How to: Work Offline in Microsoft Excel

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You can work on work items in Microsoft Excel offline, and then reconnect to Team Foundation Server to publish your changes.

Note

When you are working offline, Microsoft Excel will not warn you if you enter values that are not supported. For example, in the MSF for Agile Software Development process, when a bug is active, it can only move to the resolved state. When you are working offline, Microsoft Excel allows you to set an active bug to closed, and you receive a validation error when you publish your changes.

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.

To work on a work item list offline

  1. Create or open the work item list that you want to work on offline. For more information, see How to: Create a Work Item List.

  2. Refresh the work item list to ensure that you have the latest information. For more information, see How to: Publish or Refresh Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.

  3. Disconnect your computer from the network, or copy the work item list file to another computer that is not connected to Team Foundation Server.

    Note

    You may receive an error message indicating that a connection with Team Foundation Server could not be established.

  4. Make changes to the work item list as needed. For information on reconnecting the work item list, see the procedure "To reconnect a work item list after working offline."

To reconnect a work item list after working offline

  1. Reconnect your computer to the network, or copy the work item list file back to a computer that is connected to Team Foundation Server. For more information, see How to: Connect to Team Foundation Server.

  2. Publish the work item list. For more information, see How to: Publish or Refresh Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.

  3. If there are data validation errors or conflicts, resolve them. For more information, see How to: Resolve Data Validation Errors in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project and How to: Resolve Data Conflicts in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create a Work Item List

How to: Connect to Team Foundation Server

How to: Publish or Refresh Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project

How to: Resolve Data Validation Errors in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project

How to: Resolve Data Conflicts in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project