How to: Create a Work Item List

In Microsoft Excel, you can create one or more work item lists that are bound to a single team project. To create a new work item list, use the following procedures.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the Contributors group or have the View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

Creating a Work Item List

To create a work item list

1. Select the cell where you want to create the new work item list.

   The cell becomes the upper-left corner of the work item list.

2. On the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click New List.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, use the Team menu.

   Note

   If the spreadsheet is not bound to a Team Foundation Server, you will be prompted to connect to one. For more information, see How to: Connect to Team Foundation from Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.

3. In the New List dialog box you can create a query list or an input list.

   1. To create a query list, select the Query List option and click a team query from the Select a Query drop down list.

   2. To create an input list, select the Input List option.

4. Click OK.

5. Select the columns you want to appear in the new work item list.

   For more information, see How to: Add or Remove Columns in the Work Item List.

6. Import the desired work items.

   For more information, see How to: Import Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.

7. You should now either save the spreadsheet, or publish the new work items to the work item database. To publish the work items, on the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click Publish.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, use the Team menu.

Transferring Items to a Work Item List

Typically, after you create a new work item list, you have existing data in another spreadsheet to add to the list. To transfer existing items into a work item list, follow these steps.

To transfer existing spreadsheet items to a work item list

1. Select the cells to transfer, and on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Cut or Copy.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, use the Edit menu.

   Note

   Ensure that the deleted or copied cells match the expected column types in the work item list. For example, titles should go in a Title column, and states should go in a State column.

2. Select the target cell in the blank row at the bottom of the work item list.

3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, use the Edit menu

4. Fill out any required columns that are blank.

   Note

   An easy way to fill out required columns is to fill out the Work Item Type column, if that column is available. This column automatically populates other columns with default values.

5. You should now either save the spreadsheet, or publish the new work items to the work item database. To publish the work items, on the Team tab, in the Work Items group, click Publish.

   Note

   In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, use the Team menu.

See Also

Other Resources

Working with Work Item Lists in Microsoft Excel