Frequently asked questions about Microsoft Planner

The new Microsoft Planner is a single, unified work management experience. It brings together the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration of Planner, the power of Microsoft Project, and the intelligence of Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single, simple solution that spans from individual task management to enterprise and professional project management.

We’ve heard from customers and analysts that tool proliferation across work management apps can cause rework, missed opportunities, and reduced productivity. From individual workers to team leaders to professional project managers, users are asking for a simple, consolidated work management solution that can flex and scale to meet their needs.

The new Microsoft Planner brings together our expertise in task management, collaborative work management, and enterprise work management into a single experience. Powerful, collaborative, scalable, and assisted by next-generation AI, the new Planner is designed to meet the needs of today’s workforce and scale with you into the future.

In April 2024, we rolled out the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams. With the initial rollout, there were no changes to the To Do, Planner, or Project for the web endpoints outside of Teams. The next set of endpoints that will receive the upgrade to the new Planner experience will be Planner for the web and Project for the web.

In April 2024, the Tasks by Planner and To Do app was renamed Planner. This app received the new Planner experience—bringing together your work across plans, projects, and to-do lists. Below are some additional updates coming soon:

Planner for the web users:

• The new Planner for the web will start rolling out in Fall 2024, ensuring that experiences are aligned across the web version of Planner and the new Planner in Teams.

Project for the web users:

• Project for the web remains available with no change to its existing functionality.

• You can now view your Project for the web tasks in the new Planner in Teams.

• Users will be able to access Project for the web capabilities in Planner for the web once it is rolled out to their organization.

Project Power App users:

• Later in 2024, this app will be renamed Planner. Existing functionality will not change.

In April 2024, Project Plan 1 was renamed Planner Plan 1 to align with the rebrand of the new Planner in Microsoft Teams.

As of September 18, 2024, Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 have been renamed Planner and Project Plan 3 and Planner and Project Plan 5, respectively. This simplified naming reflects the value delivered within each SKU. Please note, premium capabilities are currently not available for customers in Government Cloud Communities (GCC), GCC High, and Department of Defense (DoD) tenants. Please review the Microsoft 365 roadmap for the latest updates.

The new Planner will maintain current Project pricing tiers. For current Project for the web users, existing capabilities will continue to be available in Project for the web, as well as in Planner in Teams, followed by a new web version of Planner, starting to roll out in Fall 2024. For pricing information, see Compare work management offerings.

Planner is part of Microsoft 365, which means customers with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription can use it with no additional license required. For a detailed comparison of the key features included with Planner in Microsoft 365, Planner Plan 1, Planner and Project Plan 3, and Planner and Project Plan 5, see Compare work management offerings.

Planner in Microsoft 365 users have editing access for premium plans created by users with a Planner and Project license. This includes capabilities, such as assigning a task, changing a task’s start and finish dates, and adding attachments to a task. However, accessing advanced capabilities with premium plans requires a paid license. See Compare work management offerings for a detailed comparison of the key features included with each plan.

Planner in Microsoft 365 users have access to four unique views: Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts. A Planner Plan 1 license is required to access additional views, such as Timeline, People, and Goals.

Users with a Microsoft 365 license have access to a rich set of capabilities for individual and team work management. These include the ability to create and edit tasks and plans, see a full list of assigned tasks within My Tasks, various plan views (e.g., Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts), My Day, and more.

When you are ready to experience the advanced capabilities with premium plans in the new Planner, select the diamond icon within the app where you can sign up to begin your free 30-day trial of Planner and Project Plan 3 or request a license from your admin. Advanced features include report creation, Timeline (Gantt) view, dependencies, sprints, custom fields, team workload, and managing goals! For more information, see Advanced capabilities with premium plans in Planner.

Please note, if you have a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license, then you already have access to the advanced capabilities with premium plans in Planner. See Compare work management offerings for a full list of features available with each plan.

​​​​​​​To purchase Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5, visit Compare work management offerings. Then, select the Buy now button in the respective product card to sign up for your monthly or annual subscription.

We will be updating Planner frequently; the best resource to keep you up to date on feature releases is the Microsoft 365 roadmap. Some notable features that have recently rolled out or are coming soon include:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) is currently available to users with a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license, excluding customers in GCC, GCC High, and DoD tenants. See additional details in the Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) section below.

• Ability to see Project for the web tasks in My Tasks.

• Ability to convert a basic plan to a premium plan.

• A faster and better My Day and My Tasks.

• Ability to sort the task list.

• General bug fixes.

Below is a list of helpful resources to learn more about the new Microsoft Planner.

• Demo videos

• Documentation pages

• Getting started with Planner in Teams

• Newsletter sign up

• Planner Blog on Tech Community

• Announcement blog post

• Public preview blog post

• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) blog post

• Free 30-day trial of Planner and Project Plan 3

• Planner plans and pricing

• Microsoft 365 roadmap

If you have feedback about Planner or a feature you would like to request, please reach out! Submit your feedback or feature request via the Planner Feedback Portal.

We don’t expect this change to impact existing user scenarios or functionality. Existing Project customers will get access to the advanced capabilities with premium plans in the new Planner in Teams as part of their Project subscriptions, with no additional licenses required, while continuing to use the web version of Project.

In Fall 2024, the new Planner capabilities will also start rolling out to the web app. In addition, there will be no change in name or product experience for Project desktop, Project Server, or Project Online.

No, Project is not being retired. 

• Project for the web capabilities have become part of the new Planner.

• Project desktop, Project Online, and Project Server will continue to be available and supported for both existing and new customers.

Your work and projects within Project for the web, as well as its features, won’t be impacted. Existing work will continue to be available to you in Project for the web. You will also be able to view your work in Planner in Teams.

In Fall 2024, the new Planner for the web will start rolling out, providing users the ability to access Project for the web capabilities and the additional capabilities of Planner for the web.

Current Project for the web users can access familiar features in the new Planner in Teams. Additional capabilities include:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview).

• New enterprise work management capabilities.

• A clean, intuitive design that brings together the simplicity of To Do, the collaboration of Planner, and the power of Project for the web in a simple, familiar experience.

The new Planner in Teams currently only shows project tasks created in a default environment.

You will continue to have the option to add Project as a tab in a Teams channel. Please note, as of April 2024, the Project tab has been renamed "Planner."

Current customers can continue to use Project Online. There is currently no end of service date for Project Online.

Yes, you have access to premium plans in the new Planner.

Yes, you have access to premium plans in the new Planner.

A number of Microsoft Project partners have built solutions for migrating from Project Online to Project for the web, which is now part of the new Planner. Contact ProjectPilotProgram@microsoft.com to learn more about migration and Project partners who support migration.

Project desktop and Project Server will continue to be available and supported for both existing and new customers. For additional information, see relevant links below.

• Project 2016 – please note, upcoming end of support for Project 2016 is October 14, 2025.

• Project 2019 – please note, upcoming end of support for Project 2019 is October 14, 2025.

• Project Server 2016

• Project Server 2019

• Project 2021

• Project 2024

• Project Server Subscription Edition

We will try to maintain consistency across features available for Commercial and GCC customers. The expectation is to bring parity within 90 days of rollout to general availability. In certain cases, a feature may not roll out in GCC because it may be irrelevant, experimental, or blocked. Task history is one example.

In April 2024, the Tasks by Planner and To Do app was renamed Planner. This app received the new Planner experience—bringing together your work across plans, projects, and to-do lists.

The new Planner app in Teams includes all the collaborative capabilities of the Tasks by Planner and To Do app, plus new intelligent features to power plans and projects. It includes a dedicated My Tasks and My Day view that aggregates tasks assigned to you across basic plans, from Teams meeting notes, tasks from Microsoft Loop components, etc.

Additional capabilities include:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview).

• Views that allow you to drill down on priorities, such as Timeline, People, and Goals.

• Additional project planning capabilities, such as sprints, baselines, portfolios, advanced dependencies, and lead and lag times.

The new Planner app in Teams will continue to support frontline workers with both task publishing and APIs for frontline task automation. You will continue to get all the recent frontline features we’ve released, including: 

• Rich text for task notes.

• Ability to require users to complete a checklist before completing a task.

• Ability to allow task publishers to select recipients to notify when publishing/unpublishing task lists.

As of Spring 2024, new frontline task features will ship as part of the new Planner.

We are taking a scenario-based approach to prioritize capabilities on different surfaces and endpoints.

Most of the new Planner capabilities will first be available for desktop and web, with select mobile-first capabilities, such as My Tasks, My Day, and frontline features. If there are certain capabilities you would like to see available for mobile, let us know!

There is no impact on existing user scenarios or functionality of To Do. To Do capabilities, such as My Day, My Tasks, Flagged email, and more, are now available in the new Planner in Teams.

While final pricing for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner has not been announced yet, users with a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license can preview Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner capabilities. Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) is now rolled out to users with a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license in Planner in Teams, excluding customers in GCC, GCC High, and DoD tenants.

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) is designed to act as an assistant to help with planning, managing, and tracking projects.

With Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview), teams can generate and add tasks, goals, and buckets based on user prompts, and even create a full plan including these elements. You can ask Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) to plan for your next project and it will start generating the work breakdown. When it's time to triage an issue, expand scope, or make other changes to the plan, Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) can help track a new goal, identify what tasks are behind, or identify which team members have the highest workload.

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) works by leveraging all the shared infrastructure that other Microsoft 365 Copilots are using (e.g., Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.).

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) can help you generate and add tasks, goals, and buckets based on user prompts, and even create a full plan including these elements.

The specific skills that Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) provides are:

• Generate a full plan, including tasks, sub-tasks, buckets, and goals (tasks are titled only for MVP).

• Generate and add tasks (title only), buckets, and goals to an existing plan.

• Ask basic questions about the plan (i.e., “What tasks are due this week?”).

No, it does not. However, a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license is required to use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview).

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) skills are only available when you are using Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) in Planner in Teams or the new Planner for the web (coming soon). This applies even if you have a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license.

If you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, you can ask questions about your individual tasks, including:

• Private tasks.

• Tasks assigned to you in Planner basic plans.

• Tasks assigned to you in Planner premium plans.

If you already have a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license, you can access Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) capabilities once it is rolled out to your organization. If you do not have a Planner and Project Plan 3 license, you can request a free 30-day trial. Select the diamond icon within the Planner app where you can sign up to begin your free 30-day trial or request a Planner and Project Plan 3 license from your admin.

Microsoft 365 Copilot supports the following languages for prompts: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. We plan on adding more languages to Microsoft 365 Copilot and will update as additional languages are supported.

There are several ways to provide feedback. For a bug or feedback regarding a specific Microsoft 365 Copilot interaction, please use the thumbs up/thumbs down buttons included with Microsoft 365 Copilot's response. This will allow you to send us anonymous log data that will help us investigate or contextualize any issue you are dealing with. You can also send feedback directly in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams—select the menu in the top right of a plan (next to Share) and select Feedback. You can also leverage the Planner Feedback Portal.

Yes, you can create multiple plans per group when you add a plan to an existing group.

You can copy a plan.

This is not currently supported in Planner. When work on a plan is done, you have three options:

• Option 1: Remove yourself from the plan. If you’re a plan member, but not the plan owner, you can leave the plan, which removes it from the My Plans page. The plan’s files, tasks, conversations, and other elements are left in place. If you are the plan owner, you cannot remove yourself from the plan.

• Option 2: Delete the plan. If you’re the plan owner, you can delete the plan. Before you do this, make sure that no one else is using the plan. There is no way to recover a plan (or its files, conversations, and other data) after it has been deleted. Consider saving any files or other critical information to another location before deleting the plan.

• Option 3: Do nothing! The plan will still show up on your Planner hub, but you can remove it from your pinned plans, which will help you focus only on current work. It’s a good idea to clean up old plans later (using the suggestions in Option 2), but there’s no reason you can’t just let a plan sit untouched for a while to make sure your files, conversations, notes, and other information are still available.

Planner plans are associated with Microsoft 365 Groups, and the files for Microsoft 365 Groups are stored in an associated SharePoint document library. To find your Planner files, select the three dots to the right of the plan name (...), then select Files.

Information you share in Planner is stored in Dataverse and Azure. If you also have tasks in To Do or Outlook, your information is stored in Exchange. The safekeeping of your data in these services adheres to Microsoft's standards for data security and privacy. For more information, see Microsoft Planner for admins.

Additionally, you can control your personal settings for security and privacy in your Account.

Planner is part of Microsoft 365, which means customers with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription can use Planner with no additional license required. However, accessing the advanced capabilities with premium plans requires a paid license. Customers have access to start a 30-day trial of advanced capabilities directly from within Planner if the administrator of their Microsoft 365 license has enabled trials within their organization.

In April 2024, Project Plan 1 was renamed Planner Plan 1 to align with the rebrand of the new Planner in Microsoft Teams.

As of September 18, 2024, Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 have been renamed Planner and Project Plan 3 and Planner and Project Plan 5, respectively. This simplified naming reflects the value delivered within each SKU. Please note, premium capabilities are currently not available for customers in Government Cloud Communities (GCC), GCC High, and Department of Defense (DoD) tenants. Please review the Microsoft 365 roadmap for updates.

Users will be able to share plans created across all licenses. However, users with Planner in Microsoft 365 will not be able to access the advanced capabilities with premium plans. See Compare work management offerings for a detailed comparison of the key features included with each plan.

Microsoft 365 administrators can install and enable Planner and assign users and security groups.

For more information on Exchange Online dependencies with the new Planner, see Microsoft Planner for admins.

No, it is not possible to delay updating users to the new Planner.

Yes, you can easily disable Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner (preview) in Teams. The fastest way is to open a request with support. For more information, see Turn off Microsoft 365 Copilot in Planner for your organization.

Basic plans will continue to be stored in Azure; premium plans will be stored in Dataverse. When basic plans are converted into premium plans, we take care of the migration for you. For more information, see Converting basic plans into premium plans.

Stay up to date on the latest announcements via the Planner Blog on Tech Community and visit our frequently updated adoption page.

Please visit the Microsoft platform for project and work management page on Microsoft Transform.

Native migration tools are available to simplify the movement of project data from a customer’s existing Project Online environment to Planner. However, if an environment has more complex elements, such as custom code and integrations, the customer may enlist a Project partner.

Yes, please contact wwplanproj@microsoft.com for additional help.