Forum Discussion
Smeac81
Nov 16, 2023Copper Contributor
Predessesors off by one task row
Opening an existing Project plan resulted in all of the predecessors being incorrect. I don't enter Predecessor data in the higher level tasks yet all of those were populated with random values. Th...
John-project
Nov 17, 2023Silver Contributor
Smeac81,
Have you ran a scan for virus or other nefarious software? Since two of your apps are acting strange, I agree, there is likely a broader issue.
You indicate your original Project file with 361 tasks was 55MB. Assuming you don't have tons of resources, lots of custom formatting, embedded images, links to other files, etc. the copied 720K size file is much more in line with what the file size should be. Do you have a backup of your original file? If so, I'd open that file and then immediately save and close it. Then re-open it and save it as XML. Now re-open the XML file in Project. That often clears corruption but you will lose any custom formatting.
I would also update Project as there is a new version: version 2310 (build 16924.20150 CTR).
John
Have you ran a scan for virus or other nefarious software? Since two of your apps are acting strange, I agree, there is likely a broader issue.
You indicate your original Project file with 361 tasks was 55MB. Assuming you don't have tons of resources, lots of custom formatting, embedded images, links to other files, etc. the copied 720K size file is much more in line with what the file size should be. Do you have a backup of your original file? If so, I'd open that file and then immediately save and close it. Then re-open it and save it as XML. Now re-open the XML file in Project. That often clears corruption but you will lose any custom formatting.
I would also update Project as there is a new version: version 2310 (build 16924.20150 CTR).
John
Smeac81
Nov 22, 2023Copper Contributor
Thank yo for the response. I did have the (work) laptop checked for viruses, had the hardware checked out and had 365 and Project reinstalled to no avail - no viruses. I also tried your method of saving it as an XML and back to Project but a warning pops up when I try to open the most recent version which says words to the effect of, "You sure you want to open this file as it caused serious errors the last time it was opened". I ended up selected a very dated version that works that saves me about 2 hours but leaves another 2 - 3 hours of work, I won't complain. Concerned there is a problem still lurking but nothing I can do at this point.
Again, thanks.
- John-projectNov 22, 2023Silver ContributorSmeac81,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. I'm a little surprised you got a warning when attempting to open the XML file in Project. I might expect to see that type of warning if you were opening a MPP file that had issues previously but not a text based XML file. At any rate it sounds like you have a workaround. Good luck.
John