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Provide the ability to create Plan templates with existing tasks that can then be used to create a new plan

Rather than having to create every plan from scratch it would be good if the system allowed for the creation of Templates with pre-existing tasks (like in Word/Excel). This would allow a new plan and its tasks to be created from a template saving a lot of time.

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Matthew Kirk shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
Completed  ·  AdminPlanner Team (Product Manager, Planner) responded  · 

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your patience. We have updated our Copy Plan experience – please try it out today!

This improvement will include the ability to choose an existing group or team to copy the plan into (or choose to create a new group). You’ll also be able to customize what gets copied over. Attachments can only be copied over into existing groups.

You can learn more here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/planner-blog/expanding-the-copy-plan-and-filtering-features-based-on-your/ba-p/1483491

Show previous admin responses (11)

1068 comments

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  • Stephanie Powers commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Need the ability to create a template plan, and it would be exceptionally useful if we could also enter a trigger date to automatically set the due dates for each task within the template plan. (e.g., New employee X is onboarding on 5/1, and I need the due dates to automatically generate for tasks that need to be completed within 7 days (5/8), 14 days (5/15) etc. of the start date)

  • Gary Roberts commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Hi, the following works for me (for now) ....

    Login and access MS Planner via your web browser
    Create your "Template Plan" (with all its associated tasks etc..) then go into the sub menu ... of your Template Plan.
    Select "Copy Plan" on the sub menu ... to create a duplicate plan and give it a new plan name.
    Wait a few seconds for the plan to be copied (you will get a notification)
    Then go to your new duplicated plan under the "Recent Plans" view
    To use your new duplicated plan you then use the "Copy Link to Plan" from Plan sub menu ...
    Now go over MS Teams and create a new TAB based on the "WEBSITE" template
    Give your new tab a name eg "Copied Plan"
    Click in the *URL window and hit CTRL & V to paste in the link you copied earlier and Click SAVE
    When you access your "Copied Plan" Tab you will either get Planner to open directly or it may direct you to the web browser version (this seems random) but this works either way.
    Workaround Job Done ;)

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Years and Years later and this feature still does not exist. It's one of the most important features of any project management software. When will this ever happen?

  • Chris Turner commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    What does soon mean in the context of this feature being requested in 2016? lol. Not a joke, genuinely want to know so i can decide whether to move forward with rolling out planner or use something like Trello. Thanks

  • Norman commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I recently asked my corporate IT department if the 'Plan template' approach was possible. Looks like it isn't. Real shame when you want to standardise procedures across multiple teams

  • Paal W. Aanensen commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    As many others around the world, the use of Teams within our organisation has really picked up during the last couple of months - from random use by a few eager individuals, to becoming a daily tool for most if not all users. With Teams comes increased focus and use of "surrounding MS tools", such as Planner. It's surprising to find that copying an existing plan within an existing group is still not possible. The lack of this feature is truly a show-stopper for using Planner for us...

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Please could we get an update on when we can expect the copy plan feature (within a group)? I would have thought this should be simple as the feature already basically exists. Thanks.

  • DMurray commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    To Tom's comment earlier, I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks (Microsoft) for getting us close - just not close enough. I'm having to use Tasks in a Box to plug into Teams and it's working great but it is a shame that Planner seems to be what feels just a few tweaks away from providing all of the functionality (my team needs) that TiaB offers us right now. Project filtering, grouping Project collections, 'proper' Template control and copying of Projects (Plans) into other groups. Hoping MS can get this over the line eventually.

    In terms of archiving a Team, still allowing search but in a read-only state, then I think it's something that's definitely built in, beyond just hiding a Team: https://sharegate.com/blog/archive-inactive-microsoft-teams

  • Tom commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I agree with Greg Nelson, the very first post on this update request from more than 4 years ago. I also use Asana and just beginning to explore MS Teams to assist consolidating our project management. Thought it would be an easy transition to Planner since it's all part of the MS ecosystem. Based on the years of requests still coming for this, it doesn't appear this is a priority for MS to solve for so many. I will continue with what we are doing and keep looking for a solution elsewhere to tie it all together. After being so excited with nearly everything I've seen with this, it's definitely a deal breaker to have to recreate the same project management plan every time we implement a new project with a client. Disappointed with the time I've wasted. Template duplication that can be assigned to any team you create should be a default.

    Thanks for getting us close, just not close enough.

  • Philip commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I agree with Robert's comments on April 13th, 2020. The current Copy functionality is not that. It's creating a link to the other plan.

    When will this functionality be created to have template projects that can be replicated, renamed, tasks edits, edited or deleted. As nice as Planner is, this missing functionality makes a less attractive option compared to competitors (i.e. Trello). This product will never scale in an enterprise environment without the Copy functionality.

  • DMurray commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I couldn't agree more that this is essential to be able to (1) create a new plan from an existing template that is a COPY and isn't the actual template itself that ends up being edited when the plan editor is working on it. (2) the plan editor has to have an option to assign it to a group - I imagine it would probably default to the group it's being created in but obviously as a template-derivative, the option to assign it as it's being spawned from a template should be a standard feature.

  • [Deleted User] commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    It would be useful to be able to create a tempate task with fixed checklists and timescales rather than having to create a lengthy tasklist afresh each time we raise a ticket.

  • Yves commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Are you planning to give users the option NOT to copy the labels to a new plan?

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