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Planner checklist limit and workarounds

Short answer: a Planner task holds at most 20 checklist items. Microsoft's limits page lists "Maximum checklist items in a task" as 20. For a longer list, split the work into more tasks or keep the list somewhere built for it.

The limits that touch a task

Microsoft's Planner limits page has a table for tasks. These are the rows:

The page adds a note: "These limitations can be raised or lowered from time-to-time without a prior notice." Check the page before you design around a number.

Which plans the page covers

Microsoft says the page applies to basic plans in the Planner app in Teams, and all plans in other Planner endpoints, including Planner web, Planner mobile, and Planner connectors. It says it does not apply to To Do lists or premium plans in the Planner app in Teams. So if you use a premium plan, this page does not state your limit.

The plan around the task

A checklist sits in a task, and the task sits in a plan. For the plan, Microsoft's table gives 3,000 for active tasks, 9,000 for all tasks, and 200 for buckets. An active task, per Microsoft, "is a task that isn't completed."

Three ways to handle a list longer than 20

  1. Split by phase. Make one task per phase and give each its own checklist of up to 20 items. Name them in order, such as "Move-in, part 1" and "Move-in, part 2".
  2. Split by owner. If different people do different items, make one task per person. A task can have up to 20 assignees, but a checklist is shared by everyone on the task.
  3. Move the list out. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: when a list has dozens of items, a status for each, or dates, a SharePoint list fits better than a checklist. Each item gets its own row with a person, a date and a status. See "Planner vs a SharePoint list".

A SharePoint list to hold the long version

Make a list named for the job, such as "Closing checklist". Keep Title for the item text. Add an Owner as a person field and Due as a date. Add Status as a choice with 1 Not started, 2 In progress and 3 Done, and add Phase as a choice so you can group rows. Save a view grouped by Phase. Exact names may differ on your screen.

Keep one Planner task as the pointer

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: if your team lives in Planner, keep one task that holds a link to the SharePoint list. The team still sees the work in Planner, and the long list lives where it has room.

For a task that needs more people, see "Assign a Planner task to multiple people".

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

How many checklist items can a Planner task have?

20. Microsoft's limits page lists the maximum checklist items in a task as 20.

Is there a Planner checklist limit in Teams?

Microsoft says its limits page applies to basic plans in the Planner app in Teams, and not to premium plans there.

How many tasks can one Planner plan hold?

Microsoft lists 3,000 active tasks and 9,000 tasks in total per plan.

How many people can I assign to one Planner task?

Microsoft lists a maximum of 20 assignees in a task.

What can I use if I need more than 20 checklist items?

Split the work into several tasks, or put the list in a SharePoint list with one row per item.

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