How To Create To Do Lists In WordPress

If you are running a fast-paced business or managing other people, time always seems to be in short supply.

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

Now … add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with fresh content and things can start to become unmanageable and out of control.

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

One proven method that can help you save time, alleviate stressful workloads, and allow you to gain some control is to use a “to do” list.

Benefits Of Using To-Do Lists

A “to do” list can help you track your progress as you work towards your goals. Your to do list can be detailed or specific, or serve as a concise reminder of the things that need to be done over a given period of time.

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

To-Do Lists Create Order

To-do lists help you create order, keep things organized and achieve your goals sooner.

Better Strategic Planning

After creating and organizing your to-do list, you can see the larger picture and formulate a strategy for getting everything done efficiently.

Document Your Work

To-do lists allow you to maintain documented logs of what has been done. This can be used to provide evidence of work done to clients or employers, or just as a means of helping you monitor your own productivity and efficiency.

Accountability

With no accountability there’s no commitment to completion, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability can also allow excuses to creep in and influence your productivity.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Ticking 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 being completed and that things are moving forward.

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 to complete the items listed increases efficiency and productivity in your business.

What about adding a to do list to your website?

In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create to-do lists in WordPress to help your business grow  faster and more efficiently using a great little WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download URL

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

Description

This WordPress plugin provides users with a to-do list feature.

Features

Note: the 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 each user, 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 has a variety of settings available. You can assign to do items to specific users (this includes a setting to email a new to-do item to users) and optionally to have assigned items only viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels using capabilities. There are also settings to display deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included as front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is available as well as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your blog. There are two shortcodes for front-end list administration. Category management is accessed through the back-end.

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 install the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

In your WP dashboard section, go to the menu and click on Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin …

Note: You can also activate the plugin from the Plugins area …

After you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s settings section can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s configure the plugin …

How To Set Up The Plugin

The Settings area is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s take you through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

Choose ‘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 that you can then use to organize your lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

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

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

List View

List View allows you to choose how your lists will be viewed. There are 3 kinds of list views:

• Individual – Use this option if you want each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option lets all users 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 you select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

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

If you choose Alphabetical, Category or ID options, items will be sorted first 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 applies if ‘List View’ is set to ‘Group’.

Show Date Completed

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), completion dates will display for your to-do items.

Show Deadline

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

Show Progress

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP 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

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

Integrate with Post Planner

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

Go here for more information about this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner – WordPress Editorial Solution Plugin

Once you are done configuring your plugin options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

After configuring the settings in the To-Do List Settings tab, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to continue …

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

In this screen you can customize your To Do lists, assign to-do tasks to 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

Here you can customize your To-Do List …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

In this section you can specify how to display dates in your todo 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 shown in red and lowest priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will show item IDs on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option will display the date the items table was added …

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

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

The following settings can be configured in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

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

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area Subscriber) displays the type of users that can be assigned items. Leave the check box unticked for any roles that you don’t want to assign to-do items.

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 …

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want emails sent out to users.

Note: If you disable this option, you can skip the remaining settings in this section.

Add Category to Subject

If categories are enabled in your plugin settings and you have selected ‘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 subject of your emails.

If you don’t want to display categories in the subject of your emails, then leave this option disabled.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This is a useful option if you have multiple 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 email notifications. You can enter the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Enter the email address that you want to display as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type into this field a subject field for the email that will be automatically distributed to users when new items have been assigned in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Type 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

In this area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab you can carry out database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself without the need to log into your web server …

This is useful if, for example, you see that items you have previously deleted are still displaying on your site.

The following tasks can be performed in this section:

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

Any database operations performed from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to perform database operations in this section, then remember to backup your database first.

If you don’t want to perform site backups, then get support services from a WordPress professional, or use a backup plugin. You can learn more about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to perform automated file and database backups here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Web Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

If you have selected the Individual List type, the only item applicable in this section is the View To-Do List permission …

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

By default, general capabilities for each user role are 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-administrators should only be allowed to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s now review the settings in the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

This option enables 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 enable the selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This setting allows the selected capability to modify existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This permits the chosen capability to assign items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can allow 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

This permits the selected capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

This allows the chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

Being able to import and export to-do list data can be very useful. For example, you may decide to copy over data from an existing to-do list to another website, or export the data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Here you can import and export your 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 view or download your data as plain text to a storage medium (e.g. your hard drive) …

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

You can include to-do list data in an export file (in XML format), either by selecting ‘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 save 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 the data file has been uploaded in your settings area, click on the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file data will be imported.

After configuring all plugin settings, you can begin creating and editing to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

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

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

How To Add New To-Do Items

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

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

You can also add new items to your to-do list in your Dashboard 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 contains many items, since the link is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

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

Depending on how you have configured your plugin’s settings, some options may not display when when you add new to-do items.

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

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

You can also make multiple users responsible for the same item (click on ‘x’ to remove users) …

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

Repeat the above process to add new items to your list …

Edit And Delete 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 tasks may also receive email notifications …

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

When users assigned with an item complete the task and click on the item checkbox …

… the item disappears from the “To-Do” list …

And displays in the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the ’To-Do List’ screen …

Additional Information

The Cleverness plugin provides added functionality that lets you display a to-do list on your website using widgets, and insert lists into content inside a post or page using shortcodes.

Widgets

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

Configure the settings in the widget and click ’Save’ …

The list will appear on your site where you have placed the ‘to-do-list’ widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Using The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Short Codes

You can also create to-do lists to your site with shortcodes.

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

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

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

This documentation section explains various ways to configure and use short codes for displaying lists on your posts and pages.

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

After publishing your post or page, you should see the list showing where you have inserted the shortcode …

Go here for more details about this plugin:

• 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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