Using Microsoft Planner with CodeTwo software

This article explains how to use Microsoft Planner with CodeTwo Email Signatures 365.

• A short introduction to Microsoft Planner
• Does CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 support Microsoft Planner?
• How to add dedicated signatures to Microsoft Planner messages
• How to turn off email signatures in Microsoft Planner comments and notifications
• Troubleshooting

A short introduction to Microsoft Planner

Microsoft Planner is a Microsoft 365 web app that helps you manage your workflow by creating plans with tasks and assigning people/teams to collaborate on them. You can set task deadlines and conveniently review the work progress inside each of your plans. The app can be accessed from the app launcher in the Microsoft 365 portal.

When you create a plan, a new associated Microsoft 365 group is created. If you add users to this plan, they are also added to the connected Microsoft 365 group.

Microsoft Planner can send email notifications whenever you create or modify a task in a plan, for example when you add a new comment. Each notification is sent to the email address of the Microsoft 365 group assigned to this plan (and, depending on the case, also to other people in the plan/task), with the person who created/modified the task as the email sender. To enable task-related notifications for a plan, you need to open it, click the ellipsis (...) button and go to Plan settings. A new window opens, where you can turn on email notifications, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Enabling email notifications for a plan.

Does CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 support Microsoft Planner?

Yes. Signatures can be added to:

• email notifications sent to the Microsoft 365 group when a plan member creates/modifies a task (if this has been enabled in the task settings in Planner),
• email notifications sent to plan members when a comment is added to a task,
• comments displayed in the tasks in Microsoft Planner.

Such emails and comments sent automatically from a user mailbox will include a signature if the conditions of a signature rule defined in our program are met.

How to add dedicated signatures to Microsoft Planner messages

It is possible to use a dedicated signature template for use in Planner. When set up, this signature will be applied to Planner comments and to notifications sent to users’ mailboxes. Make sure to keep it simple and concise. If a signature is too complex, it can make following conversations in Planner more difficult. Adding a dedicated signature for Planner messages requires taking the following two steps:

• Configure a transport rule in the Exchange admin center
• Configure a signature rule in CodeTwo Email Signatures 365

Additionally, you can create an Outlook (client-side) signature rule for messages sent to Planner from the Outlook desktop app:

• Using an Outlook (client-side) signature with Microsoft Planner.

Configure a transport rule in the Exchange admin center

To create a transport rule for processing messages from Microsoft Planner:

1. Sign in to the Exchange admin center.
2. Go to Mail flow > Rules.
3. Click the Add a rule button and select Create a new rule from the drop-down list, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Creating a new transport rule in the Exchange admin center.

4. In the new rule creation wizard that opens, enter the name of your rule.
5. In the Apply this rule if section, select The sender > is external/internal (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Naming the rule and defining the 1st condition.

6. In the pane that opens, select Inside the organization from the drop-down list and click Save (Fig. 5.)

Fig. 5. Adding a condition so that the new transport rule applies only to internal messages.

7. Click the + button to add another condition. Next, using the drop-down lists, select The message headers > matches these text patterns (Fig. 6.).

Fig. 6. Defining the 2nd condition that detects messages originating from Planner.

8. Click the Enter text link below the drop-down lists (see Fig. 6.). In the pane that opens, type/paste the following header name: X-MS-TrafficTypeDiagnostic and click Save (Fig. 7.).

Fig. 7. Entering the Planner message header's name.

9. Click the Enter words link below the drop-down lists (see Fig. 6.). In the pane that opens, type/paste the following value: PlannerComment, and click Add and Save (Fig. 8.).

Fig. 8. Providing the Planner message header's value.

10. Under the Do the following section, select Apply a disclaimer to the message > append a disclaimer using the drop-down lists (Fig. 9.).

Fig. 9. Selecting an action to be performed if the conditions are met – add text to the message.

11. Click the Enter text link below the drop-down lists (see Fig. 9.). In the pane that opens, enter a phrase that will be used by the CodeTwo signature rule to identify messages sent from Planner e.g. This message was sent from Planner and click Save (Fig. 10.).

Fig. 10. Defining the text to be added to a Planner message.

12. Click the Select one link below the drop-down lists (see Fig. 9.). In the pane that opens, select Ignore as the fallback action from the drop-down list and click Save (Fig. 11.).

Fig. 11. Choosing the fallback action.

13. Click through the other steps of the wizard, leaving all the default settings and save your rule by clicking Finish and Done - it will appear on the rules' list.
14.  By default, the rule is disabled and has the lowest priority. For the rule to work properly, you should click it (to select it) and:

• turn it on by setting the toggle button to Enabled (Fig. 12.);
• move it up with the Move up button, so that it is processed before the CodeTwo Exchange transport rule (Fig. 12.). You can also edit the rule and change the priority manually.

Fig. 12. Enabling the rule and setting its correct priority.

Configure a signature rule in CodeTwo Email Signatures 365

Create a signature rule for adding signatures to Microsoft Planner comments and notifications by following the steps below:

1. Sign in at app.codetwo.com.
2. Click CREATE RULE and select Server-side signature to launch the cloud (server-side) signature rule creation wizard.
3. First, name the rule accordingly and click Next to go to the next step.
4. In the Senders step, select Add > All Senders (or configure a group of senders, depending on the configuration of your environment).
5. Move on to the Recipients step and click Add > All Recipients.
6. In the Keywords step, click Add under the top list (Add the signature only to emails containing one of the following phrases).
7. In the Add phrase pop-up window, configure the settings as follows:
   • Enter the same phrase you used while creating the transport rule in the Exchange admin center e.g. This message was sent from Planner (Fig. 13., item 1).
   • Select Email body from the Search in drop-down list (Fig. 13., item 2).
   • Select the Remove this phrase from email body checkbox (Fig. 13., item 3).
   • Click OK to confirm your configuration (Fig. 13., item 4).

Fig. 13. Creating a keyword-based condition to trigger the rule and add a Planner-specific signature.

8. Go to the Design step and click Edit signature. In the editor, create your signature template for Microsoft Planner. See this article for more details on how to use the signature template editor.
9. Back in the signature management app, click Save & Publish to save and apply your signature configuration and close the wizard.
10. Finally, select your newly-created rule and use the Move up button to move it up the list and place it above the more general signature rules (Fig. 14.). This way, it will be processed before them.

Fig. 14. Setting the priority of signature rules by adjusting their position in the signature list.

If everything is set up correctly, you should see the same Planner-specific signature in the messages in your email client as well as in Planner itself as shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 15. Signature in the Outlook desktop app and in Planner.

Using an Outlook (client-side) signature with Planner

If your organization is using CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 in Outlook (client-side) or combo mode, you can create a special Planner signature for Outlook users. To do it, follow the instructions from this article. When creating the signature, it might be a good idea to uncheck the two first options in the Logic step (Set this signature as default for new messages, Set this signature as default for replies and forwards) in the signature management app. This way, the CodeTwo Signatures Web Add-in for Outlook will not insert the signature automatically, so your users will be able to choose it manually (instead of their default one) only when they actually reply to a Planner comment or notification.

To manually insert a signature when replying to Planner messages, a user should open the CodeTwo Signatures pane (e.g. by using the CodeTwo Signatures button on the ribbon) and click the Use this signature button next to the signature (Fig. 16.). Learn more

Fig. 16. Manually inserting the Planner message signature.

Please also note that due to certain limitations on the Microsoft’s side, it is currently not possible to insert a Planner signature with the modern Web Add-in when replying to a Planner comment or notification in Outlook on the web (OWA).

In Microsoft Planner scenario, we recommend using the same template for Outlook (client-side) and cloud (server-side) messages as shown in Fig. 17. To learn how to copy templates between signature modes, read this article.

Fig. 17. Outlook (client-side) signature for Microsoft Planner in Outlook.

How to turn off email signatures in Microsoft Planner comments and notifications

If you use CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 and you don't want the software to add signatures to comments and email notifications in Microsoft Planner, follow the steps presented in this article.

Troubleshooting

I receive a non-delivery report for notifications sent by Microsoft Planner when I create/modify a task

Let us say that one of your users, Adele V., receives a non-delivery report (NDR) in OWA when she creates a task in the Planner group - private 2 plan (Fig. 18.).

Fig. 18. NDR in Outlook on the web.

This problem is probably caused by incorrect settings of the Microsoft 365 group connected with the Planner group - private 2 plan.

To verify if your group is configured properly, try sending a normal email from the affected user account to the Microsoft 365 group connected with your plan. If you receive a non-delivery report again, this means that the problem is not related to Microsoft Planner. You need to check the Delivery management settings for your group as follows:

1. Sign in as an admin to your Exchange admin center.
2. Go to Recipients > Groups and click the Microsoft 365 group connected to your plan on the groups' list.
3. In the pane that opens, go to the Settings tab and click the Edit delivery management link.
4. Check the settings in the Decline messages from section. If the user that receives NDRs (or any other user that is a member of this group) is listed in this section, you should remove them by clicking the X button next to them (Fig. 19.). Otherwise, these users will receive NDRs whenever they send an email to this group or create/modify a task in the associated plan in Microsoft Planner.

Fig. 19. Removing a user from the list of the users whose emails are declined.