In November 2023, as part of its Ignite conference, Microsoft officially announced its plans to revamp its Planner app in Teams. Today, just a few weeks after it launched a public preview of the new app, Microsoft announced that it has reached the general availability stage.
That means the Planner app is being rolled out right now for Teams users. In a blog post, Microsoft stated that it will take a number of weeks for the rollout to be completed, so if the new Planner app is not available for you immediately in Teams, you may have to wait a while before the update appears.
Just to recap, the new Planner app in Teams mashes up the features found in the older To Do, Planner, and Project for the web apps. It includes the new My Tasks view, where you can see all of your scheduled tasks on one page, including from basic and premium plans in one and from other Microsoft apps like Loop, Teams, and emails.
Along with the new app itself, Microsoft Planner gets a revamped icon as well. The company says:
The new icon represents the concepts of collaboration, empowerment, workflow, goals, accomplishment, and simplicity. It has fluidity, movement, and activity supporting the idea of getting work done together. The colors themselves incorporate the Microsoft 365 palette, connecting Planner to the broader suite, and demonstrating how tasks and plans play a key role in many of our products.
Teams users will be able to see if they can access the new Planner app if they see the new icon show up in Teams.
People who pay for a Project license will be able to access some extra Planner features, including "Timeline (Gantt) view, dependencies, sprints, custom fields, team workload, managing goals, and more."
Microsoft added that we can expect to see the following features added to Planner in the coming weeks:
- Copilot in Planner. Copilot in the new Planner is currently available to try only through Microsoft Teams public preview.
- Ability to upgrade a basic plan to a premium plan
- A faster and better My Day and My Tasks
- Ability to see Project for the web tasks in My Tasks (currently rolling out to GA in waves)
- Ability to sort the task list
- General bug fixes
At the moment, there are no changes planned for the older To Do, Planner, and Project for the Web apps. Microsoft does plan to update Planner on the web and Project for the Web at some point with the new Planner app.