No change or unexpected changes after schedule refresh

Question:

I have a schedule with several joined bars. P3 is supposed to be filled blue but stays white. Then, after I refresh, the bar for P2 disappears and P3 fills as expected:

Before refresh:

After refresh:

Answer:

The trouble in this case turned out to be that the starting symbol for P3 was defined as a "status" symbol. Before refresh, the status symbol prevents P3 from being filled. After refresh, since the Refresh percent complete option was checked, the status symbol was deleted since all status symbols are automatically deleted by the refresh process.

Best practice is to use normal symbols for schedules to be refreshed.

Question:

I created a chart in January that was refreshed in February with no problem. When I try to refresh today with the new schedule, I receive a report indicating “No Changes”, but I can see there are several changes that should apply. I have been following the same procedure as before, but I’m wondering if there’s a common error that I’m finding.

Answer:

The most common error is the selection of the incorrect Unique ID when refreshing. For example, if the Milestones Professional schedule was built using Text 1 for the Unique ID field and a different field was used when refreshing, no changes would be made.

When refreshing, pick the same Unique ID field used to create the schedule.

Question:

I have been refreshing my very dense master schedule every month for the last 2 years. Now I find that for all of my bars only the finish date is updating. The start date is not updating. What could be wrong?

Answer:

Since you know the uniqueID's referenced on your Milestones master schedule DO exist in the Project file (the finish dates are changing correctly), there must be a problem with the way the start symbol is set up in the toolbox. Check to make sure that the symbol type for the start of the bar is not set to "comment" or "status". To do this, double-click the start symbol for the bar (in the toolbox.) If it is set to status or comment, change it to normal (or baseline if it is a baseline date)

Miscellaneous refresh tips:

To refresh column text, be sure the column is tagged as a Microsoft Project column and that rows are tagged with UniqueID. Then, check Refresh Column Text on the refresh dialog box.
Be sure you are refreshing from the correct Microsoft Project file. (yes, it has happened!)
If your Microsoft Project schedule is filtered or if some tasks are hidden, be sure to uncheck Refresh Only Tasks Visible in Project.
Check the toolbox to make sure none of the symbols being used for are set to status symbols.
If you want dependent symbols (which are not tagged) to move when a symbol linked to Microsoft Project moves, be sure to Update Dependent Symbols.
Be sure there are no spaces in the UniqueID field.
If you aren't allowed to pick a Microsoft Project file when you choose to refresh, this is because the Milestones Professional file is set up to have a "Refresh List". Choose Connections | Refresh Previously Imported Project | Create Edit Refresh List to check this.
If symbols are tagged with nicknames, a refresh list must be used.