Use a screen reader to create a plan and add buckets in Microsoft Planner
Applies ToMicrosoft Planner

This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Windows tools or features and Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Accessibility help & learning content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use Microsoft Planner with your keyboard and a screen reader to create plans, add people to plans, and add buckets to sort tasks. We have tested it with Narrator, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes: 

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.

  • When you use Planner, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Planner runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in a desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Planner.

In this topic

Create a plan

  1. After you sign in to Planner, the focus is in the Planner Hub view, and your screen reader announces the name and confidentiality of the first plan on the list. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "New plan," and press Enter. You hear: "New plan dialog."

  2. Type a name for your plan.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • If you want to add your plan to an existing Microsoft 365 Group, press the Tab key. You hear: "Add to an existing Microsoft 365 Group." Press Enter and continue from step 4.

    • If you want to create a new group with your plan, continue from step 6.

  4. Press the Tab key until you hear the name of the first group in the list, and use the Down and Up arrow keys to browse the list. Press Spacebar to select the current group.

    Tip: To filter the list of groups before browsing it, press the Tab key until you hear "Group search box," and type at least part of the name of the group you want. Then press the Tab key until you reach the search results, and find the one you want using the Down and Up arrow keys.

  5. Press the Tab key until you hear "Choose Group, button," and press Enter.

  6. Press the Tab key until you hear "Create plan, button," and press Enter. After Planner has finished creating the plan, the focus is in the board view, and you hear: "Enter a task name." To learn more about creating tasks, go to Use a screen reader to create and update tasks in Planner.

Delete a plan

Note: You must be the owner of a plan to be able to delete it.

  1. After you sign in to Planner, the focus is in the Planner Hub view, and your screen reader announces the name and confidentiality of the first plan on the list. Press the Tab key until you find the plan you want to delete, and press Enter. The focus moves to the board view.

  2. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "More, button," and press Enter.

  3. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Plan settings," and press Enter.

  4. Press the Tab key until you hear "Delete this plan, button," and press Enter.

  5. Press the Tab key until you hear "Unchecked, I understand that this plan and all of its tasks will be permanently deleted," and press Spacebar.

  6. Press the Tab key until you hear "Delete, button," and press Enter. The focus returns to the Planner Hub view.

Add people to a plan

Each member you add receives an email notification that they've been added to your plan.

  1. After you sign in to Planner, the focus is in the Planner Hub view, and your screen reader announces the name and confidentiality of the first plan on the list. Press the Tab key until you find the plan you want to work with, and press Enter. The focus moves to the board view.

    Note: If you don't find the plan you want in the list, you can change it to show all plans instead of only recently opened plans. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "All plans tab item" or "Recent plans tab item," depending on which one you want to use, and press Enter.

  2. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Members of the plan," and press Enter. You hear: "Editable combo box."

  3. Type the name of the person you want to add. When you stop typing for a moment, your screen reader announces the first matching name and how many matches there are. Press the Down arrow key until you find the right person, and then press Enter to add them.

  4. If you want to add more people, repeat step 3. If not, press Esc to return to the board.

Add buckets to a plan

You can sort tasks into buckets to help break things up into phases, types of work, departments, or whatever makes the most sense for your plan.

  1. After you sign in to Planner, the focus is in the Planner Hub view, and your screen reader announces the name and confidentiality of the first plan on the list. Press the Tab key until you find the plan you want to work with, and press Enter. The focus moves to the board view.

  2. To check that the board is showing the buckets, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Group by menu, current grouping is by bucket." If some other grouping is used, press Enter to open the menu, press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear "Bucket," and press Enter to select it.

  3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Add new bucket," and press Enter.

  4. Type a name for the new bucket and press Enter.

See also

Use a screen reader to create and update tasks in Microsoft Planner

Use a screen reader to group and filter tasks on a board in Microsoft Planner

Keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Planner

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Planner

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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