Microsoft Lists; more powerful than To-Do

At first glance, it would seem that there is a lot of crossover between Microsoft's task organisation applications; Microsoft Lists, Microsoft To-Do and Microsoft Planner. However, each of these applications has its own strengths and you may find that Lists gives you the extra functionality that you need.

All these applications are available as part of your Microsoft 365 account (formerly Office 365) but the data is not shared throughout the Microsoft system. While To-Do is geared mainly towards keeping track of your own tasks and priorities, Lists is aimed more at teams and is easily integrated into your Teams app channel.

Create, share, and track lists with anyone
With Microsoft Lists, you can start quickly with ready-made templates or create tabular based lists from scratch. It is the tabular nature of Lists that makes it so much more powerful than To-Do and the templates include designs for asset management or work progress tracking.

Lists are similar to formatted Excel spreadsheets and you can import Excel spreadsheets to Lists or export Lists to Excel. So why not use a spreadsheet?

Better than a spreadsheet for tracking information
Unlike a spreadsheet, Microsoft Lists is designed to track work, relay information, and let you visualise data together with your team in one place. You can view and interact with the information in different ways such as view assets in a gallery or track work in a calendar.

In addition, you can create rules to automate processes based on data in your list and have the system notify yourself or others when something changes. For example, you may want to be notified when a piece of equipment has not been serviced for a specified number of days.

By placing the List in your Teams channel, everyone in your work group will be able to view or update the information in one easily accessible place.

To find out about moving your business to Teams, call Chris Joberns on 01473 835 280.