Seamless Migration: Move Microsoft 365 Tasks & Planner into Tasking.Space Without Disrupting Teams

Stop Juggling Tools: Migrate Microsoft Planner & To Do into Tasking.Space Without Breaking Teams

Hook: If your team is buried under fragmented Planner plans, scattered Microsoft To Do lists, and constant context switching, this guide gives you a practical, low-risk migration path into Tasking.Space — complete with export/import scripts, field-mapping best practices, validation checks, and ready-to-send user communications to keep disruption to zero.

The 2026 Context: Why Now?

By 2026, IT teams are consolidating task management into single integrated workspaces to measure throughput and reduce SLA slippage. Recent updates across late 2024–2025 improved Microsoft Graph export endpoints and made Planner/Outlook Tasks (Microsoft To Do) more scriptable — lowering the barrier to automated migrations. At the same time, enterprises demand uninterrupted workflows and auditable migrations for compliance.

That means you need a migration plan that is programmatic, repeatable, and communicative. Below is a field-tested playbook tailored for developers and IT admins ready to move Planner and Microsoft To Do into Tasking.Space while preserving history, assignments, attachments, and comments.

High-Level Migration Strategy (Inverted Pyramid)

1. Discovery & Inventory — Catalog every Planner plan, bucket, task and To Do list, owner, and attachment counts.
2. Mapping & Transform — Define exact field mappings and tag conversions for Tasking.Space.
3. Export — Use Graph API / Outlook endpoints and scripts to extract JSON/CSV with metadata.
4. Transform & Import — Convert to Tasking.Space import format (CSV or API payload) and ingest with rate-limited calls.
5. Validation & Cutover — Verify counts, samples, and run a staged cutover with dual-write if needed.
6. Communicate & Train — Use targeted templates and drop-in sessions to onboard users.

1) Discovery: Data You Must Inventory

Before scripts run, inventory the scope. Missing this step is the most common cause of surprises.

• Number of Planner plans and buckets per group
• Total tasks and tasks per owner
• Attachment counts and total bytes
• Checklist (subtask) and comments presence
• Custom labels, priority, and labels mapping
• Shared tasks (group membership) and guest users

Run a light audit: task counts, last-updated timestamps, and owners. This feeds into the migration batch size and rate-limit planning.

2) Field Mapping: Planner/To Do -> Tasking.Space

Clear, deterministic mapping is essential. Use this mapping as a starting point and adjust to your Tasking.Space workspace schema.

• Planner Plan Tasking.Space Project
• Bucket Tasking.Space List or Stage
• Task Title title
• Description (taskDetails) description/notes
• Assignments (assignedTo) assignees (map email -> Tasking.Space userID)
• StartDateTime / DueDateTime start_date / due_date
• PercentComplete / CompletedDateTime status + closed_at
• Checklist subtasks (preserve order)
• Attachments downloaded and uploaded to Tasking.Space attachments
• Comments comments with original author and timestamp (if allowed)
• Labels tags (map color/label text)
• CreatedBy / CreatedDateTime / ModifiedBy created_by, created_at, updated_by (preserve metadata where policy allows)

Tip: Create a mapping document (CSV) that links Planner label IDs to Tasking.Space tag IDs and Planner user emails to Tasking.Space user IDs. This will make bulk transformations deterministic.

3) Export Scripts: Planner & Microsoft To Do

Below are practical script patterns you can run from an automation host. These assume you have admin consent and the necessary OAuth scopes.

PowerShell: Export Planner tasks via Microsoft Graph

Concept: enumerate plans, export tasks and details to JSON files for later transformation.

# Prereq: Install-Module Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes Group.Read.All, Tasks.ReadWrite

# Get all plans for a group
$groupId = 'YOUR-GROUP-ID'
$plans = Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method GET -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/groups/$groupId/planner/plans"

foreach ($plan in $plans.value) {
  $planId = $plan.id
  Write-Output "Exporting plan $($plan.title) ($planId)"

  # Tasks in the plan
  $tasks = Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method GET -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/planner/plans/$planId/tasks?`$expand=assignments"
  $tasks.value | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | Out-File "./exports/plan-$planId-tasks.json"

  # Task details (description, checklist) for each task
  foreach ($t in $tasks.value) {
    $taskDetails = Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method GET -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/planner/tasks/$($t.id)/details"
    $taskDetails | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | Out-File "./exports/task-$($t.id)-details.json"
  }
}
  

Notes: The Graph planner endpoints support expansions for assignments; download attachments separately (see attachment section).

Python: Export Microsoft To Do (Outlook Tasks)

Microsoft To Do tasks are exposed through Outlook Tasks in Graph. Use a scheduled script for users’ mailbox scopes.

import requests
import json

ACCESS_TOKEN = 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'
HEADERS = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}', 'Accept': 'application/json'}

# Export current user's tasks
r = requests.get('https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/outlook/tasks', headers=HEADERS)
with open('exports/outlook-tasks.json', 'w') as f:
    json.dump(r.json(), f, indent=2)

Scale: Use application permissions and iterate user mailboxes for org-wide exports, or ask users to consent to a delegated export for their own lists.

4) Transform: Convert Graph JSON to Tasking.Space Import Format

Most organizations use a two-step transformation: normalize to CSV for bulk import and push attachments/comments via API. Below is a Python example that reads exported Planner JSON and emits a CSV aligned to Tasking.Space import headers.

import json, csv

with open('exports/plan--tasks.json') as f:
    tasks = json.load(f)['value']

with open('tasking_import.csv','w',newline='',encoding='utf-8') as csvfile:
    writer = csv.writer(csvfile)
    writer.writerow(['project','list','title','description','assignees','start_date','due_date','tags','external_id'])

    for t in tasks:
        title = t.get('title')
        desc = ''
        # load details file
        try:
            with open(f"exports/task-{t['id']}-details.json") as d:
                details = json.load(d)
                desc = details.get('description','')
        except FileNotFoundError:
            desc = ''

        assignees = ';'.join([k for k in t.get('assignments',{})])
        due = t.get('dueDateTime','')
        writer.writerow(['Project-Name','Bucket-Name',title,desc,assignees,'',due,'',t['id']])

Important: Keep the original task ID in an external_id or metadata column — it enables idempotent re-runs and traceable rollbacks.

5) Attachments & Comments: Preserve or Reference?

Attachments pose the largest bandwidth cost. You have two practical choices:

• Preserve by copying — download each attachment from Graph and upload to Tasking.Space attachments via API. This preserves historical files and inline images but requires storage and a time window to transfer large payloads.
• Reference only — leave links to original SharePoint/OneDrive attachments in the new task's description. This dramatically speeds up migration and keeps provenance, but adds a dependency on Microsoft storage.

Recommended hybrid: copy attachments for critical tasks (SLA-bound or audited items), and reference the rest. Use size thresholds (e.g., >100KB) and content-type heuristics.

6) Importing into Tasking.Space (API + Bulk CSV)

Tasking.Space supports CSV imports and a REST API for single-task creation. For reliability, use a rate-limited worker pool and preserve external_id so replays are safe.

# Example curl POST to Tasking.Space API (replace placeholders)
curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer " \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"project_id":"proj-123","title":"Example task","description":"Migrated from Planner","external_id":"planner-task-id"}' \
  https://api.tasking.space/v1/tasks

Best practices:

• Import in batches of 50–200 tasks to respect API limits.
• Use exponential backoff on 429/5xx responses.
• Run in a staging workspace first and sample-check before production.
• Preserve external_id and original created_at in metadata fields for auditing.

7) Staged Cutover & Dual-Write Strategy

For minimal disruption, use a staged cutover with a dual-write window:

1. Migrate a pilot team (5–20 users) and validate workflow parity.
2. Open a dual-write period where new tasks are created in both Planner/To Do and Tasking.Space via automation (webhooks or Graph subscriptions).
3. Monitor delta until it reaches an acceptable low (e.g., <5% new tasks in Planner over 48 hours).
4. Switch permissions and archive Planner plans (set read-only) and finalize cutover.

Dual-write can be implemented with webhook listeners: subscribe to Planner task changes using Microsoft Graph change notifications and forward new tasks to Tasking.Space API. Remember to handle idempotency by checking external_id. See notes on Webhooks & Near Real-Time Sync patterns for cross-platform forwarding and monitoring.

8) Validation & QA: Checks to Run

Post-import validation should be automated and repeatable. Key checks:

• Counts: tasks per project/list match within tolerance (e.g., 98–100%).
• Random sampling: open 20 random tasks and verify description, assignee, due date, and attachments.
• Assignee mapping: every planner-assigned email matches a Tasking.Space user; unresolved users flagged.
• Comments and checklists: sampled per plan to ensure integrity.
• Performance: API latency and background job success rates monitored.

Use scripts to compare datasets. Example PowerShell snippet to compare task counts:

# Compare counts (example)
$plannerCount = (Get-Content .\exports\plan--tasks.json | ConvertFrom-Json).value.Count
$taskingCount = Invoke-RestMethod -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer $TS_API_KEY"} -Uri "https://api.tasking.space/v1/projects/proj-123/tasks/count"
Write-Output "Planner: $plannerCount, Tasking.Space: $($taskingCount.count)"

9) Rollback Plan

Have a rollback plan even if you prefer one-way migrations. Rollback options:

• Set Tasking.Space tasks to archived and restore Planner write access.
• Use external_id to delete newly created Tasking.Space tasks (scripted delete by external_id list).
• Retain original Planner data unchanged until final cutover (do not bulk-delete Planner until sign-off).

10) Automation: Reusable Templates & Recurring Tasks

One reason teams move to Tasking.Space is reusable templates. Post-migration, convert common Planner buckets and To Do lists into Tasking.Space templates and workflow automations:

• Create template projects for standard onboarding, incident response, or release checklists.
• Implement automation to create recurring tasks or SLA-based escalations natively in Tasking.Space instead of Planner.
• Leverage Tasking.Space APIs to seed new projects from templates programmatically.

User Communication Templates (Copy & Paste)

Clear, timely communication reduces resistance. Use these templates tailored to technical teams.

1) Announcement Email (Two weeks before)

Subject: Upcoming Migration: Planner & Microsoft To Do -> Tasking.Space (Action Required)

Hi Team —

On [date] we will begin migrating Planner plans and Microsoft To Do lists into Tasking.Space to consolidate work, reduce context switching, and enable richer reporting. We will migrate your tasks and comments; attachments under 100KB will be copied automatically — larger files will be linked. Expect a short validation window; no work will be deleted from Planner during the migration period.

What we need from you: review your personal To Do lists and flag any tasks that should not be migrated (reply to this email). We'll schedule brief training sessions — pick a slot here [link].

Thanks,

[Migration Team]

2) Day-Before Reminder (Slack)

Heads up: Migration to Tasking.Space starts tomorrow at 09:00 UTC. Expect no downtime, but please avoid bulk edits in Planner during 09:00–12:00 to prevent conflicts. Questions? Ping #it-migration.

3) Post-Migration Validation Email

Subject: Migration Complete — Confirm Your Tasks in Tasking.Space

Migration is complete for your team. Please spot-check 5 tasks that you own and confirm descriptions and attachments. Use this form to report issues [link]. We'll keep Planner read-only for 7 days as a rollback buffer.

Security, Compliance & Permissions

Data residency and auditability matter. Preserve auditing metadata where possible and document the migration scope. Ensure Tasking.Space workspace settings meet your org policies for retention and access controls.

OAuth scopes for exports should be granted with least privilege and via a service principal with monitored credentials. Log every API action for post-mortem review.

12) Real-World Example: Pilot Migration Case Study (Condensed)

In late 2025, an enterprise SaaS team migrated 7 Planner plans (approx. 4,200 tasks) using the approach above.

• Pilot of 12 users completed in 48 hours with no functional regressions.
• Dual-write window of 72 hours reduced missed tasks to <2% which were auto-synced in follow-up job.
• Attachments >1MB were referenced rather than copied, saving 42GB of transfer time.
• User satisfaction rose after templated onboarding reduced time-to-first-task from 2 days to 2 hours.

Advanced Tips & 2026 Trends to Leverage

• AI-assisted Mapping: Leverage AI to auto-suggest label/tag mapping when migrating large sets of custom labels — multiple vendors introduced mapping assistants in 2025.
• Webhooks & Near Real-Time Sync: Use Graph change notifications to minimize the dual-write window — now a best practice in 2026.
• Idempotent Imports: Always store external IDs and implement de-duplication logic. This allows safe replays.
• Incremental Cutover: Migrate active work first (past 90 days) and archive older tasks or export them to an immutable archive for compliance.

Checklist: Before You Start

• Admin consent for Microsoft Graph scopes obtained
• Tasking.Space API key & import schema available
• User account mapping completed (email -> Tasking.Space userID)
• Storage plan for attachments decided (copy vs reference)
• Validation scripts and rollback plan tested
• Communication schedule and training sessions booked

Final Thoughts

Migrations are technical projects with human outcomes. The most successful ones blend scripted precision with clear user communications and a short, safe dual-write period. In 2026, improved Graph export stability and better third-party import APIs make migrations less risky — but they still require careful mapping, validation, and follow-through.

Actionable takeaway: Start with a 2-week pilot: export one plan, transform to Tasking.Space CSV, import to a sandbox, and run the communication templates. Use that pilot to refine mapping and estimate full migration time and cost.

Call to Action

Ready to run a pilot? Download the migration toolkit (scripts, CSV mapping template, and user comms) or schedule a migration audit with our engineers to produce a tailored migration plan and timeline. Contact Tasking.Space support or your account representative to get started.

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