View Planner tasks on your Outlook calendar
Published Apr 11 2018 03:17 PM 162K Views
Microsoft

A few weeks ago, we announced several features to help get organized around a schedule in Planner.  Today, I'm happy to announce that we've completed roll out of the feature: view Planner tasks on your Outlook calendar.  

 

icalendar2.png

 

 

This feature allows you to import Planner tasks into Outlook via an iCalendar feed.  You can pick specific plans to publish, as well as just the Tasks assigned to you (via the My Tasks page).  

 

icalendar1.png

 

You can read more about how to use the feature here.  Give it a try and let us know what you think. 

 

Happy Planning!

61 Comments

Great new feature!

 

Does the plan need to be added to outlook for every new task added to a bucket/assigned to an individual? Because it does not seem to instantly show in my calendar when I add a task in planner bucket and assign to myself. 

Deleted
Not applicable

Its a good new feature, but unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to synch a team calender with outlook. 

 

Iron Contributor

If you read my posts, I am probably going to start sounding like a broken record, but this (and using Planner in general) is only usable by individuals that are using Office 365 Groups. We do have one Office 365 Group and I will say that I too am experiencing some slowness in syncing to the Group Team Calendar.

Iron Contributor

Can you please explain what it really means:

 
Anyone with this link can see task information for this plan.
This includes anyone inside or outside of your organization.
 
 None of my users will be eager to use it after seeing that message...
Brass Contributor

This feature is great and it was really easy to set up.

 

One request: When I open the task (viewed as an event) in Outlook, it shows, for example:

 

Progress: Not started

Checklist: 0/1 complete

Open this task in Microsoft Planner

 

Would it be possible to add Assignee(s) to that list? I love the option to add My Tasks as a calendar, but I want to add my whole team's Plan to my calendar so I can see what everyone is working on as a whole. However, I can't easily tell when I open a task whether it's mine, or someone else's.  

 

Thanks again for this addition - we've been waiting for this one a long time and it makes Planner much more useable. 

Copper Contributor

It seems that I can only get the entire plan. I would like the ability to only see my due dates show up in outlook calendar.

Microsoft

@ANANDAVADIVELAN VIJAYARAGAVAN  @Rob Bowman Outlook refreshes the feed every 3-4 hours, so you won't see every new task right away.  It can sometimes take a little longer, but it should never take more 24 hours to see the updates.  

 

@Igor Karon When a plan owner publish the iCalendar feed, it creates a URL that's basically a long random string of characters.  It works similar to many file sharing services, in which sharing the file generates a link URL and "anyone with the link can view/edit the file." 

 

@Jennifer Thorimbert Thanks for the suggestion on adding Assignee information to the details.  We'll take a look to see if we can add it in a subsequent update.  

 

@Andrew Russell If you visit the "My tasks" view, you can also add that to your calendar.  This will show you all the tasks assigned to you on your calendar.  We do not yet support only seeing the tasks assigned to you in a specific plan though.  

Brass Contributor

Great feature! Missed this greatly :)

 

By the way, I am having an issue with Czech language diacritic. Many symbols that appear in Planner without an issue are replaced or omitted in Outlook Calendar (both OWA and desktop).

 

PS: I have tried uploading the image through Photos button, but am getting "Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied." error :\

Brass Contributor

I followed the simple steps and I do see the Planner "test" task in my Outlook 2016 calendar but when I make a simple change to the due date in Planner the changes have not been reflected in the Outlook calendar and and I've been waiting over 3 hours already and it has not been updated.

Iron Contributor

@Eray Chou (I get an error what using the @mention) - So it means that if somebody will forward this link on purpose or accidently we cant control who will have access to it... It should follow the Teams permissions - if you are not a member you cannot see any tasks.

Iron Contributor

@Eray Chou - just a follow up - it seemed some of my tasks did not show up because I added no start or end date. :) My bad...

Iron Contributor

I agree, @LetMeSP - If the link is open opens access to anyone who has it, I'm not sure that offers any value to my organization. Overall I do like the concept of "participant" and "watcher, but the rest of teams doesn't have the "watcher" capability... so when it comes with only the calendar that's not helpful.

Iron Contributor

The calendar is not updating for me neither. It has been about 6 hours since I created a new task and it still isn't in my Outlook calendar. It is not a very useful feature until the syncing is dependable.

Brass Contributor

@Steve Palmo Indeed, it seems the task is only sent to Outlook upon initial creation and that any change to it is not reflected. Basically it works like Flow, only in one direction.

 

@Jason Drew In order to see tasks from My Tasks in Outlook calendar, you also need to Publish the specific Plan in which those tasks were assigned to you for them to be allowed to appear in Outlook.

Iron Contributor

@Michal Šenkeřík  I did publish the specific plan. My tasks did end up appearing in my calendar but it took a very long time. This feature would be much more useful it the calendar synced every time a new task was created. As it is currently, if I created a task that was due in a few hours, my team would not notice it until the next day when it was too late. 

Brass Contributor

@Jason Drew Ah, I see. Indeed, so did mine.

 

@Eray Chou Dear sir, a personal feedback on things I suggest for consideration as essentials to be fixed/enabled:

  • Send new task to Outlook calendar - speed of sync (should happen instantly, max in 10-15 minutes, otherwise often useless), or at least a button for manual sync
  • Two-way communication of tasks (Sync with Outlook Tasks or a "Complete" button/"Click here to complete task" link in the Outlook event created
  • Outlook event update upon Planner task change (for example change in deadline)

Kind regards,

Mike

Copper Contributor
Thank you! This multiplied the value of planner five fold:-)
Brass Contributor

I am a bit confused. Why do we need an addin from an external partner to connect Microsoft Outlook to Microsoft Planner. If I am not mistaken, to get this feature you have to buy an extra subscription?  

Iron Contributor

@Petra Van Horen You don't need an external addin, you can add Planner to your Outlook calendar through the Planner web app. However the sync delay makes the feature rather useless for the time-being. 

Brass Contributor

Thanks for the information.

It is not so intuitive for simple people like me. But once I knew it was possible I was able to locate it.

You have to be in "MyTasks", click on the … to make the option appear, publish to make available for "everybody" (which I found rather strange) and there it is. 

 

Or did I again miss something crucial?

Copper Contributor

Hello @Eray Chou

 

I started to use Teams, Planner and the Microsoft Online features and it's great! My comment is aiming to share the need and my business situation behind them.

 

The feature in this thread is great but not yet enough. Here's why : I'm facing the difficulty to convert my Team from Tasks to Planner. They like the features and the look and feel of Planner, but prefer Tasks because of the integration with Outlook Calendar and One Note. This way of using Tasks is widely spread in my company.

 

The list of features here under is the requirement to make Planner a full win win between team members and team leaders. Team members keep all the functionalities that help them to save time just like Tasks and leader get the ones helping to steer coming with Planner.

 

@Michal Šenkeříkhas summarized most of the need I see myself, therefore I'm quoting him. (Thanks) I also added 2 of my own :

 

  • "Send new task to Outlook calendar - speed of sync (should happen instantly, max in 10-15 minutes, otherwise often useless), or at least a button for manual sync"
  • See only the "not completed" tasks or being able to choose what to display in Calendar.
  • "Outlook event update upon Planner task change (for example change in deadline)"
  • "Two-way communication of tasks (Sync with Outlook Tasks or a "Complete" button/"Click here to complete task" link in the Outlook event created"
  • Create a Task in Planner thanks to a Flag in One Note.

 

Regards,

Philippe

Copper Contributor

It's a great future!

But it would he helpfull if i could add all my tasks from all plans i am member or owner to outlook calendar. How can I do that?

Brass Contributor

Just confirming after opening a ticket through the O365 support team that web linked calendars to Planner are known not to update at this time.  They did not have an estimated fix when I spoke with them, but I have a callback on Monday (June 8, 2018).  If there's no significant progress, we'll open an inquiry through Microsoft Partner Support to see if we can get a line to the developers.  This has apparently been a known issue for a while...

Iron Contributor
What about the other way round? View a MEETING APPOINTMENT in the planner schedule?
Brass Contributor

First of all, I would prefer being able to see all my tasks in one place, just to make sure I do not forget a task. I do not want every task to send me a reminder, some tasks just need to be logged or listed.

Not all my tasks are planner tasks, some come from e-mail, some are created from a OneNote page/meeting notes … The problem I have is that I have too many options to assign myself tasks. I am still exploring though as O365 keeps changing all the time, new features sometimes come available which is beautiful.

A meeting appointment is not the same as a task (if I am not mistaken), so I do not exactly know what you mean by that.

Copper Contributor

Meantime i found the solution to see all my Planner task in Outlook calendar. This article helped me: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/view-your-tasks-on-a-calendar-8647d2c9-9bc7-466a-b5b3-74b35...

In Planner I have 2 options:

1. On My task select add to Outlook - this way i see all my Planner task from all plans

2. On a specific plan select add to Outlook - i see all the task from that specific plan

 

So i have an extra Calendar in Outlook. I choose to see this too and use overlay calendars. If i opt for a week view (or vworkweek) I see Planner tasks in calendar along with Outlook apointments and i can see Outlook task list in the footer of the calendar for each day.

 

If anyone has a better solution I be glad to know it.

Nice day!

Brass Contributor
It would be great to take the task management all the way through and integrate the Microsoft services in a way that you would only need Planner for all. Say, creating a task in OneNote would automatically create a task in relevant Planner plan so that you don't have to keep in mind which place was the task posted in. I fight with this on daily basis: You have Outlook Tasks that come from e-mails, then you have OneNote from meetings, some tasks are assigned to you via Teams, others via SharePoint tasks and then you have Planner itself. You could go the way of trying to connect everything with Flow, but then again, you only create one-way flow most of the time anyway, so you are still stuck with having to do everything manually. Wish there was at least a plugin like Wunderlist has for Outlook, Teams and other Office 365 tools, that allows you to quickly add a task within the app in a couple of clicks.
Copper Contributor

What about syncing processes?

 

I live and breathe on outlook, my work is organized and managed through tasks, folders, calendar reminders, and note and reference material (through OneNote). The best part about also using OneNote is that it has a desktop version and can be integrated with outlook...wondering if that kind of syncing and connection, as well as the desktop client, will come to Planner?

Brass Contributor

This "integration" has never worked properly.  Once you've published the web calendar and opened it in Outlook, one-way updates only occur rarely, and in some instances not at all.  But there is a workaround that at least makes it minimally functional.  Please note, this only works for local instances of Outlook, not the online (OWA) version:

 

  1. Publish the project calendar in Planner, but do not click "Add to Outlook"
  2. Copy the iCal link provided
  3. Open desktop version of Outlook
  4. Go to:  File / Account Settings / Account Settings
  5. Open tab "Internet Calendars"
  6. Click "New..."
  7. Paste the iCal link from your project, and click "Add"
  8. Now double-click the calendar you just added (or select, and click "Change...")
  9. Rename the folder to something more friendly in the field "Folder Name"
  10. Uncheck the checkbox under "Update Limit"
  11. Click OK
  12. Click "Close" to close out the settings MDI

Now, instead of updating at odd, seemingly random intervals, you can add the calendar to a Send/Receive group (or just the default group) and set any interval please.  You can also include the group in the F9 Send/Receive updates to force an update whenever you like.

 

This is a ridiculous work-around, and it shouldn't be necessary, but at least it lets you see current Planner scheduled items in Outlook (and in overlapping calendars, no less!).  I don't hold out hope that we'll see this rumored Outlook plugin any time soon, and those plugins are always a gigantic stability nightmare in any case.  It would have been far better if they'd gone with direct integration through Exchange, but I guess that's just not in the cards.

 

Hope this helps someone,

Weston

This sounds nice and I tried today.

The iCalendar link does work fine. Additional details in tasks seems to sync in Outlook. Nice.

The link to "add to outlook" opens up an OWA but the added calendar is empty.

Copper Contributor
I am going on a 3-week vacation to Europe, and I have prepared a simple To Dos List for each of the attractions I plan to see, at what time, etc, etc, on a simple WORD file. I want to know if there exists an easy way to import all those To Dos into my Outlook Calendar..?
Copper Contributor

I am going on a 3-week vacation to Europe, and I have prepared a simple To Dos List for each of the attractions I plan to see, at what time, etc, etc, on a simple WORD file. I want to know if there exists an easy way to import all those To Dos into my Outlook Calendar..?

Brass Contributor

I am sorry Rahul, but I am not experience enough to help you with that. I hope somebody else picks up your question.

Copper Contributor

Has anyone had this issue before? No link to copy and paste? 

 

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Brass Contributor

@Rahul SharmaGood day, Rahul. You could make a new plan for your trip and create one task per each place you wish to visit/thing you want to do. But there are some limitations as to what will be shows in your Outlook calendar:

  • If you wish to see the time to do the task, you have to write the time to the name of the task. Outlook only shows the names of the task and shows them as a whole-day event
  • You can not set a specific time for a Planner task, only choose the day on which it is to be completed. It will then appear as a whole-day task in Outlook.
  • Should you want to have the tasks in your Outlook for a specific time, you would then have to edit them manually in Outlook and change them from whole-day tasks to a specific time range.
  • Any subtasks assigned to a task will NOT show in your Outlook Calendar - there will only be a notion in the body of the event telling how many subtasks it has, but to see these subtasks, you need to open the task in Planner anyway. So, for your purpose, I think it would be faster to create the tasks directly in Outlook to save you extra work.

 

@Lindsay ConnerAs for you, Planner has become very slow recently. I would suggest either reloading the page or trying to click Unpublish and then Publish again for the link to appear. In my case, it took about 10 seconds... If it does not work, it might also for whatever reason be blocked by your company internally. Hope you will get it fixed :)

Brass Contributor

@Rahul SharmaGood day, Rahul. You could make a new plan for your trip and create one task per each place you wish to visit/thing you want to do. But there are some limitations as to what will be shows in your Outlook calendar:

  • If you wish to see the time to do the task, you have to write the time to the name of the task. Outlook only shows the names of the task and shows them as a whole-day event
  • You can not set a specific time for a Planner task, only choose the day on which it is to be completed. It will then appear as a whole-day task in Outlook.
  • Should you want to have the tasks in your Outlook for a specific time, you would then have to edit them manually in Outlook and change them from whole-day tasks to a specific time range.
  • Any subtasks assigned to a task will NOT show in your Outlook Calendar - there will only be a notion in the body of the event telling how many subtasks it has, but to see these subtasks, you need to open the task in Planner anyway.

So, for your purpose, I think it would be faster to create the tasks directly in Outlook to save you extra work.

 

@Lindsay ConnerAs for you, Planner has become very slow recently. I would suggest either reloading the page or trying to click Unpublish and then Publish again for the link to appear. In my case, it took about 10 seconds... If it does not work, it might also for whatever reason be blocked by your company internally. Hope you will get it fixed :)

Copper Contributor

Hy,

We use Office in our company. Our manager have to see our task's and mettings. In Outlook Calendar we use the option sharing permissions. We included Planner task to outlook calendar(using my task for everyone). My problem is that i can't share this calendar to my boss.

How can the manager see for an employee all his tasks and meetings?

Brass Contributor

@Timea Richter Hello! I have checked my Outlook, and for some reason, when you click on Sharing Permissions on My Planner calendar, it goes to Calendar Properties instead, thus probably being bugged.

 

BUT, there might be a work-around I suggest you try :) Eventhough it will be a bit more of work.

  • Go to Planner -> My tasks
  • Click on the three-dot menu next to My Tasks on top of the screen
  • Click Add my tasks to Outlook calendar
  • Copy-paste the iCal link and provide it to your boss
  • Have your boss try and add the calendar as a New internet calendar.

Hope it works :)

 


By the way, dont forget that Planner-Outlook communication is only one-way and very limited (e.g. a task completed in Planner does not mark as completed in Outlook calendar etc.), unless you are using some automatic updates via Microsoft Flow.
Copper Contributor

My question is that once you PUBLISH a calendar, can it be UNPUBLISHED? In other words, when a Planner calendar is published with the link that is created and the owner of the Plan provides the link to someone that has assigned tasks, but later decides they no longer want the calendar to be accessible and UNPUBLISHES the calendar - it still appears in the other person's calendar.

 

This is true even if A) the person is no longer assigned any tasks in that Plan, and B) the owner UNPUBLISHES the calendar. Is there a definite way to hide a calendar if the owner no longer wants it to be visible? 

Brass Contributor

@Frank Jenkins it might be that while UNPUBLISHING does not hide the tasks in the calendar, it will no longer be updated.

 

This is certainly something that Microsoft should deal with as the integration Planner-Outlook is somewhat unsatisfactory at the moment.

 

I suggest you mentioned this issue in UserVoice ;)

Copper Contributor

@Michal Šenkeřík thanks for the tips, but i need this to work for the hole company, so it's not a good solution.

I have to find a way that the manager can view any emplooyes task's and meetings created in Planner and Outlook.

 

Brass Contributor

I couldnot add planner tasks on your Outlook calendar

 

we use on- premise exchange mailbox (exch 2013) not the online one.. is there any dependancy for that ?

Copper Contributor

Why would I want the Planner tasks to appear as events in the calendar? The natural place for them would be in Outlook Tasks in my view. I don't want my calendar to be littered with tasks, it is full enough as it is.

 

 

Copper Contributor

This is very cool but will only be usable with sensitive or private information when authentication is added.  Public with a heavily obfuscated URL is not security.

Copper Contributor

@Eray Chou All of my tasks have either start dates, or end dates, or both. I am able to see some in Outlook on my My Tasks calendar, but none before the current date and none after the end of February. Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere for date range of items shown? One of my main reasons for adding the tasks to Outlook was so that I could see my appointments and meetings and how they interact with my long-term/future tasks. 

 

Thanks,

Krystal

Copper Contributor

Hello all,

 

this feature is amazing. but how can we modify the Planner calendar directly from Outlook ? is it even possible ?

I've tried to modify the rights of this Planner Calender from outlook, but because it's a shared calendar … you can't edit it.

 

Thank you for your feedback

Mouad,

Copper Contributor

Any updates on this? Has anyone tried Winston William's workaround?

 

This "integration" has never worked properly.  Once you've published the web calendar and opened it in Outlook, one-way updates only occur rarely, and in some instances not at all.  But there is a workaround that at least makes it minimally functional.  Please note, this only works for local instances of Outlook, not the online (OWA) version:

 

  1. Publish the project calendar in Planner, but do not click "Add to Outlook"
  2. Copy the iCal link provided
  3. Open desktop version of Outlook
  4. Go to:  File / Account Settings / Account Settings
  5. Open tab "Internet Calendars"
  6. Click "New..."
  7. Paste the iCal link from your project, and click "Add"
  8. Now double-click the calendar you just added (or select, and click "Change...")
  9. Rename the folder to something more friendly in the field "Folder Name"
  10. Uncheck the checkbox under "Update Limit"
  11. Click OK
  12. Click "Close" to close out the settings MDI

Now, instead of updating at odd, seemingly random intervals, you can add the calendar to a Send/Receive group (or just the default group) and set any interval please.  You can also include the group in the F9 Send/Receive updates to force an update whenever you like.

 

This is a ridiculous work-around, and it shouldn't be necessary, but at least it lets you see current Planner scheduled items in Outlook (and in overlapping calendars, no less!).  I don't hold out hope that we'll see this rumored Outlook plugin any time soon, and those plugins are always a gigantic stability nightmare in any case.  It would have been far better if they'd gone with direct integration through Exchange, but I guess that's just not in the cards.

 

Hope this helps someone,

Weston

Copper Contributor

Hi

 

we often have the same tasks for different projects and so its helpful to see which plan a task belongs to. Is this possible in the Outlook Calendar?

 

 

Thanks

Copper Contributor

From my understanding this only work in one direction (MS Planner -> MS Outlook). Is there a method to do it the other way around or is an upcoming feature planned to cover this? (I'd like to have them synchronized for certain tasks).

Copper Contributor

What a completely useless feature. Add to Outlook means adding a link to an iCal feed...what is this the 1990's?

 

Our users expect the following from a MICROSOFT Planner app.

 

1. If they assign a task to a user: The user receives a timely email informing of the assignment - This doesn't happen in a clear and concise manner

2. The user assigned the task can update their task from the application they use the most...Outlook

2. The task gets added to their calendar in OUTLOOK - They don't want to have to have have two places to look for tasks and assignment in a supposedly Microsoft Integrated application, or a whole slew of calendars. Why is there an Outlook Group calendar (that also doesn't update) an iCal Feed (really!!) and their own calendar

 

There is no advantage in trying to persuade the business to use the apps in Office 365 if they don't integrate seamlessly and the process they involve means they have to use more than one screen. There are many planner apps out there that beats the pants off Planner from usability P.O.V.

 

The whole app looks and feels like a final year application development project rather than a fully fledged commercially robust application.

 

I am losing the confidence of my Business team when I promote the benefits of using Office 365 and the apps turn out to be appalling.

 

 

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