New Microsoft Planner Experience to Launch with Copilot Integration in 2024

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft is combining To Do, Planner, and Project into a new unified Planner app, launching in Microsoft Teams in 2024.
• The new Planner integrates intelligent features to help small businesses and enterprises manage tasks and projects across Microsoft 365 apps.
• Microsoft renames Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Teams to Planner.

At the annual Microsoft Ignite conference, Microsoft announced that it’s bringing together some existing task management and planning tools such as Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft Project into a unified experience. The new Planner app will debut in Microsoft Teams in Spring 2024, followed by a web version at a later date.

In 2016, Microsoft introduced the Planner app as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. However, the application has not undergone significant updates since its initial launch. It’s designed to help individuals and teams to create and assign tasks, collaborate on projects, and track progress. Users can comment on tasks, attach files, and have discussions within the Planner app.

Microsoft highlighted that the new Planner experience will include AI-powered features and enhancements to help small businesses and enterprise customers keep track of work. It provides a centralized hub to let users manage all their plans, tasks, projects, and to-do lists across Microsoft 365 apps.

“We’re bringing together the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration of Microsoft Planner, the power of Microsoft Project for the web and the intelligence of Microsoft Copilot into a simple, familiar experience. Discover a new way to manage tasks for individual plans and team initiatives, as well as larger scale project management, aligned to goals and key strategic objectives,” Microsoft explained.

The new Microsoft Planner to offer new task management features

Microsoft Planner users will be able to enhance their experience by customizing their plans with a variety of views, templates, and approaches (such as boards, lists, sprints, and timelines). The new app will support existing features from Planner for the web, including custom fields, team workload, and task history. Additionally, it will offer various additional capabilities like customized reporting, baselines, and portfolios. Copilot in Planner will let users ask questions or create plans, goals, and tasks with natural language prompts.

Microsoft plans to rename Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Teams to Planner later this month. Meanwhile, the rebranding of Project for the web is expected to be completed in early 2024. The company will continue to support Project Online, Project Server, and Project desktop for both new and existing customers.