Summary

Microsoft 365 includes dozens of apps beyond Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Many users do not know what apps like Planner, Lists, Forms, Bookings, or Power Automate do — or when to use them instead of a spreadsheet or email. This article is a quick-reference guide to the most useful M365 apps, organized by purpose, with a decision guide to help you pick the right tool for the task.

In this guide

• 1. The Core Productivity Apps (You Probably Already Use These)
• 2. Task and Project Management Apps
• 3. Communication and Scheduling Apps
• 4. Notes and Knowledge Apps
• 5. Automation and Intelligence Apps
• 6. Other Useful Apps You May Not Know About
• 7. Master Decision Guide — "What Tool Do I Use?"
• 8. How to Find and Open M365 Apps

Before You Start

• A Microsoft 365 work or school account.
• App availability depends on your organization's license. If an app is not visible, contact IT to confirm whether it is included in your plan.

Instructions

1. The Core Productivity Apps (You Probably Already Use These)

App	What It Does	When to Use It
Outlook	Email, calendar, contacts, and tasks	Send and receive email, schedule meetings, manage your calendar
Word	Document creation and editing	Reports, proposals, letters, any document requiring rich formatting
Excel	Spreadsheets and data analysis	Budgets, data tracking, calculations, PivotTables, charts
PowerPoint	Presentations and slide decks	Meetings, training, pitches, any visual presentation
Teams	Chat, video calls, and collaboration hub	Real-time communication, meetings, group collaboration, file sharing
OneDrive	Personal cloud file storage	Storing, syncing, and sharing your own files across devices
SharePoint	Team and departmental file storage, intranet sites	Shared document libraries, team sites, company intranet pages

Note: For details on where files are stored across OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams, see Understanding Where Your Files Live.

2. Task and Project Management Apps

App	What It Does	Best For	Not Ideal For
Microsoft To Do	Personal task list with My Day, reminders, and due dates	Your own to-do list, personal task tracking, flagged Outlook emails	Team project management — use Planner instead
Microsoft Planner	Visual team task boards with buckets, assignments, and progress tracking	Team project management, sprint boards, group task tracking	Personal to-do lists — use To Do instead
Microsoft Lists	Structured data tracking with custom columns, views, rules, and automation	Asset tracking, issue logs, event planning, onboarding checklists, any data that is more structured than tasks but does not need a database	Simple personal tasks — use To Do instead

"Should I Use To Do, Planner, or Lists?"

Scenario	Use This
I need a personal daily to-do list	To Do
My team needs to track project tasks and assign work	Planner
I need to track structured data with custom columns (e.g., inventory, issue log)	Lists
I need a Kanban board for a team project	Planner (Board view)
I want to automate notifications when items change	Lists (with built-in rules or Power Automate)
I want my flagged Outlook emails as tasks	To Do (syncs flagged emails automatically)

3. Communication and Scheduling Apps

App	What It Does	Best For	Not Ideal For
Microsoft Bookings	Self-service appointment scheduling with a public booking page	Client/customer appointment scheduling, office hours, consultations	Internal team meetings — use Outlook calendar instead
Microsoft Forms	Surveys, quizzes, and feedback forms	Employee surveys, event RSVPs, knowledge checks, data collection from people outside your team	Complex data entry — use Lists or SharePoint for structured data

4. Notes and Knowledge Apps

App	What It Does	Best For	Not Ideal For
OneNote	Digital notebooks with freeform pages organized into sections and notebooks	Meeting notes, research, brainstorming, handwritten notes (with stylus), shared team notebooks	Task management — use To Do or Planner
Sticky Notes	Quick, lightweight notes that sync across devices	Jotting down a phone number, a quick reminder, or a thought	Structured notes or team collaboration — use OneNote
Loop	Collaborative components (tables, task lists, notes) that sync across Teams, Outlook, and the web	Real-time collaborative brainstorming, co-editing a table during a Teams chat, shared meeting agendas	Long-form documents — use Word instead

5. Automation and Intelligence Apps

App	What It Does	Best For	Not Ideal For
Power Automate	No-code/low-code workflow automation (formerly Microsoft Flow)	Automating repetitive tasks: approval workflows, email notifications, file management, data sync between apps	One-time actions — do it manually
Copilot	AI assistant embedded across M365 apps	Summarizing emails, drafting documents, analyzing data in Excel, catching up on Teams meetings, generating presentation slides	Tasks requiring 100% accuracy without human review — always verify Copilot output
Power BI	Business intelligence dashboards and data visualization	Creating interactive reports from multiple data sources, sharing dashboards with stakeholders	Simple charts — use Excel for basic visualizations

6. Other Useful Apps You May Not Know About

App	What It Does	Typical Use Case
Whiteboard	Digital whiteboard for brainstorming with drawing, sticky notes, and templates	Teams meetings — collaborative brainstorming, diagrams, and retrospectives
Sway	Create interactive, web-based presentations and newsletters	Internal newsletters, training materials, visual reports (alternative to PowerPoint for web-first content)
Stream	Enterprise video hosting and sharing	Storing and sharing meeting recordings, training videos, company announcements
Viva Insights	Personal productivity and wellbeing analytics	Understanding your work patterns — time in meetings, focus time, after-hours work
Clipchamp	Video editing built into Microsoft 365	Creating and editing short videos for presentations, training, or social media

7. Master Decision Guide — "What Tool Do I Use?"

I Need To...	Use This App
Send a quick message to a colleague	Teams (chat)
Send a formal message or communicate externally	Outlook (email)
Track my personal tasks and to-do list	To Do
Manage team project tasks with assignments	Planner
Track structured data (inventory, issues, events)	Lists
Schedule meetings with my team	Outlook (calendar)
Let clients book appointments with me	Bookings
Collect feedback or survey responses	Forms
Take meeting notes	OneNote
Brainstorm with a team in real time	Whiteboard or Loop
Store and share my own files	OneDrive
Store and share team/department files	SharePoint
Create a report or document	Word
Analyze data or build a budget	Excel
Build a presentation	PowerPoint
Automate a repetitive workflow	Power Automate
Summarize a long email thread or document	Copilot
Create an interactive dashboard from data	Power BI
Edit a video	Clipchamp

8. How to Find and Open M365 Apps

If you do not see an app listed above, here is how to find it:

1. Go to https://www.office.com and sign in.
2. Click the app launcher (grid icon ⬛) in the top-left corner.
3. Click Explore all your apps to see every available app.
4. Click any app to open it. You can also pin frequently used apps to the launcher for quick access.

Tip: You can also type the app name directly in your browser — for example, planner.cloud.microsoft for Planner, to-do.office.com for To Do, or forms.office.com for Forms.

Troubleshooting

INFO

If an app is missing from your app launcher, it may not be included in your Microsoft 365 license, or your organization may have disabled it. Contact IT to check your app availability.

Symptom / Error	Potential Cause	Solution
App not visible in the app launcher	Not included in your license or disabled by IT	Contact IT to verify your license includes the app and that it has not been restricted.
"You don't have access to this app"	License not assigned	Ask IT to assign the appropriate license to your account.
App opens but shows no data	First-time use — no content created yet	Create your first item (task, list, form, etc.) to get started. The app is working correctly.
Cannot find where a Teams file is stored	Files are stored in SharePoint, not Teams directly	See Understanding Where Your Files Live for details.
Planner vs. To Do — tasks showing in both	Planner tasks assigned to you sync to To Do	This is expected behavior. Tasks assigned to you in Planner appear in To Do's "Assigned to me" list for convenience.

Related Articles

• How to Use Microsoft To Do for Personal Task Management
• How to Use Microsoft Planner for Task Management
• How to Create and Use a List in Microsoft Lists
• How to Create a Survey or Quiz in Microsoft Forms
• How to Book Appointments with Microsoft Bookings
• How to Use OneNote for Note-Taking and Organization
• How to Use Power Automate Basics in Microsoft 365
• How to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot Basics
• Understanding Where Your Files Live — OneDrive vs. SharePoint vs. Teams

Did this solve your problem?