Share via

Microsoft Planner: How to change Plan from shared to private

Mathews, Jessy M (ACRA) 0 Reputation points
2026-04-06T00:35:24.2733333+00:00

Hi,

I would like to share a plan with a group of people. However, I would like for each user to use the plan independently i.e) I don't want anyone in the group to see how they use the plan or how they edit the plan.

Is there a way to distribute plans to other users to use privately?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Project | For business | Other
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Daniel-Vo 5,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-06T08:55:03.05+00:00

    Dear @Mathews, Jessy M (ACRA),

    I understand that you would like to share a Microsoft Planner plan while still allowing each user to work independently and privately, without visibility into other users’ tasks or edits. 

    In Microsoft Planner, all plans are tied to a Microsoft 365 Group (or a Team) and are designed for collaboration. As a result, any plan shared with a group is fully visible to all its members. Tasks, progress, comments, and edits cannot be hidden from specific users within the same plan. 

    At this time, Planner does not support converting a shared plan into a private one, nor does it allow each user to have a private view or independent copy within the same plan. 

    There are two workarounds I suggest:

    1/ Create separate Planner plans for each user

    Use one plan as a template and create a new plan (with a separate Microsoft 365 Group) for each user. This ensures full privacy and independent usage. 

    2/ Use Microsoft To Do for personal task management

    If collaboration is not required and tasks need to remain private, Microsoft To Do may be a better option, as it is designed for individual task tracking. 

    Moreover, I want you to know that Microsoft deeply values customer experience and feedback. Every single comment matter, and the product teams actively review what customers share to guide decisions and improvements. Your voice is powerful here, and I encourage you to make it heard through the official feedback channels. Therefore, to ensure your feedback reaches the right teams, I highly recommend submitting your feedback directly to Microsoft Ideas · Community, where our product development team can know your requirements and ideas for product improvements. If enough users raise ticket for the same idea, Microsoft may consider adding this feature in the future. 

    Note: As Microsoft Community moderators, please note that we are not involved in product design decisions and do not have direct access to the development roadmap, we want to assure you that your feedback has been acknowledged and is valued.  

    However, you can rest assured that you are not alone, I’ll continue to monitor this case and will reach out to you with any new updates as soon as possible. If any updates or announcements are made regarding this feature, I will make sure to share them with you as soon as possible. 

    I understand this may not be the outcome you were hoping for. I truly appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any further questions or need further clarification, please feel free to reach out. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

    Thank you for your cooperation.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".    

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

  2. AI answer

    2026-04-06T00:35:38.15+00:00

    Planner does not support making a single shared plan “private per user” where each person sees only their own edits. A plan is a shared object: anyone with edit access to that plan can see and change all tasks in it.

    To give people similar content but keep their work private, separate plans must be used:

    1. Personal plans (private to each user)
      In the Planner app in Teams, each person can create a personal plan that only they can access:
      • Select New plan in the left navigation.
      • Provide a plan name and leave the Microsoft 365 group selection blank to create a personal plan. These plans are “accessible only by” the creator until explicitly shared.
    2. Distribute a template, not a shared plan
      To have everyone start from the same structure but work privately:
      • Create a “template” plan (buckets, tasks, etc.).
      • Ask each user to recreate or copy that structure into their own personal plan (or into a plan they own and do not share with others).
    3. Shared plans remain fully shared
      If a plan is shared (for example, via a Microsoft 365 group, a shared file, or a Loop task list), anyone with edit access to that shared plan can view and edit all its contents. There is no setting to hide individual members’ changes or usage within that plan.

    So the requirement—one plan distributed to many people, but each person’s usage and edits remaining private—must be implemented as multiple separate plans, one per person, rather than a single shared plan.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.