In planner (as planner owner), I cannot edit duration for example. I get message "This cell is read only"

Question

I created a planner and I am the owner and shared with a teams group but now I cannot edit certain key parameters like duration, depends on, and comment, etc. I get a message "This cell is read only". I have already tried signing out of planner and logged backed-in. I appreciate any suggestions and I am at an impasse. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi T. Robert,

Thank you for your description.

The fields you mentioned (such as Duration and Depends on) are part of the advanced scheduling features in the newer Planner experience (previously Project for the web). These fields behave differently from standard Planner task fields and can appear as “read-only” in certain scenarios.

This can happen if:

• The plan is not using a full Planner Premium license
• The task is not assigned appropriately or is controlled by scheduling dependencies

Even as an owner, these fields may be restricted depending on the plan type and structure, as they are managed by the scheduling engine rather than standard task editing.

For more information, please consult:

• Advanced capabilities with premium plans in Planner - Microsoft Support
• Catch up after your week off with task history in Microsoft Project for the web. | Microsoft Commun…

Please reach out to your IT admin and ask them to reactive your premium license. Once the premium license has been assigned to your account, please allow up to 24 hours for the changes to fully propagate and to avoid any potential licensing sync conflicts.

I hope this provides enough clarity and helps you stay inform with your current situation.

In the meantime, if you see my replies bring helpful information, please kindly accept it as an answer and vote it up by your original account, which raised this question. Once marked, it will automatically pin to top. As other users will also search information in this community, your valuable vote up will definitely also help other users who have similar queries easily to find the correct channel and useful information more quickly.   

 

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.   

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Answer 2

1. I am plan owner
2. I do not use loop app
3. At one time I had a premium license but it seems i lost it. I am working with IT to get that license activated ( i.e. I think that might be the culprit).