Microsoft Planner Boards: Build, Organize & Move Work

Microsoft Planner boards let you organize tasks visually using columns, cards, and buckets, and you can move work between them by dragging cards or changing their status. This guide explains how to build a board from scratch, structure it for your team, and move tasks within or between plans.

What Is a Microsoft Planner Board?

Microsoft Planner is a task management app included with most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans. A “board” is the main visual workspace—a Kanban-style grid where each column represents a workflow stage (like To Do, Doing, Done) and each card is a task. You can add buckets (horizontal groupings) to separate work by project, team, or priority. Boards are part of a “Plan,” which is stored in SharePoint and connected to a Microsoft 365 Group.

How to Build a New Planner Board

1. Open Planner from the Microsoft 365 app launcher (the nine-dot menu).
2. Click + New plan on the left sidebar.
3. Give the plan a name (e.g., “Website Redesign”).
4. Choose privacy: Private (only specific members) or Public (anyone in your organization can view).
5. Click Create plan. You now have a blank board with the default columns: To Do, Doing, and Done.

You can also create a plan from a template (like “Software launch” or “Event planning”) by selecting New plan and then choosing a template—these come with pre-made buckets and tasks.

Organizing Your Board: Buckets, Columns, and Cards

Buckets are the horizontal rows on your board. They help group tasks by category—for example, “Marketing,” “Development,” “Design.” To add a bucket, click + Add bucket at the right end of the board. You can rename, reorder (drag the bucket header), or delete it (click the three dots next to the bucket name).

Columns represent workflow stages. By default, you have To Do, Doing, and Done. To add a column, click + Add column on the right. You can rename columns (e.g., “In Review”) and drag them to reorder. Cards are individual tasks—click + Add task under a bucket to create one. Each card can contain:

• Title and description
• Due date and start date
• Assigned members
• Checklist items
• Labels (color-coded tags)
• Attachments (files from your device or OneDrive)
• Comments and activity log

How to Move Work on a Board

Moving work is the core of using Planner. There are several ways:

• Drag and drop a card to a different column (changes its status) or to a different bucket (moves it to another category).
• Open the card and change the Progress field (Not started, In progress, Completed) or the Bucket dropdown.
• Bulk move: select multiple cards by clicking the checkbox on each card, then drag one of them to a new column or bucket—all selected cards move together.
• Reorder within a column by dragging cards up or down to set priority.

When you move a card to a column with a different progress mapping (e.g., from “To Do” to “Done”), the card’s progress updates automatically if you’ve configured the column settings. To do this, click the gear icon on a column, then set the Progress mapping (e.g., “Done” column maps to “Completed”).

Moving Work Between Different Plans

You cannot drag a card directly from one plan to another. To move work between plans, you must copy or recreate the task:

1. Open the card in the source plan.
2. Click … (More options) and select Copy task.
3. Choose the destination plan and bucket.
4. The copy includes title, description, due date, checklist, labels, and attachments (but not comments or activity).

Alternatively, you can export the plan to Excel (from the plan’s … menu, choose Export to Excel) and then import into another plan using the Planner import feature (available in some Microsoft 365 plans). This is useful for migrating large amounts of data.

Common Problems and How to Fix Them

• Can’t drag cards: If drag-and-drop isn’t working, try refreshing the browser, or use the card’s menu to change the bucket/progress. Some users find that the board is in “View” mode—click Edit (pencil icon) to enable editing.
• Columns missing: You may be in a filtered view. Click the filter icon (funnel) and clear all filters.
• Team members can’t edit: The plan is tied to a Microsoft 365 Group. Ensure members are added to the group (via the plan’s Members tab) and have edit permissions.
• Tasks not showing in Outlook/Tasks: Planner tasks sync to Microsoft To Do and Outlook Tasks if you have the right licensing. Check that the plan is not marked as “private” in a way that blocks sync.
• Accidentally deleted a bucket: Deleted buckets and their tasks go to the plan’s recycle bin (in SharePoint). Go to the plan’s SharePoint site, open the Site contents, then Recycle bin to restore.

Planner vs. Microsoft To Do vs. Project

Planner is designed for team collaboration with a visual board. Microsoft To Do is for personal task lists—it syncs with Planner tasks assigned to you but lacks the board view. Microsoft Project (or Project for the web) is for complex project management with dependencies, timelines, and resource management. If you need Gantt charts or critical path analysis, Project is more appropriate; Planner is simpler and better for day-to-day task tracking.

Costs and Licensing

Planner is included with most Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise subscriptions (e.g., Business Basic, Business Standard, E1, E3, E5). It is not available in the free Office.com tier. If you have a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plan, you cannot use Planner—you would need a business plan. Check your admin center to see if Planner is enabled.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add a new column in Planner?

Click + Add column on the right side of the board. You can then rename it and set its progress mapping (e.g., “In Review” maps to “In progress”). Columns can be reordered by dragging the column header.

Can I move a task from one bucket to another without losing its history?

Yes. Drag the card to the new bucket, or open the card and change the Bucket field. The card’s activity log keeps all past changes, comments, and attachments—nothing is lost.

How do I assign a task to multiple people?

Open the card, click Assign, and select multiple members. The task will appear in each person’s My Tasks. However, only the first assignee is considered the “owner” for progress purposes—if one marks it complete, the entire task is marked complete.

Why can’t I see the board view in Microsoft Teams?

If you added Planner as a tab in Teams, you should see the board. If not, click the tab and select Switch to Board view (the icon with columns). If the tab shows a list or chart, use the view switcher at the top right.

Can I export my Planner board to Excel?

Yes. In the plan, click the … (More options) in the top-right, then select Export to Excel. This downloads a spreadsheet with all tasks, assignments, due dates, and bucket names.

Is there a way to set task dependencies in Planner?

No, Planner does not support dependencies natively. For that, you need Microsoft Project or a third-party integration (like via Power Automate). You can work around it by using checklists or ordering cards manually.

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