Microsoft Project Service Core Jan 2026 Update locked Plans table
We recently noted the Microsoft Project Service Core was updated to 1.0.161.1772: This update has locked our Plans table, no changes are allowed to the forms and creating new columns is greyed out: We cannot make use of Planner in our model driven app (Planner Premium, non-default environment). After a new Plan is created, the user receives this message when opening the Plan: Two days ago we were in this version 1.0.160.2874): and everything was working as expected. Any guidance would be much appreciated as we are not sure if this is a permanent lock or once the update cycle is completed we will be able to go back to edit Plan forms and columns. Thank you in advanceFeature Request: Enhanced Text Field Support in Custom Fields for Premium Plans
Hello Microsoft Planner Team, As an Engineering Manager at LinkedIn, I've recently started using Microsoft Planner Premium for my engineering team's sprint management. While the custom fields feature has been incredibly useful, I've encountered significant limitations with the "Text" field type that are impacting our workflow. Current Issue: I created a custom field called "Scrum Notes" to capture detailed sprint-related information. However, when I enter multi-line text, it automatically converts to a single line, making it difficult to read and organize structured notes. Feature Requests: I would like to request three enhancements for custom fields with "Text" type: Multi-line Text Support: Enable newline characters (\n) to be preserved when entering text in custom fields. Currently, all text is collapsed into a single line, which severely limits readability for longer notes. Expandable Text Preview: Display up to 300 characters in the Grid view with an "expand" or "show more" option when clicked. This would allow teams to see a preview without cluttering the view, while still being able to access the full content when needed. Rich Text Formatting: Add support for basic text formatting (bold, italics, bullet points) within text-type custom fields, similar to the formatting available in the Comments section. This would significantly improve the organization and readability of notes, especially for technical documentation like scrum notes, technical decisions, or implementation details. Use Case: Our team uses the "Scrum Notes" field to document: Sprint planning decisions Technical implementation notes Blockers and dependencies Action items from standups Without multi-line and formatting support, these notes become difficult to parse, forcing us to use external documentation tools, which defeats the purpose of having centralized task information in Planner. Impact: These enhancements would make Microsoft Planner significantly more powerful for engineering teams and other technical users who need to capture detailed, structured information directly within their project management tool. I'd appreciate any feedback from the community on whether others are experiencing similar limitations, and if there are any workarounds currently available. I've also submitted this feedback through the in-app feedback mechanism. Thank you for considering this enhancement!
Strategic Missing Capabilities in the new Microsoft Planner (Enterprise Perspective)
The Present State of Microsoft Planner’s Vision Enterprises want one coherent work-management layer in Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s ambition is to merge To Do, Planner, and Project for the Web into a single platform with Copilot, Goals, unified List/Board/Timeline views, and templates The direction is sound: reduce fragmentation and tool sprawl, standardize data, and give leaders a clean and solid portfolio picture while teams execute in familiar interfaces. In an environment where all employees have access to the same tool, are already included in the resource pool and integration options are basically unlimited, this is a step, that everyone was looking forward to. Nonetheless, the quip that “Microsoft abandoned MS Project 20 years ago” is a joke, but it reflects a real anxiety: if the new Planner displaces familiar scheduling experiences without enterprise-grade controls, PMOs will feel left alone again and disengage, in presence of abundant alternatives. Planner will not replace Microsoft Project, Primavera, or other detailled scheduling tools; those remain essential for deep dependencies, resource leveling, and baselining. Planner’s highest-value role is the management and aggregation layer above them: align goals, normalize metadata, and expose cross-program status. Simplicity matters, but simplicity cannot mean missing capability. If essential functions are absent, governance, traceability, and portfolio visibility suffer, and organizations turn to external tools. Following is a list of core functionality that is currently missing and was needed about a month ago. Current Structural Gaps Date logic too rigid for management use No independent target/due date field; planning often hinges on Start/Finish + Duration, which limits top-down milestone control Custom fields capped at 10 per plan Insufficient for enterprise metadata models and standardized portfolio reporting Maximum task duration of 1,250 days Constricts representation of multi-year initiatives and capital programs No enterprise-grade audit trail Lacks comprehensive, exportable change logs with retention controls for compliance Flat responsibility model Multiple assignees exist, but no roles such as Owner, Reviewer, Approver; no RACI support Insufficient hierarchy and dependencies for roll-ups Summary/sub-tasks exist, but cross-plan links and robust multi-plan aggregation are weak Group-based permissions only Sharing tied to M365 Groups/Teams; no fine-grained task- or field-level permissions; no simple view-only for externals Custom fields lack hyperlink behavior No URL field type; links in text fields are often not clickable for seamless navigation Inconsistent text capture and formatting Notes lack reliable rich-text structure; long entries are hard to read No page breaks or robust formatting for long descriptions Executive-level narratives and governance documentation become unwieldy Limited standardization across plans No global library for reusable custom fields, bucket structures, or templates at tenant/portfolio level Required Enhancements for Enterprise Readiness Flexible date logic Allow target/due dates independent of Start/Finish; add constraints, buffers, alerts, and escalation rules Expanded metadata framework Raise the custom-field limit; add field types (URL, Person, Multi-select), required fields, validation rules, and global field templates Enterprise auditability Provide full change history with export, retention policies, filters by field/user, and API access Role-aware assignments (RACI) Support roles (Owner, Doer, Reviewer, Approver), secondary ownership, and role-based views in people and reports Portfolio-grade structure Enable cross-plan dependencies, milestone roll-ups, program-level summaries, consolidated capacity and risk views Granular access control Introduce view-only sharing, external access without group membership, and task/field-level ACLs to protect sensitive data Hyperlink-enabled fields Add a URL type and clickable rendering in text fields, with previews and allow-lists for approved domains Robust editor for management communication Paragraphs, lists, headings, tables, code/quote blocks, and clean print/PDF output for formal documentation Reusable enterprise templates Tenant-wide libraries for custom fields, buckets, and workflows; versioning and approval flows for governed rollout Reliable data layer A standardized Power BI dataset, webhooks/events, incremental exports, and stable keys for multi-plan, multi-tenant analytics Scaling for long-horizon work Lift or mitigate the 1,250-day limit for leaf tasks and provide guidance or rules for multi-year programs Bottom line Planner can succeed as the enterprise management layer if it remains simple but gains the capabilities listed above. One does not work without the other. If Microsoft does not deliver these functions, enterprises will continue using Project, Primavera, or other scheduling tools — while adopting third-party platforms for governance and portfolio visibility. This would directly undermine Planner’s goal of becoming the unified standard within Microsoft 365. Please, do us a favor and spare organizations from having to implement yet another third-party tool. (And yes: I am aware of multiple enterprises that are in the process of testing and implementating different tools, presicely because of this missing capability)Scroll wheel zoom in Timeline
Hello, I am wondering why mouse ctrl + mousewheel zoom doens't zoom in and out on the Timeline. Right now it is Standard Microsoft functionality where it scale the whole application in percentages. Second to this features, I would like to suggest a memory function to last know zoom. When switching back and forth from other views to Timeline, it reset the view so you have to navigate to the zoom slider and set your view.
Can't Remove Plan I created attached to Team
We're in a GCC High Tenant. I created a plan and associated it with a Team. I'm not the owner of that Team. After adding the plan to that Team, I thought it would be better to move it to a different team to avoid the mass notifications (that Planner owners can't control and no one can turn off comment notifications). Turns out, I can't move it because I'm not the Team Owner? Why am I not able to delete a plan I created? What if a user attached the plan to the wrong team or the plan needs to switch or it just needs to be deleted all together? Why should someone need to be a team owner? Why can't we control comment notifications and/or who overall is notified? The original team was added because the plan is associated to a Channel in that team. That channel is only relevant to certain individuals. We can customize team notifications by channel... why not planner notifications? If I'm missing something, please let me know. I'm all ears and willing to be wrong, but if I'm not, please consider this feedback Microsoft.
