Microsoft Planner (Tasks in Microsoft Teams)

Microsoft Planner gives teams an easy way to organize tasks visually and stay on top of things. Seamlessly integrated into Microsoft 365, it supports collaboration – with Basic plans at no additional license cost.

Microsoft Planner Basic: Simple, visual task management for teams

Microsoft Planner Basic is Microsoft's smallest project management solution which, unlike Planner Premium (formerly Microsoft Project for the web), can be used by every Microsoft 365 user without additional license costs.

Create a Kanban card for every task in your plan, add details, and organize all cards to keep an easy overview.

Each plan has its own board on which you can group individual tasks. Categorize your tasks in whatever way suits you best, e.g. by assigned resource or processing status. To change the assignment, simply drag a card into another category with your mouse.

Use the Tasks app, for example, for

• a project team that wants to track open items for a project (PMBOK)
• a Lean Portfolio Management team to steer all of your company's initiatives (SAFe)
• a team working in an agile way for a value stream and maintaining a backlog (SAFe).

Microsoft Planner in Teams, on the web, Windows desktop app and mobile/notifications

Thanks to the charts view, you and every employee always keep track of whether the team has made progress and whether you can meet your set timeframe. In addition to the web app, Planner is also available for mobile devices (iOS/Android). This keeps everyone up to date on the team's latest status anywhere, anytime. There is no standalone desktop app for Planner. However, Planner content is displayed in the Tasks app, in Microsoft To Do, and in the Microsoft Teams desktop app.

If you wish, Planner can notify team members by email about newly assigned tasks. In addition, there is the option to receive notifications about tasks and the conversations contained in Planner.

Microsoft Planner is part of Microsoft 365

Since Microsoft Planner is part of Microsoft 365, you can easily attach all related files to each task and edit them directly in Planner. This saves you the tedious search for files and switching between different applications.

Microsoft Planner/Microsoft Project integration

If you are a Microsoft 365 customer and have the latest version of Microsoft Project, you have the option to link a task from Project to a plan. This allows the project manager to detail the planning of a task in Planner.

The plan can be viewed directly from MS Project via a small icon next to the task. This allows the project manager to see and track progress, but the task in Project must be updated manually.

In practice, assigning a plan to a single task is often not suitable, which is why we recommend our add-on Project2Planner. It synchronizes tasks from Microsoft Project with one task each in Microsoft Planner.

Tip: Automatically create a Planner plan per project in Microsoft Teams with Allocatus.

Microsoft Planner/Microsoft Teams integration

Microsoft Planner is integrated into Microsoft Teams by default. You can add a Planner plan as an additional tab in Microsoft Teams so that team members can see all tasks. In addition, an individual team member can see all tasks assigned to him or her in one place in the Teams Planner app.

Microsoft Planner/Outlook integration

By default, every Microsoft Planner user can display their tasks in Outlook as an additional calendar via an iCal feed. To do this, the tasks must be published and have a due date. If both conditions are met, an all-day event is displayed in this calendar on the due date. For the user to see this appointment, the calendar must be displayed in addition to their own calendar, e.g. via calendar overlay.

Since most IT departments have security concerns, the Planner-Outlook link offered by Microsoft as standard is often disabled. The reason is that anyone on the internet who knows the sharing address can in principle access confidential information.

Furthermore, the standard integration between Microsoft Planner and Outlook is limited to read-only access. Typical use cases such as resource scheduling and time tracking are not supported.

A secure and powerful integration between Microsoft Planner or the Microsoft Tasks app and Outlook is available through the add-on Allocatus. It uses a secure method to access Outlook. In addition, analogous to the Microsoft Project integration, it supports all use cases, including time tracking.

Time tracking for Microsoft Planner in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft does not offer a timesheet function for Microsoft Planner. However, you can integrate projects from Planner Basic and Planner Premium with Altus, among others, and record actual times for projects directly in the Altus timesheet.

Gantt chart/bar chart for Microsoft Planner

Microsoft Planner Basic does not have a Gantt chart for scheduling. This feature is available for a fee via Planner Premium (formerly Microsoft Project for the web) . As an alternative to using Planner Premium, you can also use the add-on Allocatus to additionally display Microsoft Planner Gantt charts on the web and in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Planner desktop app

There is no desktop app for Microsoft Planner. However, you can add Planner to Teams via the Teams Planner app and thus also use it in the Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows. In addition, you can see tasks assigned to you in the Windows desktop app To Do.

Moving tasks between different plans in Microsoft Planner

Tasks can easily be moved between plans, but not delegated. Tip: With Allocatus, depending on the project type, you can have predefined tasks automatically created in your Microsoft Planner plan when a team is created.

Linking tasks to each other in Microsoft Planner

Once a Planner plan contains a certain number of tasks, it is easy to lose track of related tasks. How can you link individual tasks in Planner to each other?

Microsoft does not offer this feature in Planner Basic, as it is reserved for the paid product Microsoft Planner Premium.

Templates for Microsoft Planner

How can you create Microsoft Planner plans or projects based on templates? By default, there is a feature that lets you copy an existing project plan. That is helpful, but often requires a lot of manual work. With Allocatus, you can more easily have predefined Microsoft Teams workspaces created for your project, including a Planner plan.

How can you search in Microsoft Planner?

Within a Microsoft Planner Basic plan, you can search using the filter function. In addition, in the mobile app you can search for the names of plans or for the names of your own tasks.

However, Planner content is not found by the Office 365 search or Teams search.

Can you send a selected filter in a link?

I have created a filter in Planner that shows all tasks with a label. How can I then send an email with a link that presents the recipient with exactly that view in Planner? Are there URL parameters in Microsoft Planner?

Yes, it is possible to create and send a link to a filtered view in Microsoft Planner. Microsoft Planner supports URL parameters that allow you to link directly to specific views or tasks.

Can you mention someone in Microsoft Planner?

No, so far you cannot mention a person in comments or anywhere else in Microsoft Planner. In Planner Premium or Microsoft Project, it is possible to discuss a task in Microsoft Teams and mention a person there.

Can you set a default view in Microsoft Planner?

Can you, for example, group the view by progress by default in MS Planner? No, currently the Planner tasks are only displayed sorted by buckets when you open the web app.

How can I see all of my team's tasks in Microsoft Planner across all plans?

My team works in many Microsoft Planner plans. How can I see who is assigned which task in which plan? With Planner Basic, this standard requirement cannot be met. If you use Altus, for example, you can see tasks across multiple plans there centrally. 

How can I create a report in Power BI on all Planner tasks?

Unfortunately, this is not easily possible with Microsoft Planner Basic plans. With Altus, however, you can visualize the data from Planner with Power BI. Altus also ships with standard reports for almost every project management question.

Is Planner suitable for multi-project management and more complex projects?

Planner alone is not, but with solutions such as Altus or Projectum xPM you can essentially put a bracket around Planner and keep the overview, even with many projects.