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Frequently Asked Questions

Customizations

Can I adapt the look & feel of our Planio account to our company logo and colors using a custom theme?

As part of our Enterprise plan, we include a customized theme creation service whereby we develop a bespoke theme for you based on your logo and branding identity/guidelines. In all other plans, this option can be purchased as an extra for 15 Euros per month coupled with a 100 Euro set-up fee.

Can I change the time zone for dates displayed in Planio?

By default, Planio is set to European time as this is where we are based. However, you can easily switch your account to your local time zone:

  1. In the Top Menu, click on Your Avatar
  2. In the Dropdown Menu, click My account.
  3. In the Time zone field, select the appropriate time zone for your location.
  4. Click Save.

For Administrators, you can establish the default time zone for new users as follows:

  1. Click on Your Avatar
  2. Click Administration and then Settings.
  3. In the Default time zone for new users field, select the preferred time zone.
  4. Click Save.

Can I use a custom domain/CNAME for my Planio account?

A custom sub domain / CNAME (e.g. projects.yourcompany.com) is normally included in our Enterprise plan. Within all other plans, it is available for an extra fee of 15 euro per month. This includes an exclusive SSL certificate, so that the communication stays encrypted even when you use your own domain address.

Can Planio add URLs or links to custom field values based on my own rules?

Yes! For custom fields that have the attribute Link values to URL, you can define a URL template that will be used to add links to custom field values. In order to use this feature, please specify a fixed base URL and use the following variables for replacement:

  • %value% for the custom field value
  • %id% for the numerical ID of the object for which the field is set
  • %project_id% for the numerical ID of the current project
  • %project_identifier% for the alphanumeric identifier of the current project
  • %m1%, %m2%, etc. for the capturing groups of an optionally specified regular expression

For example, if you use https://example.com/customers/%value%, the values of your custom field will be linked accordingly. If the value is set as Appleseed, the resulting URL will be https://example.com/customers/Appleseed.

Is Planio available in languages other than English? Can my users select their own language?

Planio is available in the following languages:

Bulgarian (Български), Bosanski, Català, Čeština, Danish (Dansk), Deutsch, Ελληνικά, English, English (British), Español, Euskara, Persian (پارسی), Finnish (Suomi), Français, Galego, Hebrew (עברית), Hrvatski, Magyar, Indonesia, Italiano, Japanese (日本語), 한국어(Korean), Lithuanian (lietuvių), Latvian (Latviešu), Macedonian (Македонски), Mongolian (Монгол), Nederlands, Norwegian (Norsk bokmål), Polski, Português, Português (Brasil), Română, Russian (Русский), Slovenčina, Slovenščina, Српски, Srpski, Svenska, Thai (ไทย), Türkçe, Ukrainian (Українська), Tiếng Việt, Simplified Chinese (简体中文), Traditional Chinese (繁體中文)

In order to switch the language for your current user account:

  1. Click on Your Avatar
  2. Click My Account.
  3. In the Language field, select the preferred language.
  4. Click Save.

For Administrators, you can change the global default language for all users by doing the following:

  1. Click on Your Avatar
  2. Click Administration -> Settings and then the Display tab.
  3. In the Default language field, select the preferred language.
  4. Click Save.

Help Desk

Can I create Planio Help Desk tickets via an API or via a contact form on my site?

You can create Help Desk issues via an XML or JSON REST API, or using a contact form on your site. You can find more information about this feature on our API documentation site (scroll down a bit for the part on how to use a contact form on your site). You can see this in action on our own contact form.

Emails being sent by Planio Help Desk from my custom email address are being flagged as Spam. What can I do?

The reason some of the recipients block mail sent from your custom Help Desk email address is that they use a protocol called sender policy framework (SPF). Using this protocol, an owner of a domain can specify which mail servers should be allowed to send mail with this domain as a sender.

In order to authorize Planio's mail servers to send mails with your custom email address, you need to add this TXT record to your domain's DNS:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.plan.io ~all

Please note that you need to add more entries here in order for your other email services and infrastructure to work properly. You can find out more about SPF here: http://www.openspf.org/

How can I set up a redirect to my Planio Inbox from Google GSuite (formerly Google Apps)?

GSuite also supports relaying emails but only on the paid tier. To set up an email address and change its default routing to your Planio Inbox email address, please navigate to Google Admin Console -> Apps -> GSuite -> Gmail -> Default routing.

Google explains this in more details in their article about User-level email routing options.

We receive a lot of unsolicited emails (spam). Can Planio help us filter it?

We introduced a new measure to handle spam submissions to your Help Desk inbox.

You can decide for each project how Planio should handle identified spam. There are three options which you can chose in Your Project -> Settings -> Help Desk -> Issue status for spam mails:

  • Default status - Accept the mail like non-spam mails and create a new issue
  • None, do not create issue - Ignore the mail and do not create a new issue for it.
  • A chosen status - You can chose any issue status defined in your Planio account. Incoming mails identified as spam will create a new issue with this status. With this option, it often makes sense to chose a closed status so that the issues do not clutter your list of open issues.

For more information about this new feature, please have a look at our announcement post at https://support.plan.io/news/128.

What is the difference between customers and users?

You can assign a user to a project and give them a certain role, for example 'Manager' or 'Reporter' within it. As an Administrator you can control the permissions of each role in Your Avatar -> Administration -> Roles and Permissions. Here, you can even create your own roles and the appropriate permissions.

Customers are an exclusive part of our Pro Feature "Help Desk". They are part of the project but without having a "role" with the appropriate permissions. You can use Planio to communicate with your customers directly via email using Planio Help Desk. Specifically, our template creation functionality enables you to easily create customised replies to frequently asked questions.

Why does GMail complain when setting up mail forwarding to my Planio Inbox address?

Unfortunately GMail and GSuite have removed the ability to use the + character in forwarded email addresses, although it is a valid character.

At Planio, we do support the _ (underscore) or # (hash) characters in place of the + character in our email addresses. As a workaround to this problem, you can thus replace the + characters with a _ (underscore) character in your project's inbox address. The address for your project's Planio Inbox then becomes inbox_ACCOUNT_CODE_PROJECT@plan.io which is supported by GMail and GSuite.

Import and Data Transmission

How can I import my existing data (Redmine, SVN, Trac, Mantis, Jira, etc.) to Planio?

Migration of your data into Planio is available free-of-charge as part of our onboarding program.

In order for us to start work on your data import, please do the following:

  1. If you haven’t already done so, sign up for a trial plan.
  2. Click on Your Avatar
  3. Click Administration, then Projects.
  4. Create a new project and name it for example Import.
  5. In the new project: navigate to Storage and upload all files necessary for the import (e.g., SQL dump, SVN dump, files archive, ...)
  6. After these steps are completed, contact us to let us know (a) any relevant importation instructions on how to interpret and map the data—the more specific the better, and (b) that the above steps are complete and you are ready for us to initiate the import of your data into Planio.

Notes:

  • In most cases, all existing data in your Planio account will be erased/overwritten and Textile will be converted to Markdown. Should you have added relevant data within your Planio account other than the files to import, please back up this data before contacting us.
  • It can take up to three working days for your import to be completed. If you would like to reduce this time to 8 hours, please coordinate a time for the import to take place. In order to do this, please suggest two or three 8-hour windows in the coming days (overnight or during weekends is fine). We will then follow-up and confirm the date for your import.
  • After having imported your data, your trial period will end immediately and your account will be converted to a regular paid account. In order to continue using Planio, please enter your credit card details at Your Avatar -> Customer Account -> View or Change Billing Information.

Plan - Contract - Billing

Can I receive an export/backup of my data should I wish to cancel?

We hope you'll never have to cancel your Planio account. However, should you want to leave, we will provide a full SQL dump as well as backups of your SVN and/or Git repositories. This will enable you to move to your own hosted Redmine installation or to another hosting provider. On our website, you can read more about our data independence guarantee.

How can I change my plan? When trying to downgrade, my desired plan does not seem to be available.

Your plan can be changed at any time by navigating to Your Avatar -> Customer Account -> Change Plan.

If your preferred plan is unavailable, it is likely due to exceeding the number of allowable features for that plan (e.g., too many users, projects, customers, or GB of storage).

After you reduce your consumption (Your Avatar -> Administration -> Users / Projects / Customers), the lower level plans will become available.

I need an invoice with "qualified electronic signature" or by mail. Is that possible?

Invoices with "qualified electronic signature" are fortunately no longer required by law since September 2011.

You will receive all Planio invoices via email as regular PDF attachment. You can easily save or print those for your records.
Should you need access to past invoices, please visit Your Avatar -> Customer Account -> Account Management -> Invoices.

If you would like to have your invoices sent to you by regular mail, please let us know. We will send them to you every month at a cost of 1.50€/month.

My account was suspended and re-activated. However, I am still unable to access my account or certain aspects of it. What can I do?

Should you still be unable to access your Planio account after we have re-activated it, please make sure to clear your internet browser cache or simply try accessing Planio using a different browser.

The offered plans (gold, silver, etc.) do not quite meet my needs. Can I purchase an individual plan?

We will be happy to offer you a customized plan. Please let us know the number of Users and Projects as well as how much disk space you would need and we will surely will find a solution.

Planio for Mobile Devices

Is there an App for Android Devices?

Check out the Planio Android App. It's available free of charge for all Planio users via the Google Play Store.

Is there an iPhone App for Planio?

Check out the Planio iPhone App. It's available free of charge for all Planio users via the Apple App Store.

Planio Storage

How can I set up and use Planio Storage?

We have written a guide on How to Synchronize Files using Planio Storage.

How do I sign in to the Planio Storage Client app? Do I need an app password?

Future versions of Planio may introduce app passwords to use in different Planio client apps. For now, please use your regular Planio login and password to set up the Planio Storage Client app on your desktop.

Project Management

Are there any keyboard shortcuts?

yes, there are a few keyboard shortcuts:

Quick Search f
Search 4
Edit e
Preview r
New task 7
Previous page p
Next page n

The way you call them varies by browser and operating system. In Firefox (Windows and Linux) you can use Alt-Shift together with the key from the above table. In IE and Chrome it is just Alt. On a Mac, you have to use Ctrl-Alt with Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

Are there project templates or can I copy/ duplicate an existing project?

You can copy entire projects by going to Your Avatar -> Administration -> Projects and click Copy on the line of the project you wish to copy.
You will have the option to select the areas (members, tasks, milestones, etc.) you would like to copy to the new project.

You can also use the copy feature to create "template" projects for recurring projects.

Do subprojects count as full projects with regards to my plan limits?

Subprojects count as full projects as they have full project functionality with the added benefit of sharing milestones, issues and being displayed hierarchically.

However, you have the ability to archive projects at any time - an archived project will not count against your project limit. Should you wish to use an archived project again at a later time, you can always do so by de-archiving it.

How can I access a report on the times tracked by users in my Planio account?

To view time entries for all project members, please do the following:

  1. Click on Your Avatar in the upper menu bar
  2. Click Projects -> Overall spent time and then the Report tab.
  3. In the Date field, specify a relative date range (e.g., this week) or an absolute date range (i.e., from x to y).
  4. In the Details field, select the level of detail to display (e.g., year, month, days, etc.).
  5. In the Add field, select a dimension.
  6. Report details appear below.
  7. To export the report, click CSV at the bottom of the report.

How can I add appointments to the Planio calendar?

The purpose of the Planio calendar is to track project-related events, such as the start & due dates of tasks and milestones.

Although it cannot be used for appointment setting, the Planio calendar can be integrated with common scheduling applications such as Google Calendar and MS Outlook Exchange. This is accomplished by importing a Planio calendar feed below each calendar (via the Also available in link).

How can I create a Wiki sub page?

In order to create a wiki sub page, you need to create a link to it first. Use the wiki page notation (e.g., [[My subpage]]) to link to a page in an existing one. Then, after saving the page, the link text will appear in red. The new wiki sub page can then be created by clicking on the red link.

Should you wish to create a hierarchy of wiki pages, you need to define parent-child relationships as follows:

  1. In a child wiki page, click Rename.
  2. In the Parent page field, select the page’s parent.
  3. Click Rename.
  4. To view the parent-child relationship, click Index by Title in the wiki sidebar.

How can I delete or archive a project I am not currently using?

To delete or archive a project:

  1. In the Top Menu, click on Your Avatar
  2. In the dropdown menu click Administration and then Projects.
  3. On the project row, click Delete or Archive, as applicable.

How can I use the done ratio field on issues?

To implement the “Done ratio (% done)” feature, please do the following:

  1. In the top menu, click on Your Avatar
  2. Click Administration -> Settings, and then the Issue Tracking tab.
  3. In the Calculate the issue done ratio with field, select Use the Issue Field to input a percentile done ratio on every issue; or,
  4. In the Calculate the issue done ratio with field, select Use the Issue Status to define done ratio pre-sets on issue statuses (Your Avatar -> Administration -> Issue Status). This enables a status change to automatically set an issue to a certain done ratio.

I have added a new issue status but I cannot assign it to my issues. What am I missing?

If you are unable to assign a new status to an issue, it may be due to a workflow permission setting.

To edit workflow permissions:

  1. In the top menu, click on Your Avatar
  2. Navigate to Administration -> Workflow.
  3. Select your role in the project and the tracker being used for the issue.
  4. If you would like to assign a newly-created status, clear the “Only display statuses that are used by this tracker” check box.
  5. Click Edit.
  6. Review and modify status transitions as needed.

Is it possible to open a project to the public, i.e. not require a password to read/update certain data?

To specify that a project should be “public” (i.e., does not require a password to read/update data), please do the following:

  1. In the top menu bar, click on Your Avatar
  2. Click Administration -> Settings, and then Authentication.
  3. In the Authentication required field, clear the check box.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Click on Your Avatar -> Administration -> Roles and permissions and then Anonymous.
  6. Select and/or clear the check boxes to customize the role.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Make a project public by clicking Your Avatar -> Projects, clicking a project name, and then clicking Settings.
  9. In the Public field, select the check box to indicate that the project should be public.
  10. Click Save.

Your project is now available to users who do not have an account on your Planio platform.

We recently published a complete tutorial on public projects which you might find interesting as well!

What are milestones and what does the road map and the Gantt chart show?

You can administer your project milestones via Settings -> Milestones. After an issue has been assigned to a milestone, you can view an overview of the milestone’s progress on the Roadmap tab (including an automatically calculated progress ratio).

In addition, a flexible Gantt Diagram (Issues -> Gantt-Chart) provides a visual overview of both issues and milestones.

What are workflows and how can I use them?

Workflows help you organize how your team handles repeating tasks. You can use issue statuses (Your Avatar -> Administration -> Issue statuses) to define the different steps a task can undergo from creation to completion (e.g., New, Assigned, Ready for review, Reviewed, etc.).

In order to use a newly-created issue status, ensure that the project’s membership role has a workflow that allows the desired status transition.

To edit workflow permissions:

  1. In the top menu bar, click on Your Avatar
  2. Navigate to Administration -> Workflow.
  3. Select your role in the project and the tracker being used for the issue.
  4. If you would like to assign a newly-created status, clear the “Only display statuses that are used by this tracker” check box.
  5. Click Edit.
  6. Review and modify status transitions as needed.

What is the difference between documents, files and repository?

The documents area contains documents that can be uploaded regardless of tasks and repository. Many of our customers use this area for general, non-changeable Office-documents.
The files section displays all files that have been uploaded in the entire project (of tasks, documents, wiki pages, etc.).
The repository is completely separated from that and can only be edited via SVN or git.

Redmine and Open Source

Can I install Redmine plugins for my Planio account?

Currently, a core set of useful plug-ins are installed on the Planio solution. These plug-ins require continuous maintenance, particularly when we update your account to the latest version of Redmine.

The installation of custom plug-ins, however, is possible only for our Enterprise-level users who also enjoy custom themes, their own domain name and other functionality designed to create a bespoke solution according to specific requirements.

If this is an option that you are interested in, please do not hesitate to contact us so that we can learn about your needs.

Can we use Planio for our Open Source project?

We are happy to offer a complementary Planio account to open source projects. We ask that you make the Planio account accessible to the public without requiring a login by setting all projects to be "public". You can find the instructions on how to do that here.

Should you need to keep certain information private, such as sensitive security issues, you can set certain issues to private, so those issues will only be viewable to certain users.

To get started, please send an email to open (at) plan.io with some details about your projects, and we'll get in touch about setting up your Planio account.

Does Planio provide an API for integration with my own apps and infrastructure?

Planio is based on Redmine and thus provides the same REST API functionality. We have our own documentation for the Redmine API at Planio. In addition, you may refer to the Redmine REST API documentation for core Redmine APIs, and additionally the Help Desk companies and contacts API documentation for Planio Help Desk. Be sure to enable the API via Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Authentication -> Enable REST web service.

We are happy to assist you with special API use cases and, if you are an Enterprise customer, we can also offer API functionality customization. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require this assistance.

How often are changes in Redmine pulled into Planio and which version are you currently using?

We generally follow the Redmine updates but only when we see major feature improvements. Additionally, our team closely monitors Redmine's internal mailing lists for security and general bug fixes and implements them as fast as possible - usually before they're known to the public. Currently, we're running Redmine 4.2.
We will inform you through the notification bell in the top right hand corner and also in the feature blog, which you can find here: https://support.plan.io/projects/planio-support-en/

What's the difference between Redmine and Planio?

Planio is a commercially hosted version of Redmine – provided by a group of long-standing core contributors to the Open Source project. At Planio, you'll have an always up-to-date version of Redmine with an improved user interface and extra features.

Learn more about the difference between Planio and Redmine.

Repositories (Subversion & Git)

Can I connect an external Git repository (GitHub, Bitbucket, or self-hosted) to Planio?

If you would like to integrate your existing repository e.g. GitHub with Planio, please make sure you do the following:

  • Logged in to your Planio account, navigate to Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Repositories and make sure that the Enable WS for repository management checkbox is active and that you have an API key set up
  • Create a project, then navigate to Settings -> Repositories
  • Click on New repository
  • Select Git, choose an Identifier
  • Enter the URL of your GitHub repository in the Mirror from external URL field; use the public read-only HTTPS URL here, or the the SSH URL (e.g. ssh://git@github.com/user/repository.git) for private repositories
  • Click Create
  • Back in your project, head over to the Repository tab, find and select the repository you just created in the sidebar
  • Should you not see the orange instructions screen, click on Help on the upper right
  • On GitHub, navigate to your repository, then to Settings -> Webhooks -> Add webhook
  • In the resulting form, fill in the Payload URL with the value from your Planio repository setup instructions and click the Add webhook button below the form.
  • Optional: if this GitHub repository is private or you have used its private SSH URL above, click on Deploy Keys (still on GitHub) and add the SSH public key from the Set up a public key (deploy key) section in the Planio help
  • A short while after your first commit, the repository will show up on Planio. If you have nothing to commit, you can also go back to Service Hooks -> Planio and hit the Test Hook button.

These steps may need a little adjusting if you’re using other platforms than GitHub or if you’re hosting your repository yourself. In the latter case, you may want to download and use the post-receive hook script that Planio generates for you.

Can I connect an external SVN repository to Planio?

We currently only support our own hosted Subversion repositories in order to avoid third-party dependencies, both technical and organizational.

However, we can import your existing Subversion data - including commit history - over to Planio if you like. Please let us know if that's something you'd like us to do and we'll be happy to arrange an import. Of course, all data imports are free-of-charge as part of our onboarding process.

Can I use repository commit messages to reference issues, change their status or log time?

Yes! As an Administrator, navigate to Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Repositories. From there you can define keywords that can be used to (a) reference issues (to create links between commit messages and issues), (b) fix issues (reference and set a certain status and/or % done), and (c) switch time logging on or off.

For example:

fixes #1234

  • Creates a reference to issue 1234.
  • Sets the issue’s status to Fixed (if specified in Settings).

Commit messages can also log time spent, for example:

fixes #1234 @2h30m or fixes #1234 @2.5

  • Creates a reference to issue 1234.
  • Sets the issue’s status to Fixed (if specified in Settings).
  • Logs 2.5 hours to the issue.

If you would like to reference a revision from within an issue or a wiki page, that's possible as well.
Just use something like r123 in your description or note where 123 is the revision you would like to reference.

How can I access the Subversion repository from my PC or Mac?

In order to use the Planio Subversion Repository, a Subversion client application is required to be installed on your computer.

If MS Windows is your operating system, we recommend the open source application TortoiseSVN which is available at no charge. The following links provide more information:

If you prefer working on a Mac, we recommend Cornerstone SVN which is a commercial application.

How can I enable anonymous access to my project's SVN repository?

Enabling anonymous access (read-only without logon from anywhere in the world) to a SVN repository requires the following steps:

  1. Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Authentication -> Clear Authentication required check box.
  2. Your Avatar -> Administration -> Roles and Permissions -> Anonymous -> Check View changesets and Browse repository.
  3. Select a project repository to make public -> Settings -> Information -> Check Public.

How can I import a Git repository to Planio?

Since Git is a distributed VCS by design, you can import existing history to Planio easily and from your client machine using these simple steps:

Let's say your Planio account is yourcompany.plan.io and your project's identifier is yourproject.

  1. Enter the repository's current working copy (e.g. cd my-repo/)
  2. If it uses a remote, make sure it's up-to-date using git pull
  3. Enter Planio as a new remote using git remote add planio git@yourcompany.plan.io:yourcompany-yourproject.git
  4. Push to Planio's servers using e.g. git push planio --mirror
  5. Optionally repeat this for every branch you have
  6. You're done. You should be able to see your files within the Repository tab in the project on Planio

It may take Planio a while to fetch all changesets but they will ultimately show up in beneath the files in the Repository tab as well.

How can I move from SVN to Git?

In essence, the process is as follows:

  1. Create an empty Git-SVN repository.
  2. Fetch changes from the SVN repository in Planio.
  3. Delete the Planio SVN repository.
  4. Switch your project to Git.
  5. Push the repository.

We strongly recommend that you read the respective Git-SVN documentation before you perform this.

The following commands are suggested:

mkdir my_repo_tmp
cd my_repo_tmp
git svn init https://yourcompany.plan.io/svn/yourproject/ --no-metadata
git svn fetch
cd ..
git clone my_repo_tmp my_repo
rm -rf my_repo_tmp
cd my_repo
git remote rm origin

Additionally:

  1. Delete your existing SVN repository in Planio.
  2. Create a Git repository.
  3. The Git URI will get displayed in the blue help screen.

The following commands should help you push the Git repository back to Planio:

git remote add origin git@yourcompany.plan.io:yourcompany-yourproject.git
git push origin master

How can I validate Planio's SSH key fingerprints?

You can use public key fingerprints to ensure that you are connecting to the intended SSH server even on first connect.

Planio currently uses keys with these fingerprints (in hexadecimal format):

  • 77:d1:54:d7:33:7e:38:43:40:70:ca:2d:3a:24:05:22 (RSA)

When using OpenSSH 6.8 or newer, the fingerprints are shown as a SHA256 hash (in base64 format):

  • SHA256:OCkTD3x0ZyLFpqaVtLjg7z3gnocCWP83LIs0Wu1zXYE (RSA)

I cannot access a Git repository. What's wrong?

In order to access a Git repository from the command line or another Git client, please make sure the following conditions are met:

  • You are a member in the project whose Git repository you'd like to access
  • The role you are using has the View changesets and/or Commit access privileges set
  • You have created a keypair and uploaded the public key to your account
  • You are not using the current public key for more than one Planio account (In case you're using more than one Planio account, please see https://support.plan.io/projects/planio-support-en/faqs#item-114)

A common cause for these access problems is that you might have multiple SSH keys on your computer which are associated with different Planio uses. In that case, your local git client must be configured to use the correct ssh key for the respective Planio user. Another common source of these problems is the local SSH agent which caches previously used ssh keys. Please try to execute this command on your local computer:

ssh-add -D

This command will remove all currently loaded RSA and DSA ssh identifies from your local computer's memory. Note: When connecting the next time to Planio's git server, you might get asked for the passphrase of your SSH key.

Should you still not be able to access via Git, please execute the following command on a command line and let us know the results:

ssh -vvv git@your-domain.plan.io

Please replace your-domain with your Planio subdomain.

I use different Planio accounts and Git is not working. What's the problem?

Unfortunately, you cannot use the same public key for several Planio user accounts. Please generate a separate keypair for every Planio account you are using. You can simplify the selection of the right key by creating a ~/.ssh/config file with the following content:

Host customer1.plan.io
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_key_for_customer1

Host customer2.plan.io
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_key_for_customer2

Please replace customer1, customer2 with the subdomains for the Planio accounts you are using.

Should you still not be able to access your Git repositories, please try the ssh-add -D command. This will remove all currently loaded RSA or SDA identities from the ssh agent. Please note that you may be prompted to enter your passphrase(s) again.

I'd like to use SparkleShare with Planio, but I can't seem to make it work. What can I do?

SparkleShare sometimes has problems using the correct key for SSH authentication - especially if you already have installed and configured SSH and/or your Git client.

To make SparkleShare work, please ensure that all your SSH public keys (e.g. your original SSH key and the SparkleShare key) are registered within Planio.

You can find SparkleShare's public key in a file called <Your username>'s link code.txt in the SparkleShare folder within your user folder.

Should you still have problems despite using the correct address (ssh://git``@[account].plan.io) and path (/[account]-[project].git), you could send us your SparkleShare logs so we can have a look.

The logs can be found by clicking on the SparkleShare icon in the menu bar, then on SparkleShare -> About SparkleShare -> bottom right Debug log.

Security & Privacy

Can I download a backup of all my Planio data?

For your security, all data is already encrypted and backed up to an off-site location on a daily basis.

You can create your own backups weekly free of charge via Your Avatar -> Customer Account -> Account Management -> Request / Download Backups.

All backups include a full database-dump, SVN and Git dumps, and an archived ZIP file (attachments).

How about data security, privacy, and availability of the Planio platform?

As a matter of policy: privacy, data protection and availability of the Planio platform are our top priorities. To further this stance, we have implemented the following:

  • All Planio infrastructure is hosted in high-security 24/7-monitored data centers.
  • All connections are SSL-encrypted.
  • Data is stored on redundant storage devices.
  • Fully-encrypted off-site backups are made at least daily.
  • Planio GmbH is certified as being PCI DSS compliant.
  • Our infrastructure is checked regularly by third-party security professionals.

I believe I have found a security related bug or issue with Planio. Do you offer a reward/bounty when I report it?

While we do not have an official security bounty or reward program, we do appreciate if users detect and notify us of any behaviour in Planio that is out of the ordinary or may be related to the security of our user's data.

In some cases, we may also reward users in cash for security related bugs found and reported in a responsible manner. If a reward will be paid and the potential reward amount will always be determined by Planio and depends on the severity of the issue. As a general rule, rewards will only be paid if the bug has been reported to Planio and Planio only and has not been exploited in order to access, modify, or otherwise compromise our user's data.

In general, we will pay out between 100.00 Euro and 1,000.00 Euro for qualifying security related bugs found. In special cases, where the bug or the potential impact on Planio and our user's data is of extraordinary importance, we may choose to pay out a higher reward.

If you believe that you have found a qualifying security issue, please report it to in a timely manner and do not share the issue or any reference to it with any third parties. Please use email encryption (download our OpenPGP public key) when you contact us.

I forgot my password and can not log in anymore. How can I reset my password?

To reset your password, please follow this link, enter your Planio domain first and then the e-mail address with which you are registered in Planio.

https://accounts.plan.io/login?path=/account/lost_password

Is Planio ready for the GDPR? What do I need to do for GDPR compliance as a Planio customer?

Planio is and will be compliant with all applicable legislature, specifically the GDPR taking effect on may 25th 2018. There's a few favourable specifics at Planio compared to other companies:

  1. Planio GmbH is founder-owned and based in Germany. This means we do not have external investors influencing decisions in the company, nor is our business model geared on rapid growth and an early exit. Our growth is exclusively funded from previous earnings and our strategy is centered on stable and long-term service.
  2. Planio and all associated data is hosted on our own servers located in Germany. Part of our company philosophy is to strictly avoid the use of Cloud servers for our customer's data. The location of servers housing our customer's data is furthermore part of our ToS (section 4.4).
  3. Our servers are hosted at 2 well-known data centres operating and certified in accordance to ISO/IEC 27001:2013, offering industry standard physical access control, redundant uplinks, fire safety, emergency power, etc.

We have collected some more information about this on our data protection web site.

If you are using Planio to manage personal data, please check with your legal advisor if you need to sign a data processing agreement. If you do, you can simply use our online tool to sign one. Annex 1 of said data processing agreement documents the technical and organisational measures Planio GmbH undertakes for the collection, processing and usage of personal customer data.

What is external.planio.media and why is Planio loading data from this server?

The domain external.planio.media is operated by Planio and runs on the same secure server platform as your Planio account, so absolutely no need to worry. We use this domain to embed external media content in wiki pages, issue descriptions, chat messages and so on.

As you might know, Planio will automatically expand and embed links to certain online media such as Twitter messages, YouTube videos, and images when you copy and paste them anywhere within Planio. In order to achieve this, your browser needs to load content from these external services and sometimes execute external code, such as JavaScript. To do this in a secure way and to avoid that the external services get access to what's currently shown in your browser window, we're embedding all content within an isolated section called IFrame. The best way to enforce this isolation is to load content from a different domain.

So what actually happens is that all external media content is embedded on external.planio.media which in turn is embedded into your Planio account. That sounds overly complicated but it's all happening in the background and you don't need to do anything. Furthermore, it adds a layer of protection that makes sure your data stays where it belongs. This allows content from external services such as Facebook or Google to be displayed but it prevents any third parties from finding out about your Planio data.

What is the field Callback URL used for with the backup feature?

If you specify a URL in the appropriate field, an HTTP POST is sent when the backup is ready. The request contains the following (form encoded) URL from which you can download the backup. The transmitted URL is provided with a key that does not require additional authentication.

As an example, assume the following configuration:

Callback URL: https://foo:bar@example.com/backup-ready

Once the backup is ready on the Planio server, the following request will be sent to the specified URL:

POST /backup-ready HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*
User-Agent: Ruby
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Authorization: Basic Zm9vOmJhcg==
Host: example.com
Content-Length: 94

uri=https%3A%2F%2Fkunde.plan.io%2Fplanio-administration%2Fbackups%2F123%3Fs%3Dabc123def456abc789

This way you can implement a simple web service that accepts a POST request. If you specify - as in the example above - a user name and a password in the URL, a basic authentication is performed using this information. In the uri field of the request you will find the full URL from which you can download the backup directly without any further authentication.

If your web service responds with an HTTP 200 status code, it is assumed that the request has been processed correctly. In any case, you will receive an e-mail with the status of the backup processing.

Please note that the transmitted URL should be kept secret on your side to prevent unauthorized access to your Planio data. Please note that any single backup can only be downloaded once.

Task Management

Can I assign an issue to multiple users?

To assign an issue to multiple users, you must first create a user group. After doing so, you can assign an issue to a group:

Turn On Issue Assignment to Groups

  • Navigate to Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Issue Tracking.
  • In the Allow issue assignment to groups field, select the check box.
  • Click Save.

Create a Group

  • In the Administration sidebar on the right, click Groups.
  • Click New group and give your group a title before clicking Save.
  • Be sure to (a) use the Users tab to assign users to the group and (b) use the Projects tab to associate the group with a project.

Assign Issue to Group

  • When creating or editing an issue, in the Assignee field, select the group name.

Can I save my configured filters and column selection in the task list or make available for others?

This function is called Custom Queries. With Custom queries, you can store, re-use and even make issue list filter configurations available for your own use or the use of all your co-workers.

To save a query, select all the desired criteria as usual, so that the view fits your requirements. Then click on the Save button just above the list. You will be taken to a page called New query on which you can enter a name for this report. Furthermore, you can choose to make this report public, i.e. available for other users of your Planio. After clicking Save, you will return to the task list with the query you just created. The new query is now available via a link in the right sidebar under the title Custom Queries. You can also save a bookmark to this query for quick access.

Can I structure tasks hierarchically? Is there any possibility to create sub-tasks?

You can organize tasks hierarchically.
To create a subtask just click on Add in an existing task in the Subtasks section.
You can represent your subtasks hierarchically in the task summary by clicking on Options -> Add column Parent Task -> Apply. Afterwards just click on the table heading Parent Task to sort by this criterion.

What are issue categories and what can I use them for?

Issue categories are used to organize multiple issues in a meaningful way. They present a great opportunity to structure your issue content while promoting efficiency and usability.

Planio also supports the use of Issue Category Assignees, whereas a specified user can be the default assignee for all new issues within a category.

What are trackers and how can I use them?

Trackers are basically issue types. You can think of them as global categories for the issues you'd like to track.

For instance, in a Planio configuration for software developers, you may find trackers called "Feature," "Bug," and "Task". This means that you'll be able to track features, bugs and tasks separately.

In addition to that, workflows (they define which statuses an issue can have), custom fields and some other properties in Planio are all defined on a per-tracker basis. For example, a feature could be assigned a status of "implemented" while a bug may have a status of "fixed".

What do the different issue relations mean?

Planio currently supports the following issue relations, without regards to whom they are assigned to or how much time that user might have already scheduled:

  • related to: just links 2 issues together, no automatic actions incurred,
  • duplicates and duplicated by: closing the duplicated issue will close the duplicate,
  • blocks and blocked by: the blocked issue can't be closed until the blocking one is closed,
  • precedes and follows: the start date will be set to the day after the due date (+delay if a delay is given) of the preceding issue, regardless of WE, holidays and so on.

User Management

Can I use Single Sign On with Planio?

Out of the box, Planio supports SSO (Single Sign On) through Microsoft, Google, GitHub, Bitbucket and LinkedIn. To set this up, users have to connect their Planio user account with an existing account at any of those providers. After that, they can sign into their Planio account by simply clicking the respective providers' logo above the Planio login form. Note that users can still choose to log in with their Planio user name and password just like before.

If you run your own LDAP server you can set up Planio to authenticate users using that server. Optionally, automatic provisioning of new users in Planio can be enabled. In this case, a corresponding Planio user account will automatically be created when a new user logs in for the first time. Secure connections via LDAPs are supported, of course.

Enterprise customers who already use Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory) can choose to connect their own Entra ID tenant with Planio. In this case, automatic user provisioning in Planio can be enabled, and password based login can be entirely disabled. This setup gives full control over which users have access to Planio via the Entra ID backend, and removes the otherwise necessary manual step of connecting a user account to the corresponding account in Entra ID.

Other SSO integrations can be realized as customizations based on our Enterprise plan, please talk to us!

Can my users use avatar images to be displayed alongside their issues and updates?

We use Gravatars (Globally Recognized Avatar) for user pictures. To include an avatar in your Planio user account, feel free to sign up for free at Gravatar.com and create one for the e-mail address you used in your Planio account. For full instructions on how to create a Gravatar, please visit our blog post entitled, Go ahead, show yourself!.

After your avatar is created, you can enable Gravatar support within Planio via Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Display.

How can I add a member that can only see some but not all of the issues?

You can add a new role via Your Avatar -> Administration -> Roles and Permissions where you set Issues visibility to All non private issues. Then, add the user to your project using that role via Settings -> Members inside the project.

Now, the user will have access to all issues except for the ones you've marked private (edit an issue and check the Private checkbox in the top left corner).

How can I control who gets notified about which types of events via email?

As an Administrator, you can configure global e-mail notification settings via Your Avatar -> Administration -> Settings -> Email notifications.

Users can configure their notification via Your Avatar -> My account -> Email notifications.

Please note that Administrator-defined global e-mail notification settings take precedence over user settings. For example, if an Administrator disables new issue notifications, users will be unable to activate them within their personal notification settings.

How can I control who sees what and who is able to update which objects in Planio?

To define user permissions, do the following:

  1. Click on Your Avatar -> Administration and then Roles and permissions.
  2. Select or add a role, as needed
  3. Select and/or clear the check boxes to customize each user role.
  4. Click Save.

When a new non-Administrator member is added to a project using one of your defined roles, he/she will have the exact permissions you specified.

How can I delete a user account?

A user can be deleted (or locked, see below) as follows:

  1. Click on Your Avatar -> Administration, and then Users.
  2. On the user row, click Delete or Lock, as applicable.

We recommend locking users instead of deleting them, as it effectively halts all user access while enabling you to change your decision at a later time; deleting a user, however, is irreversible. Locked users are not counted when calculating plan limitations.

How can I invite my colleagues or clients to Planio and collaborate with them on projects?

To invite other users to your Planio account, please navigate to Your Avatar -> Administration -> Users and click on the Invite users via email link on the top right corner. There you can enter the email addresses of the people you would like to add. They will each receive an email containing their personal login and password which allows them to log into your Planio account.

If you select the Also invite these users to existing projects checkbox, the newly created users will automatically be added to your existing projects allowing them to be assigned to tasks and to collaborate with you.

If required, you can also perform the steps (creating a user, adding them to the project) manually by clicking on the New user link and later editing the user and adding them to a project on the user's Projects tab.

Is it possible to let users access a project even if they don't have a membership?

In order to control what can be seen and/or updated in public projects by non-members/anonymous users, please do the following:

  1. Click on Your Avatar -> Administration and then Roles and permissions.
  2. Click Non member or Anonymous, as applicable.
  3. Modify permissions and, when done, click Save.

Notes:

  • Non member: A user who is registered but does not have a membership in the respective project.
  • Anonymous User: A user who has never logged on to your Planio platform.

By default, anonymous access is disabled—it can be enabled as follows:

  1. Click on Your Avatar -> Administration, Settings, and then Authentication.
  2. In the Authentication required field, clear the check box.
  3. Click Save.

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