Report problem with Planner App in Teams

The removal of the background image feature and Plan appearance settings in the New Planner UI is noted, but there is currently no information available regarding the restoration of these features. For feedback or to report issues with the Planner app, you can select More in the upper-right corner of the app, choose Feedback, and enter your details. This is the appropriate channel to express your concerns about the user interface changes and request the restoration of features that are important for team visual organization.

References:

• Manage the Planner app for your organization in Microsoft Teams
• Export user data from Microsoft Planner

Dear @Charles Crofton-Atkins,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand that you’re noticing that the background image and plan appearance settings you previously used in Planner are no longer available in the new Planner experience in Teams, and this impacts how your team organizes visually.

The change you’re seeing is tied to the New Planner experience in Microsoft Teams. During the late‑2024 rollout, the old Plan appearance/background control was removed. In 2025, backgrounds were reintroduced with a different entry point (the Plan details pane) and have been rolling out across tenants/endpoints (Teams vs web) at different times. As a result:

• You may not see the legacy “Plan settings > Background” option anymore.
• Backgrounds now appear as AI‑suggested/custom backgrounds inside Plan details (not the old menu).
• Some tenants or endpoints may not have the feature yet even though it’s generally available.

To better assistance, could you please confirm following information:

1. Are you using Planner inside Teams (desktop), Teams web, or Planner for the web (tasks.office.com / planner.microsoft.com)?
2. When you open a plan and click the plan name (or its dropdown) in the header, do you see the Plan details pane on the right? If yes, is there a Backgrounds/Suggested backgrounds section?
3. Is the plan a basic plan (not a premium project), and is it part of a Team/M365 Group or a personal plan?
4. Which Teams client and version are you on, and have you tried Quit Teams and reopening after checking for updates?

In the meantime, I recommend some steps below:
1/ Use Planner for the web (often gets UI updates first)

• Go to tasks.office.com or planner.microsoft.com and open the plan.
• Click the plan name in the header to open Plan details (right pane).

• Under Suggested/custom backgrounds, select a background to apply.
  

Note: Renaming the plan can surface different AI‑suggested backgrounds. Uploading your own image isn’t currently supported in the new experience.

2/ Teams desktop

• Open the Planner app from the Teams left rail and open the plan.
• Click the plan name (or its dropdown) to open Plan details.
• Choose a background under Suggested/custom backgrounds.
• If you don’t see backgrounds: Check for updates, then fully Quit and restart Teams. or Try Teams web or Planner for the web as a temporary path until the Teams client catches up in your tenant.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Your detailed response will help us diagnose and investigate the issue more efficiently.

I truly appreciate your patience and understanding. If I misunderstood what you’re looking for, feel free to let me know or share a screenshot. I’d be happy to help further!

Thank you for your cooperation. I'm looking forward for your reply.

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