Turning an ask into a task with Microsoft Teams and To Do

When working on multiple projects, committees, organizations, and workgroups we often fall behind on the little things. These simple asks come in the form of a Teams message or Email, and we forget about them as the world continues to work and the message is then off the screen, or worse, deleted with retention policies. Longing for a solution to this age-old problem? With a simple click, you can take a Teams message (chat or channel conversation) and add to Microsoft To Do.

When in Microsoft Teams, locate the ellipsis (…) to access more features and there is an option to Create task. When selecting Create task, this starts a quick Power Automate workflow that prompts information about the task.

When populating the task information, complete with all details, notes, and attachments that would help in the future. By default, the link to the message is populated as well as the content in the title. Often, I will update to be cleaner as these asks might be weeks in advance.

Once the task is created, I then can use Microsoft To Do for tracking and catching up and prioritizing my tasks. Microsoft To Do can be accessed through the Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Microsoft Teams, through the browser, or my personal favorite, the desktop app!

As you can see within To Do, I am able to view my tasks, flagged emails as well as a curated “My Day” view that updates as tasks are assigned due dates. For Planner users out there, tasks assigned to me through Planner will appear here too! This is a quick and easy way to keep track of all your work items across many other platforms.

For more information on Microsoft To Do, Planner or Power Automate, reach out to Maddy Dahl and we can have a discussion on what is possible and how it can change your work to be more productive.

Madilyn Dahl

Maddy is a Senior Associate in the Modern Work Practice and leads the End User Training and Adoption workstream. As a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Maddy has helped clients not only enable the various technologies within the Microsoft 365 suite, but ensure end users are eager to adopt the change. Maddy has spoken at community events in the Twin Cities area and seeks to bring collaboration and connection to the communities she is a part of.