WinCC Flexible 2007 Import Tags: Restoring the Project Tree Menu

Overview

Siemens WinCC Flexible 2007 (catalog family 6AV6613-1A... engineering software, paired with panels such as 6AV6643-0BA01-1AX0 MP 277 10" Touch or 6AV6642-0DA01-1AX0 MP 277 10" Key) is the predecessor to TIA Portal WinCC Comfort/Advanced. Engineers migrating STEP 7 V5.x projects into the HMI depend on the Import Tags command under the Project Tree to bulk-load shared symbols, DB structure members, and PLC tags as HMI tags. The command is context-sensitive: WinCC Flexible 2007 only renders it when the Tags node of the project tree is the active selection. The Import/Export cascade is bound to the same condition.

The most common field report is a four-step disappearance:

1. The HMI engineer creates a new WinCC Flexible 2007 project.
2. Project > Import Tags and Project > Import/Export are visible in the menu bar during the first session.
3. After closing and re-opening the project, the menu entries are greyed out or removed.
4. Re-creating the project, restarting the engineering station, or restoring from backup does not bring them back.

This article documents the root cause, the recovery procedure, the import/export workflow that survives across WinCC Flexible versions, and a forward-migration note to WinCC Unified V20 in TIA Portal V20.

Prerequisites

• WinCC Flexible 2007 SP5 or 2008 SP3 installed. The release build must be at least 2007 + HF7 (K 07.02.05.07) to handle the unicode symbol tables of STEP 7 V5.5 SPx projects.
• A configured HMI device bound to a STEP 7 V5.x integration. Connections are defined under Project Tree > HMI device > Connections.
• Read/write access to the project folder (default path: %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible\Projects).
• For STEP 7 to WinCC Flexible tag transfer, the standalone Tag Converter tool (ESM22_TagConverter, part of the WinCC Flexible toolset) is recommended.
• Local administrator rights on the engineering station to allow the registry keys under HKLM\Software\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible\2007 to be read by the user profile.

Why the Import Tags Menu Disappears

WinCC Flexible 2007 uses a context-sensitive menu model. The Import Tags and Import/Export items live in the Project menu, but their Enabled state is bound to three runtime conditions:

If the active selection is Connections, Screens, Recipes, or the HMI device root, WinCC Flexible 2007 hides the entire Import Tags / Import / Export cascade. After closing and re-opening the project, the cursor defaults to the HMI device root in the Project Tree, so the menu appears to have "disappeared". This is by design and not a license, install, or project corruption defect.

State machine

Restoring the Import Tags Menu

Step 1 – Confirm the installed WinCC Flexible version

1. Start WinCC Flexible 2007.
2. Select ? > About WinCC Flexible 2007. The splash dialog shows the exact build, for example WinCC flexible 2007 SP5 + HF7 (K 07.02.05.07) or 2008 SP3 (K 08.03.01.01).
3. If the build is older than 2007 SP2, apply HF7 first. The bug-fix that binds the menu to the Tags node is delivered in HF4 and refined in HF7.

Step 2 – Select the Tags node in the Project Tree

1. In the Project Tree (left pane, titled Project Tree), expand the HMI device.
2. Click once on Tags (the icon with the small green tag symbol, located under the device, above Connections).
3. Look at the menu bar. The Project menu now exposes Import Tags... and Import/Export.... The toolbar shows the import tag icon as active.
4. If the menu is still greyed out, double-click Tags to open the tag editor in the work area, then re-click the Tags node in the tree to reset focus.

Step 3 – Reset the user permission role

1. Select Project > User Administration > User Roles.
2. Confirm the active user is assigned at least role Engineer. Roles Operator and Viewer strip the Import Tags block entirely.
3. Save the project, close, and re-open. The menu now appears immediately because the Tags container has been touched during the previous session.

Step 4 – Re-initialise the Tags container

If the menu is still missing after Step 3, the project's .hmi file lost the Tags container pointer. Recover with the following procedure:

1. Close the project in WinCC Flexible 2007.
2. Make a backup copy of <projectname>.hmi and <projectname>_log.LDF in the project folder.
3. Open the project from a Windows command prompt with WinCCflex.exe /reset "<path_to_project>\<projectname>.hmi". This re-creates the Tags container hash and restores the context-sensitive menu bindings.
4. Open the project normally, select the Tags node, and confirm Project > Import Tags is enabled.

Importing Tags from STEP 7 V5.x into WinCC Flexible 2007

Siemens supports two methods for moving STEP 7 symbols into the HMI: the integrated Import Tags wizard (one HMI, one STEP 7 project) and the standalone Tag Converter tool (many HMI targets, batch).

Method A – Integrated Import Tags wizard

1. Select the Tags node in the Project Tree.
2. Choose Project > Import Tags.... The wizard opens.
3. Select the data source: STEP 7 Symbol Table or STEP 7 Data Block.
4. Browse to the STEP 7 project (.s7p). The wizard enumerates the available symbols and DB members.
5. Map each source tag to a target HMI tag. The wizard pre-fills Name, DataType, and Address. Adjust the Acquisition cycle (default 1 s) and the Update mode (Cyclic, OnChange, or OnCommand).
6. Click Finish. WinCC Flexible 2007 inserts the tags under Tags > Import Tags with a read-only lock symbol.

Method B – Tag Converter tool (CSV batch import)

For larger projects, the Tag Converter exports STEP 7 symbols to a CSV file that WinCC Flexible 2007 imports through Project > Import/Export > CSV Import. The official procedure is published in Siemens Support Entry 22834940.

1. Install the Tag Converter from the WinCC Flexible 2007 DVD under Support\Tools\TagConverter.
2. Launch TagConverter.exe. Select Source: STEP 7 Symbol Table and browse to the STEP 7 project.
3. Configure the Conversion filter: enter the symbol name pattern (for example DB* or Motor*).
4. Choose the Output format: WinCC Flexible CSV and click Convert. The result is written to <step7_project>\<program>\Sources\<symbol>.csv.
5. In WinCC Flexible 2007, select the Tags node, then Project > Import/Export > Import. Browse to the CSV file. The import dialog uses the semicolon separator defined by the Windows regional setting; on a German engineering station it is ;, on US English it is ,.
6. Map the CSV columns. The required column set is shown in the table below.

Exporting Tags for Bulk Edit

The Import/Export > Export command writes the current tag database to a CSV file that can be edited in Microsoft Excel, Notepad++, or scripted with PowerShell. The export procedure is the only documented way to perform mass renames or address reassignments before WinCC Flexible 2008 SP2.

1. Select the Tags node.
2. Choose Project > Import/Export > Export > CSV Export.
3. Choose the destination folder and the Export only the selected folder option to limit the dump to a sub-folder of Tags.
4. Click OK. WinCC Flexible 2007 creates TagExport.csv with the column header row from the table above.
5. Edit the file in Excel. Keep the column header row intact. Save as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) on US English stations, or CSV (Trennzeichen-getrennt) (*.csv) on German stations.
6. Re-import with Project > Import/Export > Import > CSV Import. WinCC Flexible 2007 will refuse the import if the column order is altered, the file is saved as UTF-8 with BOM missing, or the regional separator is mismatched.

PowerShell bulk-rename example

$csv = Import-Csv "C:\Temp\TagExport.csv" -Delimiter ';'
foreach ($row in $csv) {
    if ($row.Name -like 'OLD_*') {
        $row.Name = $row.Name -replace '^OLD_','NEW_'
    }
}
$csv | Export-Csv "C:\Temp\TagExport_renamed.csv" -Delimiter ';' -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Forward Migration to WinCC Unified V20

WinCC Flexible 2007 projects migrate to TIA Portal V20 via the Migrate project wizard. The imported Tags container is preserved, but the Import/Export workflow is replaced by a TIA Portal command sequence using .xlsx instead of CSV. The official TIA Portal V20 documentation describes the new procedure in Configuring tags (RT Unified).

1. Open the migrated project in TIA Portal V20 with WinCC Unified V20 installed.
2. Open the HMI device > Tags editor.
3. Click the Export icon in the toolbar. WinCC Unified writes an .xlsx workbook with one sheet per tag table.
4. Edit the workbook in Excel. WinCC Unified accepts a fixed sheet name (Tags) and the column set Name | Path | DataType | Connection | Address | Length | Acquisition | Update.
5. Click the Import icon. The import preview shows the delta (new / changed / deleted tags) before commit.

Verification Steps

After the recovery procedure, run the following checklist to confirm the import path is fully functional:

1. Open the project, click the Tags node. Project > Import Tags... is enabled.
2. Export the tag database. The CSV file opens in Excel without an error about the column separator.
3. Re-import the unmodified CSV. The import dialog reports 0 added, 0 changed, 0 deleted and closes without a warning.
4. Compile the project. Project > Compiler > Check Consistency returns no tag errors.
5. Download the project to the panel. The transfer ends with Transfer completed successfully.
6. From the panel, open the Information > System view. The imported tags appear under Tags > Import Tags.

Troubleshooting Matrix

FAQ