SharePoint Task Management: Overview of the Options

SharePoint Task Management: Overview of the Options

Last Updated on June 4, 2023

The concept of creating, managing, and completing tasks are quite older than you can imagine.

Microsoft SharePoint (along with Microsoft 365), an online-based tool for document management, is one of the tools that can do this.

It allows different people to become part of a team and jointly work on a project.

Apart from offering the capabilities of cooperative collaboration, SharePoint also includes many tools that can help you to manage tasks effectively.

In this article, I will discuss the options available for managing tasks using SharePoint and Microsoft 365 and how you can put them to good use.

What are the task management options available in SharePoint and Microsoft 365?

Follow me as I introduce you to tools that can help you manage tasks effectively.

1. Planner

Microsoft Planner is a Microsoft service that allows team members and project contributors to manage their diverse projects.

Organize teamwork with intuitive, collaborative, visual task management with Microsoft Planner

The Planner allows the user to create electronic boards on which the team tasks and assignments can be written (or pasted).

Some notes:

  • On Planner boards, users can sort tasks into columns (or what the Planner prefers to call “buckets”).
  • The sorted tasks (buckets) show levels of task development, sprint, weekdays, and others.
  • Moving tasks around the boards is as easy as dragging and dropping them, creating a choice for the user to arrange and re-arrange tasks as they want to.

Planner is also an online-based tool, making it available for use anywhere on any device. This also makes it available for any team member to access it.

This tool also helps the team with communication to show the progress of the team. Team members can also decide to view their progress in charts.

Related: The Best Project Management Apps for Microsoft Teams

How to create a plan on your site:

1. Go to the home page of the site where you want to add a plan. Click on the “+New” button and select “Plan” from the options.

Note that this is only available for team sites with a Microsoft 365 Group.

Create new plan from SharePoint

2. A side panel will slide in from the left. Enter the name of your plan and click on the “Create” button.

Plan name and create button

You can also use an existing plan if you have one.

3. The name of your plan will then appear on the site navigation (if you enabled it earlier).

When you click on it, you will see a Kanban board that you can configure.

Example plan showing the Kanban board view

If you open up the Planner web app, you will see the same thing that you did on the site.

Example Plan on the Planner web app

Note: More details on creating a new plan here: How to Make a New Plan in Microsoft Planner (+No New Group).

2. Tasks App

The Task built-in app, although currently regarded as old-fashioned, still allows users to perform specific tasks.

You can add one by adding any other app via the classic experience option:

Tasks: Popular built-in app

These tasks include the assignation of specific tasks to members of a team and also the sending of targeted emails, that is, to members delegated to a project.

They also allow users to track tasks or action items and to create metadata. Tasks lists can also be exported to Excel for extended manipulation and formatting.

3. Microsoft To-do

Microsoft To-Do is an intelligent and lightweight to-do list that collects all user tasks in a place and helps them manage all of them.

Tasks can also be assigned daily in the My Day tab. This can help users set up different to-dos even just for a day, including — movies, shopping, family, groceries, and even work.

To Do gives you focus, from work to play

Tasks can even be starred and can also be assigned reminders to keep users from missing their tasks.

They allow the user to break down larger tasks and provide extra details for these notes and pieces.

Tasks created by Microsoft To-do will automatically appear in the Outlook tasks because all tasks are stored on the Exchange Online Servers.

Related: Microsoft To Do vs Planner: The Better Tool (Differences)

4. Project for the web

The Project for the web is one of Microsoft’s very recent online-based tools for managing projects and task management.

Meet the simple, powerful, reimagined Project for everyone

It can be used to manage large and complicated projects and is one of the Microsoft Project product families.

Project for the web does not come included in the primary Office 365 subscription. It requires the purchase of a separate license.

When the license is purchased, the app will be added to the list of apps included in the App Launcher.

Let’s briefly outline the powerful features of the Project for the Web:

  • Enabling dependencies: Unlike the Planner app, the Project for the Web allows the user to set dependencies.
  • Timeline feature included: the Project for the Web allows the users to display and also work with the Timeline feature. This feature, designed as a graphical user interface, allows the user to drawbars where tasks can be included and then connect the task.
  • Microsoft Teams Integration: Project for the Web allows integration with MS Teams. Therefore, added users can chat, create sub-rooms, hold meetings, make video calls, assign tasks and set deadlines, access and share files with themselves, and so on.
  • Tasks co-authoring: Project for the web allows users to co-author tasks. Enabling them to access, edit and manage the files at the same time.
  • Roadmap: The Project for the web includes the roadmap feature, which allows the users to create a custom view of the organization’s projects and work on them together. It also allows users to monitor mutual goals and track the status of all project milestones and phases.

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    Managing tasks with SharePoint and Microsoft 365

    These are powerful task management tools that can be used alongside SharePoint.

    Apart from the To-do list, which can be accessed locally, they are all web-based which makes them accessible anywhere and on any device.

    They also are all part of the Microsoft 365 suite and can be used alongside other Microsoft 365 tools.

    Do you have questions about this topic? If so, feel free to post them in the comment section below. For inquiries, use the form on my contact page and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

    About Ryan Clark

    As the Modern Workplace Architect at Mr. SharePoint, I help companies of all sizes better leverage Modern Workplace and Digital Process Automation investments. I am also a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) for M365 Apps & Services.

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    Stan
    Stan
    2 years ago

    Great to have a list like this, the more we discover, the better !
    We’re big fans of this topic in our team, we even wrote about it, hope it helps too: [link removed].

    Jose H
    Jose H
    2 years ago

    Great Article and indeed very good information! Do you know what is the foreseen future of SharePoint 365 Tasks App [classic/old fashion] ? Are there any plans/timelines to retire this functionality any time soon out SharePoint 365? Unlike other solutions such as, Microsoft Project for the Web, Access and Collaboration [Contribute permissions] are fully controlled trough SharePoint and users don’t require a license in order to provide an update for a particular task [significant cost savings] It has indent/outdent functionality, tasks dependencies Gannt chart, very nice and customizable timeline, and they also allow great room for customization through web parts,… Read more »

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