Keeping track of the thousand things you have to do every day used to be a daunting task until apps like Microsoft To-Do changed our lives for the better. Planning your day, making lists of the tasks you need to do, and finally checking off those tasks from your list has become a part of many of our lives. (Am I the only one who loves to hear that ding when you cross off a task in To-Do? So satisfying!)
But did you know that the app we all love so much can also be used with your other favourite app Microsoft Teams? No? Well, aren’t you in for a treat! Although there is no integration available for Microsoft To-Do in Microsoft Teams yet (but one is in works reportedly), there is yet another app that lets you use To-Do in Teams, just not in the way you might have imagined.
Tasks is an integrated app in Microsoft Teams that lets you create tasks for your Microsoft To-Do lists straight from any messages in chats/ channel conversations in Teams without having to switch the apps.
How to Use the Tasks App
You can add ‘Tasks’ as an app in Microsoft Teams. Open the Microsoft Teams desktop client or web app, and go to the ‘More added apps’ option (three dots) from the navigation bar on the left.
Then, search for ‘Tasks’ and click on the first option in the results.
Click on ‘Add’ to add Tasks as an app to your Microsoft Teams arsenal.
The app will request your sign in to continue. Click on the ‘Sign in’ option.
Sign in with your Microsoft account. The app will request permission to access your info. Click on ‘Yes’ after reading all the terms and information provided.
The icon for the ‘Tasks’ app will appear in the list of pinned apps beneath your message box.
Note: Tasks is not a collaborative app, so you cannot add it as a tab in channel or chat.
How to Add a Task from Microsoft Teams
Adding a task from Microsoft Teams to To-Do is very simple, yet efficient. Go to the message you want to add as a task to your list in To-Do and click on the ‘More’ option (three dots icon) that appears after you hover on a message.
Then go to ‘More actions’ in the menu that pops up and finally select ‘Create Task’ from the sub-menu.
A dialog box to create a task will open. Add a Title for the task. The rest of the information is optional. You can add a due date, body (that will be added to the Notes section of the task in To-Do along with the original message), importance, and a date and time for a reminder if you want one. Then, click on ‘Send’.
It will add the task to your Outlook as well as the Microsoft To-Do list. The task in Microsoft To-Do will also have the original message attached in the notes section along with the sender’s details and time of the message so you will always have the context of the task on hand.
If you don’t want to create a task from a message, but want to create a simple task without having to switch apps, you can do it too. Click on the ‘Task’ icon in the list of pinned apps beneath the message box to create a task at any time.
Tasks app can help you create tasks for your Microsoft To-Do list straight from Microsoft Teams and you can even create tasks from the messages you send or receive. Unfortunately, at this time Tasks can only do that for you and not integrate Microsoft To-Do in Teams so you can even see your task lists in Teams. But until those capabilities arrive in Teams, and they soon will as a combined integration for Microsoft To-Do and Planner is in work at Microsoft, we will take what we can get.
Member discussion