Cross Project Links

[Jennifer L]

We have about 20 sub-projects inserted into a master schedule. The
sub-projects have direct links to each other. Also, we back up the projects
each week by creating a copy of the project then renaming it, eg:
myproject.mpp will become BACKUPmyproject032008.mpp. The orignal project,
myproject.mpp remains in the same folder and still maintains the same path to
its cross project linked task, the BACKUP copy is moved to an Archive folder
on the server.

We're finding, however that if we open a project in Gantt Chart view, view
the external links and insert the Project column to see the path, the
external links are showing a path to the BACKUP project. However, using the
Task Entry view, we are able to see that two external links exist: one for
the BACKUP and one for the original project.

Though we can easily delete the extra link to the BACKUP copy, our questions
are, why is this happening? How can we prevent this from happening? Is there
anything else we can do to fix this?

Thanks!
Jennifer L.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Do not use Save As to create backups or move.
Copy the files while closed.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Jim Aksel]

Never rename a file or use save as... We keep all linked files in one
folder. The ** folder **can be copied or moved to a server archive.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[John]

We have about 20 sub-projects inserted into a master schedule. The
sub-projects have direct links to each other. Also, we back up the projects
each week by creating a copy of the project then renaming it, eg:
myproject.mpp will become BACKUPmyproject032008.mpp. The orignal project,
myproject.mpp remains in the same folder and still maintains the same path to
its cross project linked task, the BACKUP copy is moved to an Archive folder
on the server.

We're finding, however that if we open a project in Gantt Chart view, view
the external links and insert the Project column to see the path, the
external links are showing a path to the BACKUP project. However, using the
Task Entry view, we are able to see that two external links exist: one for
the BACKUP and one for the original project.

Though we can easily delete the extra link to the BACKUP copy, our questions
are, why is this happening? How can we prevent this from happening? Is there
anything else we can do to fix this?

Thanks!
Jennifer L.

Jennifer,
Let me add a little more explanation to what Jim and Jan said. With
cross-project links using Save As effectively duplicates the linking
structure - something you definitely don't want because it can lead to
file corruption.

John
Project MVP

 

[Dean C]

It can't be said enough: on files with external links, never rename the file
or use save as!
Project first looks for its relationships relative to its current location;
if it can't find the relative location, it looks to its last location. If you
rename your files, you are effectively breaking the links to all files
renamed (the current location), but when the renamed files are opened, they
know that they were previously linked to a file in another folder, even
though the other files may not know that the renamed file exists.

Create your archive structure using dates, retaining the original file
names. That way, when you find the need to replace a file with an archived
copy, all you have to do is move the archived file to the folder containing
the current files.