How to use Microsoft Planner | Complete Guide | Add to Teams
How to use Microsoft Planner | Complete Guide | Add to Teams
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In this Microsoft Planner for beginners tutorial I cover everything you need to know to use Microsoft Planner. I’ll show you how to use Microsoft Planner from the web (from office.com) and also how you can use Microsoft Planner in Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Planner is a Kanban solution that simplifies task management for teams. It’s a fully customizable, visual tool that’s super-easy to use. It uses a simple card-based interface with files, checklists, labels, and more to track progress and deadlines. Best of all, it’s fully integrated with other Microsoft apps like Teams. You can use Microsoft Planner to manage your teamwork and to make sure everyone in the team knows which tasks to do. Planner is also great for personal task planning and organizing. You can schedule tasks in Planner and get a visual overview of task distribution within the team as well as task due dates and more.
You can filter tasks in Microsoft Planner based on different criteria, such as person responsible, task label, due date etc.
In this complete guide I’ll show you how Microsoft Planner works and how you can successfully track your tasks.
Time Stamps
00:00 How to Use Microsoft Planner
01:21 How to Access Microsoft Planner
01:59 How to Create a Plan in Microsoft Planner
03:39 What are Buckets in Microsoft Planner
05:18 How to Create Tasks in Microsoft Planner
11:23 How to Manage Projects with Microsoft Planner
12:51 How to Filter and Group Information in Microsoft Planner
13:40 How to Use Charts View in Microsoft Planner
14:04 How to Use Schedule View in Microsoft Planner
14:43 How to Export a Plan from Microsoft Planner to Excel
15:17 How to Use Planner in Microsoft Teams
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#microsoftplanner
Content
0.24 -> Today, I'm going to
show you how you can use
2.05 -> Microsoft Planner to track the tasks
4.31 -> and projects of your team.
6.24 -> This way you all know
who's responsible for what.
9.18 -> If you want to keep track
10.15 -> of your own personal tasks and projects
12.46 -> you can also create
your own personal plan.
15.75 -> If you have no idea what Planner is
17.75 -> here's a quick overview.
19.62 -> Planner is a visual tool.
21.09 -> It's customizable and super easy to use.
23.88 -> It's very similar to Trello or monday.com
26.96 -> in case you're familiar with them.
29 -> You can assign tasks in
what looks like cards.
32.01 -> Inside these mini cards
34.01 -> you can include lots of
information and history
36.94 -> about this task.
38.27 -> You can move these cards
around to different buckets,
41.04 -> track progress, deadlines, filter data,
44.66 -> and best of all, it's fully integrated
46.9 -> with other Microsoft apps like Teams.
49.39 -> I'll show you how you can
do the team integration
51.76 -> with Planner towards the end of the video.
53.8 -> Don't miss that if you're using Teams.
55.98 -> It's going to give you
a productivity boost.
58.81 -> Now for our team projects,
we used to use Trello.
62.81 -> We switched to Planner sometime ago
64.65 -> because we're using all
the other Microsoft apps
67.63 -> and we're really happy with it
69.35 -> because everything is so well integrated.
72.18 -> Let me show you now how Planner works
74.91 -> and how you can integrate it.
76.306 -> (upbeat music)
81.3 -> You can access Planner from Office.com
83.77 -> or directly from your
Microsoft Teams desktop.
86.4 -> Now I'll go to Office.com first
88.63 -> and later show you the view from Teams
90.48 -> and how you can integrate it there.
92.24 -> So just go to Office.com
93.98 -> and login with your 365 account.
96.93 -> Once you've logged in,
click on the app launcher
100.2 -> in the top left corner.
101.81 -> If you don't find it under apps,
103.6 -> just click on all apps here
105.6 -> and scroll down till you see it.
108.29 -> This is going to take
you to the Planner hub
110.54 -> which shows you to plans
you've created yourself
113.13 -> or the plans you've been
added to by other people.
116.35 -> If it's the first time
you're using this hub
118.29 -> it's going to be empty.
119.58 -> So let's create a new plan.
121.7 -> Now, what is the plan?
123.8 -> We'll think of a plan as a project
125.74 -> or something you need to do
127.51 -> that involves multiple smaller tasks.
130.45 -> So here you can give your plan a name.
132.92 -> Let's say you're responsible
for a new project
135.07 -> which is about making improvements
136.5 -> to your current finance system.
138.67 -> Let's call it Finance System Update.
141.94 -> Now here's something important.
143.78 -> If you want to share your
plan with an existing group
146.87 -> or a team in Microsoft Teams
that you're a member of,
149.94 -> then select Add to existing 365 group.
154.09 -> This is good practice
155.07 -> because then everyone in
the team in that group
157.99 -> has access to this project.
159.87 -> You can then search for
your group or select it.
162.76 -> Now you're only going to see
the ones that you remember of.
165.48 -> Now, let me just go back to
show you the other options.
168.69 -> Instead of adding an existing 365 group
171.51 -> you can create a public plan.
173.45 -> This means everyone in
the organization can join
175.8 -> and make changes to the plan
177.76 -> once you share the link them.
180.06 -> After you shared the link
181.59 -> they can see the plan
in their recent plans.
184.35 -> Your other option is to
create a private plan.
186.783 -> Now, this is good if
you're creating a plan
188.84 -> for yourself or for specific people
191.4 -> and there is no 365 group
or teams available for it.
195.39 -> In our example, though, I'm going to go
197.15 -> to this 365 group
198.66 -> and select the finance
group for this project.
201.32 -> This way, everyone in the finance team
203.56 -> is going to have access to it.
205.28 -> And because it's a collaborative tool
207.56 -> everyone can create and
update to tasks that
210.13 -> we have in the plan.
211.69 -> So let's create the plan.
213.4 -> Once we get to this view inside board
216.42 -> you have the ability to
add tasks and buckets.
219.94 -> What are buckets?
221.29 -> Buckets organize groups of similar tasks.
224.33 -> The way you organize your buckets
225.85 -> depends on you and your project.
228.38 -> In our project here
229.89 -> which is about making improvements
to our finance system,
233.14 -> I can add a bucket for ideas.
236.01 -> Now underneath this
237.61 -> I can collect each idea
separately as a task.
241.46 -> Let's add the buckets first
and then move to tasks.
245.01 -> Another bucket can contain approved ideas.
248.6 -> Let's also add a design bucket
251.14 -> then a testing one, then implementation.
255.13 -> It's really up to you and
the people you work with
257.84 -> how you like to organize
your tasks and buckets.
261.45 -> So notice in this case
262.98 -> it's different phases
of our finance project
265.36 -> but you can have buckets
for different departments
267.59 -> or different chapters of a
book that you're writing.
271.21 -> When I create a plan for my online courses
273.96 -> I have a bucket for each section,
275.84 -> it's fully flexible
depending on what you want.
279.34 -> Now, here's a good time to also talk about
281.46 -> what Microsoft Planner
isn't well suited for.
284.98 -> It's not a tool for large
and complex projects
288.03 -> where you need to manage
resources and capacities.
291.28 -> And it's also not suited when
you want to organize the work
295.27 -> into phases and have
dependencies between tasks.
299.78 -> If that's what you need,
check out Microsoft Project.
303.47 -> But if you're looking for a collaborative
306.19 -> and easy to use task management software
309.28 -> then Planner will work for you.
311.32 -> You can also have multiple
plans for the same group
315.46 -> because your group might be
working on different projects.
319.08 -> Now that we set up the different buckets
321.31 -> let's take a look at tasks.
323.42 -> To add a new task
324.69 -> so let's say I want to
add a new task to ideas
327.59 -> just click on Add task.
330.14 -> This creates a new card.
332.11 -> Enter the task name.
333.73 -> In this case it's the name of my idea.
336.19 -> Let's say, one idea is to copy data
338.49 -> from one account to another.
340.34 -> Let's add that with the account codes.
342.94 -> I can assign a person to this task.
345.41 -> If you have a lot of names,
you can search for it here.
349.06 -> So I'm currently logged
in as this user XelPlus.
353.18 -> I'm the owner of this task.
355.28 -> I'm going to go ahead
and select this person
357.86 -> to be responsible for this task.
360 -> You can also assign multiple people
362.15 -> or leave this completely
empty and do it later.
364.72 -> In this case, I'll just leave one person.
367.81 -> You have the ability to set a due date
370.18 -> but you can also always
update these later.
372.97 -> So let's just go with add task now.
375.82 -> I can see the title of my task here
377.98 -> and I can add a lot more detail to it
380.06 -> by clicking on this task.
382.46 -> I can add a label,
383.86 -> this way I can color code similar tasks.
387.35 -> This has both visual benefits
as well as filter benefits
391.29 -> which I'll show you in a second.
393.52 -> So let's say for copying accounts
395.57 -> we want to use pink,
397.11 -> and I'll rename this to copy account.
400.21 -> This is the current bucket
my task is sitting in,
402.87 -> it's in the ideas bucket.
405.1 -> Under progress you can specify
406.87 -> whether this task is not started,
409.53 -> in progress or completed.
411.99 -> Let's set this to in progress.
414.72 -> You get to assign a priority to this task,
417.51 -> the date you need to start working on it
419.77 -> and a due date.
421.45 -> You can also add some notes to your task
424.06 -> and include some links if you need to.
426.4 -> When you go out of this view,
the links will be clickable.
430.36 -> A really good feature down
here is the checklist.
433.16 -> You can add multiple
items to create subtasks.
436.58 -> So for our task here, let's
add some steps we need to do.
440.23 -> For example, we need to
plan steps with accounting.
444.51 -> We need to test concept on
two years of historical data.
447.97 -> And finally, let's just press Enter
449.61 -> to add another item.
451.18 -> We need to present to steering committee.
454.33 -> We can cross off tasks we've already done
456.97 -> by placing a check mark beside it
459.76 -> and get to see our progress here.
462.1 -> When this box is checked,
463.4 -> it's going to show the list of
open items on the card directly.
467.34 -> Let me show you.
468.58 -> Let's close this.
469.94 -> Everything is automatically saved.
471.94 -> Under Board view we
get this nice overview.
475.13 -> We don't see the item
we already crossed off,
478.16 -> only the remaining items.
480.03 -> This shows us how many we completed.
482.12 -> We can cross them off directly
from the Board view as well.
485.72 -> Now you can also show other
information on the card
488.39 -> if you want.
489.46 -> Of course, this is going to cost
you some space on the board.
492.43 -> So if you have a lot of cards
494.02 -> you might not want to show anything.
496.72 -> Another great feature is the
ability to add attachments.
499.83 -> You can attach files
from your local computer.
502.2 -> So anything you upload will be stored
504.05 -> in the SharePoint library.
505.84 -> This way it's going to
be available for everyone
507.96 -> working on the plan.
509.15 -> You can add links here as
well by entering a URL.
512.43 -> And if the file is already
stored in the SharePoint library
515.75 -> you can select it directly from here.
518.5 -> And finally, you can also add comments.
521.75 -> Click Send once you're
ready to post the comment.
525.37 -> Now this is going to do two things.
527.06 -> For one, it's going to show
a comment symbol on the card
530.52 -> to give the team a heads up
531.77 -> that there is something new to read.
534.06 -> And because it's fully integrated in 365,
536.54 -> the comment will go right to
the shared Outlook mailbox.
539.92 -> So if you open your Outlook
and go to a group section
543.5 -> you will see this email in
the mailbox of the group.
546.81 -> So that's how a task is created.
548.9 -> You can update the
information of this task
551 -> whenever you need.
552.84 -> If you want to use
shortcut keys to add a task
555.55 -> you can use the Tab key
557.12 -> to move to the next item or
Shift + Tab to move backwards.
561.73 -> When you get to add task, just press Enter
564.23 -> and type in your title.
565.86 -> Press Enter again, to add the task.
568.62 -> Another thing you can do
570.17 -> if you'd like to copy the
properties for example,
572.64 -> the checklist of an existing task
575.03 -> is to copy a task instead of
creating one from scratch.
578.63 -> Go to more options, select Copy task,
582.3 -> update the name,
583.81 -> select the plan name.
585.47 -> In this case it's my current plan
587.31 -> but I can also copy it
to other plans as well.
590.68 -> Select the bucket name
592 -> and the properties you'd like to copy.
594.28 -> I'll copy dates as well.
596.46 -> Then select Copy.
598.13 -> This is a standalone card now.
600.48 -> You can go in and update
any information you'd like.
604.29 -> I'll assign a new person to this.
606.84 -> This time let's go with XelPlus,
609.42 -> the user I'm logged in with.
611.46 -> By the way every time you
were assigned a new task
614.07 -> you're going to get an email notification
615.73 -> about this in your inbox.
618.53 -> Oh, and let me show you one more thing.
620.06 -> It's about attachments and
how you can collaborate
623.05 -> on these directly on SharePoint.
625.47 -> Let's change the name of the first bucket
627.18 -> to project info.
628.62 -> Here I'd like to add the
project design document.
632.06 -> I'll add a task,
634.09 -> go in the card and add an attachments.
637.61 -> This document is already on SharePoint.
639.62 -> So all I have to do is just select it.
641.98 -> I'll show it on the card.
643.61 -> Now, check this out.
644.88 -> When I click on it
646.03 -> it opens up the document
on SharePoint directly.
649.48 -> Any changes I make will be
reflected in SharePoint.
653.14 -> Let's close this tab and go back.
655.02 -> Now I also want to add an Excel file
657.8 -> which has the project timeline.
659.77 -> This one is on my desktop
661.76 -> so let's browse for it and add it in.
664.89 -> So the moment I add it here
666.99 -> this file is loaded to SharePoint
669.26 -> and any changes we make to this file
671.22 -> is going to be reflected
in the SharePoint version.
673.96 -> Let me show it to you by
going back to attachments
676.22 -> from any card and you can see
the file in SharePoint now.
680.12 -> Okay, that's how tasks
and attachments work.
682.99 -> But how do you make use of these buckets?
685.5 -> Let's say for this task
that was assigned to Chris
688.15 -> he's completed everything from his side.
690.89 -> Let's just go in from his account
693.37 -> and add a comment that
he signed off on this.
696.19 -> Not either him or any of us in the team
698.92 -> can move the card to the next bucket.
701.28 -> So remember, in this
case our buckets reflect
703.97 -> phases of the project.
705.82 -> All we have to do is drag the card
707.41 -> over into the approval bucket.
709.98 -> This way the team knows the
current status of this task.
712.77 -> Now the card can be
updated here to reflect
715.48 -> any new needs we might have
to get the approval done.
718.6 -> So let's say the XelPlus
user who created everything
721.81 -> is the project manager.
723.4 -> I'm going to go back
to the XelPlus account.
725.88 -> Go to the card and assign
727.88 -> another team member called Admin
730.69 -> that needs to work on this.
732.64 -> This way they will get a
notification in Outlook.
735.65 -> Now, when Admin goes in
737.75 -> they can see the checklist was completed.
740.32 -> They can add their own
checks if they need to
743.09 -> and also view the history of comments
745.22 -> or any attachments that
concerns this task.
748.35 -> Once they're done from their side,
750.3 -> they can drag this
751.67 -> or any of us on the team can
drag this to the next phase.
754.84 -> Then the next one, and
finally to implementation.
758.54 -> Once the task is done, you
can mark it as completed.
761.82 -> And once you close the card
763.56 -> you'll see it archived under completed.
765.95 -> You can bring it back if you need to
768.15 -> by setting it back to in progress.
771.21 -> Now let's check out the
different views you have.
773.77 -> This is the standard Board view
775.58 -> and I have Group by Bucket.
777.65 -> You can change the
grouping with this dropdown
779.9 -> and select another view.
781.33 -> For example, show tasks
by person or by progress.
785.74 -> You can also organize by due
date, priority or by labels.
790.47 -> With the filter dropdown,
you can restrict a view
792.89 -> and only show tasks that are due
794.61 -> within a certain timeframe,
with a certain priority.
798.55 -> Progress.
799.67 -> You can restrict it to a specific person
802.14 -> or show unassigned tasks.
805 -> If you click it again,
you remove the filter.
808.04 -> Let's go to label and
filter for copy account.
811.48 -> And my results will be
filtered to this label only.
814.59 -> Click it again to remove
the filter or select Clear
817.81 -> to remove all filters.
819.68 -> If you want a more visual
display of your plan
822.39 -> you can select the charts view.
824.14 -> Here you quickly see how many tasks
826.18 -> are running late in the status chart,
828.31 -> or in the bucket chart
you'll get an overview
830.83 -> of the tasks by bucket.
832.89 -> And with the priority chart
834.7 -> you can see how many tasks
you have in each priority.
838.09 -> Down here, you get an overview by member
841.17 -> to see if the workload is balanced.
844.12 -> When you select Schedule up here
846.17 -> you get a calendar type
of view for your tasks.
848.8 -> From this view, you can adjust
tasks by clicking on them.
851.84 -> You get back to task view.
853.81 -> If you update the duration of a task
856.03 -> it's going to automatically
update on the calendar.
858.99 -> You can also create new
tasks from this view
861.89 -> by clicking on the plus here,
863.42 -> type in the name
864.44 -> select a bucket and adjust
ideas if you need to.
867.93 -> On this side you get to see
the list of unscheduled tasks
871.72 -> or tasks that are not
showing up on the calendar.
875.03 -> So let's go back to Board view,
877.18 -> in case you ever need to delete a task
879.81 -> you can go to more
options and select Delete.
883.12 -> Another great feature
884.19 -> is the ability to export
this plan to Excel.
887.03 -> Click on more options,
export plan to Excel.
890.34 -> Let's open it.
892.08 -> We get the task information
893.72 -> including our checklist
information all in Excel.
897.67 -> Remember, you can also
be part of many plans.
900.94 -> How do you keep track
902.12 -> of all the tasks that are assigned to you?
905.13 -> There is an option for that.
907.13 -> To see all tasks assigned to
you, go to this icon here.
911.01 -> You get to view all your
tasks, regardless of plan.
914.71 -> You can see the plan name on the card.
917.42 -> Now I kept the best for last.
919.76 -> If you use Microsoft Teams
921.29 -> you can easily add
Planner to your team view.
924.83 -> Just log into Teams,
926.4 -> go to the channel where you
want to add this plan to.
929.26 -> Select the plus, look for Planner.
931.95 -> It's called Tasks by Planner and To Do.
934.83 -> We have the option to create a new plan
936.74 -> or use an existing plan.
938.73 -> In this case, we already have our plan.
940.83 -> Let's select it from the dropdown.
942.68 -> click on Save and the plan is added
944.43 -> to our channel tab in Teams.
946.63 -> You can of course rename this if you want,
948.88 -> just right mouse click rename,
and adjust as you need.
952.92 -> The great thing about this is that
954.71 -> from Teams you can access Planner
957.37 -> and all the files inside Planner.
960.23 -> You don't have to go from
the browser to office.com.
963.87 -> You have everything in one place.
967.17 -> So that's the essentials
for Microsoft Planner.
970.52 -> As you can see, it's pretty
easy to manage the team work
973.56 -> or just your own work.
975.51 -> The card-based interface
is great for organizing
978.8 -> and scheduling activities
980.15 -> and keeping everyone informed
about the status of a task.
984.257 -> And you can also use the
Planner app for iOS and Android
988.21 -> So you can keep up with
your plans on the go.
991.12 -> That's all for today.
992.38 -> Don't forget to subscribe
and hit that bell
994.22 -> so you can find these types of tutorials
997.25 -> directly in your subscription feed.
999.49 -> Thank you for watching
1000.79 -> and I'll see you in the next video.
1002.511 -> (upbeat music)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn0S9KPbN84