Migrate from Stackby to Microsoft Project

Stackby's Stack is the top-level organizational container and maps directly to a Microsoft Project file (MPP) or Project Online Project. Each Stack becomes one project plan. We extract the Stack's name, description, and any top-level metadata fields as Project-level custom fields in Microsoft Project. If the customer uses Stackby Enterprise with multiple Stacks representing separate projects, each Stack maps to a separate Project within the destination Project Online site or Project Server workspace.

Stackby Tables within a Stack map to the task list within a Microsoft Project plan. Each Table becomes a separate task list if the destination is Project Online and the customer uses multiple Project Online lists; otherwise, all Tables within a Stack merge into the single task list of one MPP file. We preserve column order from the primary Table used for project tracking, and secondary Tables with reference data (RACI matrices, risk registers) migrate as custom fields or linked records requiring manual reattachment.

Stackby Rows are the fundamental task records and map directly to Microsoft Project Tasks. Task Name maps from the Row's primary text field (typically the first Text column). Start Date and Finish Date migrate from Stackby Date columns (or the created_at timestamp if no date column exists). Duration, Percent Complete, and Priority migrate from corresponding Number or Select columns. We preserve the original Row ID as a custom Text field for audit traceability.

Stackby Date and DateTime columns map to Microsoft Project Start and Finish date fields. If the Stackby Table has both a Planned Date and an Actual Date column, the Planned Date maps to Start/Finish and the Actual Date maps to Actual Start/Actual Finish. All dates migrate in UTC and convert to the destination Project Online site's time zone setting during import.

Stackby Select and Multi-select columns map to Microsoft Project custom fields. Single-select options become lookup table entries on a Text custom field (Text1 through Text30); multi-select options become Text custom fields with semicolon-separated values or a custom multi-value lookup table if the destination supports it. We create the lookup table in Project Online with the same option values during schema setup, then populate Task CustomFieldValue during import.

Stackby Number columns used for estimated hours, story points, or effort estimates map to Microsoft Project Duration or Work fields depending on context. If the column name contains 'hour', 'effort', 'story point', or 'person-day', we map to Work (in hours). Otherwise, we map to Duration and set the duration type to Days. We flag ambiguous cases during discovery so the customer confirms the mapping before migration.

Stackby Formula columns compute dynamically and cannot migrate as live formulas because Microsoft Project does not support formula expressions on custom fields at the task level. We migrate the current computed value as a static custom field value during import. If the customer needs the formula logic preserved, we document the original Stackby formula expression so it can be recreated as a Microsoft Flow calculation or a VBA macro post-migration.

Stackby's Kanban view with status-based swimlanes does not map to a native Microsoft Project view. We migrate the task data (which Kanban organizes) into the Gantt Chart view. We can recreate the swimlane grouping as Task Groups by the Status custom field in Project Online, providing a visual equivalent to the Kanban board within Project's native view model. The customer may need to use Microsoft Planner or a third-party Kanban tool for a board-style interface alongside Project.

Stackby Calendar view organizes rows by date for timeline-based visualization. Microsoft Project's Calendar view (accessible via View > Calendar in Project Desktop) displays tasks on a monthly calendar grid. We migrate the date-carrying tasks into this view by preserving Start and Finish dates. The Calendar view is available in Project Online Plan 3 and Plan 5, and in Project Professional desktop, but not in Project Plan 1 (web-only).

File attachments on Stackby Rows migrate as Microsoft Project Task Notes (plain text) or as SharePoint document attachments if the destination is Project Online with a connected SharePoint library. We preserve the file name and a download link or migrate the binary to the connected SharePoint site. Plan-tier storage limits on Stackby (20GB on Business, unlimited on Enterprise) must be verified against the destination Project Online site's storage quota (5TB per tenant on most M365 commercial plans).