An MPP file is a file extension created by Microsoft and broadly used in the MS Project product family – a solution for creating, scheduling, organizing, coordinating, and maintaining projects.
This file contains a list of tasks, a timeline of the project, budgets, and other resources, which are assigned to separate tasks and projects, workloads, etc.
In 1984 Microsoft released its MS Project Desktop version, which first used MPP file extension. After that were a lot of different versions of Microsoft Project with its MPP files versions. If you're looking for an opportunity to open an older version of MPP – here is a slight hint:
What is your MS Project version?Which MPP file version do you want to open?DetailsProject 2010, 2013, or 2016Project 2010, 2013, or 2016Project 2010, 2013, and 2016 all use the same file format.Project 2007Project 2010, 2013, or 2016No converter is available. It would be best if you asked to first convert it (or "Save as") to the Project 2007 file format.Project 2003Project 2007If you use Project 2003 with SP3, project files from Project 2007 can be read-only. If not, there is no converter available.Project 2003Project 2010No converter is available.Project 2000 or 2002Project 2007 or 2010No converter is available.Project 98Project 2000 and later versionsNo converter is available.
Note Project 2007 and later versions of Project cannot save to the Project 98 file format.
You can open and edit an MPP file with Microsoft Project in Windows by using two options:
To do this, you should:
You can also start with the blank project and create a project from a template. Also, we prepared a Newbie Guide about how to use MS Project.
If you don't have an opportunity to use MS Project Desktop – there are a few alternatives to open MPP file extension:
If you don't have Project installed, you can find another solution to view a project plan you're created within MS Project Desktop:
Also, there are PPM solutions (like PPM Express) that can be connected to MS Project Desktop and provide it the ability to become a cloud-based collaboration tool.