Note: The steps listed in this article will be updated soon to reflect the new Microsoft Planner experience, which is currently rolling out to customers. Learn more about the new Planner in Frequently asked questions about Planner. If you're working from a Government Cloud Communities (GCC), GCC High, or Department of Defense (DoD) environment, continue referring to the instructions in this article.
There are two ways to reset who receives a comment email notification for a specific task:
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Copy the task and then delete the original task.
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Commenting on the copied task will create a new group email thread, which will not include members who are outside the group.
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Copying a task does not copy task comments, so the copied task will not show comments on the task which occurred before the copying took place. Comments for the original, deleted task can still be found in the group mailbox by searching for the email thread associated to this task.
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Find the group email thread associated to the task in the group mailbox and delete it.
Warning: Deleting the group email thread associated to the task will also delete all existing comments for the task.
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The first comment on the task after this deletion will create a new group email thread which will not include members outside the group.
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If you want to archive the original comments before deleting the thread, forward the email thread to the group mailbox first.
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How do task comments work?
Task comments are stored in the group mailbox of the group associated to the plan. Every task has a single group email thread associated with it. When someone comments on a task in Planner, they are added as an individual to the “To” line of the associated email thread and will thereafter receive an email in their inbox whenever a comment is added to the task.
Every comment on the task is a “reply all” to the group email thread associated to it, which means all individuals on the email thread will receive an email when a comment is posted on the task.
What situations result in non-group members receiving task comment email notifications?
The following situations can result in users outside the group receiving an email notification when a task comment is posted:
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Users add recipients to the email thread associated to the task in Outlook, which will result in these added recipients also receiving an email whenever a comment is posted on the associated task.
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Users who have commented on a given task but are later removed from the Group will continue to receive an email whenever a comment is posted on that task because they are on the To line of the email thread associated to that task.
How can I check whether non-group members are receiving comment email notifications for a given task?
You can go into the group mailbox for the group associated to the plan and find the group email thread associated to the task (you can search for it by searching the group mailbox for the task title, which should be referenced in the email subject line).
The “To” line for the email thread shows all recipients who will receive an email notification for every comment posted on the task. You can compare recipients on the email thread with the list of group members to determine which recipients are not members of the group.
