Dear colleagues, 

Microsoft has announced a major update to Microsoft Planner that will begin rolling out in early 2026. This update will introduce new capabilities and retire several existing features and integrations, including some options that connect Planner with other Microsoft 365 apps. 

What is changing 

• • Microsoft will roll out a new Planner experience in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams (desktop and web) and Planner on the web between mid-January 2026 and mid-February 2026. 

• • New capabilities will include: 

• • • Task chats for basic plans, which let you discuss tasks with rich text and @mentions. 

• • • Custom templates for creating reusable plan layouts. 

• • • Project Manager agent available in all plans for users licensed for Microsoft 365 Copilot.  

• • As part of this update, Microsoft will: 

• • • Replace the existing task comments interface in basic plans with a new task chat experience.  

• • • Older comments will no longer appear directly in the task, but can be opened from a link in the task details that takes you to Outlook.  

• • • On iOS, Android, and Teams mobile, you will still see the existing comments view, but new task chat messages will not show there yet.  

• • • Email notifications for the existing comments experience will continue to go to all plan members when someone adds a comment. 

• • • Retire the Whiteboard tab that automatically attaches a Microsoft Whiteboard to premium plans in Planner. Existing whiteboards will remain available in the standalone Whiteboard app. 

• • • Retire the iCalendar feed integration used to view Planner tasks in external calendars such as Outlook.  

• • • Retire Planner components in Microsoft Loop pages. Existing components will change to show a link to the Planner plan instead of an embedded board. 

• • • Temporarily remove the ability to convert a basic plan to a premium plan. Users will need to create a new premium plan and copy tasks if they need premium capabilities during this period.  

Learn more: The new Microsoft Planner  

If you have any further questions or concerns, please submit a ticket to the Enterprise Service Centre at (https://uoft.me/m365help). 

Kind regards, 

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI)
Information Technology Services, University of Toronto