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To Do: Creating Multiple Task Lists & Groups – Centriq
I recently presented a webinar on utilizing the various Microsoft 365 task management apps. I did a deep dive into the Microsoft To Do app. It is the leading app to manage all your personal and small group tasks. To Do can help you create, manage, and prioritize personal tasks — but many don’t know about the lists and groups features within Microsoft To Do. These functions can help keep us organized and focused on specific projects with other team members.
The definition of group can be a little confusing. When you create a group, think of it as a collection of lists around a goal or initiative. Let’s use the following scenario: You have been assigned the task of launching a Lunch and Learn Series as part of a larger project. This is the perfect opportunity to create a group using Microsoft To Do. Here you can house your tasks list and track your task assignments. In the following screenshot, you’ll notice a user has several groups of task lists already, including this Lunch and Learn Series group of lists.
In the following sections, I’ll share how you can create your own groups with lists in To Do.
How to create groups and lists in To Do
You can open To Do from Outlook Online or the app launcher found on the Office.com home page. Once in To Do you will see the option to create a new list at the bottom of the left-hand navigation panel and next to that you will also see an icon to create a group 
Once you create a group, you will be prompted to give it a title. For example, I’ve titled mine Lunch and Learn Series. Next, you will create a list to house your tasks. I have created a new list called Logistics and dragged it into my group Lunch and Learn Series.
Once you have your lists created and organized into groups (where applicable), you’re ready to add tasks to the list(s). When you select a task in a list, you can adjust a number of details per task including:
- Add sub-steps to achieve the task;
- Add the task to My Day;
- Add a reminder;
- Add a due date;
- Repeat the task (so it’ll be due on a regular basis, such as every week);
- Assign the task to yourself or a co-worker;
- Create your own categories for the tasks;
- And/or attach a file.
How to share To Do lists
In my Logistics list, I want to start assigning tasks to the team but before I can do that, I need to share the list. I do this by giving others access in To Do. In the upper right-hand corner of the list, you will see a share icon. This icon will prompt you to create an invitation link.
Once you’ve created the link, you’ll be able to invite others to your list via email or you can copy the link to send directly to others. The share dialog also allows you to manage access to this list. This means you can adjust membership, limit access to prevent new people from joining the list, or completely stop sharing the list.
Once you have shared the list with your co-workers, they will receive an email notification to join the list. This will prompt them to sign in to officially join the list.
Once they have joined the list, they can create items, mark items completed, and be assigned to tasks. You’ll notice the share icon in the upper right corner of your list has been replaced with a people icon that shows how many members share the list. You can select this icon to see who has access to the list.
Final notes
The To Do lists and groups features give us the ability to organize tasks into lists and share and manage those with colleagues. Creating a group in a list is ideal for smaller projects that don’t require using the Planner app or a more comprehensive project planner. It is also worth mentioning that To Do has a user-friendly mobile app. You can also create groups and lists and share and manage list access from the mobile app. Long gone are the days of paper and pen to manage your tasks. The To Do app enables us to manage many tasks at once, organized into their respective lists and groups, from your desktop or on the move.