If you’re like us, you manage lots of tasks and they are stored everywhere—project tasks in Planner, flagged email messages, post-it notes, sticky notes, white board notes, mental notes—the methods and mechanisms are varied. And managing all of those tasks in all of those places can be a recipe for disaster with missed deadlines and deliverables.
If you haven’t tried it already and you are a Microsoft 365 user, Microsoft’s To Do application might be the answer to your task management woes!
How Does it Work?
Microsoft To Do integrates team tasks entered into Microsoft Planner as well as flagged Outlook email messages and presents those tasks using a variety of screens based on status and source. Additionally, users can add individual tasks and organize them using To Do’s list functionality. As expected, the To Do app is available as a Windows client, from a web browser, and on a mobile device. And, tasks entered in one device or application are displayed everywhere.
Task management is a breeze. Selecting a task in the list allows you to update due dates, reminders, and task recurrence settings. Reminders are delivered using the Outlook reminder window as well as Windows system notifications.
Important Star – select to mark this task as Important.
+ Add step – use to add sub-tasks (just like in Planner!).
Add to My Day – select to add this task to the My Day screen.
Remind me – select to add or modify the reminder date and time.
Add due date – select to add or modify the due date.
Repeat – select to add or modify the recurrence for the task.
Add file – select to attach file(s) to the task.
Add note – enter a note in this region about the task.
Right arrow (>) – closes the properties pane.
Trash can – deletes the task.
The various To Do screens are configurable, allowing you to set screen Themes, organize tasks, and print lists. Additionally, lists can be shared with others in your organization or emailed to co-workers as needed.
Coming soon! Scheduled for release end of September 2020, Microsoft To Do will support managing tasks for multiple accounts. If allowed by your organizations, users will be able to add a different work account, their school account, or a personal account to the app and see tasks across all!
A work or school account is managed through Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for a Microsoft 365 tenant. A personal Microsoft account (MSA) is an email address used to log in to Microsoft services like Office 365, Xbox consoles, or Windows 10 PCs. Users can associate any email address as the username for their MSA, including addresses from Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Gmail, Yahoo!, or other providers.
What’s Next?
Plans are underway and releases are coming soon for a Tasks app that replaces the Planner app and will allow users to look at their tasks in a list format and make changes across multiple tasks at once.
The new Tasks app will also include tasks entered in the To Do app as well as allow users to enter tasks as needed. However, the functionality provided by the new Tasks app won’t quite match up to To Do (at least not yet) as shown in the following comparison chart.
Learn More
