Importing & Exporting Budgets

Budgets can be imported to Movie Magic Budgeting 10 to collaborate with someone using an older version of MMB. Or, budgets can be exported from MMB 10 to transfer data to other systems.

NOTE: There are some limitations when working with Legacy Movie Magic Budgeting 7. Please see Best Practices below for more information.

Import a file

  1. Start the import by using one of these three options:
    1. Click IMPORT at the top right of the Open Budget screen
    2. NEW BUDGET > IMPORT BUDGET/TEMPLATE at the top left of the Open Budget screen
    3. File > Import Budget/Template in the file menu
  2. Select the budget file using your Operating System’s file selection tool and click Open.
    1. Movie Magic Budgeting 10 can import valid .mmbx and .mbd files.
  3. The budget is imported, saved in your current project, and selected.
  4. Rename the budget and press ENTER to commit.
  5. Open the budget by double-clicking on it or selecting it and clicking OPEN BUDGET.

Screenshot: MMB Import Budget/Template

Exporting a file

  1. Open a budget.
  2. Click the File > Export > ... option for the file type you want to export.
    1. For example, select Export > Tab Delimited... for a tab-separated text file.
  3. Select where to save the file using your Operating System's file selection tool.
  4. Rename the file as needed.
  5. Click Export.

The system then saves the file to the designated location.

Screenshot: MMB Export options

Machine Readable Exports

The XML (Basic) export (formerly known as the XML (Detailed) export) contains some detail level information from your budget in a machine-readable format. The contents of this export have been kept stable so downstream systems can rely on the output.

The XML (Advanced) and JSON exports contain all detail level information, including attached Groups, Fringes, Sets, and Locations, as well as which Globals have been used in each Detail line. They also include Budget Info data fields.

Best Practices with MMB7

When using the import/export feature to share working files with a colleague, keep careful track of the most current budget copy. As a best practice, rename your budgets on each import/export and archive them often.

Some budgets created in MMB 7 have errors that are cleaned up on import to MMB 10. If your totals are different than expected on import, review the MMB 7 file for errors in Fringes, Units, or other calculations. EP Support can help via Live Chat in the Getting Help section.

Not all features in MMB 10 are compatible with MMB7.

  • Notes are different in the two systems and will not transfer from one to the other.
  • Budget Info is not available in MMB7 and will therefore be lost when exporting to the .msd format.
  • Globals in MMB10 can start with a number, which is not supported in MMB7, and so we recommend only starting Globals with a letter if expecting to export to .msd format.
  • Older files can have inherent corruption or calculation issues that MMB 10 cleans up, resulting in changes to the data.