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Thinh_Nguyen1350's avatar
Thinh_Nguyen1350
Copper Contributor
Sep 13, 2023

Template and automation for To-do and Planner tasks

I really want to take advantage of Microsoft 365 To-do and Planner for my workflow, after months of using these two apps I found them have a lot of potential but fell short of being practical due to the poor-sighted UX design, lack of automation support, and weak integration with other 365 apps, Outlook in particular.

 

  • Lack of template support (To-do, Planner): This is a crucial flaw of both To-do and Planner. For repetitive work flow, I want the ability to have a template of tasks and subtasks. Currently I'm making template by creating tasks or plans, name them "[Template]", and manually clone them. This is tacky as my "Template" tasks and plans kept populated under suggestions for things to do.
  • Lack of automation (To-do, Planner): I want the ability to easily generate a particular template of task or plan from an Outlook email. This would speed up my work flow tremendously. Currently the best Microsoft offer in term of automation is to create a task with the email name and a link to that email. No subtasks nor planner integration whatsoever.
  • Lack of bulk actions (To-do, Planner): This is specifically frustrating for Planner, I have to manually assign each task under a plan to myself, there is no option to assign tasks in bulk. Microsoft offers integration between To-do and Planner where Planner tasks can show up in my To-do list but only if it's assigned to me, what good does this integration do if the amount of manual work overtake the convenience?
  • No archive option for Planner: Once a plan is completed, there is no option to archive it, user have to delete the plan or have it remains on UI forever, even the delete button is well-hidden. The lack of archive option means I cannot go back to previously completed plans and see the date each tasks is completed.

Last but not least, it felt like these two apps don't get any attention from Microsoft. They rarely get updates, it's quite unsettling to use theses feeling like it's being abandoned by the company.

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