If you’re like us, crossing a completed task off your list gives you a boost. The simple, visual act of striking that to-do is both satisfying and energizing. You did it and you can do it again.
That’s exactly why we introduced confetti animation in Planner last year: that burst of color represents pride in your completed work and offers motivation to finish the work ahead. It’s also why we’re excited to announce even more visual cues to help you do the same, all of which are now available in both the Planner web app and the Tasks app in Teams.
- A checklist progress bar
- Confetti animation for completed tasks
- Confetti animation for a completed checklist
Checklist progress bar
Checklist items are a bit like sub-tasks: they’re often added to a task as basic predecessors (to borrow a project management term). And like more formal predecessors, they should be completed before the primary task is checked off. This is easy if your checklist is just a few items. But what if it’s a few dozen—or more? Then you might need some help.
To help you keep track, we’ve added a simple progress bar to the top of the checklist element in your task cards. Like other visual cues in Planner, the new progress bar gives your team fast status on checklist items so others can jump in to help if needed. A visual bar is easier to quickly comprehend than the traditional numeric representation (e.g., 12/20)—which is still in the task card, by the way—especially if you’re skimming lots of task cards.
Confetti animation
We first announced confetti animation for the Planner web app in May (see the blog link above). You’ll now get that same burst of color when you complete a task in the Tasks app in Teams or the final item in a checklist in either experience.
2021 is shaping up to be a busy year for Planner and tasks in Microsoft 365, and this Tech Community Blog site will continue to be your source for all the latest news. If you have ideas for what else we should add to our pipeline, drop us a line on UserVoice.