Creating, Copying, and Updating Work Items

You can use any one of the Team Foundation client programs to create a work item or update an existing work item. You can track progress on a team project by reassigning work items, modifying, and changing their states. You can work more quickly by making the same addition or change to multiple work items at the same time by using Office Excel or Office Project.

You can perform most tasks, but not all of them, by using any one of the Team Foundation client programs. For more information, see Working with Team Foundation Clients.

When you create many work items or perform bulk edits to existing work items, you may want to use Office Excel or Office Project. By using these client tools, you can open lists of work items, modify selected fields, and publish the changes to Team Foundation Server. For more information, see the Related Tasks in section later in this topic:

Common Tasks

Tasks	Supporting content
Create a work item. You can create work items by opening an empty work item form. You can also create a work item that is linked to a currently selected or open work item.	Create a Work Item Create a Linked Work Item
Copy a work item. To create a work item quickly, you can copy one that is already in the work item database, and then modify the copy.	Copy a Work Item
Format text in a work item. You can enhance readability by applying formatting to some fields.	Format Text in Work Items
Modify a work item. Modify a work item by reassigning it, attaching files, creating links, or by making other changes to work item fields. To modify many work items at a time, you can use Team Web Access, Office Excel, or Office Project.	Modify a Work Item Modify Many Work Items at a Time Assign a Work Item to a Team Member
Assign work items and track progress. You can assign a work item to a person when you want that person to supply information or perform work that helps complete the work item. When you change the state of a work item, you track its progress from an active to closed state.	Assign a Work Item to a Team Member Resolve, Close, or Reactivate a Work Item

Related Tasks

Related tasks	Supporting content
Perform a bulk edit of existing work items. You can use Office Excel and Office Project to add a large number of new work items, modify them, link them to each other and to other items, and publish them to the work item database.	Creating, Copying, and Updating Work Items Modify Many Work Items at a Time Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Microsoft Project
Add links and attach files to work items. You can add links to create relationships among work items and attach files to share detailed information about the work item.	Creating Relationships Between Work Items and Other Resources Create or Delete a File Attachment in a Work Item
Find work items or generate a list of work items. You can use work item queries to generate a list that contains work items that you want to modify, create links to, or for which you want to generate a report.	Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items
Schedule and assign work item tasks. You can use the scheduling and planning tools in Office Project to create, modify, and update a subset of work item tasks that are stored in the Team Foundation database.	Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Microsoft Project

See Also

Concepts

Working with Team Foundation Clients

What's New in Tracking Work Items

Adding and Modifying Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items