# Migrating off Newforma Project Center: exporting data, emails, and project records without disrupting live projects

Canonical: https://cogram.com/guides/migrating-off-newforma-project-center
Publisher: Cogram — AI tools for architects and engineers (https://cogram.com)

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Firms we've spoken with describe project histories of twenty years and more, hundreds of projects, and email archives running to hundreds of gigabytes. The question that stalls their evaluations is usually the same. If we leave, how do we get that record out, and what happens to the projects that are still running? The short answer is that most of your data is already on your own file server, the structured logs export to spreadsheets, and the standard pattern for live work is a parallel run. The detail matters, so this guide walks through each part.

## Where your Newforma Project Center data lives

Newforma Project Center is an on-premise product that works as a layer over your existing file system. Most of the migration mechanics follow from that architecture. Your data sits in two layers:

1. **File-based content on your own server.** Project documents stay in your project folders. Filed email is stored as individual .MSG files (or .EML for non-Outlook clients) in your project folders on your corporate file server, per [Newforma's Project Email documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/overviews/project_email/). Transmittal and Info Exchange packages are kept as .ZIP record copies alongside the projects, per the [Record Copies documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/overviews/record_copy_overview/).
2. **Structured item data in the Project Center database.** RFI and submittal statuses, dates, action histories, transmittal logs, and the links between items and files live in Project Center's own database, separate from the files themselves. Newforma's public documentation covers report-level export; whether a fuller database export or API path exists is a question to put to Newforma support during scoping.

The practical consequence is that the files are yours and copy like any files. The structure around them, meaning who sent what, when, with what status, exports as reports and spreadsheets rather than as a relational dataset. Rebuilding those relationships in a new system is where the migration effort concentrates.

## How to export data from Newforma Project Center

To export data from Newforma Project Center, copy what is already yours and export the rest. Your project files and filed emails sit on your own file server and need no export, only a copy. Structured records export from within the product. Each activity center can generate a standard log report saved to Excel, Word, or PDF, per [Newforma's help documentation](https://legacy.help.newforma.com/Newforma_Project_Center_Twelfth_Edition/desktop/How_Tos/Create_an_Activity_Center_Log_Report.htm), and Info Exchange logs export to XLSX, CSV, PDF, or RTF, per the [log export documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/info-exchange/nix-how-tos/nix_export_a_log_to_a_spreadsheet/).

A workable export sequence looks like this:

1. **Inventory the estate.** List every project in Project Center, its status (active, archived, opportunity), its folder path on the file server, and which activity centers it used. Firms we've spoken with are routinely surprised by the count. One firm found roughly nine hundred projects when it started scoping.
2. **Confirm file-server access.** Because Project Center overlays your folders, whoever runs the migration needs read access to the project directories themselves. Windows folder permissions, rather than Project Center permissions, govern that access, as Newforma's own [archiving documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/learning/how-tos/archive_a_project/) notes.
3. **Export the activity-center logs per project.** RFIs, submittals, transmittals, action items, and contract management items each produce a spreadsheet. Export them project by project and store them next to the project folder so the structured record travels with the files.
4. **Collect the record copies.** The .ZIP record copies created for transmittals and Info Exchange transfers are the closest thing Project Center produces to a self-contained, defensible package per exchange. Locate and preserve them.
5. **Decide how much structure to rebuild.** Log spreadsheets carry the data but not the live links between an RFI row and its files. Whether your destination re-imports and re-links them, or you keep the spreadsheets as a flat archive, is a scoping decision, and it drives most of the cost.

Scope the effort realistically here. Steps 1 and 2 are days. Steps 3 through 5 scale with project count, and for a firm with hundreds of projects the per-project log exports are the tedious part. Newforma's public help documents the per-project path; ask support whether batch export exists for your version before you scope the effort by hand.

## How to migrate emails from Newforma Project Center

To migrate emails from Newforma Project Center, you do not need an extraction step. Filed project email is already stored as .MSG files in your project folders on your own file server, per [Newforma's documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/overviews/project_email/). The migration questions are about searchability and completeness, since the destination system must index those files, and email that was never filed is not in the record at all.

Three caveats deserve attention:

- **Filing compliance.** A Newforma email record only contains what people filed. Firms we've spoken with consistently report that actual filing compliance ran far below what they assumed, so audit a few closed projects against PMs' mailboxes before you treat the filed record as complete.
- **The unfiled backlog.** Check the "Newforma – Items to File" folders for email that was queued but never processed, and give teams a filing deadline before cutover.
- **Search continuity.** The reason firms keep Newforma is search across filed email and attachments. Whatever you move to must index the historical .MSG files, and this is the single most important thing to test in a pilot. Point the candidate system at a real closed project and search for things you know are in it.

## How to migrate RFIs, submittals, and transmittals from Newforma

To migrate RFIs, submittals, and transmittals from Newforma Project Center, export each log to a spreadsheet from its activity center and preserve the associated .ZIP record copies that Project Center created for transmittals and RFI and submittal actions, per the [Record Copies documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/overviews/record_copy_overview/). Then decide, per project, whether to re-import the structured data into the new system or hold it as a read-only archive.

The distinction that simplifies this decision is open versus closed items:

- **Closed projects and closed items** rarely justify re-import. The spreadsheet log plus the record copies plus the project folder is a complete, defensible record. Keep it flat.
- **Open items on live projects** are the hard case. An RFI that is out for response has a ball-in-court state, a numbering sequence, and external parties attached to it. Firms we've spoken with generally finish in-flight construction administration in Newforma and start new projects in the replacement, rather than cutting an active CA log over mid-project.
- **Numbering and templates** should be set up in the destination before the first new project starts, so RFI 047 on a continuing relationship does not restart at 001.

Note that Project Center can also import RFIs and submittals from spreadsheets, per [Newforma's own documentation](https://help.newforma.com/Newforma_Project_Center_Twelfth_Edition/desktop/How_Tos/Import_RFIs.htm), which tells you the spreadsheet is the native interchange format in both directions. Expect the same on the destination side, and test a re-import of one real log during the pilot.

## How to switch from Newforma without disrupting live projects

To switch from Newforma without disrupting live projects, run the two systems in parallel: new projects start on the new platform, in-flight projects finish on Newforma with a reduced seat count, and historical projects are archived read-only. The systems do not interfere with each other, because Project Center's data sits on your file server and the replacement reads or imports that same data.

A sequence that firms we've spoken with have used:

1. **Pilot on real data first.** Before any commitment, test search on your own historical projects, export a log and re-import it, and track filing adoption with a small team on one live project.
2. **Pick a cutover date for new projects only.** Everything starting after that date lives in the new system. Nothing existing moves on day one.
3. **Archive completed Newforma projects in place.** Setting a project's status to Archive makes it read-only while it remains searchable and stays where it is on your server, per [Newforma's documentation](https://projectcenter.help.newforma.com/learning/how-tos/archive_a_project/). If you later move archived folders to different storage, Project Center requires re-pathing before they open again, so plan storage moves deliberately.
4. **Run the historical import in the background.** Bringing old projects into the new system for search can run alongside live use. Teams do not wait for history to move before they start working.
5. **Step Newforma licensing down, not off.** Keep enough seats to finish in-flight projects and to read archives until the history is fully accessible elsewhere. Check your renewal date early. Contract terms are the constraint firms we've spoken with most often discover too late.

If uninterrupted construction administration on a specific large project is your biggest risk, test the parallel-run boundary explicitly in the pilot. Run one new small project end to end in the candidate system while the large one continues in Newforma, and confirm nothing about the shared file server or Outlook setup conflicts.

## Where Cogram fits

Cogram, which publishes this guide, is an AI-native project information management platform for architecture and engineering firms, and it supports both migration models described above. If you keep your record on your own file system, as Project Center did, Cogram's connector indexes the existing project folders in place. Filed history, including the .MSG email record, stays searchable without a bulk move. If you want a cloud record, Cogram imports historical Newforma email and correspondence mapped to the right projects, and a typical import runs about two weeks once the project list and source access are in place. Either way you review sample projects and give final acceptance before anything goes live. For the broader evaluation, including how TonicDM and Autodesk Construction Cloud compare, see [Evaluating Newforma alternatives](/blog/evaluating-newforma-alternatives). Details on Cogram's email filing are at [cogram.com/email-management](/email-management), and the security and data-export posture is at [cogram.com/security](/security).

## FAQ

**How do I export data from Newforma Project Center?**

Your project files and filed email are already on your own file server, so they copy rather than export. Structured records export from within the product: each activity center generates log reports to Excel or PDF, and Info Exchange logs export to XLSX or CSV. Transmittal packages exist as .ZIP record copies.

**How do I migrate emails from Newforma Project Center?**

Filed project email is stored as individual .MSG files in your project folders on your file server, so there is no extraction step. The destination system needs to index those files so history stays searchable. Audit filing completeness first, since email that was never filed is not in the record.

**How do I migrate RFIs, submittals, and transmittals from Newforma?**

Export each log to a spreadsheet from its activity center and preserve the .ZIP record copies. Closed items can be kept as a flat, read-only archive. Open items on live projects are best finished in Newforma rather than moved mid-stream, with new projects starting in the replacement.

**How do I switch from Newforma without disrupting live projects?**

Run the systems in parallel. New projects start on the new platform, in-flight projects finish in Newforma on a reduced seat count, and completed projects are archived read-only in place. Historical import for search runs in the background, so teams start working without waiting for history to move.

## Next steps

If you want a second pair of eyes on scoping, Cogram's team will map your Newforma estate against either migration model and give you a realistic effort estimate, whether or not you choose Cogram as the destination. [Book a migration assessment](https://www.cogram.com/get-demo).

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*Newforma, Newforma Project Center, and Newforma Konekt are trademarks of Newforma. Cogram is not affiliated with Newforma. This guide draws on Newforma's public help documentation, linked above, and on conversations with architecture and engineering firms in the US, Canada, and the UK. Confirm export behavior against your own Project Center version and contract.*