How to use Tasks in Microsoft Teams
Assigning tasks is a basic requirement within a team and keeping track of those assigned tasks is important. Email is one simple tool that can be used to assign tasks. You can probably create a shared note with a service like Google Notes and use it to assign tasks.
The fact is that most communication tools can be used to assign tasks but in order to keep track of them efficiently, a dedicated tasking tool is needed.
Tasks in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft is no stranger to productivity tools and it has integrated some of its best tools in Microsoft Teams as apps.
Tasks by Planner and To Do is a Microsoft Teams app that can be added to your team and used for assigning tasks and keeping track of tasks that have been assigned to you. You can use the app for just yourself to keep track of what you need to do and when you need to get it done or you can create a ‘Planner’ for your team and use it to assign tasks to team members.
Add Tasks in Microsoft Teams
To add Tasks to Microsoft Teams, follow these steps.
- Open Microsoft Teams and sign in with the Owner or Admin account.
- Click Apps at the bottom of the column on the left.
- Search for Tasks.
- Select the Tasks by Planner and To Do to add it.
Personal Tasks in Microsoft Teams
To create tasks for yourself in Microsoft Teams using the Tasks app, follow these steps.
- Access the Tasks app from the column on the left.
- Click New list or plan at the bottom left.
- Give your tasks’ list a name and under Create in select My Tasks.
- Click Create.
- Once created, select the list and click New Task to add a task.
- Give it a due date and click the checkmark icon to add it.
Team tasks in Microsoft Teams
In order to create and assign tasks to teams with Tasks, you need to first add the app as a tab in a channel. A tasks tab cannot be added to a private channel.
Method 1
- Open Microsoft Teams and select the Channel you want to add the planner to.
- Click the plus button at the top right of the tabs.
- Select the Tasks app.
- Enter a name for the tab and click Save
Method 2
- Open Microsoft Teams.
- Go to Tasks from the column on the left.
- Click New list or plan at the bottom left.
- In the pop-up, open the Create in dropdown and select a team.
- Open the Channel dropdown and select the channel you want to create the planner under.
- Click Create.
Add tasks
Once the planner has been created, you can add tasks to it and assign it to team members.
- Go to the channel with the Tasks tab.
- Click Add a task.
- Give the task a name, a due date, and click Assign to select a team member to assign the task to.
Fix: We couldn’t save your tab settings. Please try again.
If you’re trying to add a planner or Tasks tab to a channel, and you keep seeing the “We couldn’t save your tab settings. Please try again.” message, here is what you need to do.
- Sign out from the Owner or admin account.
- Sign in with an account that is a team member (or create a new one).
- Go to the channel and click the plus button to add the Tasks tab.
- Enter a name for the tab and click Create.
- The tab will be added.
