7 NEW Microsoft Planner Updates for Smarter Task Management!

Keeping pace with continuous updates within Microsoft 365 can present challenges for effective task management. This overview details seven recent features implemented in Microsoft Planner designed to streamline daily task handling, plan management, and leverage artificial intelligence capabilities. Furthermore, an important announcement regarding the future direction of a primary Microsoft project management application will be covered later in the presentation. A special acknowledgment is extended to Team Flect, the sponsor, which provides an integrated performance management solution built directly into Microsoft Teams and the broader Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Staying on top of Microsoft Planner changes in Microsoft 365 can be a bit of a tough ask, but today I'm going to be making it easy by showing you seven new and changing features in Microsoft Planner.

A notable update appears in the 'My Day' and 'My Tasks' sections, introducing a grid view that can switch to a board format. This board view allows tasks scheduled for the day to be displayed visually. Users can refine this display by utilizing the 'Group By' option, changing the organization from the default view to grouping by specific plans or by the current progress status of the tasks. This functionality mirrors the established board view in other plans, enabling users to manipulate task cards by left-clicking and dragging them to update their progress status across various plans.

Planner now incorporates a capability for bulk task updates, a feature previously absent in the basic version. This is achieved by left-clicking to highlight multiple columns (tasks) within a plan. Once selected, a right-click option reveals various actions, allowing users to assign all highlighted work to a specific individual, such as Alex, with a single click. This streamlines workflows significantly when managing numerous assignments simultaneously.

The layout customization within plans has been improved with the ability to reorder columns using drag and drop functionality. This allows users to tailor the plan interface to personal preferences, such as placing the 'Progress' column adjacent to the 'Assignment' column for immediate side-by-side comparison. This drag-and-drop column movement is consistently supported across shared plans and the user's 'My Tasks' experience, ensuring a unified customization approach.

Basic Planner plans can now receive visual design updates. By accessing the plan name dropdown and selecting 'Plan Details,' users are presented with suggested backgrounds powered by Microsoft Designer. Selecting any of these options applies a new aesthetic to the plan, moving beyond the standard white background and adding a more personalized design element to the workspace.

Today's sponsor, Teamflect, offers a comprehensive, all-in-one performance and people management platform seamlessly embedded within the Microsoft 365 environment, specifically targeting Microsoft Teams and Outlook. This solution is designed to centralize critical HR and management functions, including goal tracking, employee onboarding processes, scheduling one-to-one meetings, collecting feedback, conducting performance reviews, and notably, synchronizing task management directly with Microsoft Planner.

A significant advancement involves the Project Manager AI agent now being accessible within existing Planner Premium plans, provided the user possesses a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Previously limited to new plans, this AI functionality is activated via an agent icon at the bottom of the plan interface, opening a sidebar for conversational interaction. This agent serves as an evolution of the previous Copilot capabilities seen in earlier tutorials.

The Project Manager agent can respond to specific queries about the plan data. For instance, it can identify all overdue tasks across the entire project structure. Further analytical capabilities include determining which individual has the highest allocated workload in terms of hours. The agent can also generate a detailed breakdown of hours assigned per person within the plan structure. Moreover, users can prompt the agent to create entirely new sets of tasks, such as a sequence for contract closure deliverables, which are then immediately populated into the live plan.

Beyond task creation and analysis, the Project Manager offers robust reporting features for existing Planner Premium plans. By navigating to the reports section, users can request the agent to generate a status report covering a defined period, such as the last month. The report configuration allows specifying what information to include, ensuring high-priority actions and overdue items are highlighted for program management review. This generation process may take several minutes as the AI analyzes the plan data.

A key integration point is that these generated status reports are powered by Microsoft Loop technology. Once created, the report exists as a Loop component, which facilitates easy distribution. Users can copy this component and paste it directly into a channel within Microsoft Teams. After granting necessary access permissions to the page, the report becomes immediately viewable by the entire program management team, shared directly from the Planner context.

An important recent announcement from Microsoft concerns the retirement of the Project Online cloud-based service. This service will no longer be available for purchase starting October 1, 2025, and its operation will cease entirely by September 30, 2026. This change is part of a strategic movement toward newer solutions, specifically Planner and Planner Premium, which incorporate modern project management capabilities, including the AI features demonstrated. Users currently relying on Project Online are advised to explore Planner Premium as the intended successor.

The rollout of Project Manager AI capabilities into existing Planner Premium plans represents positive progress in making advanced tools accessible. Despite these improvements, there remains room for further development, particularly concerning the consolidation of tasks originating from various sources like Outlook, Teams, and Loop into a single Planner hub. The impending retirement of Project Online is anticipated to signal a greater commitment to innovation within Microsoft Planner, potentially reshaping how work is managed across the organization.

Planner should be the place where all of your tasks come together from Outlook, Teams, Loop, and more. Yet, right now, it's still missing capabilities of its newest competitors.