Planner Calendar does not update in Outlook

Iron Contributor

I recently saw that Planner had Outlook integration now so I decided I would finally give Planner a chance. I created a task in Planner and then I clicked ''add plan to Outlook calendar'', the calendar was added to Outlook and I saw the task I created as expected. However now when I add new tasks they do not get added to the Outlook calendar, all I see is the first task I created before syncing Planner to Outlook. Even the iCalendar link provided dosent work. How is Outlook integration for Planner supposed to function? Any idea why the calendar isn't updating? Thanks!

 

 

33 Replies

Yeap, I have seen this myself @Eray Chou FYI

I have the same issue. After a lot of testing the only way I found to get an update all the way through to the desktop version of outlook was to re-do the "Add plan to outlook calendar" option from the planner web page. It didn't create a new subscription but it does refresh it.

Same issue here.  We're a Microsoft Cloud Solutions partner, and I have an open ticket about the problem.  Weblink calendars from Outlook to Planner do not update.  According to support, this is a known issue.  I will post back if I get a clear answer from Partner Support.

Did you get an answer about the outlook calendar updating when Planner is updated?

I've received this 'totally not helpful' answer form support today: 

3. Important note to make here >> Every time you add any new task to the existing plan which already shows the tasks on iCalendar, you have to re publish the plan to make it updated in iCalendar.

 

We don't want every user to readd iCal after change or addition of tasks... we need a central view of all Planner tasks in outlook, if not in tasks at least in calendar. 

I did not get a response.  The ticket was closed without resolution (rather odd).  I tried it through O365 support directly at first.  I'm going through the Partner Center now, but it looks like this is a known issue and not a priority.  I doubt I'll get anything from the exercise.  For now, we have to assume that the iCal import is one-time and static.  Not at all useful... not sure why they even released this "functionality".

This can be a really awesome feature to bringing people into using planner. But as it is now it just does not sync well at all. 

Hi Jason,

Have you managed to get a response for this issue? I am having the same issue with my calendar as well, the synchronization takes too long on Outlook actually. Thanks for sharing it! 

In my testing 5 months ago tasks in Outlook calendar were updating automatically, although very slowly (30-60 minutes).

Ok, that explains things, but in my world adding meetings to a calendar and see them update after one hour is like it is not working and all. In one hour a lot of things might have happened and others may have booked in other meetings in that spot.

We are not using Planner to book meetings. But anyway, it was just proof of concept and it didn't catch on at our place, partly because it is so slow to update and Planner is just one click away in Teams or browser anyway. I guess there may be some technical design issues explaining why it works so sluggishly, but it feels like "Outlook integration" was done to just mark a check mark in the list of features.

I am still seeing this as of today. Though I will give a full 24 hours until I am fully convinced that the feed will not update tasks details, especially changing start and end dates.

This would not be an issue for me if there was some way to see all of my separate "plans" in one rollup schedule view to see how the time tables for different projects worked or did not work together.

 

My other thought is to write something in Microsoft Flow that would achieve this, but at first glance, I do not know if the triggers and correct correlations will work as needed.

I am encountering the same issue. It's very disappointing. You can see a schedule for an individual plan, but not for all your plans. And you can import them all to Outlook, but it doesn't update.

 

Why are we Microsoft's beta testers?

I feel so disappointed after reading this thread.

 

When I discovered that planner could be shown in outlook calendar, I was so pleased, because it would ensure, that people that don't like to use teams and that are connected to several planner, would see their tasks and be reminded what they have to do by what deadline.

I hope that Microsoft will give it a bit more attention.

@Naomi_Hagelberg 

For planner synch to work you have to add the calendar manually from Outlook. 

Steps

1. From Planner ->Add Plan to Outlook Calendar

2. Copy the "ICalendar Link". Do not click on the "Add to Outlook" hyperlink

3. From Outlook -> Calendars ->Open Calendar (from ribbon)->Choose "From Internet"

4. Paste "Icalendar Link"

5. A new Untitled Calendar is created. Synch between planner and outlook works fine

6. Rename Calendar Accordingly

I got excited after reading the post. Just Try It and still doesn't update for me.

I also got very excited about this but it still does not seem to update in a timely fashion for me either..

We are firmly entrenched in the O365 environment and while I am working hard to use the tools and integration options offered there is still a long way to go in Teams and in general.  I was excited to be able to use this Trello-ish option but I don't want email notifications of dates, just show it on my calendar and update it in a reasonable time frame.  The idea of "publishing" a static calendar that needs to be dynamic by nature just doesn't meet the needs of the modern office environment.

If you follow the latest suggestion, that is to add the iCalendar link directly instead of using the Add to Outlook button, it will enable you the possibility to trigger the calendar update.

 

You just need to click on the "Send / Receive All Folders" on the top left of your window and you will see immediately the changes you have made. It is not a sync per se, but at least you do not have to wait 60 min or so for that.

@JotaLdo you know what the equivalent of "send/receive" is in outlook online?  I use the web version exclusively for email/calendar and simply hitting F5 does not seem to be enough.