Tasks in Microsoft Teams is now generally available!
Published Oct 09 2020 12:43 PM 195K Views
Steel Contributor

UPDATE (Oct 30, 2020): Unfortunately, changing the app name in Teams from Planner to Tasks by Planner and To Do has been delayed until later this calendar year. We will make another update when the name change has kicked off. Once we’ve made the name change, you will see a banner announcing the change. In the future, the app name will be shortened to Tasks. 

 

We have exciting news that’s more than a year in the making: Tasks in Microsoft Teams desktop and web is now 100% rolled out to everyone with a Microsoft 365 subscription across all non-government tenants. There’s more information about government cloud availability later in this post. Tasks in Teams lets you manage your team tasks from Planner and individual tasks from To Do in your hub for teamwork.

 

Tasks in Teams Overview with Overlay.gif

 

This announcement also moves us to the next stage in our naming sequence, where the app name in Teams changes to Tasks by Planner and To Do in desktop and Tasks in mobile. We will make this change over a weekend to reduce the likelihood of users seeing different names as the name change rolls out, and we expect to make the change by the end of October. We will make an update to our Message Center post when we kick off this change.

 

namingsequence_ga.png

 

Our team has been working on Tasks in Teams around the clock since we first announced it at Microsoft Ignite 2019—and we couldn’t be more excited to bring it to all our users. Tasks in Teams brings together your team plans and individual tasks into one, collaborative space alongside all your chats, meetings, and files. Task management in the app replicates familiar tools and design from Planner and To Do, so there’s almost nothing new to learn. You can learn more about Tasks in Teams from our support page and public rollout blog post.

 

We're also excited to report that Tasks in Teams for the Teams mobile app will soon begin rolling out to all users in non-government clouds and is scheduled to be completed in November.

 

tasksinteams_mobile.png

 

When the Tasks app becomes available on your iOS or Android device, you can find it within the More (…) option at the bottom of the Teams mobile app interface. There’s nothing to download; Tasks will automatically appear in that menu. The Tasks app for Teams mobile is limited to the List view.

 

We’re working to make Tasks in Teams available for our government cloud offerings, with GCC going live in the coming months. GCC High and DoD will follow after that. We’ll keep you posted about those releases and any initial limitations soon.

 

In other news, we announced at Ignite that you will soon be able to create tasks from Teams chats or channel conversations. This capability is one of the top requests from our users, so we’re excited to bring this to you.

 

CreateTask (1).gif

 

This is just the beginning of an exciting few months, so keep checking our Tech Community Blogs site for all the latest news. And if you have feedback or ideas for Tasks in Teams, leave us a note on UserVoice.

 

******

 

“Tasks in Microsoft Teams” – The Intrazone podcast

In case you missed it, several members from our team sat down with the hosts of The Intrazone, a biweekly podcast series, to talk about Tasks in Teams and our journey on connecting task experiences across Microsoft 365. You can listen to that conversation below.

 

 

33 Comments
Brass Contributor

Great! Now how about implementing proper formatting capabilities in planner comments?

Brass Contributor

Agree this is fantastic news! but fix the rich content in comments, ability to paste images and @ mention someone.

Copper Contributor

I hope this includes task (remindet) bot as in slack or one is in the works.

Copper Contributor

Now if we can get the availability to complete the task by more than one person.

Silver Contributor

Thanks for including the info about the gov clouds . Hopefully this is the start of a new trend to provide that information which has been frequently hard to find 

Brass Contributor

This is very good, bridging the gap between Outlook, To-do, Planner and Teams. How ever I miss two things:

1. Planner and Outlook support both start date and due date for tasks. Why do Tasks in Teams and To-Do only support Due date?

2. In Outlook you can flag a mail and it will appear n your task list. I would like to see a similar possibility for a Teams Post or Chat.

Steel Contributor

Hello,

 

Where are the Tasks saved that are not part of a Plan? Especially in the case of Exchange on-premises users? Exchange On Prem users don't have access (thus far) to ToDo. 

 

What if users are migrated between Exchange on-prem and Exchange Online? 

 

Thanks!

Copper Contributor

This is good news. Is there any plan to add tasks from Project for the Web either into Planner or Tasks? 

Copper Contributor

Each and every enhancement to Teams is pushing the product forward. I miss the ability to add/amend checklist items under Taks in Planner buckets automatically via Flow. Is this feature under development? Any time line on this? 

Iron Contributor

Does anyone know if comments can now be edited or deleted ?   
That's been one of the key failings that has kept us from using Planner. 

 

Steel Contributor

Great to finally have this appreciate all the work. 

 

One question, the part I use the most in ToDo does not appear in the app. The Flagged emails section. 

Is this to come as an enhancement? As for me it defeats a lot of the purpose as I would still have to go back to ToDo to triage my email tasks. 

 

Please say it is coming, it is not on the 365 roadmap. As that part is needed to close the loop. 

 

and yes, I know I can drag and drop my emails to tasks, but the flagging is so much quicker. Also, I have so many already flagged. 

 

Thanks 

 

 

Iron Contributor

Wonderful! I just wait for integration in mobile app and the integration cross tenant for plans and it will be perfect :)

Bronze Contributor

I am also curious about where the to do tasks are stored when a tenant is still Exchange on premises without hybrid. I wasn't expecting much of this 'new' app since we can't access ToDo, so I was surprised it allowed me to enter personal tasks at all! Want to be careful so  I don't hype something that might disappear when we do migrate to EXO. I'm assuming they're in my 'hidden' mailbox where other EXO supported items hide out until the mailbox is actually live?

Copper Contributor

Please allow to tag users in task comments, add more task color-coded labels, arrange completed tasks under bucket based on date of completion.

Silver Contributor

@PlannerTeam, I'd like to see the My Day from To Do added to the Tasks for Teams and flagged emails.

Copper Contributor

So sad that Planner is still "Trello-Lite"

Steel Contributor

Well done!! 

Brass Contributor

@PlannerTeam when can we expect the Tasks targeting/publishing to be available? the team targeting hierarchy functionality appears to still be in private preview so people can't really use this yet :( it seems a bit strange since when you look here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/staff-scheduling-software this appears as an existing and ready to use part of the firstline workforce solution.

Copper Contributor

I love the direction Microsoft is heading with tasks; having all your business and personal tasks in one place.  I would like to see this expanded to Azure Devops though, and I don't recall seeing anything in the roadmap for that integration.  Is there any 'behind the scenes' planning that could possibly bring DevOps WITs into Teams Tasks?

Copper Contributor

but where is my tag and the marked e-mails?

Steel Contributor

@EitanBlumin: Thanks for the note! Formatting comments is a frequent ask on UserVoice and something we’re going to look into, so stay tuned.

 

@Frankjonassen: Great feedback about comments in a task card. We’re currently working on @mentions in comments, which is one of the top asks on UserVoice. We’ll be looking into other comment enhancements, like formatting and images, too. Regarding your second comment about task publishing: this is a top priority for us and we’ll have more news to share during the early part of 2021.

 

@antvii: Thanks for the idea about bots. These are not on our short-term roadmap because of other priorities, but please submit this idea to UserVoice so we can consider it for the future.

 

@ScoutRob: Planner tasks can be assigned to multiple people and completed by anyone on the team, even if that task isn't assigned to them. Does this address your ask or are you referring to something else?

 

@Dean Gross: You’re welcome! We’ll continue to post about government cloud releases on our Planner Tech Community Blogs site to keep all that information in one place.

 

@Bjørn Hopland: Thanks for the kind words! Planner tasks in Tasks in Teams allow for start dates, but only in the task card/detail view (i.e., clicking on the task name). To Do tasks do not include start dates because To Do itself does not support them; however, this is a frequent ask on the To Do UserVoice, so it’s on that team’s radar. Regarding tasks from a Teams chat—stay tuned! This feature is on our public roadmap and we’ll have more news about it very soon.

 

@bart vermeersch: The My tasks section in Tasks in Teams is powered by To Do, so Exchange on-premises users who don't have access to To Do won’t be able to access any To Do lists or the Planned and Important smart lists; however, Assigned to me may contain tasks assigned from Planner. But if you’re on Exchange Online and can use To Do, then you'll have the full experience of the My tasks section in Tasks in Teams.

 

@GNightingaleTP: Good news indeed! Thanks for your support. Here’s our answer to your question about Project for the web integration from our recent Ignite FAQ post: “Planner and Project for the web integration is one of the top requests from our users. We hear you. Our goal is to provide more concrete visibility to you next year through the Microsoft 365 Public Roadmap and Tech Community. Speaking of Tech Community, please be sure to visit the Project Blog page for the latest news, including the upcoming rollout of Project for the web in Teams.”

 

@Strattos: Thanks for the kind words about our progress! Unfortunately, there are no plans for a checklist flow through Power Automate; however, our development team is actively collecting integration and flow ideas for Planner and Power Automate. Can you add your checklist idea to UserVoice so we can track it easier?

 

@Luis Rodrigues: Greater flexibility with comments is a frequent ask on UserVoice. We’ll be working on enhancements to comments soon, so stay tuned.

 

@Philip Worrell: Really appreciate your support and kind words! While flagging an email in Outlook creates a task in To Do, those tasks still don’t show up in Tasks in Teams. But we’re absolutely working on this and will update everyone when there’s more news to share

 

@FabioBielli: Thanks so much! You should be seeing the mobile app very, very soon.

 

@Robin Nilsson: If your tenant is 100% Exchange on-premises, we do not expect that you would be able to access any To Do lists or the Planned and Important smart lists; however, Assigned to me may contain tasks assigned from Planner. It seems likely that there’s some hybrid implementation at your organization and/or your data is stored locally and does not sync online. We suggest checking with your account team about your Exchange set-up before hyping Tasks in Teams further across your teams

 

@cgarcia2694: We’re currently working on @mentions in comments (i.e., tagging a user), which is one of the top asks on UserVoice. You must have a crystal ball: more color-coded labels are on our short-term roadmap, and we should have an update for you soon. Unfortunately, we don’t have plans for sorting buckets by date of completion, but we encourage you to add this to UserVoice for future consideration.

 

@Jeffrey Allen: Good asks! We actually answered both of these in our recent Ignite FAQ post. Here’s the answer about My Day: “We definitely have plans to bring the My Day list into Tasks in Teams, but there's currently no timeline for its release.” And here’s the answer about flagged emails: “Currently, tasks created from flagged emails do not appear in Tasks in Teams by default—but we’re working on it and will share more information when it’s available."

 

@ArefHalmstrand: Thank you!

 

@Kraig Dingwell: Glad to hear we’re making task management easier for you! We’re excited about the direction of this effort, too. Unfortunately, there are no concrete plans to bring Azure DevOps into Tasks in Teams at this time. But we encourage you to submit this idea to UserVoice for future consideration.

 

@Myrna Müller: We’re currently working on bringing tasks created from flagged Outlook emails into Tasks in Teams. We’ll update everyone when there’s more news to share.

Copper Contributor

@PlannerTeam 

 

Kudos for the awesome work! :)

 

1) Do we need to update Teams software for enabling the feature to be able to create tasks from Teams chats or channel conversations?

Or do we need additional steps as explained here:
https://www.serverlessnotes.com/docs/en/microsoft-teams-planner-task

https://myteamsday.com/2020/08/11/selected-message-todo/

 

2) Is there a limit to the number of tasks that can be added to a particular Plan?

 

I read from an old post

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/planner/planner-limitations/m-p/61650

- 250 assigned tasks per user irrespective of plans
- 1500 tasks can be created by an user irrespective of plans

- 250 Active tasks (Not Started, In Progress) per plan

 

Regards!

Copper Contributor

@PlannerTeam, thank you for reading these. I know there are many of use who would like to be able to assign a task to a team of people that everyone needs to complete. It is great that we can assign this task to multiple people, but if one of them does it then it shows complete for everyone.  It is time consuming and really clutters up the planner to copy the same task to ever person.

A great example would be everyone on the team needs to complete a workplace harassment online training. If you assign it to everyone and one person marks complete it is complete for everyone.   However, the only option now is to copy this one task to each person adding many of the same task to the planner making it very hard and time consuming for management.

Brass Contributor

I don't find in my tenant. What could be the reason?

Copper Contributor

I see shared plans tasks in the Assigned to me and the Planned options but I don't them in the Tasks option.  It appears that option is the same as Outlook tasks.  It would be important for me to see all tasks in the Task option such that Outlook would be synched to all tasks.

Copper Contributor

Thank you for adding this new features, in Teams / Task access from the left side canvas 

However the "about" help/training with videos has been removed (intentionally or by accident) and it is important and useful to put it back as many new users need Help/training. 

 

All MS products (Powerpoint/Word/Teams/Excell...) have this feature (Help/Training), and now is missing from Task. I assume is an accident, since this last roll out has been full of issues detected as "list and board not showing in Teams" / "the labels in card in the web version is under assign task and it was also in Teams then it roll back to the old version making a user experience different in Planner Web version than in Teams" / and other "jumps" during last release related to calender etc... 

 

Please put it back in Teams/Tasks access from the left canvas Apps. 

Iron Contributor

Any updates on progress of getting this rolled out to mobile more broadly? Haven't seen it show up for a single tenant anywhere yet :(

Microsoft

@Ed Sparks We just started mobile rollout last Friday and is scheduled to be completed within a week -- please see Tasks in Teams mobile is rolling out to everyone - Microsoft Tech Community.

Silver Contributor

@PlannerTeam, any updates on the adding of My Day from To Do added to the Tasks for Teams and flagged emails?! I know you said they were coming back in October 2020 but it is now June 2021 and wanted to follow up on this! I've quit promoting this function since it doesn't have these features and while I like the adding of create a task for a chat or channel, we need the My Day and Flagged emails function and then it'd be an all-in-one place for tasks in planner and To-Do?

Copper Contributor

@PlannerTeam When will we be able to create Tasks for a Private Channel? Alternatively, are we able to create Tasks for a restricted number of people within the Public Channel (I do not the large majority of Team members to be able to view Tasks)? 

Silver Contributor

@PlannerTeam, it has been almost a year since this was announced and it is still called Tasks by Planner and To Do and not Tasks. Also, my day and flagged emails never showed up. Has this app in Teams been discontinued or cancelled? It doesn't look like anything has been done to this in a year. I've given up on it and I know many our staff has as well as they find it useless. I'm looking to remove it from the left bar to free up space for apps that are actually being actively supported by Microsoft. This is typical of throwing out stuff and hoping it will stick and then ignoring it. I'm very disappointed in this app. I'm glad I can still use To Do separately. :facepalm:

Bronze Contributor

@Jeffrey Allen thanks for posting, I came here with the same thoughts. It seems like development of Planner/Tasks/To Do has really stalled. There have only been a couple of features in the last 8-12 months.

Brass Contributor

@Planner It's been a year and still nothing to be found on what is happening with GCC tenants...We out here worrying about losing data from all this nonsense since this page is incomplete and inaccurate Changes to Microsoft To Do access for non-Exchange Online mailbox accounts

 

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