Creating A To Do List In WordPress

Time is always in short supply, especially if you are a business owner or busy team leader.

There is just too much to do and remember. You have clients to meet, projects to complete, meetings to attend, fires to put out, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never stops.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with new content and things suddently begin to feel unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, you need to be able to organize and manage your day.

One simple “tried and true” method that can help you save time, reduce stress, and allow you to take control is to use a “to-do” list.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to do” list can help you track your progress as you complete tasks. Your to-do list can be quite detailed and specific, or serve as a reminder of what needs to be done over a given period of time.

Here are just a few of the many benefits of using to do lists:

Free The Brain

Creating a to do list means you won’t have to memorize things or store information inside your mind. Once tasks are jotted down on a to do list, your head is free to process information and you can focus on other important areas.

Be More Strategic

By creating and organizing your to-do list, you can see the bigger picture and formulate a strategy to get tasks completed effectively.

Reorganize Or Reschedule Quickly

A to-do list lets you better deal with situations. If a meeting gets cancelled at short notice or extra time is made available because something was completed sooner than expected, you can continue working with no loss of focus.

Less Stress

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by the fact that there are so many things that needs doing and so very little time to do it all in. Using a to-do list allows you to prioritize important tasks that have to be completed within the time you have available, and reschedule items that can be addressed at a later time. This can help you stress less.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off to do lists not only makes you feel more productive, motivated and in-control, it also allows you to stress less, as you can objectively see (or show) that work is indeed getting done and that milestones are being reached.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using to-do lists, both in business and in your personal life. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work in a systematic way and your business productivity and efficiency will increase.

What about using a to-do list on your website or blog?

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to add a to do list to a WordPress site to help your team get things done  faster and more efficiently using a customizable, multi-featured to-do list WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download The Plugin

http://wordpress.org/plugins/cleverness-to-do-list/

Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add a to-do list to your WordPress website or blog.

Plugin Features

Note: the plugin features listed below are discussed in more detail in the tutorial section.

You can set up the plugin to assign private to do lists for individual users, to have all users share the same to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to do list has a variety of settings available. You can assign to-do items to a specific user (this includes emailing a new to-do item to assigned users) and optionally to have those items only viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. There are also settings available to display deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well in the front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the backend to manage your list and the to do lists can also be displayed on a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as short code to display the to do list items on your site. There are two shortcodes for front-end administration of the list. Category management is accessible via the back-end admin section.

If you plan to run a multi-author site you can use this plugin to create custom to do lists for your post editors if you also download the Post Planner plugin for WordPress.

Installing The Plugin

Log into your WP dashboard area, and choose Plugins > Add New …

In the Install Plugins section, type in “cleverness” into the search field and click the Enter button …

Locate the Cleverness To-Do List plugin in the Search Results tab and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installing it …

Note: You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …

When you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the plugin’s ‘Settings’ screen by selecting To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ screen …

Let’s set up the plugin …

Plugin Setup

The Settings area is divided into 4 sections:

• To-Do List Settings – The options in this section let you specify the main plugin settings.
• Advanced Settings – Here you can customize to-do lists, assign to-do items to other users and perform database maintenance tasks.
• User Permissions – This tab lets you configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types.
• Import/Export – This area is where you export and import your to-do list data and plugin settings.

Let’s go through each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Select ‘Enabled’ to organize lists into categories, otherwise leave this option set to ‘Disabled’.

Note: If you enable this option, a ‘Categories’ item will be added to the To-Do List plugin menu …

This lets you add categories to your lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

You can create ‘public’ and ‘private’ categories for your to-do lists.

Private categories are not visible when using the sidebar widgets or shortcodes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View lets you choose how lists are viewed. There are 3 list views:

• Individual – Use this option if you want each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option lets users share the same to-do list.
• Master – This option allows you to have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If you select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how list items will be sorted.

If you select ID, Alphabetical, or Category options, items will be sorted first by priority.

Show Added By

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which users have added an item to your to-do list.

Note: This setting only works when ‘List View’ is set to ‘Group’.

Show Date Completed

If this option is enabled, completion dates will display for your to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can specify deadlines for to-do tasks …

Show Progress

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

Enabling this option displays the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP Dashboard Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

This menu option lets you add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor …

Use Auto Paragraphs

If this option is enabled, automatic paragraphs are used to display content in to-do list items.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a collaborative site or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, developed by the same plugin author that helps to make the process of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

To learn more about using this handy plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner – Editorial Solution Plugin For WordPress

Once you have configured your plugin options, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

After configuring the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab …

This brings you to the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

This tab lets you customize your To Do lists, assign to-do items to users and carry out plugin database maintenance tasks.

Let’s take you through how to configure the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Customize The To-Do List

Here you can customize your To-Do List …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

In this area you can specify how to display dates in your to-do lists (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about how to format dates in WordPress, refer to the date section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize your labels for prioritizing highest, middle and low items …

Highest (important) priority items display in red in the lists and lowest priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will display the item’s ID on your to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the date your items table was added …

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Assign To-Do Items Settings

If you have selected ‘Group’ or ‘Master’ View for your to-do list, you can configure the options in this area and assign items to other users …

The following options can be configured in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

If enabled, you can assign tasks to other users …

Note: This set this option to ‘Yes’ for the settings below it to work.

Show a User Only the To-Do Items Assigned to Them

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can display items only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area Contributor displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a particular role, then leave its checkbox unticked.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When this option is enabled (‘Yes’), WordPress will automatically send an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip the other settings in this section.

Add Category to Subject

If you have enabled categories in your plugin settings and select ‘Yes’ for this option, the to-do category will display on the subject of your emails …

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want to show to-do categories in the email subject.

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want to display to-do categories in the email subject.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enable this option to display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, your website has various project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field lets you customize the “From” field when sending out emails to users. Type the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Add into this field the email address that you would like to display as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, enter a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent to users whenever a new item has been added to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Add the body of the email message that will be sent out automatically to users when a new item has been assigned to your to-do list.

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Database Cleanup

In this section you can carry out database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data directly from the plugin settings area itself without having to access your web server …

This function is useful if, for example, you notice that old todo items are still displaying on your site.

The tasks below can be performed in this section:

• Delete Tables – Remove any custom database tables that you no longer use.
• Delete All To-Do Items – Remove all to-do items.

Any database operations carried out from this screen cannot be undone. If you are comfortable to carry out database maintenance in this section, then make sure to backup your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to do your own site backups, then consider getting professional WordPress support, or use backup plugins. You can read about a great WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here:

• Back Up, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

This section lets you configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types …

If you have chosen Individual List, the only item that applies in this section is the View To-Do List option …

If you are setting up user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to have access to for each option …

By default, general capabilities of each user role are set up as follows:

• Subscribers: Read
• Contributors: Edit Posts
• Authors: Publish Posts
• Editors: Edit Others Posts
• Administrators: Manage Options

Note: When using the Master list type make sure that you only authorize non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s review the settings in this section:

View To-Do List

Here you can enable the selected capability to view to-do items in the dashboard widget and on the To-Do List page under the ‘Tools’ section.

Complete To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This setting enables the chosen capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This option allows the chosen capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the selected capability to assign items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to view all tasks even if “Show Each User Only Their Assigned Tasks” is set to ‘Yes’.

Delete To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This allows the selected capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

This option allows the chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may need to transfer data from an existing to-do list to another website, or export the list data for backup or archiving purposes.

To access this function, click on the ‘Import/Export’ tab in your plugin settings area …

Use this section to import and export your to-do list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

You can export and download your data settings by clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This opens up a window allowing you to view or save the data in plain text format to an internal or external storage medium …

In addition to exporting data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your WordPress main menu and selecting Tools > Export …

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress export file (in XML format), either by checking ‘All content’ (includes everything – posts, pages, etc…), or selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to an internal or external hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a previously saved to-do list data file, click on the ‘Browse’ button next to the ‘Choose File to Import’ field …

Locate the previously saved to-do list data file in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

After uploading the data file, click on ‘Import Settings’ …

Your file will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you are ready to begin creating and editing your lists.

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

To create a new to do list, go to your WordPress dashboard menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

This brings up the ‘To-Do List’ screen …

Adding A New Item To Your List

There are several ways to add new to-do items.

For example, you can add new to-do items to your list from your admin toolbar …

You can also add a new item to your to-do list from the ‘To-Do List’ dashboard section by clicking on the ‘Add To-Do item’ link …

You can click on the ‘Add New Item’ link in the ‘To-Do Items’ section (note: only use this option if your To Do list already contains many items, since the link will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section down the screen) …

The above methods will bring you to the ‘Add New To-Do Item’ area.

Depending on how you have set up your plugin, you may or may not see certain options displayed when adding new to-do items.

Set up the options you have enabled for your to-do items, enter appropriate information into the relevant fields and click on the ‘Submit To-Do Item’ button to add the item to your list …

Note: If you have chosen a list type that allows you to assign tasks to specific users, select a user from the drop-down list and assign them the item …

You can also assign items to multiple users (click on ‘x’ to remove a user) …

After After adding a new item, it will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat the above process to keep adding new items to your to-do list …

Edit And Remove To Do Items From Your List

To edit or delete an item, click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ buttons next to each item under the ‘Action’ column …

Depending on how you have set up the plugin (discussed earlier), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

After creating your to-do list, users can view the list inside their WordPress dashboard …

When a user assigned with completing an item clicks on the item check box …

… the item no longer appears in the “To-Do” list …

And gets listed the ‘Completed Items’ table located in the ’To-Do List’ page …

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your website using widgets, and display lists on any post or page using shortcodes.

Using The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Widget

To add a to-do list to your site using widgets, go to the ‘Widgets’ section (Appearance > Widgets) and drag the ‘To-Do List’ widget to the location in your sidebar (or footer) menu where you want the to-do list to show …

Configure the widget settings and click on the ‘Save’ button to update your settings …

Your to-do list will display on your site where the ‘to-do-list’ widget has been inserted (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

To learn more about how to use widgets in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Using Plugin Short Codes

The plugin also lets you create lists and checklists to your site by placing shortcodes into your content.

To access the plugin’s short code documentation, select To-Do List > To-Do List from your dashboard menu …

Click on the ‘Help’ tab on the corner of your screen …

Click on the ‘Shortcodes’ menu entry to access the Shortcode Documentation …

This section explains different ways to configure and use shortcodes for displaying lists and checklists on your posts and pages.

Once you know what type of information you would like to display on your site, create or edit a new or existing page or post and either type or paste the shortcode into the content editor …

After publishing your page or post, you should see the list showing exactly where you have added the short code …

To download this plugin, visit the plugin website:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can add a to-do list in WordPress.

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