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Microsoft Project · Exports

How to get task owners’ email addresses out of Microsoft Project

By PingCadence · · 6 min read

Short answer

Email addresses aren’t task data in Microsoft Project. They’re stored on each resource (Resource Sheet → E-mail Address), and a normal Excel export of the task list only carries Resource Names. To get names and emails together, save the project as XML Format, or use the Excel Export Wizard with both Tasks and Resources selected and join them on the name.

Why your export has names but no emails

On a task, the Resource Names column is a piece of text: the names of whoever is assigned, separated by commas, with units in brackets when someone isn’t at 100% (Ben Ruiz[50%]). The person’s email address is a separate field that belongs to the resource itself, and it only shows up in resource views. Exporting the Gantt Chart or the task table copies what the task table holds, so the emails never make it into the file.

Names live on tasks, email addresses live on resourcesThe task table holds Task Name and Resource Names (Ann Lee; Ann Lee and Ben Ruiz at 50%; Ben Ruiz). The Resource Sheet holds each resource’s Name and E-mail Address. A task-table export copies only the names; the XML format keeps both tables and the assignments that link them.Task tablewhat a default Excel export copiesTask NameResource NamesDesign reviewAnn LeeSupplier quoteAnn Lee, Ben Ruiz[50%]Test fixtureBen RuizNo email column hereResource Sheetwhere E-mail Address livesNameE-mail AddressAnn Leeann.lee@acme.comBen Ruizben.ruiz@acme.comassignmentsXML Format keeps both tables and the assignments that link them.
Names are on tasks; email addresses are on resources. Assignments connect the two, and only some export formats keep them.

Step 0: check the emails are actually in the plan

Plenty of schedules have resources with no email at all. Check before you export:

  1. Go to View → Resource Sheet.
  2. Click the header Add New Column at the right of the sheet and choose E-mail Address.
  3. Fill in any blanks. You can paste a whole column from your team list.

One trap: when E-mail Address is blank, Project falls back to the resource name whenever it sends email. Nothing looks wrong until you export and the column is empty. Material resources (concrete, licences) have no email field, which is fine.

Option 1: Save as XML (best for importing into other tools)

  1. File → Save As → Browse.
  2. In Save as type, choose XML Format (*.xml), then Save.

The XML file is Project’s own interchange format. It holds every task with its dates and outline level, every resource with its E-mail Address, the assignments that connect them, and the saved baselines. Nothing gets flattened, so tools that read it (PingCadence does) can match each task to the right person’s email without you touching a spreadsheet.

Option 2: Excel, with tasks and resources together

Use this when someone needs a spreadsheet:

  1. File → Export → Save Project as File → Microsoft Excel Workbook, then Save.
  2. In the Export Wizard choose Selected Data, then New map.
  3. Tick Tasks and Resources. Leave “Export header row” on.
  4. On the task mapping add Name, Start, Finish and Resource Names. On the resource mapping add Name and E-mail Address.
  5. Finish. You get one sheet per table.

Then bring the email next to each task. Rename the resource sheet to Resources (names in column A, emails in column B). If Resource Names is column D of the task sheet, put this in row 2 of a new column and fill down (Excel 365 or 2024):

Excel: look up the first owner’s email

=LET(first, TRIM(TEXTBEFORE(D2 & ",", ",")),
     name,  TRIM(TEXTBEFORE(first & "[", "[")),
     XLOOKUP(name, Resources!A:A, Resources!B:B, "missing"))

It takes the first name on the task, drops any units like [50%], and finds that person’s email. Tasks with several owners need a decision anyway: who do you actually ask? Usually the first-listed owner, or split the task.

Option 3: copy from the Resource Sheet

For a one-off, select the Name and E-mail Address columns on the Resource Sheet, copy and paste them into a second tab of your task export, and use the same lookup. Quick, but you’ll repeat it every time the plan changes.

Four things that trip people up

  • ID isn’t stable. The ID column renumbers when you insert or move rows. If another tool matches tasks between exports, give it Unique ID instead.
  • Summary rows look like tasks. Summary tasks have dates and sometimes resources too. Filter them out (Outline Level, or the Summary flag) so you don’t ask someone about a roll-up.
  • Inactive tasks still export. If you mark tasks inactive instead of deleting them, they appear in the export unless you filter on Active.
  • Which baseline? Project keeps Baseline plus Baseline1–Baseline10. Exports and reports usually mean the plain Baseline. Check which one your team actually saves.

If you’re collecting status from those people

The reason most people want these emails is to ask each owner whether their task is on track. PingCadence reads the XML directly, keeps your baseline, skips summary and inactive tasks, and drafts one check-in per person for you to approve. See Microsoft Project with PingCadence, or the short how-to video.

Menu names are from Project Standard and Professional 2016 to 2024 on Windows. Microsoft documents the field in E-mail Address (resource field) and the XML format in Saving and opening projects in XML format.