What’s new in Microsoft Planner – May 2025
This month, explore the latest enhancements to Microsoft Planner, including the streamlined Status Reports feature for project updates, expanded functionality of the Project Manager across multiple views, and preparations for transitioning from Project for the web to Planner. Thank you as always for your feedback in shaping our product! Generate status reports in minutes Are you looking to streamline your project updates? The new Status Reports feature in Planner in Teams is here to help! You can quickly and easily auto-synthesize your plan's progress, milestones, risks, and next steps, ensuring everyone on your team has shared visibility. Customize these reports to fit any audience and timeframe, making your updates more relevant and impactful. To get started, navigate to the Planner app in Teams and open a premium plan, or a plan with Project Manager that has at least ten tasks. Select the Reports tab, specify the reporting period, and add any specific details you want to include. The generated report will be displayed in a Loop component for real-time coediting, making collaboration easier than ever. You can also share the newsletter in SharePoint. Please note, this feature is currently rolling out to English-US customers and requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Loop license. For more information, see our latest blog post, “Generate status reports in minutes with Project Manager agent in Planner.” Utilize Project Manager across multiple views Project Manager agent is no longer limited to Board view. Now users can also access the Project Manager in Grid, Timeline, and People view. This allows users to: Assign tasks to the Project Manager across all four views: Grid, Board, People, and Timeline. Access the Project Manager as a plan member in both People view and the assigned pivot in Board view. Drag and drop tasks to the Project Manager bucket to assign tasks to Project Manager in both Board and People view. Transition to Planner and prepare for the retirement of Project for the web Starting this August, Planner is set to replace Project for the web, bringing all your task management tools under one unified platform. Users will automatically be redirected to Planner, which offers enhanced features like Goals, Sprints, task history, and advanced dependencies, alongside AI powered tools like Copilot and Project Manager agent. No need to worry about migration or licensing changes—everything transitions seamlessly! To prepare for this change, administrators can notify users and update internal resources to reflect the new Planner environment. We’re currently working to close some of the gaps between Project for the web and Planner, such as the ability to view and manage non-default environment plans directly in Planner which was released last month. Learn more in our recent blog post, “Transitioning to Microsoft Planner and retiring Project for the web.” Share your feedback Tell us what you think about Planner using the Feedback button in the top right corner of the app. We also encourage you to share any feature requests by adding your ideas to the Planner Feedback Portal. Your feedback helps inform our feature updates, and we look forward to hearing from you as you try Planner’s new and existing capabilities! Resources Check out the Planner adoption page. Sign up to receive future communication about Planner. Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates for Planner. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of Planner in Teams. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the new Planner.Enhancements to Planner in Microsoft Teams channels
By adding Planner as a Teams tab, you can now seamlessly create and add both basic and premium plans directly to your standard Teams channels. This includes the ability to start a plan as a tab from any of our out-of-the-box templates. This unified experience means everything you need is now in one place, making it simpler to collaborate on shared projects right within your conversations. Try it out To get started, follow these steps: Select any standard Teams channel. Select the Open Apps icon at the top right of the channel and search for Planner. Select Pin a tab for Planner. Select Save. You can now add an existing plan to the channel or create a new plan. Note: When you create a new plan, you have the option of starting from scratch or trying one of our templates. These templates range from event planning to building a CRM pipeline. A video demonstrating how to pin a tab for Planner and create a shared space for using the app in a Teams channel. What’s new to Planner in Teams channels One of the most significant advantages of adding Planner as a tab to a Teams channel is the ability to track your work, visualize progress towards goals, and monitor workloads—all within the context where your team works. Our most recent updates extend this benefit further by integrating both basic and premium plans directly into your Teams channels. By consolidating these into a single interface, you can now create and manage your plans without needing to switch between different apps or tabs. As your project requirements grow, you can also easily upgrade to a premium plan from a basic plan right within the Teams tab. This transition between plan types ensures that you can get access to the features you need as seamlessly as possible. This includes capabilities such as: Task dependencies: View and manage the relationship between interconnected tasks. Task history: Review all progress and changes made to tasks. Custom fields: Keep track of important information specific to your plans and workflows. Subtasks: Break down complex deliverables into smaller, more actionable tasks. People view: Visualize and manage team members and their workloads, assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate efficiently, ensuring everyone stays aligned and productive. Goals view: Set, track, and link project goals to tasks, ensuring alignment and visibility of progress towards key objectives. Copilot: Leverage AI to assist users in planning, managing tasks, and generating project insights, enhancing productivity and project visibility. Baselines: Capture and compare the state of a project at specific moments, helping to track progress and identify variances from the original plan. Portfolios: These plans can now be added to portfolios. Check out the full list of advanced capabilities with premium plans in Planner. If you don’t have a premium license, you can still try the feature by acquiring a free 30-day trial. Your team can continue to edit the same fields as before on the premium plan with their Microsoft 365 subscription. Share your feedback We’d love to get your input on this new experience! We're committed to continuously improving your experience with Planner, and your perspective is one of the channels that enables us to shape future investments. There are several ways to share your feedback with us—either via the Planner Feedback Portal or directly in the Planner app in Teams by selecting More (the questions mark) in the upper right corner, then Feedback. Resources Check out the Planner adoption page. Sign up to receive future communication about Planner. Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of Planner. Watch the recording from September's What’s New and What’s Coming Next + AMA about the new Planner. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the capabilities in Planner.What's New for Planner in Teams in August 2024
The Planner team is excited to share some fresh new updates in the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. We thank you for your valuable feedback that helps shape feature updates, and hope these capabilities significantly enhance your experience managing tasks and coordinating team initiatives.
Create Planner Tasks from the Viva Connections “Assigned Tasks” card
In today's busy work environment, staying organized and keeping track of tasks is more important than ever. For employees, especially those in frontline roles, having quick access to essential tools and information can make a significant difference in daily productivity. That's why we're excited to introduce a new feature on the Viva Connections dashboard in Microsoft Teams: the ability to create tasks directly from your dashboard! What is Viva Connections? The Viva Connections dashboard is your go-to hub in Microsoft Teams, offering a personalized experience with easy access to company news, resources, and apps. This is particularly useful for frontline workers, as it serves as the default homepage in Teams on both mobile and desktop. What's New? This update builds on the existing integration of Microsoft Planner with the Viva Connections dashboard. Along with the existing integration, where users can view their “Assigned Tasks”, we’ve added two new buttons to the 'Assigned Tasks' card on the Viva Connections dashboard: Add Task Button: Easily create new tasks right from the dashboard by clicking the 'Add Task' button. This quick task capture feature helps you keep track of new tasks as they come up, without needing to navigate away from your main dashboard. Open Planner Button: For a more detailed view of your tasks and plans, use the 'Open Planner' button to jump directly into the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. This provides a seamless way to manage your tasks and see everything at a glance. You can access this option from the larger format task card. This enhancement is now generally available on Teams Desktop, Web, and Mobile, ensuring that Planner users who work with Viva Connections can benefit from streamlined task management, no matter which device they’re using. Share your feedback Your feedback helps inform our feature updates and we look forward to hearing from you as you try out Planner’s new and existing capabilities! To share your feedback about the new Planner app in Teams, you can navigate to the ? icon in the Planner app and select 'Feedback' as seen in the GIF below. We also encourage you to share any features you would like to see in the app by adding it to our Planner Feedback Portal. Learn more: Learn about the Viva connections in Teams: Overview: Viva Connections | Microsoft Learn Watch the new Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Tea... Read about our investments for organizations using the new Planner with frontline workers. We’ve got a lot more ‘planned’ for the new Planner this year! Stay tuned to the Planner Blog - Microsoft Community Hub for news. For future updates coming to the new Planner app, please view the Microsoft 365 roadmap here.What's New for Planner in Teams in July 2024
The Planner team is excited to share some fresh new updates in the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. We thank you for your valuable feedback that helps shape feature updates, and hope these capabilities significantly enhance your experience managing tasks and coordinating team initiatives.
