Once you have added tasks to your site, you may want to take your task list data outside of your SharePoint site and into Project or Excel.
Open a task list in Project
While you can plan a simple project by using a task list, some projects require more complex planning. You can open the task list in Microsoft Project Professional 2013, Microsoft Project Online Professional or Microsoft Project Online Premium, if you have any of those products.
To open a task list in Project, click Tasks on the Quick Launch to view the Tasks page. On the List tab, in the Connect & Export group, click Open with Project.
Note: When you open a task list in Project, you can work on your project in both locations and maintain the data. However, if you later decide to invest in Microsoft Project Server 2013, there may be additional steps required to get your task list data working correctly. For more information, see Import additional SharePoint task list data into Project Server 2013. If you do invest in Project Server 2013 or if you begin to use Project Web App for Project Online, you may find it useful to read Overview: View a SharePoint task list in Project Web App.
Export task list data to Excel
There may be times when you would prefer to work with your task list in Excel. You can easily export your task list data to Excel on the Tasks page. On the List tab, in the Connect & Export group, click Export to Excel. This opens the task list in Excel so that the data is connected. If a task in the task list is updated, the data in the Excel worksheet is updated the next time it is opened or refreshed. This can help to produce some basic reports or to track multiple projects at once.
