Whenever I need to add or edit items in Team Foundation Server, doing so in TFS itself can be a pain, especially if there are multiple items that need to be updated.  After working with TFS for a while, I’ve found a way to streamline my work by using the Excel feature. 

For me, I find it’s super helpful to see all items in an organized list and being able to edit fields on the fly in one spreadsheet makes working with TFS so much easier.

I have created a quick guide that goes through creating and editing TFS items in Excel:

Create New Items in Bulk

1.       Ensure you have Work Item Tracking selected in your toolbar by right-clicking in the toolbar and selecting Work Item Tracking.

2.       In the toolbar, click the New Work Item dropdown and select New Work Items with Microsoft Excel.

3.       A new Excel workbook will open with a standard blank table for you to enter field values.

4.       From here, every row is an item and you may add in as many as you’d like.

Note: You can select any variation of work item types (User Story, Task, Bug, etc.) in the Excel.  Even if a work item you selected isn’t associated to a field column, that column will not be editable for that specific row.

Add Field Columns – If you want to add more fields, you may do so by adding more columns

5.       Select the Team tab at the top so open the Ream ribbon.

6.       In the Work Items section, select Choose Columns.

7.       From here, you may select the desired fields you would like to display in the columns by moving the fields from the Available columns to the Selected columns.

8.       Click OK to add the columns.

Publish Work Items – Here is where you will be saving your updates and complete create your work items in TFS

9.       In the Team ribbon, under Work Items, select Publish.

10.   All updates will be made and you will see the IDs are instantly created.

Edit Items in Bulk

11.   In your TFS query, select multiple items that you would like to make updates to.

12.   Right-click in the list and select Open Selection in Microsoft Excel.

13.   Just like going to create new items, this will take you directly into an Excel workbook where you can make updates to the work items you selected.

Do you find yourself flipping through the pages searching for that one detail you wrote down on the back of a page or ever misplaced your notebook for a period of time?
 
Try using Microsoft OneNote.  Once I converted, I realized how nice it is to have one place to gather, organize and share all of my work and personal information.  The application is very easy to use as it works just like a notebook would or even having a file cabinet full of notebooks, only it's lighter weight.
 
6 Reasons OneNote outsmarts your spiral notebook:
• OneNote provides one single place to collect all your ideas, information, photos, videos, screen clips and web links.  You never run out of blank pages or have to carry multiple notebooks.
• The search functionality makes finding a specific idea or action item quick and easy. 
• OneNote integrates with other Office 2010 applications such as Outlook and PowerPoint.   I particularly like being able to flag an item in my notes as a Task and having it appear in my Outlook Tasks.  Or opening a meeting invite on my calendar and clicking the OneNote icon to begin  a new page for meeting notes that is pre-populated with the meeting details such as meeting subject, date and attendees.  
• Share information easily through email.   After a meeting, click the E-mail page button under the Share tab and distribute your meeting notes without having to retype or cut & paste. 
• Record audio (if your laptop has a built in microphone) than search through the audio files later, especially useful for meetings and capturing items you may have missed (this is the one feature I use the most).
• Access your information from anywhere through a Windows-based Smartphone or web browser.  This really comes in handy if your job requires you to be on the move all the time.   
 
Check it out for yourself; there are lots of resources to get you started.  Here are a few good ones I found:  “A quick introduction to OneNote",  Meet OneNote"