Migrating from Project Online to Planitude: step-by-step guide

Microsoft set the retirement of Project Online for September 30, 2026^[1]. According to Microsoft, after the retirement projects and their associated data in the service are no longer accessible; for this reason, it recommended backing up and completing the transition before that date^[4]. This guide describes the process in three phases: retrieving the data, choosing a destination and resuming work.

What the retirement means#

The retirement concerns Project Online only: Project desktop, Project Server and Planner are not affected^[4]. Since April 1, 2026, existing customers can no longer create new Project Online tenants^[4], and after September 30, 2026, projects and their associated data in the service are no longer accessible^[4].

In practice, plans are recovered from copies exported before the retirement or from .mpp files maintained in Project desktop.

Available options#

Microsoft proposes two paths^[4]:

• Planner with premium capabilities, included in Planner and Project Plan 3 and Plan 5, which provide portfolios, baselines, dependencies and Gantt charts;
• Project Server Subscription Edition, for organizations that need advanced project and portfolio management capabilities comparable to those of Project Online.

There is also a third option: moving plans to an independent tool. Planitude is designed for this scenario: it reads .mpp and Microsoft Project XML files, recalculates the plan with dependencies, constraints, calendars and critical path, and is free, with no per-user licenses. For a point-by-point comparison, see Planitude vs Microsoft Project Online and Planitude vs Planner and Project Plan 3.

Checklist for retrieving your plans#

To save as XML, in Project desktop choose File > Save As and select the XML format as the file type; otherwise, the project is saved as .mpp^[5].

Procedure: from Project Online to Planitude#

1. Create a free Planitude account and a workspace for your team.
2. Start the guided import and upload the first .mpp or .xml file.
3. Review the import report: it lists the imported items (tasks, dependencies, calendars, baselines) and every field that could not be mapped; assigned resources are listed in each task’s notes.
4. Check the Gantt chart: dates are recalculated by the engine with the same rules as MS Project, and the critical path is highlighted.
5. Save a baseline immediately after the import, to measure every subsequent variance.
6. Invite your team by link and assign roles (owner, editor, viewer): no per-user licenses. Then assign the tasks to the people listed in the notes.
7. Repeat the procedure for the other projects, starting with the most active ones.

Checks after each import

• the project finish date matches the expected one;
• the critical tasks are the same;
• the calendars contain the correct holidays and working days;
• the people listed in the task notes have been assigned to the correct project members;
• the imported baseline shows the expected variances.

If there are discrepancies, the import report indicates where to start the review.

What Planitude does not do, and how to handle it#

Planitude does not perform automatic resource leveling or earned value management (EVM) calculations and does not offer portfolio management. It does, however, respect the leveling delay already present in imported .mpp files and shows the workload day by day, with an overallocation warning. If these capabilities are essential for your PMO, the options recommended by Microsoft remain the consistent choice^[4]; if the goal is to keep planning with dependencies and a critical path, Planitude is the fastest route.

Where to find copies of your plans#

After the retirement, projects in the service are no longer accessible^[4]. If you already have copies of your plans in .mpp or XML format, you can import them into Planitude by following the procedure above. Also check archives, emails and shared folders: a recent copy of an .mpp file often already exists.

Frequently asked questions#