MS Project incompatibility

Overview

In order to import and synchronize data from your Microsoft Project files into your PowerPoint timeline, Microsoft Project must be installed on the same computer that Office Timeline is installed on. The version of Microsoft Project also needs to match the version of Microsoft Office in most cases (e.g. if you have Office 2021, you will need Microsoft Project 2021 to avoid compatibility issues).

Symptoms 

When trying to Import a Microsoft Project file (.mpp), you receive the following error message: "Something went wrong: An error occurred while attempting to get content from your Microsoft project file. Please try again.” This may be related to the compatibility between MS Office and MS Project.

Solution

If your Office and Microsoft Project versions are incompatible, you can still import and synchronize your Project data using the Excel import functionality in Office Timeline.  

  1. Copy the data from the MS Project file to an MS Excel file. 

  2. Use the Import from Excel feature in Office Timeline to import and select the Project data you want to display. This will link your Excel worksheet to the PowerPoint timeline.

  3. To synchronize when your Microsoft Project data changes, you will need to re-export your .mpp and update the Excel worksheet that is linked to your timeline. Use the Refresh Data button in Office Timeline to update your PowerPoint slides with the new data.

Here’s a tutorial video that can help you with importing from Excel: