or space workflows, please ensure all the following workflow-related columns are inserted and filled:
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Default task workflow |
Default project workflow |
Workflow |
Status |
Custom Status |
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Workflow name to set as default (optional to fill in) |
Workflow name to set as default (optional to fill in) |
Workflow name (mandatory to fill in) |
Status Group name for the custom status (Active, Completed, Deferred, Cancelled) (mandatory to fill in) |
Status name (mandatory to fill in) |
Important
Workflow and Custom Status cells are case-sensitive.
Note
Data in "Workflow" and "Status" is case-sensitive.
For users on Business accounts and up (as well as the legacy Wrike for Professional Services accounts and accounts with Wrike Resource add-on), to import effort, add an "Effort" column anywhere before the "Description" column in your Excel file. To import the billing type, add the "Billing type" column. To import project budget data, add the "Budget" column. Please note that you need permission to edit these values in Wrike to add them via import.
Wrike allows tasks to be scheduled on weekends. So if a task's start or end date falls on a weekend, the "working days only" option is unchecked by default for imported tasks. To import tasks with the "working days only" option checked, adjust the Excel File to ensure that the start and end dates do not fall on weekends.
It is also possible to adjust the dates after importing the tasks via mass editing feature in Wrike.