Project, Access, and EPUB Files

These three families cover files that usually need their own desktop application: Microsoft Project schedules, Access table databases, and EPUB books. PSWriteOffice creates and reads them with OfficeIMO's managed engines, so they work in a scheduled job or a container on Windows, Linux, or macOS.

Each family follows the same pattern as Word and Excel: New- or Open- returns a live object, Add-, Set-, and Get- commands work on it through the pipeline, and Save- and Close- finish the job.

Project schedules

Build a schedule from tasks and dependencies, let the scheduler calculate the dates, then save it as Project XML or render a Gantt view to PDF.

$project = New-OfficeProject -Name 'Handbook delivery' -StartDate '2026-10-20 08:00'
try {
    $draft  = $project | Add-OfficeProjectTask -Name Draft -DurationDays 3 -PassThru
    $review = $project | Add-OfficeProjectTask -Name Review -DurationDays 2 -PassThru
    $project | Add-OfficeProjectDependency -Predecessor $draft -Successor $review
    $project | Invoke-OfficeProjectSchedule -Apply | Out-Null

    $project | Save-OfficeProject -Path .\delivery.xml
    $project | Get-OfficeProjectView -Kind Gantt | Export-OfficeProjectReport -Path .\delivery.pdf
    $project | Get-OfficeProjectTask | Select-Object Uid, Name, Start, Finish
} finally {
    $project | Close-OfficeProject
}

Uid Name   Start               Finish
--- ----   -----               ------
  1 Draft  20.10.2026 08:00:00 22.10.2026 17:00:00
  2 Review 23.10.2026 08:00:00 26.10.2026 17:00:00

Review starts on the next working day after Draft finishes, and the weekend is skipped. Invoke-OfficeProjectSchedule without -Apply returns the calculated dates without changing the project, which is useful for a what-if check.

• Resources and assignments: Add-OfficeProjectResource and Add-OfficeProjectAssignment, read back with Get-OfficeProjectResource and Get-OfficeProjectAssignment.

• Tables in and out: ConvertTo-OfficeProjectTable maps ordinary rows, such as a CSV export from a tracker, to a task, resource, assignment, or calendar table, and Import-OfficeProjectTable builds a new project from those tables. Get-OfficeProjectTable goes the other way and returns a project's tables as rows for Excel or a report.

  $tasks = Import-Csv .	asks.csv | ConvertTo-OfficeProjectTable -Kind Tasks -ColumnMap @{ Uid = 'ID'; Name = 'Task' }
  $project = $tasks | Import-OfficeProjectTable -Name Delivery -ReportVariable importReport
  

• Native MPP: saving to .mpp reports anything that version of the format cannot carry. Inspect it with -ReportVariable and add -AllowLoss only after reviewing those reductions. Project XML keeps the full supported scheduling model.

• Rendering: Export-OfficeProjectReport needs PowerShell 7.4 or newer.

Access table databases

Create MDB and ACCDB files with tables, typed columns, and rows, or read rows back as objects.

$database = New-OfficeAccess -Title Contacts
try {
    $contacts = $database | Add-OfficeAccessTable -Name Contacts -PassThru
    $contacts | Add-OfficeAccessColumn -Name Id -Type AutoNumber
    $contacts | Add-OfficeAccessColumn -Name Name -MaxLength 100
    $contacts | Add-OfficeAccessColumn -Name Active -Type Boolean

    Import-Csv .\teams.csv | Add-OfficeAccessRow -Table $contacts
    $database | Save-OfficeAccess -Path .\contacts.accdb
} finally {
    $database | Close-OfficeAccess
}

$database = Open-OfficeAccess -Path .\contacts.accdb
$database | Get-OfficeAccessRow -Table Contacts
$database | Close-OfficeAccess

These are file operations only. They don't start the Access database engine, run SQL, or execute macros or VBA stored in the file, so opening a database from someone else is a read of its tables and nothing more.

EPUB publications

Compose a book from chapters written as plain text, Markdown, or XHTML, then add images and set the metadata a reader app shows.

$handbook = New-OfficeEpub -Title 'Operations handbook' -Language en -Author 'Operations team'
$handbook | Add-OfficeEpubChapter -Title Welcome -Text 'Safety & care come first.'
$handbook | Add-OfficeEpubChapter -Title Procedures -Markdown (Get-Content .\procedures.md -Raw)
$handbook | Save-OfficeEpub -Path .\handbook.epub

Plain chapter text is escaped, so & and < appear as written. Use -Markdown or -Xhtml when the chapter has its own structure. Add-OfficeEpubResource adds images and other files, and Set-OfficeEpubMetadata changes the title, author, and language. Open-OfficeEpub and Get-OfficeEpubChapter read an existing book.

To publish an EPUB as PDF or another format, use Convert-OfficeDocument; the conversion routes guide lists what each route keeps.

Runnable example

The native document families example creates all three files in one run:

.\Example-NativeDocumentFamilies.ps1 -OutputDirectory .\out

For every parameter, search the command reference for OfficeProject, OfficeAccess, or OfficeEpub. The .NET libraries behind these commands are described in the Project, Access, and EPUB guides.