Importing from Microsoft Excel

You can import data from a Microsoft Excel file into a Helix Plan project. This helps you quickly add existing data and start working it in Helix Plan.

During an import, Helix Plan automatically maps columns in the Excel sheet with Helix Plan columns and adds an item for each valid row in the sheet.

Keep in mind that actions that automatically occur in Helix Plan do not occur as the result of imports. For example, normally, when you assign an item, the user is added as a watcher and gets email notifications when the item is updated. This does not occur when importing Excel files.

Preparing the Excel file

Before you import an Excel file, you may need to add additional information to it to adjust the indentation of items and the type used for items added to Helix Plan.

By default, items imported from an Excel file are added as scheduled tasks at the bottom of the current view and placed at the same indentation level as the last item in the view. For example, if the current item is at the first indentation level (level 1), all imported items are added as scheduled tasks at level 1.

To override this behavior and use different indentation and item types, add Indentation and Type columns to the Excel file before importing.

Column mappings

The first row of content in the Excel sheet is interpreted as a header row and used to map columns in Excel with Helix Plan columns. Columns are successfully mapped if the values in the first row match a Helix Plan column name. Case is ignored. Helix Plan only maps Excel data to columns active in the current view.

Empty rows at the top of the sheet and between rows are ignored. All other rows are imported to Helix Plan as items to the current view. Items are added under any selected items in the current view or at the bottom if no items are selected.

Mappings may no longer work if you change between Agile and Scheduled mode, change the project template, or rename a column between imports.

Data mappings

During the import, data is added to a column only if the it matches the column format. If the format does not match, the data is not imported.

Supported columns

Column type	Format	Example
Text	Text string with no formatting	There are 10 different types of bananas
Multiline text	Text string with no formatting	There are 10 different types of bananas
Date	YYYY/MM/DD, DD MM YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, DD.MM.YYYY / YYYY-MM-DD MM/DD/YYYY is not supported. Dates are automatically converted to the format selected in your personal options when importing.	2020-02-26
Date and time	YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM (using a 24 hour clock)	2020-02-26 14:20
Number	Integer	-200
Number with decimals	Decimal number	-2.2
Drop list with single choice	Text string matching a value in the drop list	Option A
Drop list with multiple choices	Text string matching a list of values in the drop list, separated by comma or semicolon.	Option A
Time spent	Decimal number	2.0
People	Text string matching a Helix Plan user. For multiple users, separate names with a comma or semicolon.	Robert Wells Robert Wells, Hans Andersson -or- Robert Wells; Hans Andersson

Updates to existing items

When the import is performed, Helix Plan can check the Excel file against the project to identify existing items. Before the import starts, you can be prompted to choose how to handle existing items. You can either update existing items in the project or create new items in the project, which results in duplicate items.

Helix Plan can only identify existing items if the Excel file contains a Database ID column and at least one of the items has a value in this column that matches an existing item's database ID in Helix Plan. You can manually add a Database ID column in the Excel file. Or, to automatically include the Database ID column when you export to Excel from Helix Plan, make sure the column is visible.

Performing an import

If the Excel file has multiple sheets, only the sheet that was active last time the file was saved is imported. Items are added under any selected items in the current view or at the bottom if no items are selected.

1. Go to the project view (Planning, Backlog, or QA) to import the data to.

2. Choose More > Export and import > Import from Excel.

3. Select the file to import. Only .xlsx format is supported.

4. Click Open.

The Import spreadsheet dialog box opens. The successful and unsuccessful column mappings between the Excel sheet and Helix Plan are displayed.

5. If the column mappings are correct, click Import to start the import. If you need to make changes to the Excel sheet to correct column mappings, click Cancel, make any changes, and start the import again.

If the import file does not include items that are already in the project, the import is performed and no other steps are required.

If the import file includes items that are already in the project, you are prompted to update existing items or create new items. Continue with step 6.

6. Choose how to import the existing items. See Updates to existing items for information about how Helix Plan matches existing items in the project with the Excel file and requirements for the Excel file.

Click Update existing items to only update the existing items in the project without creating new items.
Click Create new items to ignore the existing items in the project and create new items, which results in duplicate items.