Working with P6 Schedules
This article provides an overview of how to upload, view, and manage Primavera P6 .XER schedules in your project and Workspace.
1. Upload a P6 Schedule to your project
You can upload a Primavera P6 .XER file to your project just like any other file.
Open the Content page.
Open the folder you want to upload to.
Click the "Add Content" button in the top right corner.
You can drag data directly from your desktop to the modal or click "Add files"
You can select as many files as you like to upload in one go.
Click "Continue" - your files will appear in the folder list and will begin to process.
2. Add a P6 Schedule to a Workspace
Adding a schedule to a Workspace follows the same process as uploading any other type of content — follow the steps outlined here.
NOTE: you can add multiple schedules to a single Workspace, but only one schedule can be viewed at a time.
3. View your Schedule Gantt chart
Your schedule files will appear in the Scene Manager alongside your other project content.
To open the schedule:
Click the eye icon next to the file name.
The Gantt chart will appear in a panel at the top of the screen.
Understanding the chart
Black Bars represent the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) groups that contain Activities and Milestones. They can be expanded and collapsed by pressing the + and - icons.
White Bars represent the Activities.
Orange Diamonds in black squares represent Milestones.
Relationships/Dependencies between activities and milestones are visualised as grey arrows.
4. Adjust the Gantt chart panel
You can resize the Gantt panel to make it taller or shorter:
Click and drag from the bottom edge of the panel.
5. Navigate the Schedule
To open/close Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) groups:
Click the + icon to open.
Click the - icon to close.
To move around the schedule:
Click and hold anywhere on the background then move your mouse to pan in any direction.
Use your touchpad scroll gestures to pan in any direction.
Use your mouse scroll wheel to scroll up/down. Hold the Shift key to scroll left/right.
Drag the scroll bars, or click either side of them, to scroll horizontally or vertically.
To show a smaller or larger range of time, zoom in/out:
Click and drag the Zoom slider in the top right.
Use your touchpad zoom gestures.
Hold the Ctrl key (or Command / Cmd key on MacOS) and scroll with your mouse wheel.
6. View item details
Click on any item to see more details.
WBS group and Activity details include:
Name
Code
Start and end dates
Duration
Milestone details include:
Name
Code
Date
NOTE: If your schedule contains actual dates, these will be displayed. Otherwise, planned dates will appear.
Work Breakdown Structure detail:
Activity detail:
Milestone detail:
7. Link your Schedule to Models or Markups
Both model (mesh) files and markups can be linked to schedule items. Compatible file types are listed in the table below.
2D / 3D | File type |
3D only | .dwg, .ifc, .dgn, .glb, .rvt, .nwd, .glb |
2D + 3D | .dxf, |
Once linked:
Each model/markup adopts the start and end dates of its associated schedule item.
Models/markups only appear on the map when that time period is selected on the timeline.
Temporary vs Permanent Works
In the Scene Manger, within with "Details view" of a linked item, you can also define whether the schedule dates represent Permanent Works or Temporary Works.
💡 Setting works as Permanent or Temporary helps ensure that your 4D sequence accurately reflects what is visible on site at each stage of the project.
Permanent Works remain visible on site after their end date has passed. Use this for elements that form part of the completed structure, such as foundations, walls, or permanent infrastructure.
Temporary Works are hidden from view once their end date has passed. Use this for temporary construction elements such as cranes, scaffolding, hoardings, formwork, or access structures.
NOTE: The Schedule Dates section only appears in an item’s Details view when the linked schedule is open (i.e. the schedule is active).
Links across Workspaces
Links are preserved if the schedule is added to another Workspace.
If a linked model or markup is not part of your Workspace, it appears greyed out with the tooltip shown below.
8. 4D Visualisation - Walk through your sequence
Once the Gantt chart and models/markups have been linked you can easily click through your timeline. The models/markups will automatically appear on the map on the date specified by the Activity they are linked to.
To move through time either:
On the Schedule panel: click the Smart Jump arrows in the panel header to move to the next point in time where there is linked content.
On the Schedule panel: Click anywhere in the date header. A dark grey line will appear to show the date to be selected. The green line shows the currently selected date.
9. Permissions + Access
Access to schedules, models, and markups follows the same permissions model as other project content.
Adding or removing a Schedule from a Workspace
Controlled by Workspace permissions.
Workspace Managers and Members can add or remove schedules to a Workspace.
Workspace Guests cannot.
Learn more about Workspace permissions here.
Linking Models or Markups to a Schedule
Controlled by Content permissions.
You must have “Can edit” or higher access on the
.xerfile to link models or markups to it.Users with “Can view” access cannot create links.
Learn more about Content permissions here.
Viewing a Schedule
Also governed by Content permissions.
You need at least “Can view” access on the
.xerfile to view it.Schedule access inherits permissions from the folder where it’s stored in Content.
Learn more about Content permissions here.
Viewing linked Content
Controlled by Content permissions.
You must have “Can view” access on a linked model or markup for it to appear when viewing the schedule or 4D sequence.
If you don’t have permission to view the linked Content, it will not be shown to you.