## Entire-Project vs. Selected-Project Data Transfer: Import/Export Maps

You can import or export an entire project or just part of one. Typically, the data from a field in the sent file gets inserted into the field with the same name in the destination file. But sometimes different programs give different names to fields that contain the same information. For example, Microsoft Project’s Task Name field might be called the Task field in a database. To make sure that data in the sent file is inserted into the correct fields in the destination file, you use import/export maps.

An import/export map matches a field in Microsoft Project to its counterpart field in another program, regardless of the name given to the same field in another data format. This enables you to insert data into the correct field in the importing program. For example, if you know that the Task field in a database you want to export to is the counterpart of Microsoft Project’s Task Name field, you can use an import/export map to associate these two fields. You would export the data in the Task Name field to the Task field. In effect, the import/export map says, "Take the data that is in the Microsoft Project Task Name field and insert it into the database’s Task field."

You use an import/export map when you want to transfer only a portion of the information in a project file, information that must be in one or more tables. You can’t, for instance, use an import/export map to transfer graphics. An import/export map can contain any combination of task, resource, and assignment information and can be filtered to allow only specific tasks, resources, or assignments in the exported file.

You can use a predefined import/export map that comes with Microsoft Project or create a custom import/export map. Whether an import/export map is predefined or customized and regardless of its intended purpose, you can use it to import or export data. For instance, if you create an import/export map to export data to Microsoft Excel, you can use that same import/export map to import data from Microsoft Access.

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