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Microsoft To Do: Work Accounts Can No Longer Join Lists Shared From Consumer Accounts

Microsoft’s 2023 To Do notice affected tenant users joining lists shared from consumer accounts—not list sharing within an organization.
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Microsoft announced in May 2023 that people using Microsoft To Do through an organization’s tenant would no longer be able to join and contribute to lists shared from consumer accounts. The change was not a shutdown of To Do sharing: the notice said list sharing within an organization would continue.

What changed in Microsoft To Do?

Microsoft 365 message MC551021, dated May 8, 2023, announced the retirement of a feature that let users in an organization’s tenant join lists owned and shared through consumer accounts. The restriction applied to tenant users joining and contributing to those external lists. Microsoft 365 message MC551021

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The dates below are milestones from that 2023 announcement, not a newly scheduled rollout:

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Date Announced effect
May 30, 2023 New joins and contributions to lists shared from consumer accounts were to be blocked.
June 30, 2023 Removal of existing memberships in external lists was to begin.
Late May to early July 2023 The notice described this as the overall rollout window.

Which sharing was affected—and which continued?

Consumer account to organization account

The change concerned a list shared from a personal or other consumer account with someone using To Do in an organization’s tenant. Microsoft’s earlier explanation of the feature said work accounts could join lists owned by personal accounts if an enterprise administrator had enabled the feature. Microsoft To Do Blog, February 25, 2021

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Sharing within an organization

MC551021 said users would continue to be able to share task lists with people within their organization. It did not announce an end to all Microsoft To Do list sharing.

Organization account to outside users

The notice said that sharing a tenant user’s list with people outside the organization was not allowed at the time and would remain unchanged. Its FAQ asked whether users outside the organization could share their task lists with the organization, and whether a user could share a task list with people outside the organization; these are different sharing directions from the consumer-owned-list scenario the retirement addressed. In the FAQ’s words: “This is not allowed at the moment. This will continue to remain the same.”

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What did Microsoft recommend administrators do?

As part of the 2023 announcement, Microsoft advised organizations to notify To Do users and update their documentation. That was preparation for the announced rollout, not guidance for an upcoming change.

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  • Premium, non-bleed pages: No more frustrations about pens or markers bleeding through flimsy paper! Our notepad is made with premium non-bleed 100 gsm paper to give you the best writing experience. Unlike with our competitors, these pages won’t bleed onto the next one, even if you write with a permanent marker.
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What the announcement does not establish

  • MC551021 did not give a reason for retiring the feature.
  • The notice did not specify a workaround.
  • The announcement documents Microsoft’s 2023 policy and rollout plan; by itself, it does not confirm current behavior for every account type or tenant configuration.

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