On Tuesday, Microsoft continued its drumbeat of enhancements to Microsoft Teams and its other collaborative apps, announcing new features and readying others for deployment into preview or other modes. 

Microsoft’s announcements were made at Inspire, its annual partner conference that’s now evolved into a virtual showcase. There, Microsoft showed off Microsoft Lists, the latest app in its Microsoft 365 suite. Meanwhile, Microsoft Teams has emerged the star. Microsoft simply can’t stop adding more to the Teams platform, which now has its own internal apps. Microsoft also added a fresh coat of paint to Yammer, and the company plans to release a cloud-printing solution that could pick up where Google Cloud Print leaves off. 

Meet Microsoft Lists

Lists was disclosed earlier this year at the company’s Build developer event, and now it’s officially being brought into the Microsoft 365 stable. Microsoft said Lists will join Microsoft 365 in late July, and Teams in August. 

YouTube / Microsoft

Lists represents Microsoft at its finest. On the surface, Lists takes the notion of a list to almost ridiculous levels. In an enterprise environment, however, Lists becomes one of many moving parts in collaboration and project management. Microsoft’s Lists actually builds on SharePoint Lists, another enterprise tool.

Lists will be accessible from the Microsoft 365 “grid” or “waffle,” most commonly found in the upper-lefthand corner of Microsoft 365 web apps like Outlook. In August, it will be integrated directly into Teams. In either app, a list begins with one of Microsoft’s templates, which can be populated with data imported from Excel or created manually. Preformatted templates include a bug list, a launch planner, contact info, or more.

Where they can get complicated is that Lists aren’t just lists—they can be cards, a grid view, or even a calendar. Naturally, Lists can be shared. In fact, they’re designed to be.

YouTube / Microsoft

Where Lists gets really complicated is with the application of rules—which changes Lists from an “app” to a platform. “Building rules is as easy as writing a sentence,” Microsoft explained in a lengthy blog post. “Once you decide on the outcome, click-fill if/then steps to design your rules. Choose people, status, and value changes to send notifications or programmatically update values elsewhere in the list. Finally, use rules to set reminders to keep everyone informed.”

Where Lists gets confusing is when you consider Microsoft To-Do, Planner, and Outlook’s own Tasks—all of which overlap with Lists’ functionality. All three are already integrated in Microsoft 365 to some extent. Outlook’s web app, for example, has its own Tasks function, plus a link to To-Do in the sidebar.