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From overwhelmed to organized: How subtasks transform project management

David_Hopkins's avatar
David_Hopkins
Brass Contributor
Jun 03, 2024
Do you often find yourself lost in a maze of tasks within your projects? Are checklists not enough for you to keep your projects organized? With the new Microsoft Planner, you can bring order to chaos with subtasks, enabling you to manage complex plans and projects with ease. Available in premium plans in the new Planner, subtasks are the key to unlocking a more organized and efficient workflow.

What are subtasks?

Subtasks are the building blocks that support your main tasks. They allow you to break down complex deliverables into manageable pieces, ensuring that every detail is accounted for without losing sight of the big picture.

Using subtasks, you can:

  • Organize complex projects so you can easily find what you're looking for.
  • Break down large deliverables into smaller, more actionable tasks, without losing sight of the big picture.
  • Assign responsibility of subtasks for efficient collaboration.
  • Monitor progress of your high-level deliverables based on the status of subtasks.

With Copilot in Planner (preview), staying organized becomes effortless! Using the power of AI, Copilot can help you break down your complex tasks into manageable subtasks, making it even easier for you to focus on what matters most. Learn more about Copilot in the new Planner.

How to use subtasks

When you use a premium plan in Planner, creating and managing subtasks is a breeze. Just follow these steps:
 

1. Add a task below the main task you wish to expand.

 

2. Open the task menu and select the option to convert it into a subtask. You can also use Alt + Shift + Right Arrow on your keyboard as a shortcut.

 

 

3. Enjoy the flexibility to assign, set dates, prioritize, and add attachments to your subtasks, just like any other task.

How to use Copilot to create subtasks

1. Locate the task number of the task you wish to expand.

 

2. Select the Copilot button to open the chat pane.


 

3. Enter the following prompt into the prompt area, replacing [task number] with the number you located in step 1: "Add actionable subtasks for [task number]."

 

4. Select the Send icon and relax as Copilot generates your subtasks.



 

5. If you are happy with the tasks Copilot generated, you are free to continue working with your plan. If not, select the regenerate button and Copilot will try again.

Ready to start using subtasks?

Subtasks in Planner are more than a feature; they’re a strategic tool that empowers you to tackle complex projects with confidence. Try premium capabilities of Planner today to experience the power of subtasks in the new Planner.
 
To preview Copilot in Planner, you can confirm whether you already have access by following the steps here.

Share your feedback

We appreciate all the feedback you've shared with us so far! We've fixed hundreds of bugs and we're adding many of your requests to our backlog and roadmap, so keep them coming. You can share feedback directly via the Planner app in Teams. You can also send us your feedback via the Planner Feedback Portal.

Resources

Updated Aug 12, 2025
Version 4.0
copilot
planner
Project for the web
Project Management

20 Comments

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  • Natalia_Barbosa's avatar
    Natalia_Barbosa
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 17, 2024

    Microsoft Planner needs to have a standalone app for Windows, just like Microsoft To Do. It is a platform that we need to have open all the time, and it is a more significant and important platform that deserves this. Once Planner has it, I will definitely use it.

  • PetrKrenzelok's avatar
    PetrKrenzelok
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 13, 2024

    Paul__M_, David_Hopkins - due to the disintegration of MS project / task tools, we have moved to Monday.com two years ago. Spoiled by Monday, I really miss updated visuals. Monday is also unique, as sub-task can have its own field structure. Monday looks so clean and good, that ppl just printscreen their boards / gantts to their PowerPoint presentation.

    David_Hopkins- sorry, but no - outline numbers will really not make it  🙂  Nothing can help Project imo, if the line spacing is so crammed and it looks like an Excel table combined with the tree view. We need some nice / modern spacing. Here's the Monday.com example ....

     

  • DavidDickinson's avatar
    DavidDickinson
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 11, 2024

    Loving the new planner. Only things right now that are stopping me from moving our company to it from Asana is the hard limit of 10 custom columns and the fact that "number" columns can't have currency symbols and commas. 

     

    Otherwise, it's great and the close integration with Teams is excellent!

  • ProjectUzer's avatar
    ProjectUzer
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 07, 2024

    Paul__M_ and David_Hopkins I recently starting following the design of Loop in project schedules.  Using an emoji (Win + .) as a prefix (e.g., :calendar: Schedule or 🚚 Deliverable or 🏭 Production) provides a visual separation in the very monotonous list. 

     

    Another strategy is using Conditional Formatting to color the Phases/Group headers.  However, I agree with Paul__M_ that a good standard design would be good; it would create consistency.

  • David_Hopkins's avatar
    David_Hopkins
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 06, 2024

    Paul__M_ This is great feedback, thank you. One thing you can try that we support today to help you with that in large projects is adding the "Outline number" column to the grid. This makes it easier to see which level the task is at and which tasks it rolls up to.

     

  • Paul__M_'s avatar
    Paul__M_
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 05, 2024

    An updated design would definitely help. The tabbed sub-tasks is visually cleaner but hard to read once there are lots of sub-tasks with sub-tasks within them. A better idea would be some sort of thread / line, shading, or margin between tasks at the same level.

  • CourtBoda's avatar
    CourtBoda
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 05, 2024

    Is there a template in Power BI that allows you to pull both Planner and Planner Premiums into one dashboard / report? 

  • PetrKrenzelok's avatar
    PetrKrenzelok
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 05, 2024

    MS is still not ready to admit, that both Planner and Project, while integrating the name to Planner Premium, are two, absolutly distinct and mostly incompatible systems. That makes me really sad. Different means of Board task cards (much richer in Planner than Project), different means of chat, Subtasks only in Project (Planner Premium), etc., to name a few.

  • colbourne25's avatar
    colbourne25
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 04, 2024

    When will we have the ability to upgrade existing plan? It's not listed in the roadmap anywhere... if this isn't going to happen I would prefer to know sooner rather than later so I can create a new plan...