The “Planner” app name in Teams has changed to “Tasks by Planner and To Do”
Published Dec 08 2020 06:00 AM 47.2K Views
Steel Contributor

When we first announced the public preview of Tasks in Teams, we also announced a three-stage naming sequence for how the app name would appear in Teams. The timing of that original sequence has since changed, which we noted in an Oct. 30 update to the general availability blog.

 

Today, we’re very pleased to announce that we’ve hit Stage 2 in the sequence. This changes the Tasks in Teams app name to Tasks by Planner and To Do from Planner, the original app name, for all non-government users. The app icon has changed to its final form, too. Both changes also apply to the Planner tab in Teams channels. When adding that tab, you can search “Planner,” “To Do,” or “Tasks” to find it.

 

The goal of this sequence is to help all customers easily find the new hero task management app in Teams. We believe Tasks by Planner and To Do better reflects the app’s functionality—it combines team tasks from Planner and individual tasks from To Do—so that customers who don’t closely follow Microsoft news will start (or continue) using the app with confidence.

 

Here’s where we stand currently.

 

namingsequence_stage2.png

 

Please note, this does not affect the functionality of Tasks in Teams in any way; the name and icon changes are merely cosmetic. The name change also does not impact the Planner or To Do standalone apps.

 

We’ve also added a banner inside the app announcing the name change.

 

namingsequence_banner.png

 

Although this is a big change, it’s a temporary one. Stage 3 is right around the corner, and our goal is to start rolling out the final app name, Tasks, in the coming months. We’ll make sure to communicate that rollout here and in Teams when the time comes.

 

If you have any questions about the current name change, leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you. And keep checking our Tech Community Blog site for the final naming sequence announcement and other product news.

37 Comments
Silver Contributor

I just added Planner app a day ago and today it changed the name. Although, it also has removed it from pinned place and i had to pin it again. Not nice. I have played with it a little bit. I only use To Do and we don't use Planner currently. Must say that Tasks is very slow. No way i'm going to use it instead of a separate To Do web app, it is much faster than what is in Teams.

Iron Contributor

Please add token to comments 

Copper Contributor

Before this improvement there used to be options for a Board view, Schedule view and Charts view. Those options no longer work in the Teams App. 

We have become heavy users of the "show on card" functionality to ensure that multiple assignees can keep track of tasks concurrently.

Board view is essential!

Brass Contributor

@KevArms, Board view is still there.  Click on one of the Team planners and you'll see it on the top-right.

Picture1.png

 

Copper Contributor

is there a way to remove the banner?

Copper Contributor

I just started using Teams, and Tasks by Planner and To Do. Is there any way to have a description of the task shown below the task in the list view? One liners are basically reminders, not tasks.

Copper Contributor

After the update, all my tasks are gone and there is an errormessage:

SO_ASE_0-1610361412962.png

I can not add it again:

SO_ASE_1-1610361489490.png

How do i restore my tasks?!

Steel Contributor

@wroot: After you add the Tasks by Planner and To Do app to your Teams sidebar, right-click it and select “Pin.” That will keep it there permanently and you won’t need to re-add it every time you open Teams.

 

@_A7med: There’s no way to permanently remove the banner at this time. We want to ensure the name change is thoroughly communicated to all our customers. However, we are turning it off soon. Until then, you can easily close it by selecting the small “x” on the far right side of the banner.

 

@Electrox3d: We’re super glad you’re using Teams! The List view was designed to provide a very quick overview of your tasks, so we purposefully excluded the task description. Have you tried the Board view yet? That lets you choose to show additional task details, like the description or checklist.

 

@SO_ASE: The name change shouldn’t have affected any of your current tasks. We’d suggest asking your admin team to open a support ticket with Microsoft to resolve this issue. Ask them to include “Planner” in the title of the support case to ensure the ticket is routed to the correct Microsoft team.

Silver Contributor

I specifically said "i had to pin it again". So, yes, i have pinned it and it was removed when name changed. Do it better next time.

Copper Contributor

Where are Tasks stored if the user doesn't have an Exchange Online mailbox?

 

 

Copper Contributor

Will assigned tasks from MS PROJECT eventually show up in this app?

Copper Contributor

This evolution is very usefull; however a nice feature in "To-Do" is "My Day" and unfortunately this feature is not present in "Tasks by Planner and To Do". Is there a reason to not include it and do you plan to include it in the coming releases? Thanks

Copper Contributor

"My Day" being available in the To-Do (web/desktop) as it is in Mobile App would be great addition.

Copper Contributor

Tasks is such a more stressful name than Planner :(.

 

The words have totally different meanings. As someone with a learning difficulty, an app like "Planner" is vital to thinking _forward_. "Tasks" has such urgency and makes me not want to use it.

 

Is Planner going away as a concept forever? 

Copper Contributor

Hi all

 

Is there a way to lock down tasks in the Planner by tasks and to do app to prevent team members being able to delete tasks?

Silver Contributor

This is not related to Planner app in Teams. Planner in general doesn't have such control and relies on people not doing bad things (deleting tasks, etc.). If you want such control, you will have to look for some other solution than Planner.

Copper Contributor

Hi, is board view still available in "Tasks by Planner and To Do"? It is an essential feature!

Piotr_Kuzdra_1-1620203211962.png

 

 

Silver Contributor

It is available if you go to any plan from Planner. Not in To Do, which doesn't actually have plans, so no need to have a board view. In the screenshot you provided you are in Tasks from To Do view.

 

P.S. when checking this i was again reminded how horrifically slow this section of Teams is. I only have about 100 tasks and the whole GUI freezes completely when switching between Planner plans and regular To Do..

Silver Contributor

But i have thousands of closed tasks with many thousands of steps in them. So maybe this is hard for Teams. Works fine in To Do app itself.

Copper Contributor

Hi @OlegK,

Thanks for prompt reply. I must doing something wrong, because I can't find Planner at all in the Teams :(

Still "Tasks by Planner and To Do" is very useful.

 

Silver Contributor

I didn't have to do anything to see Planner plans where i am a member. There were just there. But in your screenshot you have Tasks in bold at the top. Which means your view is set to only show Tasks from To Do. Try clicking on that 3 lines "hamburger" menu and view should switch to combined view of To Do and Planner plans. Then you can click on a plan in Planner and Board option should appear. Unless you are not a member of any plans.

Copper Contributor

Hi Oleg, thanks one more time. Now everything works well. As soon as I added this to the team channel immediately board view was reachable. I couldn't see it earlier since it was only my personal list.

Copper Contributor

I am hoping to leverage milestones in To Do. Is there a way to mark something as a milestone?

Copper Contributor

I don't really understand why the name had to change in Teams when the app is still Planner everywhere else.  It makes it super confusing.  Even all of this conversation is under the "Planner" blog on Microsoft.  Not really a question just a puzzlement.  Question though, is when is stage 3 of this name change transition supposed to happen?

Copper Contributor

trying to add an existing plan to a channel but the app does not appear to retrieve my existing plans

Creating a new one adds a new plan in my planner Hub

I have tried making all boards and plans public but still no joy.

Wat am I doign wrong

Copper Contributor

I was going to migrate to Tasks from Trello, then I quickly found out that:

  •  you can't set a time for the due date, only the date
  • your checklist is very limited
  • I can't do type settings like bold, italics, font size, bullets, numbers, etc in the description
  • and it doesn't have a timer (Trello can be integrated with Clockify for free)

So I have no choice but to go back to Trello since Trello have these options. I'm open to give Tasks another shot when it has all these features but for now I have use my trusty Trello.


Copper Contributor

Ok. since the update I've added it to a channel and love it. It works great.  I especially like how it links with the To Do app so that assigned tasks in Teams pop-up in my user's To Do lists.

 

But... Now I can't seem to find this app to add as a channel tab on another channel (even though I've done it before). What happened? What am I missing?

 

_

Update: it seems to be a issue with Private and Public channels within a team. The channels that are working are those that are public to the whole team, and on the private channels I cannot add this functionality. how can I change a private channel to a public/team channel?

Silver Contributor

As far as i know you cannot change private channel to public (they use different structure under the hood and there also privacy implications).

Brass Contributor

You've done your GCC customers a great disservice as this info makes absolutely no sense to us.  We are quite worried about the loss of data from these activities as documented at Changes to Microsoft To Do access for non-Exchange Online mailbox accounts.  Said documentation is incorrect as we can STILL use the To Do web app and quite unclear on what data will be lost. 

Silver Contributor

@PlannerTeam, any update on when name change will complete? Any idea when My Tasks, Flagged Emails, are coming to this app? Has Microsoft given up on the Tasks app in Teams???? Didn't see anything on this with the 2021 Fall Microsoft Ignite.

Copper Contributor

Hello @PlannerTeam ,
We are now in 2022, it's have been a year in Stage 2 any ETA for Stage 3 to be completed?
Stage 3:
          Rename of "Tasks by Planner and To do" to Tasks
          Forming 1 App (Desktop / Mobile).


Missing Feature in "Tasks by Planner and To do"

    - [Most wanted] Flagged Email 

                    I am currently switch between 2 app (Standalone todo for flagged email /  Tasks by Planner and to do)

    - My Day

 

Thanks.

Regards Dat.

Steel Contributor

So is has this app flatlined?  They haven't bothered to update the name in Teams and I haven't seen any noticeable improvements since it rolled out.

 

Probably best to not recommend this app to anyone unless they REALLY need it.

Copper Contributor

Is this still happening? I looked at the roadmap and there are only three changes in progress (Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365). You would figure with the plan to change the name in 2020 that it would be all Tasks by now.

Copper Contributor

Removing the Boards feature I believe isn't well thought of. How compatible is this current version with MS Project?

Copper Contributor

That sounds crazy there are so many people who rely on Kanban Boards in Planner?

 

Steel Contributor

@EfosaOdiase what do you mean by "Removing the Boards feature"?  Boards are still core to Planner and the 'tasks' app.

Copper Contributor

I tried to Search for 'Tasks by Planner and To Do' on 04 November 2023 (for purposes of setting up a new Channel) but nothing came up. It was there only yesterday. I tried this on three different Work accounts that I have where I support clients on separate contract projects.

Version history
Last update:
‎Dec 07 2020 07:22 PM
Updated by: