How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

There are never enough hours in the day to get things done, especially if you are a business owner.

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

Now … on top of all this, add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with regular content and things can start to become unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a team, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, monitor your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, delegate responsibilities to other people effectively.

A proven method that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to take control is to use a “to do” list.

The Benefits Of Using To-Do Lists

A “to-do” list can help you monitor your progress as you work towards your objectives. Your to do list can be quite detailed or specific, or just serve as a concise 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:

Free Up Resources

Writing to do lists means you don’t have to try and remember things or clutter your mind with details. Once tasks are written down on a to-do list, your mind is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Be More Strategic

Creating and organizing to do lists helps you see the bigger picture and create a strategic plan to get tasks completed efficiently.

Reschedule Quickly

A to do list lets you better deal with changes in circumstances. If you suddenly find that an appointment gets cancelled at short notice or extra time becomes available because some task got completed sooner than expected, you can keep moving forward with no disruption.

Accountability

Without accountability there is no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability can also allow excuses to creep in and impact your productivity.

Improved Collaboration

Creating to do lists and other project management tools is essential for working with other people on some of your larger or more complex projects.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using a to-do list, both in business and in your personal life. Creating to-do lists, prioritizing tasks and working in a systematic way increases productivity and efficiency in your business.

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

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to easily add a to-do list to WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a customizable, multi-featured to do list WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Plugin Download URL

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

Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add a customizable to do list to a WordPress site.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To-Do List to assign private to-do lists for individual users, to have all users share your to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to-do list offers a number of different settings. You can delegate to do items to specific users (this includes emailing a new to do item to the user) and optionally to have those items be seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. There are also settings available to show 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 lists and your to do list can also be displayed on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as short code to display the to do list items on your blog. There are two shortcodes for front-end administration of your list. Management of categories is restricted to the back-end admin section.

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

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

In your WP admin, scroll down the menu and choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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 this plugin from the Plugins section …

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s ‘Settings’ area can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ area …

Let’s set up the plugin …

Configuring The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

The “To-Do List” plugin ‘Settings’ screen is divided into 4 sections:

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

Let’s review each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

List View

List View allows you to specify how your lists will be viewed. You can choose from 3 types of list views:

Individual – Selecting this option lets users create and manage their own private to-do list.
Group – Use this option if you want all users to be able to share one to-do list.
Master – Select this option 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 set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display which of your users has added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

Enabling this option displays completion dates for your to-do items.

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled, you will be able to specify deadlines for your to-do items …

Show Progress

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

Show Admin Bar Menu

Enabling this option lets you display the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

If enabled (‘Yes’), you will be able to 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 your to-do list items using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a multi-author website 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 managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

Go here to learn more this plugin: WordPress Post Planner – WordPress Plugin

After configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

Once you have configured the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab …

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

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

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

This section lets you specify how to display dates on your to-do lists (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

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

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize your labels for important, middle and lowest priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled, item IDs display on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

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

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

You can configure the following options in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option to 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

Enabling this option displays to-do items only to users who have been 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 section Editor displays the type of users that can be assigned to-do items. Leave the checkbox unticked for any roles that you do not want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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

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

Note: If you disable this option, skip the remaining items 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 categories added to the subject of your emails.

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, your website has 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 notifications. Add your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Add into this field the email address that you want showing as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add into this field a subject field for the email that will be sent out automatically to users when a new item has been added in 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

This section allows you to perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area without the need to log into your server …

This is useful if, for example, you notice that old to-do items are still appearing on your site.

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

Any database operations carried out from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to perform database operations in this section, then we recommend backing up your database first.

If you don’t want to do your own site backups, then get professional help services, or use a WordPress backup plugin. You can learn more about a great WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your WordPress file and database backups here:

Backup, Duplicate & Keep Your WordPress Web Site Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

Here you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types …

If you are using Individual List, the only configurable option that is applicable for this section is the View To-Do List option …

If you plan to set up user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to be able to perform for each option …

The default general capabilities for each user role are configured 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 make sure that you only allow non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Here is a description of the settings for this section:

View To-Do List

This option permits 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

This permits the chosen capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This permits the selected capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This option enables the selected capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This setting allows the selected capability to assign to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can allow 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 permits the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

This setting permits the chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

Being able to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may need to copy over data from one site to another, or export your 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 export and import your to-do list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This will open up a window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to a storage device …

In addition to exporting to-do list 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 an export file (in XML format), either by checking ‘All content’ (includes everything – pages, posts, etc…), or selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking the ‘Download Export File’ button to save your file to your hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a 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’ …

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

Your file will be imported.

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

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

To create a new to-do list, log into your WordPress admin, then scroll down the menu and select To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Adding A New Item To Your To-Do List

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

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

You can also add new to-do items to your list inside the ‘To-Do List’ dashboard section 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 already contains many items, since the link will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the screen) …

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

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 values and information into the relevant fields and click on the ‘Submit To-Do Item’ button to add the to-do item …

Note: If you have chosen a list type that lets you 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 an item has been added, it will display as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

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

Editing And Deleting Items

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

Depending on your configuration plugin settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

After creating your to do list, users can view it inside their WP user dashboard …

When users responsible for completing an item tick the item checkbox …

… the item is then deleted from the “To-Do” list …

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin offers added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and display lists on any post or page using short codes.

Using The Cleverness 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 location in your sidebar menu where you want the list to display …

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

Your to-do list will appear where you have inserted the ‘to-do-list’ widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

Using Widgets In WordPress

Shortcodes

You can also display to-do lists and checklists on your site using shortcodes.

To access the documentation on using shortcodes, select To-Do List > To-Do List from the WP admin menu …

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

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

This section explains various ways to configure and use shortcodes to display lists on your content.

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

After publishing your post or page, you will see the list showing in the location where you entered the short code …

To learn more about this plugin, visit this site:

Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can create and add a to-do list to your WordPress site.

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