You can import projects into and export projects from your Harvest account. Note that not all project data can be imported and that some details will need to be manually updated (see below for more details). 

More information on importing, including a video walkthrough, is available in our general article on importing data.

Importing projects

Note: Only people with Administrator permissions can import data into Harvest. If you don’t see the Settings link in your navigation (upper right), you don’t have Administrator permissions.

You can import some of your project settings via a CSV file. To do that:

1. Head to Projects.
2. Click the Import button in the top left.
3. Attach a CSV file of your projects, then click Upload and import projects.
   • Your CSV file must be formatted with six columns, with a header row in this exact order: Client, Project, Project code, Start date, End date, Project notes. The format for the start date and end date is YYYY-MM-DD.
   • The first two columns must be completed in order to import successfully.
   • You can also download a sample CSV file by clicking this link.

Some things to note:

• Harvest imports only accept commas (,) as delimiters. Semicolons (;), slashes (/), and other delimiters will result in import errors. 
• If your imported file includes a client that doesn’t already exist in Harvest, that client will be automatically created.
• You can’t import all of a project’s settings. All new projects included in the CSV file will be created with the Time & Materials project type. After importing, you'll need to edit the project to update the project type and to select settings like billable rates, fees, budget, the people assigned, and tasks. You can learn more about these settings in our article on understanding the 3 project types.
• You can use an import to edit existing projects as long as the client and project names match the existing fields exactly. For example, you can remove your current project codes by importing the project with a blank Project code field in the CSV file. Use with caution, though: any changes to client or project names will result in duplicates. If an import doesn’t go as you planned, you can revert it.

Exporting projects

To export projects:

1. Head to Projects.
2. Click the Export button in the top left.
3. Choose to export active, budgeted, or archived projects, and choose your export format (CSV, Excel, or Google Drive).
4. Click Export projects.

We’ll send you an email with a link to retrieve your export.