The new Microsoft Planner for Teams has reached general availability, complete with new icon

During the Ignite conference in November 2023, Microsoft revealed its intentions to revamp its Planner app within Teams. Following the recent release of a public preview for the updated app, Microsoft has now confirmed its availability for general use.

The Planner app is currently being rolled out for Teams users. According to a recent blog post by Microsoft, the rollout process will take several weeks to complete. If the new Planner app is not immediately available for you in Teams, it may take some time for the update to appear.

To summarize, the updated Planner app within Teams combines features from the previous To Do, Planner, and Project for the web apps. This includes the new My Tasks view, which displays all scheduled tasks on a single page, including those from both basic and premium plans, as well as other Microsoft apps such as Loop, Teams, and emails.

In addition to the updated app, Microsoft Planner is also receiving a redesigned icon, according to the company’s statement:

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 determine if they can access the new Planner app by checking for the appearance of the new icon in Teams.

Those who purchase a Project license will have access to additional Planner features, such as “Timeline (Gantt) view, dependencies, sprints, custom fields, team workload, managing goals, and more.”

Microsoft stated that in the upcoming weeks, we can anticipate the inclusion of the following features in Planner:

• 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

Currently, there are no scheduled updates for the older To Do, Planner, and Project for the Web apps. However, Microsoft does have plans to eventually update the web versions of Planner and Project for the Web with the new Planner app.