Create buckets to sort your tasks
Applies ToMicrosoft Planner

Note: The new Microsoft Planner is currently rolling out to customers. If your experience looks different than the steps listed in this article, or you're working from a Government Cloud Communities (GCC), GCC High, or Department of Defense (DoD) environment, refer to the instructions toward the bottom of this page. ​​​​​​​Learn more about the new Planner in Frequently asked questions about Planner.

After adding tasks, you can sort them into buckets to help break things up into phases, types of work, departments, or whatever makes the most sense for your plan.

Set up buckets

To set up buckets for your plan’s tasks, on the Board, select Add new bucket, enter a name for the bucket.

Add a task to a bucket

Don't see Add new bucket? You might have the Board grouped by something else. Select Group by near the top right, and choose Buckets.

Change group by to bucket

Tip:  Want to change a bucket name? Select a bucket name to make changes. You can even rename the To Do bucket to something that you might find more useful!

If you are using a premium plan, you can also color-code your buckets. Select the paint can icon next to the bucket title to choose a color for your bucket.

The color picker for a bucket has been opened, showing 25 colors to choose from.

Move tasks into buckets

Once you've created a bucket, you can drag tasks into the bucket to start getting organized. To move tasks using your keyboard, see Copy and move Planner tasks

Drag a task into a new bucket

You can also select the plus sign (+) below the bucket name to add a new task to that bucket. Enter the name of the task and choose Add task.

Add tasks

More ways to get organized

You can change the order of how buckets appear on the screen by dragging the title of a bucket to a new position. To move buckets using your keyboard, open the three-dot menu (. . .) next to the bucket title and select Move right or Move left.

If you need more ways to organize your work, you might find using colored labels helpful.

Task card with labels

You can flag tasks with multiple colored labels to help you see, at a glance, which tasks have certain things in common.

After adding tasks, you can sort them into buckets to help break things up into phases, types of work, departments, or whatever makes the most sense for your plan.

Set up buckets

To set up buckets for your plan’s tasks, on the Board, select Add new bucket, enter a name for the bucket.

Add a task to a bucket

Don't see Add new bucket? You might have the Board grouped by something else. Select Group by near the top right, and choose Buckets.

Change group by to bucket

Tip:  Want to change a bucket name? Select a bucket name to make changes. You can even rename the To Do bucket to something that you might find more useful!

Move tasks into buckets

Once you've created a bucket, you can drag tasks into the bucket to start getting organized.

Drag a task into a new bucket

You can also select the plus sign (+) below the bucket name to add a new task to that bucket. Enter the name of the task and choose Add task.

Add tasks

More ways to get organized

You can change the order of how buckets appear on the screen by dragging the title of a bucket to a new position.

If you need more ways to organize your work, you might find using colored labels helpful.

Task card with labels

You can flag tasks with multiple colored labels to help you see, at a glance, which tasks have certain things in common.

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