Which Fields can be imported into Primavera P6 from Excel (XLS) Spreadsheet?

When you export data from Primavera P6 to Excel, you may notice that some column headers include an asterisk (*). What does this mean?

Columns marked with an asterisk (*) in the exported Excel file indicate non-importable fields. This means:

• You cannot modify these fields in Excel and import them back into Primavera P6.
• These fields are typically calculated or rolled-up values, which P6 generates based on other data.

Example: Budgeted Labor Units

Let’s take the Budgeted Labor Units column as an example. Although this field appears in the Activity View and can be exported to Excel, it is actually a rolled-up total of the labor units assigned to each resource on the activity.

So, if you try to change the value of Total Budgeted Labor Units in Excel and import it back into P6, the software won’t know how to distribute that total across the individual resource assignments. As a result, the import will fail or the changes will be ignored.

Which Fields Can Be Imported?

Primavera P6 provides a list of fields that are importable via Excel. These are grouped by data type across several worksheets in the reference file:

Download : p6-importable_fields

The last worksheet, titled Default Columns, also highlights which fields are mandatory for a successful import/export.

Tips for Successful Import

• Always export from P6 first to get the correct Excel format.
• Ensure that all importable fields are in the correct format.
• If a field is listed as importable but fails to import, check if it has a leading apostrophe (‘) — this can sometimes interfere with data recognition.
• To update or replace an existing project via import, you must have the ‘Project Superuser’ security profile or be an ‘Admin Superuser’.