Creating A To-Do List In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially if you run a hectic business.

There is just too much to do and remember. You have deadlines to meet, urgent tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to put out, calls and appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to end.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of promoting and growing your business online and keeping your website updated with new content and everything can start becoming unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily activities, track your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, delegate responsibilities to team members efficiently.

A simple “tried and true” tool that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to take control is to use “to-do” lists.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list helps you monitor your progress when trying to get projects completed. Your to-do list can be detailed and very specific, or act as a reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

Here are just some of the benefits of using to do lists:

Think More Clearly

Writing a to do list means you won’t have to keep remembering stuff or clutter your mind with details. Once things are written down on a to-do list, your head is free to process information and you can focus on things that are more important to you.

Be More Strategic

By creating and organizing a to-do list, you can break your workload into doable tasks and come up with a strategic plan to get tasks done on time and on budget.

Quickly Reschedule And Reorganize

Using to do lists let you better cope with new and unforeseen situations. If you find that a meeting gets cancelled or extra time becomes available because some part of the process was completed sooner than expected, you can continue working without loss of focus.

Relieve Stress

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and so very little time to do it all in. Creating to do lists let you prioritize important items that need to get done immediately, and reschedule non-urgent items that can be addressed later. This can help reduce stress.

Feeling Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off your to-do list not only makes you feel more productive, motivated and in-control, it also lets you relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that the work is getting done and that progress is being made.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using a to do list, both in business and in your personal life. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work in a focused manner and your business productivity and efficiency will improve.

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

In this detailed tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create a to-do list in WordPress to help your business grow online 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 Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Plugin Description

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

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Features

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

You can configure the plugin with private to-do lists for individual users, to have all users share a to do list, or to have a master list with individual item completions.

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

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to help you manage your list and your to do lists can also appear on a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is available as well as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your site. There are 2 short codes for front-end administration of your list. Category management is restricted to the back-end admin section.

If you plan to set up a multi-author site you can use the to do lists plugin to create custom to-do lists for your post editors if you also use a copy of the Post Planner plugin.

Plugin Installation

Log into your WordPress admin and choose Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the plugin in the Search Results area and click Install Now …

Click “Activate Plugin” …

Note: You can also activate this plugin in the Plugins area …

After 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 dashboard menu …

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s configure the plugin …

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Configuration

The Settings area is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s now configure each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

List View

List View allows you to choose how your to-do lists are viewed. There are three types of to-do list views available:

Individual – Selecting this option allows each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
Group – Choosing this option allows users to share the same to-do list.
Master – This option allows you to create one master list for all users, where users have their own individual completion of items. If using the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how to order your to-do list items.

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

Show Added By

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

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

Show Date Completed

Enabling this option displays completion dates for to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you will be able to specify deadlines for to-do items …

Show Progress

Enabling this option lets you specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

If this option is enabled, the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WordPress Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor …

Use Auto Paragraphs

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display content in to-do list items using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run a collaborative site or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To-Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, from the same plugin developer to help make the process of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

Visit this site to learn more about this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner – Plugin For WordPress

When you have finished configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

Once you have configured the settings in the To-Do List Settings tab, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to proceed …

This brings up the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

In this screen you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other users and carry out plugin database maintenance.

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

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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ screen lets you customize your To Do List …

You can configure the following options in this section:

Date Format

Here you can specify how to display dates in your todo list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

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

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

In this section you can customize your labels for prioritizing highest (important), middle (normal) and low items …

Items given the highest priority are colour-coded in red in your lists and lowest (low) priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

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

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled (‘Yes’), the date the to-do list was added appears on your table of items …

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

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

You can configure the following options in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you assign tasks to other users …

Note: This setting must be set to ‘Yes’ for the settings below it to work.

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

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled will display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area (Administrator 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 don’t tick its check box.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When this option is enabled, WordPress automatically sends users an email with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled.

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip the remaining 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 in the subject of emails sent to users …

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

If you don’t want to-do categories to appear the email subject, then leave this option disabled.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option lets you display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, you have several project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field allows you to customize the “From” field when sending out email notices. Enter 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 want to display as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent to users whenever new items have been assigned in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Add into this field 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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to carry out database maintenance operations related to plugin data inside your plugin settings area without having to log into your web server …

This is useful if, for example, you notice that items you have deleted are still showing on your site.

The tasks below can be performed in this section:

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

Any database operations you perform from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to carry out database operations in this section, then we recommend backing up your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to back up your files yourself, then get professional assistance services, or use WordPress backup plugins. You can learn more about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:

Back Up, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

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

If you are configuring user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to perform for each option …

The default general capabilities for 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 working with the Master list type non-administrator users should only be permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s go through the settings for the User Permissions tab:

View To-Do List

Here you can allow the chosen 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

This enables the selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This permits the chosen capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This option permits the selected capability to view all tasks even if “Show Each User Only Their Assigned Tasks” is set to ‘Yes’.

Delete To-Do Item Capability

This option allows the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This option allows the selected capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

This option permits 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 decide to copy over data from one site to another, or store your list data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Now you can export and import your data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This opens up a window allowing you to download and save your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to an internal or external storage medium …

In addition to exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your WordPress admin 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 – pages, posts, etc…), or just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to an internal or external hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

Importing a list data file is easy. Just 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’ …

Once your data file has been uploaded to your settings area, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you are ready to start create and edit your lists.

Plugin Usage

To create a new to do list, log into your WordPress admin, then go to the menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Adding New To-Do Items To Your List

There are a number of ways to add new to-do items to your list.

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

You can also add new to-do items in your Dashboard by clicking on the ‘Add To-Do item’ link …

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

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

Depending on the way you have configured your plugin settings, you may or may not see certain options displayed when when you add new to-do items.

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

Note: If you are using a list type that lets you assign items 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 delete users) …

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

Repeat this process to keep adding items to your list …

Editing And Deleting To Do Items

To edit or delete an item, click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ buttons associated with items under the ‘Action’ column …

Depending on your configuration settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to tasks may also receive email notifications …

After creating your to-do list, users can view the list when logged into their own WordPress user dashboard …

When users responsible for completing an item click on the item check box …

… the item is removed from the “To-Do” list …

And gets listed the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the main screen of the ‘To-Do List’ plugin …

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin offers additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and insert lists into any page or post using short codes.

Using The Plugin Widget

To add to-do lists to your site using widgets, go to the ‘Widgets’ section (Appearance > Widgets) and drag the ‘To-Do List’ widget to the menu location where you would like your to-do list to show …

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

The list will now display where you have inserted the ‘to-do-list’ widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

To learn more about using widgets in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Plugin Short Codes

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin also lets you display lists and checklists on your site using shortcodes.

To access the documentation on using short codes, select To-Do List > To-Do List from your admin menu …

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

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

This section explains various ways to configure and use short codes to display lists and checklists on your pages and posts.

Once you know what information you would like to display on your site, create a new post or page and either type or paste the short code inside the content editor …

Publish your page or post and you will see the list showing exactly where you entered the shortcode …

For more information about this plugin, go here:

Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a to-do list to your WordPress site or blog.

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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum

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