Use Onplana in SharePoint

Q: Can I create an Onplana account from a web part?

No. A web part never creates an account. Select Open Onplana to sign up, then come back.

All plansMember

If your team works out of SharePoint sites, Onplana can sit on those pages. Onplana Projects adds a full Onplana app page for a project site, six web parts that show live Onplana data, signed in with the Microsoft account you are already using, and two commands in document libraries that link a file to an Onplana task.

Your project data stays in Onplana. Your files stay in SharePoint, and Onplana only keeps a link to them.

Open Onplana as a full page on your site

The quickest way to put a project on a site is a page that holds only Onplana. It opens the project connected to the site, with Overview, My tasks, Timeline, Issues and risks, Ideas, Approvals, Portfolio, Documents and Members tabs. Work in the Onplana app page describes each one.

On the site, select New > Page.
In the template gallery, find the Full-page apps section, select Onplana, then Use this template.
When you save the page, SharePoint’s App page details pane offers Show in site navigation. Turn it on so the page is one click away.
Open the page. The first time, a site owner picks the project to connect to the site. Everyone else sees that project, or picks one of their own if the site has none.

Work in the Onplana app page

The app page lets you do most everyday project work without leaving SharePoint. What you can change follows your role on the project. The roles below are Onplana’s defaults; your organization can change them in its permissions, and the app then follows your organization’s settings. Anything the app does not offer has an Open in Onplana link.

The tabs

Everyone who can open the project sees Overview, My tasks, Timeline, Issues and risks, Ideas, Documents and Members. Two tabs depend on who you are:

Approvals shows when you decide something: access requests (workspace owners, admins and managers, and each project’s owner and project managers), gate reviews, change requests or timesheets, or when something is waiting on you.
Portfolio shows when you can manage portfolios (workspace owners, admins and managers by default). Portfolios need the Business plan or above.

On a narrow screen the tabs are also in a View list. My tasks and Issues and risks show a count.

Edit the project

Select Edit project at the top of the page to change the project’s name, description, status, start date and end date, then Save. Both dates are required, and the end date cannot be before the start. Onplana does not let a project go straight from Planning or Cancelled to Completed: set it Active first.

Project owners and project managers can edit a project, and so can workspace owners and admins.

Overview

The Overview shows the project’s progress (open tasks, overdue tasks, open risks and days left), its next milestone, your next five open tasks in the project, and the open issues and risks with the most severe risk. Tick one of your tasks to mark it done.

Milestones. The Milestones card lists the project’s milestones, open ones first, soonest first. If you can manage milestones (project owners, project managers and members by default), you can:

Select Add milestone, enter a Name and a Due date, and select Save.
Select Edit on a milestone to change its name or date.
Tick a milestone to mark it complete, or untick it to reopen it.
Select Delete to remove one. It goes to the recycle bin in Onplana, where it can be restored.

Milestones show on every plan. Tasks flagged as milestones appear on the Timeline and as the next milestone, not in this card.

My tasks

My tasks lists your open tasks, the ones you hold and the ones you collaborate on, grouped into Overdue, Today, Upcoming and No date.

This project or All projects chooses which tasks you see. It starts on this project, and your browser remembers your choice.
Each group shows 8 tasks; select Show N more for the next 8.
Tick a task to mark it done. Undo shows for 10 seconds. If the task has open subtasks, you are asked first; they stay open.
A task you collaborate on shows Collaborating with and the name of the person who holds it.
Add a task adds a task to this project, assigned to you, if you can create tasks here. Type a date or a priority after the title, such as “tomorrow”, “next week” or “urgent”. Add with details opens the full form.

Timesheet. If your plan includes time tracking (Pro and above), a Timesheet card shows your hours for this week or last week, day by day and in total, across every project, and whether the week is not submitted, submitted, approved or returned. When it has hours not yet submitted, select Submit this week (or Submit last week) to send them for review. If your organization does not review timesheets, the card says there is nothing to submit. Returned hours are changed in Onplana. To log hours, open a task and use Log time in the task panel.

The task panel

Select a task anywhere in the app to open it in a panel beside the page. You can change its title, status, assignee, dates, priority and the other fields your role allows. It saves as you go. The panel also has the task’s subtasks, comments, files and time.

Collaborators. The people working on a task besides its assignee are listed under Assignee.

To add someone, type in Add a collaborator, then pick a person from the list, by name or email address. They are added straight away. Only people on the project are offered; if nobody matches, the list says so. To add someone who is not on the project yet, add them on the Members tab first.
To take someone off, select × on their name.
To take yourself off, select Leave. If you can add yourself back, an Undo button shows for 10 seconds. If you cannot, you are asked first.

Adding or removing other people needs the right to assign the task, and either the right to edit any task or being its assignee: project owners and project managers by default, and members on their own tasks. Anyone can take themselves off.

Delete. Delete task sends the task and its subtasks to the recycle bin. A note with Undo stays until you close it.

Timeline

The Timeline draws the project’s Gantt chart, read only, with the critical path and milestones.

Days, Weeks and Months change the scale. Zoom in and Zoom out make the columns wider or narrower.
A single click on a task’s bar or row opens it in the task panel.
When the chart is narrow, as on a phone, only the bars show; the arrows on the divider bring the task list back.

If the chart cannot load, a simpler timeline shows instead, with a Critical path only option. Open the full Gantt in Onplana is always there.

Issues and risks

The tab lists open issues (Open, Investigating, Blocked) most severe first, and open risks.

Issues. Log an issue adds one with a title, a type and a severity. Select an issue to open it in a panel, where you can change its title, type, severity, owner, target resolution date, description and status, and add comments. Changes save as you go. Choosing Resolved asks what resolved it. Closed and Won’t fix issues cannot be moved to another status.

Risks. Add a risk adds one with what might happen, a severity, a category and an optional mitigation. Select a risk to open it, edit it and Save, or act on it:

Turn into a task creates a task to carry out the mitigation, assigned to you or someone you choose, and marks the risk resolved.
Promote to issue logs an issue linked to the risk. The risk stays open. Select Open the issue to go to it.
Dismiss closes the risk as not a real risk.

A resolved or dismissed risk can no longer be edited.

Logging issues, adding and editing risks and promoting them need the right to add project content (everyone but viewers, by default). Turning a risk into a task needs the right to create tasks. Commenting needs the right to comment.

Ideas

Ideas are things that might be worth doing, not tasks yet. The tab lists the project’s ideas you can see.

Under Capture an idea, write the idea and an optional description.
Choose Who can see it: Only me (the default; not even workspace admins see it) or Everyone in the workspace (everyone who can see the project).
Select Capture idea.

Select an idea to open it. The person who captured it can edit it, change its status (New, Exploring, Parked, Dropped), or Promote to task, which creates a task in this project, assigned to them and linked to the idea. A promoted or dropped idea is closed. Sharing with specific people, promoting to a proposal and deleting are done in Onplana. Capturing ideas needs the right to add project content.

Documents

The Documents tab lists the newest files in the site’s documents library, as SharePoint shows them to you, with the tasks each one is linked to. It shows 25 at a time, up to the 200 newest.

To link a file to a task, select Link to a task on its row, search for the task, and select Link file. The list holds this project’s tasks and then your own open tasks in other projects; it shows 20 at a time, so type to narrow it. Linking from this tab needs the right to create tasks or edit any task.

Linked files also show in a task’s Files tab in the task panel. There:

Upload from this device puts a file of up to 250 MB into this site, in the project’s SharePoint folder when it is on this site and otherwise in the site’s documents library, and links it to the task. If a file with the same name is there, choose Keep both or Replace. It shows if you can add files to the task.
Remove link takes a linked file off the task. The file stays in SharePoint. It shows only where you are allowed to remove it: if you can edit any task, if you hold the task, or if you are a collaborator who linked that file yourself.

Members

The Members tab lists the people on the project and their project roles.

Add people (project owners and project managers) adds someone from your organization, or invites someone by email. You choose their role on the project, and the panel lists what that role can do. For someone new to your organization, choose whether they join as a Member, which uses a paid seat, or as a Guest, which uses a free guest seat first. If you cannot invite people to the workspace yourself, the invitation goes to an admin to approve.
Change a role or Remove someone with the controls on their row, if you can manage the project’s people (project owners and project managers by default). The owner’s row cannot be changed here.
Suggest someone is for everyone else on the project. Pick a colleague from your organization, add an optional note, and select Send suggestion. A project manager decides on the Approvals tab or in Onplana. The person you suggested hears about it only if they are added.

The web parts

Edit a page, select +, and search for “Onplana”. The web parts are in the Advanced group.

Onplana project status. A project’s name, status, progress and end date.
Onplana timeline. A project’s dated tasks as bars, with today marked and milestones shown. It shows up to 50 tasks.
Onplana my tasks. Your open tasks, grouped into Overdue, Today, Upcoming and No date, with up to 5 in each group and a link to the rest in Onplana. Tick a task to mark it done. When the web part has a project set, an Add a task box adds a task to that project, assigned to you. It understands dates written in the page’s language as well as English, such as “mañana” or “demain”.
Onplana issues and risks. A project’s open issues, most severe first, and its open risks, up to 10 of each.
Onplana portfolio health. Up to 5 of your portfolios, each with its project count and average completion, and every project in it marked on track, at risk or off track with its progress. Portfolios need the Business plan or above.
Onplana my approvals. Everything waiting on you in one list: gate reviews, access requests, submitted timesheets to approve, and, when the web part has a project set, that project’s change requests. Each row opens the item in Onplana.

Every web part acts as you. It shows what Onplana already lets you see, with your role and your plan, and nothing more. Links open in a new tab, in the right workspace. The web parts follow the page’s colours, including dark sections, and its language where Onplana has a translation.

Add a web part

A web part works as soon as you add it, with nothing to fill in. It signs each visitor in and shows their own Onplana workspace. Someone who belongs to more than one is asked once to choose a workspace, and their browser remembers the choice.

Edit the page, add an Onplana web part, and publish the page.
Optional: for a web part that shows one project, open its settings and pick a Project. Leave it on This site’s connected project to follow the site (next section).
Optional: to make the page show one workspace for everyone, open One workspace for everyone in the web part’s settings and paste its Organization ID. In Onplana, open Organization Settings (at /org/settings); on the General tab, select Copy beside Organization ID.
Optional: paste a read-only link for people without an Onplana account.

Leave the Advanced (staging and testing) settings as they are.

Connect a site to a project

Connect a site once, and every Onplana web part on it that shows one project follows that project, with nothing to pick.

Add an Onplana project status, timeline, or issues and risks web part, and leave Project on This site’s connected project.
If the site is not connected yet and you can manage the site, the web part shows a project list. Choose the project and select Connect.
The site’s default document library becomes that project’s SharePoint folder in Onplana, and the web part shows the project.

To connect a site, you need to be able to manage the SharePoint site and to edit the project in Onplana. People who cannot manage the site see “This site is not connected to an Onplana project yet. A site owner can connect it here.”

If more than one project keeps its files in the site, the web part asks you to choose one in its settings.

Link a file to a task, or start a task from it

In any document library, select exactly one file. Two commands appear in the command bar. The dialog names the file at the top. If you belong to more than one Onplana workspace, it asks you to choose one the first time, then shows Workspace: with the name and a Change button.

Link to Onplana task

Select the file, then Link to Onplana task.
Search for the task. The list holds your own open tasks and, when this site is connected to one project, that project’s tasks. It shows 20 at a time; when there are more, it says “Showing 20 of N. Type to narrow the list.”
Select the task, then Link.

If the site is connected to several projects, the dialog says so and lists only your own tasks.

The link is kept in the project’s Project Documents folder and appears in the task’s Attachments list in Onplana, marked “Linked from SharePoint by” and the name of whoever linked it. Opening it opens the file in SharePoint, where SharePoint’s own permissions decide who may open it.

To take a link off a task, select Remove link in the task’s Files tab on the app page, or remove it from the task’s Attachments list in Onplana. The file stays in SharePoint. The same people who can delete an uploaded attachment can remove a link, and anyone who linked a file as a collaborator on the task can remove their own link.

Create task from this file

Select the file, then Create task from this file.
Check the task title, which starts as the file’s name without its extension, and the project, which starts as the one connected to this site. The dialog reminds you that the new task is assigned to you.
Select Create task. The task is created with the file linked to it.

You can link a file only from the SharePoint site it is on, and only to a task you are allowed to add files to.

People without an Onplana account

Nobody needs a seat to read a plan. Paste an Onplana read-only link into a web part’s Read-only link for people without Onplana setting, and anyone who cannot sign in sees “You do not have an Onplana account, but you can see this plan read only.” with a View the plan link.

The link must be an Onplana read-only link on the same Onplana address the web part uses:

a schedule share link (/s/...), made with Share in a project’s Gantt;
or a shared report link (/shared-report/...).

Any other address is ignored. Editing, and every approval, still need an Onplana account.

Ask to join your team’s workspace

If you have an Onplana account but are not in the workspace a site belongs to, the web part can offer to ask for you. You see “You can ask to join name in Onplana. One of its admins decides.” with an Ask to join name button.

Select Ask to join name.
The card reads “Request sent.” An owner or admin of the workspace gets a notification and an email, and decides under People & Teams > Access requests.
You get a notification either way. When they approve, you join as a Member; reload the SharePoint page to see your work.

The button appears only when all of these are true:

the site is connected to a project in that workspace;
you signed in with an account from the same Microsoft organization the site belongs to, and Microsoft vouches for your email address;
your Onplana email address is verified;
you are not already a member of the workspace, and an admin has not deactivated you in it.

Otherwise the card says what it said before, and asking an admin to invite you is still the way in. The card never names a workspace you could not ask to join. Asking uses no paid seat; the seat is used only when an admin approves.

Guests on your sites

A SharePoint guest is usually not signed in to Onplana through the web parts. Onplana signs a guest in only when Microsoft has proved the guest’s email address, and Microsoft rarely does that for guests. Trusting an unproved address would let someone claim an Onplana account with an address they do not own.

A guest sees “You are a guest on this site, so Onplana cannot sign you in here.” with either the read-only link, when the web part has one, or Open Onplana. A guest who opens Onplana directly and signs in there works as normal.

Troubleshooting

The web parts and the file dialog say what is wrong in one sentence. What each one means:

Message	What it means	What to do
Finish the web part settings to connect it to Onplana.	API base URL was changed to an address that is not Onplana’s.	Put `https://api.onplana.com/api` back.
Onplana Projects is not available yet.	Sign-in from SharePoint is not switched on.	Nothing on your side; ask your administrator to contact Onplana support.
There is no Onplana account for your Microsoft account yet.	No Onplana account matches your Microsoft account.	Select Open Onplana to sign in or create a workspace, then reload the page.
You do not have an Onplana account, but you can see this plan read only.	As above, and the web part has a read-only link.	Select View the plan, or create an account to do more.
You are a guest on this site, so Onplana cannot sign you in here.	You are a guest whose email Microsoft has not proved.	Open Onplana directly, or ask the site owner for a read-only link.
You do not have access to this in Onplana.	You are not in that workspace, or not on that project.	Select Open Onplana and ask for access there.
You are signed in to Onplana, but you are not a member of any workspace yet.	Your account is in no workspace.	Ask your Onplana admin to invite you, or use Ask to join when the card offers it.
You are not a member of this Onplana workspace.	The web part is set to a workspace you are not in.	Ask one of its admins to invite you, or use Ask to join when the card offers it.
You can ask to join name in Onplana.	You may ask to join this site’s workspace.	Select Ask to join, then wait for an admin. See Ask to join your team’s workspace.
Your Onplana plan does not include this.	The feature needs a higher plan, for example portfolios.	Select See plans.
Onplana could not be reached. Try again later.	A network problem, Onplana is down, or SharePoint could not get a sign-in token, which happens when the Onplana Projects API permission has not been approved.	Reload the page later. If it persists, ask your administrator to check the API approval.
This site is not connected to an Onplana project yet.	The web part has no project picked and the site has no project.	A site owner connects it, or pick a Project in the web part’s settings.
More than one Onplana project uses this site.	Several projects keep their files in this site.	Pick a Project in the web part’s settings.
You cannot change where this project keeps its files in Onplana.	You can manage the site, but cannot edit the project.	Ask a project owner or manager to connect it.
You cannot add files to this task.	Your project role cannot attach files to that task, or the project’s documents folder is restricted and you have no access to it.	Ask the task’s assignee or a project manager.
You cannot add tasks to this project.	Your project role cannot create tasks in that project.	Choose another project, or ask a project manager.
Link this file from the SharePoint site it is on.	The file is on a different SharePoint site from the page.	Open the file’s own library and link it from there.
Task created, but the file could not be linked to it.	The task exists, but the link step failed.	Select the file again and choose Link to Onplana task.
That did not work. Try again.	Anything else went wrong.	Try again.

FAQs

Does Onplana copy my files? No. It keeps a file’s name and address only. The file stays in SharePoint with its permissions, labels and history.

Do I sign in separately on every page? No. The web part signs you in with the Microsoft account you are already using in SharePoint. The Onplana session lives in the page’s memory and ends when you close it. Your browser remembers only which workspace you picked.

Can I create an Onplana account from a web part? No. A web part never creates an account. Select Open Onplana to sign up, then come back.

Why does the web part not offer “Ask to join”? It offers it only for the workspace of the site you are on, when the site is connected to a project there and you signed in from the same Microsoft organization. On any other site, or for a guest whose email Microsoft has not proved, ask an admin to invite you instead.

What happens if the package is removed? The web parts and commands disappear from SharePoint. Nothing in Onplana is deleted, and file links keep opening their files from the Onplana web app.

Deploy Onplana Projects, installation and the API approval, for administrators
Attach files from SharePoint, the file picker inside the Onplana web app
Use Onplana in Microsoft Teams, the same work inside Teams
Request access, what happens when you open something you cannot see

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