Last updated October 1, 2026

Section 2.5: Importing Projects from a CSV File

New. You can bring existing projects into ABRAM from a CSV file. Export a project from the tool you use today or from a spreadsheet, drop the file into ABRAM, and each project in it becomes an ABRAM project with its milestones, deliverables and checklist items in place.

CSV import is included on every plan, Free included.

1. Who can import

Organization owners and admins can always import. Other members can import when their access includes Import projects, which is on by default for anyone who can manage projects.

If you do not see Import projects, ask an owner or admin to switch it on in your access settings.

2. Open the import

Go to Projects in the sidebar.
Click the arrow next to New Project.
Choose Import projects.

The Import projects sheet opens on the right. It has four steps, and the step you are on shows in the top corner.

3. Step 1: choose the file

Drop a CSV file onto Drop a CSV file here, or choose one, or click it to pick a file.

Files up to 10 MB are accepted. A larger file is refused, so split it by project and import the parts.
One project imports at most 1,000 items. A project over that shows Over 1,000 items and cannot be ticked.

4. Step 2: check the columns and pick projects

ABRAM reads your column headers and maps each one for you. Anything it is unsure of carries a Check badge. A clean export usually needs no changes here.

Field	What it becomes in ABRAM
Title	The item's name. Required.
ID	The item's reference in the source, used to link parents and to recognise the item on a later import.
Project	Splits the file into one ABRAM project per value. With no Project column, the whole file is one project.
Group	A milestone. Items with the same group sit under that milestone.
Parent	Marks an item as a sub-task of another item.
Status	The item's status, mapped in the next step.
Due date and Start date	The item's dates.
Assignee email	Who the item belongs to, matched to people by email.
Estimate (hours)	The item's estimated hours.
Priority	The item's priority.
Description	The item's notes.
Link	A link saved on the item.

To change a mapping, open the field's menu and pick a different column, or Not used to leave it out. Each column feeds one field.

When a Parent column is mapped, Sub-tasks as checklist items is on. Sub-tasks then arrive as checklist items on their parent deliverable.

Under Projects, every project found in the file is listed with its counts of groups, items and sub-tasks. Untick any you do not want, then click Preview.

5. Step 3: preview before anything is written

Nothing is imported until you confirm. The preview shows:

Each project, with its Groups, Items and Checklist items, and a Client you must choose. Pick Use me (in-house) for your own work, or one of your clients.
Statuses. Every status label in the file, with the ABRAM status it maps to. Labels ABRAM could not read with confidence carry Check. Change any mapping from its menu.
People. Everyone in the file matched by email is listed. With Add matched people as draft crew on, they join the project as draft crew.
- For someone ABRAM could not match, pick who they are from your team and roster, or leave them Unassigned.
- Add unmatched people as draft crew adds the rest, where the file has their email, as roster contacts of your organization.
Notes. Anything ABRAM wants you to know about the file before you import.

Nobody is contacted. Draft crew stay drafts until you send invites from the project's Team tab.

Click Import project, or Import 3 projects when you picked several.

6. Step 4: the summary

Projects import one after another. Each one shows Imported with a short line of what landed, and its name links straight to the new project. If one project fails, it shows Not imported with the reason, and the rest carry on. A project that fails is not written at all.

If ABRAM has imported the same project from the same source before, it updates that project in place and marks it Updated.

7. Undo an import

On the summary, click Undo import, then Archive to confirm. The projects this import created are archived. Nothing is deleted.

8. Plan limits still apply

Imported projects count like any other project. On the Free plan, which includes one production, a second project cannot be imported. People added as draft crew count toward your plan's crew limits. When an import would go over a limit, that project is not imported and nothing from it is written.