Work in Excel connected to Azure Boards FAQs

All versions from TFS 2013 through Azure DevOps Server 2020 and Azure DevOps Services/Azure Boards support integration with Microsoft Excel.

You must get the Azure DevOps Office Integration add-in available from the Downloads page, Other Tools, and Frameworks. This add-in typically installs when you install any version of Visual Studio or Team Explorer. Also, you need to use Microsoft Excel 2010 or later version, including Microsoft Office Excel 365.

Once you've installed the add-in, open Excel and look for the Team ribbon.

No. macOS isn't supported. Even if you've installed Visual Studio for Mac, connection to Azure DevOps from Excel or other Office client isn't supported.

Yes. To open Excel from the web portal, install the Azure DevOps Open in Excel Marketplace extension. Otherwise, you can open Excel and then open a query that you've created in the web portal or from Team Explorer.

See Connect Azure Boards to an Office client.

If you want to share an Excel workbook that has work items listed within it, you may want to disconnect the connection to Azure DevOps to prevent accidental publishing of changes by others. You can disconnect the workbook, share it or work offline, and later reconnect the workbook. For details, see Connect Azure Boards to an Office client, Disconnect a document file from the network.

If your network uses TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 security protocol, then you may have network connection issues. To resolve these issues, see Allowed address lists and network connections, Domain URLs to allow.

If you want to disable the add-in, see Add or remove an add-in.

The following macros are only supported from the web portal: @CurrentIteration, @CurrentIteration +/- n, @Follows, @MyRecentActivity, @RecentMentions, @RecentProjectActivity, @TeamAreas. Queries that contain these macros won't work when opened in Visual Studio/Team Explorer, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Project.

No. You will receive an error message with error code TF208015. You can only view work items defined in the team project that you connect to from Excel. To view work items from other team projects, create a query and open it in a separate Excel workbook. Each Excel workbook can only connect to one team project at a time.

Follow the instructions provided in Bulk add or modify work items with Excel, Import work items, tree list

When you open a direct-links query in Excel, the add-in converts the list to a flat list. While you can modify values for the fields and add work items, you can't view nor modify link relationships.

No. Excel only supports adding and modifying hierarchical links. To bulk edit links of other types, you can use the following clients:

No. You can't use Excel to export and import test case steps or other test artifacts. Instead, use the grid view to bulk edit test cases supported via the web portal.

If you start your worksheet with a New List, you'll see only a set of default field columns. You can add columns using the Choose Columns on the Team menu.

If you start your worksheet from an existing query, you'll see all the column fields defined for the query. From there, you can add columns using the Choose Columns on the Team menu. However, your additions don't modify the underlying query.

To resolve publishing errors that arise when working in Excel, see one of the following articles:

• Resolve data conflicts: A data conflict occurs when one team member changes a field value in Excel at the same time another team member changes the same field in Azure Boards.

• Resolve data validation errors: A data validation error occurs if a team member changes a work item in a way that violates the rules for that type of work item.

• Resolve invalid links in a tree hierarchy: An invalid link occurs if a team member views work items in Excel as a hierarchy or tree list, and moves a work item or sorts the list so that it breaks the dependencies between work items. You can resolve this error by reviewing the error message and repositioning work items to reflect the work item structure.

• Address inaccuracies published for summary values: If you determine that hours are counted twice in reports that contain task hours, you can correct the problem by using the Work Items With Summary Values team query.

Yes. Each worksheet in Excel can contain a different input list or query. However, all worksheets within the workbook must connect to the same project within an organization or project collection.

To bulk add or modify work items in a different project, open a new Excel workbook.

Yes. You can use many Excel features, such as cut, paste, automatic fill, format, sort (flat list only), filter, and add formulas. You can cut and paste rows to resequence items within a list and change link relationships among work items.

To drag a work item, select the work item or contiguous set of work items that you want to move, open the context menu and choose Select, Table Row, point to the border of the selection, and—when the pointer becomes a move pointer —drag the row to another location.

See Show the Developer Tab on the Ribbon.

Related articles

• Query FAQs
• Bulk add or modify work items with Excel
• Create your backlog
• Azure DevOps Office integration issues
• Basic Excel tasks