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MS Project: Clearing file corruption and/or bloat

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Project files can become corrupt or bloated for various reasons. This article focuses more on how to deal with the problem if it has already occurred rather than ways to avoid it in the first place. Due to the nature of corruption/bloat there is no guarantee that any one of these methods will resolve the problem, but they have proved successful in many cases. No one method is necessarily better than the others - try as many as needed.

Method 1
Because of the way Project stores files, file fragmentation may be the basic cause. To make sure this isn’t the problem: open the .mpp file then select File/Save immediately before doing any other action. Only if you save immediately after opening does Project defragment the .mpp file. If you do not have external links in your file, (i.e. resource pool, master with subprojects, etc.), then a good practice is to always use Save As instead of a straight Save with your file after editing. This helps keep editing clutter from being appended to the file.  However, be advised that using Save As with linked files can actually create corruption/bloat due to multiple link paths being created IF the file is not saved back to its original name and path.

Method 2 -  (Be advised that by using this method all custom formatting will be lost. You may or may not be able to recover some formatting by transferring those elements to a separate file and then moving them back once the corruption has been cleared. Keep in mind however that the corruption may be manifest in the customization.)

Save the file in XML format:

  1. Open the problem file (it may help to turn off automatic calculation if the file is reluctant to open).

  2. Select File/Save As
  3. Save as type: XML format then click Save.

  4. Close the file.

  5. Re-open it from the XML file.

  6. Select File/Save As and save it as an .mpp file again.

Method 3 - (Again be advised that by using this method all custom formatting will be lost.The new blank file created in step 1 should be pre-formatted with custom views, fields, calendars, etc. Try using the Organizer to import those items from the  corrupt file if possible but keep in mind the custom items may in fact be the source of corruption.)

Re-create a whole new file from the corrupted/bloated file:

  1. Open a new blank Project file
  2. Go to Project/Insert group/Subproject and insert the problem file.

  3. Select the first task which will be the insertion point summary line.

  4. Go to Task/Properties group/Information/Advanced tab.

  5. Uncheck the "Link to Project" button and hit "OK".

  6. If the file isn't already expanded, expand it.

  7. Select all tasks below the top level summary line.

  8. Outdent the selected tasks.

  9. Delete the first task which previously was a summary line.

  10. Save the resulting file.

This is a translation of Project MVP FAQ 43: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm#Handling_project_file_corruption_and/or_bloat