Transferring data between Asta Powerproject and Asta Easyplan

You can make your Asta Powerproject projects available to Asta Easyplan users by saving them in Asta Easyplan format and you can open projects that have been created or edited in Asta Easyplan in Asta Powerproject. This enables you to share project information with colleagues or contractors who have access to Asta Easyplan but do not have access to Asta Powerproject.

You can choose which Asta Easyplan format you want to save a project in. It is important to check which version of Asta Easyplan your colleagues or contractors are using to ensure that you save the project in the correct Asta Easyplan format.

When saving a project in Asta Easyplan format, you can specify whether you want to save the entire project, or just the branch of the project that is included in the current view. Choosing to save just the current branch of a project is useful when you are dealing with large projects, as there is a limit to the size of projects that can be handled by Asta Easyplan: projects that exceed these limits can be opened, but not edited in Asta Easyplan. By saving just the current branch of a project in Asta Easyplan format, you can save just the information that you need to pass on to your colleague or contractor and ensure that they can edit in Asta Easyplan.

Projects can be edited in Asta Easyplan if they have a maximum of 250 tasks and no more than 10 tasks on a single bar.

Note also that Asta Easyplan does not fully support expanded tasks and subcharts. If you open a project that contains expanded tasks in Asta Easyplan, you can double-click on the expanded tasks to view the corresponding subcharts, but the contents of the subcharts are not editable. If you expect that a project will need to be opened in Asta Easyplan, it is better to structure the project hierarchy using summary tasks rather than expanded tasks.

As Asta Easyplan does not support the concept of variable dates, any variable dates within a project are converted into fixed dates when you save a project in Asta Easyplan format, based on the date to which the variable date corresponds on the day on which you save the project. For example, if you save a project in Asta Easyplan format on 23/11/2008, a variable date of 'Today' is converted into the fixed date of 23/11/2008.

Version 14 of Asta Powerproject introduced an improved colour selector, making it possible to choose from a wider range of colours than was previously available. If you save a project in which a colour that was not previously available is used in an Asta Easyplan file format that does not support the wider range of colours, the colour is changed to the closest available colour.

Saving projects in Asta Easyplan format

To save a project in Asta Easyplan format:

  1. If you only want to save a portion of a project (so that part of a large project can be opened and edited in Asta Easyplan), ensure that the branch of the project that you want to save is in the current view. If you are saving a small project, or if you are saving a large project and you do not mind if it can only be opened and not edited in Asta Easyplan, this step is unnecessary.
  2. Click the File tab, then click Save As.
  3. Click This PC to specify that you want to save the project to a location on your computer or to a mapped network drive.
  4. Navigate to the folder in which you want to save the project.
  5. Enter an appropriate file name for the project.
  6. Select the appropriate Asta Easyplan format, for example Asta Easyplan Version 7 (*.pp), in the field that offers you a list of different file types.
  7. Click Save. The Save as Asta Easyplan dialog appears.
  8. Select the All radio button to save the entire project, or select the Branch radio button to save just the current branch.
  9. Click OK. The project - or the current branch of the project - is saved in Asta Easyplan format and can now be opened in Asta Easyplan.

Note that once you have saved a project in Asta Easyplan format, the original project remains open in Asta Powerproject - not the version of the project that you have saved in Asta Easyplan format. Note also that any baselines that are attached to the original project are not saved alongside the version of the project that you have saved in Asta Easyplan format, as baselines are not supported by Asta Easyplan.

Opening Asta Easyplan projects in Asta Powerproject

To open an Asta Easyplan project in Asta Powerproject:

  1. Click the File tab, then click Open.
  2. Click This PC to specify that you want to open a project that is stored in a location on your computer or on a mapped network drive.
  3. Navigate to the folder in which the project is located.
  4. Click the project you want to open.

Note that when you open an Asta Easyplan project in Asta Powerproject, it is converted into Asta Powerproject format. If you subsequently save the project in Asta Powerproject, you will not be able to open the project in Asta Easyplan unless you save it in Asta Easyplan format, as described above.

You can also transfer data between Asta Powerproject and Asta Easyplan by booking out data in Asta Easyplan file format.

Related Topics:

Booking out data