Additional task-related features and issues within Microsoft Teams for business
The behavior being seen is due to the new Planner experience, which replaces legacy task “comments” with task chat.
Key changes:
- Legacy comments vs. task chat
- Previously, tasks showed a Comments box at the bottom, and comments were stored as part of the Microsoft 365 Group conversation.
- In the new Planner, opening a task now shows a chat pane instead of the old comments list.
- Where the old comments went
- If a task already has legacy comments, the task will show a link to open the comment thread in Outlook. This lets the historic “audit trail” remain accessible, but new messages are no longer added there.
- New activity on the task is captured only in task chat.
- How to work with the new task chat
- Task chat is the supported way to discuss a task now. It supports:
- Rich text formatting (bold, lists, links, headings).
- Emoji reactions.
- Editing or deleting messages that were written (edits and deletions are clearly indicated).
- Anyone who has access to the plan and can open the task can see and participate in the task chat, including guests.
- Task chat is the supported way to discuss a task now. It supports:
- Notifications behavior change
- Unlike legacy comments, users are only notified about task chat updates when they are explicitly @mentioned.
- To ensure the right people see updates, type
@followed by their name in the task chat.
- If still on the older Planner experience
- In environments not yet using the new Planner (or in GCC High, GCC, DoD), tasks still show the Comments box at the bottom.
- Comments added there cannot be edited or deleted once posted and appear with the most recent at the top.
- These comments are also sent to the plan’s Microsoft 365 Group and to anyone who has already commented on the task.
In summary, the “audit trail” is now split: historic comments remain in the Outlook conversation thread, and all new discussion is in the task chat pane. To review history, open the Outlook thread link (for old comments) and use task chat for ongoing updates.
References: