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
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.
On the Team menu, click New List.
Note
In Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the Team menu is located on the Add-Ins tab on the ribbon.
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.
In the New List dialog box you can create a query list or an input list.
To create a query list, select the Query List option and click a team query from the Select a Query drop down list.
To create an input list, select the Input List option.
Click OK.
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.
Then import the desired work items. For more information, see How to: Import Work Items in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project.
You should now either save the spreadsheet, or publish the new work items to the work item database by clicking Publish Changes on 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
Select the cells to transfer, and on the Edit menu click Cut or Copy.
Note
Ensure that the cells being deleted or copied 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.
Select the target cell in the blank row at the bottom of the work item list.
On the Edit menu, click Paste.
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.
You should now either save the spreadsheet, or publish the new work items to the work item database by clicking Publish Changes on the Team menu.