Creating Tasks from Teams Channel Posts

[JakeP870]

Hello, I've installed the "Tasks by Planner" app in Teams and I can now add tasks for myself from chats.

Is there any way to add Tasks from channel posts?

My supervisor prefers to hand down small assignments via a Teams channel, but the channel is also used for announcements and updates, and sometimes things get buried so I forget them or lose track of them. 

Here is an excellent write up of how to add a task from a chat: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/create-a-task-from-a-teams-message-ce086555-cc04-455e-a5e....

Do we have this functionality in channels as well?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@JakeP870 

If the Team has had the Tasks app added to it, I would think you would see this as I do. Using the ... menu from the post there is more actions and it includes Create a Task.

I think the create a new action will take you to Power Automate when you could create a custom flow to create the task that way too.

[#3]

In a channel, select +. Select Planner. Create a plan and then select Save.

Add and assign tasks.
Select + to create a task and enter a name.
Select Set due date and select a date.
Select Assign and choose who to assign it to.
Select Add Task.

Regards,
Rachel Gomez

[#4]

@DanEngelsmeier 

This is really helpful!! I seem to only be able to get that option in a general channel. Any idea why other channels in a Team don't display this?

I have one team where my view in the general channel looks just like yours. Then the next channel down from the general channel (within the same Team) looks like this: 

[#5]

@JakeP870 

Could the channel where you do NOT see it be a private channel?

In one of my Teams I have 9 channels. 8 public ones show the option. The 9th one is private and does NOT show the option.

[#6]

@DanEngelsmeier 

Yes, you hit the nail on the head. The channels where I don't have the option to create a task are indeed all private channels.

It sounds like if I want this functionality then perhaps I need to create a separate Team instead of a private channel within a Team. 

Unless there's a work-around then I might just be stuck here. I don't think I'll be able to convince everyone on this Team to change their workflow just because I want the Task functionality. Just the same, this was really insightful and helped narrow down the issue at least. 

[#7]

I'm not seeing a useful workaround. Private channels and the restriction of apps that can run in them are a roadblock I would like to someday see removed.

While you can't add a tasks app tab at the top of a private channel, you can add a Power Automate tab. So, Power Automate would be able to interact with the private channel. I checked the Power Automate Teams trigger "When a new channel message is added" and it CAN see private channels. Though I'm sure this is contingent on the user account used to create the flow being a member of the private channel.

If the channel posts are used solely for the handing out of these assignments and no other topics, you could use the above-mentioned trigger to automatically run when the supervisor posts. Barring that, you can build a flow that watches channel posts for a keyword. Say the supervisor starts each assignment post with "TODO".

You may even be able to extract @mentions to turn those into who the task is assigned to and even possibly extract a date typed in the post as the due date.

[#8]

I'm going to try this out!

My jaw almost hit the floor when I tried adding the Power Automate tab as you suggested and it just... worked! I haven't used Power Automate like this before but I'm positive that I can create something workable here. I can't thank you enough for this solution. This isn't the solution I was looking for when I posted here, but I think I've arrived pretty close to where I want to be thanks to your guidance. I really appreciate you taking the time!

[#9]

To be clear, the Power Automate tab is not needed for any of this to work. It's simply a way to manifest a place where you can work on flows within the Teams application.