When to use Microsoft Project, Planner, To Do, or the Tasks app in Teams (2025)

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Apps and integrations

Apps and integrations

When to use Microsoft Project, Planner, To Do, or the Tasks app in Teams

Applies ToProject Online Desktop Client Project Professional 2024 Project Professional 2021 Project Professional 2019 Project Professional 2016 Microsoft Planner Project Online

Don't know which app is right for your project? The different Microsoft task management apps are designed for different project situations. Here's how to tell which to use.

  • Is this a solo project or a team project? If it's just you, use the personal task management app, To Do. You can also see tasks from To Do in the Tasks app in Teams, and in Outlook Tasks. Project and Planner are built for team projects.

  • Are there few deliverables and dependencies, or many? For a simpler team project, we recommend using Planner. If you need to track dependencies, costs, or more complexity, Project works best. You can use Project desktop or Project for the web. You can see your Planner tasks, both individual and team, in the Tasks app in Teams, and you also see your Project for the web projects in Teams using the Project app in Teams.

Project for the web

When to use Microsoft Project, Planner, To Do, or the Tasks app in Teams (1)

Easily collaborate on the web, tracking tasks that depend on each other

Project for the web is a cloud-based project management app that allows you to easily create and collaborate on projects, whether or not you're a project manager. You can use three views for multiple planning options: Grid for data, Board for Kanban-style planning, and Timeline for a Gantt view to show which tasks depend on each other.

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Project desktop

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Create a standalone project plan

The Project desktop application can be great for creating a schedule where you want to organize work into phases, have dependencies between tasks, and so on, either for oneself or for publishing to a team.

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Project Online

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Track projects, portfolios, and timesheets

Project Online is a web-based application that can work for small, medium, and large businesses. Project managers can create schedules and assign tasks to resources who can then see their tasks and report time. Portfolio managers can look across all projects to see what people are working on.

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Microsoft Planner

When to use Microsoft Project, Planner, To Do, or the Tasks app in Teams (4)
Quickly create plans, assign tasks, and collaborate

Planner is a light weight, mobile and web-based application that comes with most Office 365 for business subscriptions. With Planner you and your team can to create plans, assign tasks, chat about tasks, and see charts of your team’s progress. You can also use Planner from within Microsoft Teams and Microsoft SharePoint.

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Microsoft ToDo

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Prioritize and complete the most important things every day

The ToDo app lets you list all your tasks and sort them so you can focus on what’s important. It features a My Day list for your daily tasks and also allows you to create additional lists to organize your work, projects, groceries, and so on.

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Tasks app in Teams

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Manage individual and team tasks right in Teams

The Tasks app in Microsoft Teams brings together your individual tasks from To Do and Outlook with your team tasks from Planner so you can more efficiently cross them off your lists. Use the unique List view to change many tasks at once, and easily find and edit them. Use the Tasks app to work on To Do and Planner tasks alongside the Teams channels, chats, and apps you're used to.

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