Many Office 365 users should have found an early Christmas present appearing automatically in their app launchers this month. It’s a new project management and planner app that is so easy to use, you’d have your pick of sayings to describe it. (My favorites involve food: “It’s a piece of cake” or “Easy as pie.”) Microsoft just describes it as a “simple and highly visual way to organize teamwork.”
Designed for businesses, schools and other organizational users, Microsoft Planner lets teams create plans for new projects, manage tasks, share files and discuss progress all via a single interface. And it works across desktops, smartphones and other devices.
In its blog post, the Microsoft Planner team said the company has been working with Office 365 users around the world to fine-tune the application since a preview became available in December. The team also invites ongoing suggestions through a feedback forum and already has plans to add new features to the tools based on user comments.
Some of those new features will include the ability to assign a task to multiple users, external user access, plan templates, and make customizable boards and apps for iOS, Android and Windows, the team posted in an Office blog.
“Planner makes use of Office 365 Groups — so each plan is a group — and when you create a plan it creates a group,” Brian Smith, an engineer for Microsoft Office, posted. “The group then supports the collaboration features by providing storage for attachments and also a mailbox for group discussions.”
Are you an Office 365 user? Check it out! Watch the Office 365 video on YouTube.
