Creating To-Do Lists In WordPress

If you are a busy person trying to run a business or manage a team, there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, projects to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to put out, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The “doing” 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 quickly start to feel unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a team, you need to be able to organize and manage your daily tasks.

A simple “tried and true” tool that can help you save time, alleviate stressful workloads, and allow you to regain control is to use a “to-do” list.

The Benefits Of Using A To Do List

A “to do” list can help you measure your progress as you to get tasks completed. Your to-do list can be quite detailed and very specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, this week, this month, etc.

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

Keep Things Organized

A to-do list helps you create order, keep things organized and reach goals sooner.

Be More Strategic

After creating and organizing a to-do list, you can view the bigger picture and formulate a strategy for getting tasks completed on time and on budget.

Quickly Reschedule

Using to-do lists let you better handle situations. If a meeting gets cancelled or extra time becomes available because something got completed sooner than expected, you can keep working with minimal disruption.

Stress Relief

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and very little time to do it all in. Using to do lists let you work on important tasks that have to be completed within the time you have available, and reschedule non-urgent items that can be addressed later. This can help you stress less.

Collaboration

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

As you can see, there are many benefits to using to-do lists, both in business and in your personal life. Creating to do lists, then prioritizing tasks and working in a focused manner improves your business efficiency and productivity.

Let’s turn now to using to do lists on your website or blog. More specifically, adding a to-do list to WordPress.

In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to create a to do list in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a great little 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/

Description

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

Features

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

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

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 the user) 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 in the front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is available as well as short code to display the to do list items on your blog. There are 2 shortcodes for front-end list administration. Management of categories is restricted to the back-end.

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

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your WP admin and select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click “Activate Plugin” …

Note: You can also activate this plugin from the Plugins section …

Once you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the settings screen by choosing To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s go through the plugin setup process …

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Setup

The Settings area is divided into 4 sections:

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

Let’s now review 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 gets added to the To-Do List plugin menu …

This lets you add categories that can help organize your to-do lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

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

Categories marked ‘private’ will not be visible using the sidebar widgets or short codes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

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

• Individual – Select this option if you want each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option allows users to share one to-do list.
• Master – Choose 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 to configure 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 choose Alphabetical, Category or ID options, items will be sorted first by priority.

Show Added By

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which of your members has added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled, you can specify deadlines for your to-do tasks …

Show Progress

If enabled, you can specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

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

Use WYSIWYG Editor

If enabled, you can add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor …

Use Auto Paragraphs

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

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run a collaborative website 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 managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

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

Once you have configured your plugin options in this section, 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’ area …

This screen lets you customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to users and carry out 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

In this area you can customize your To-Do List …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you specify how to display dates on your to-do list (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 the labels for important, normal and low priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), the item’s ID show on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), the date the to-do list was added will display on your To-Do Items table …

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 settings in this section and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following options in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option lets you assign to-do items 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 lets you display to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled (‘No’) displays to-do 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 checkbox unticked for any roles that you do not want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

If you enable this option, 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, skip the other items 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-do categories to show the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want categories to appear the email subject, 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 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. Enter your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Type in 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 out to users when a new item has been assigned 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 area you can perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

Actions that you perform on your database from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to perform database maintenance in this section, then we recommend backing up your database first.

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, then consider hiring the services of a professional WordPress provider, or use backup plugins. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your site backups here:

• Backup, Copy And Protect Your WP Websites With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you choose the Individual List type, the only configurable option applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

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

By 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 using the Master list type non-administrators should only be permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s review the settings for the User Permissions tab:

View To-Do List

Here you can permit 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

Here you can permit the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to assign items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This option enables 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 setting enables the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This allows the chosen capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

Here you can enable 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 an existing to-do list to another website, or store the list data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Now you can import and export your list 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 new window allowing you to download and save the data in plain text format to a storage medium …

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

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress 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 download your file to your 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 and click ‘Open’ …

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

The data from the existing to-do file will be imported.

After configuring all of the plugin settings, you can begin create and edit to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

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

This brings you to the ‘To-Do List’ page …

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 WP admin bar …

You can also add new to-do items inside 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 is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

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

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

Note: If you are using a list type that allows you to assign tasks to 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 delete users) …

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

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

Editing And Deleting Items

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

Depending on how you have configured the plugin (see previous section), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

Once you have created your to do list, users can view it when logged into their dashboard …

When a user assigned with the item completes the task and ticks the item check box …

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

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

Additional Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin provides added functionality that lets you display a to-do list on your WordPress site using widgets, and display lists on content inside a post or page using shortcodes.

Plugin Widget

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 location in your sidebar menu where you want the to-do list to appear …

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

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

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

• Using WordPress Widget

Using Plugin Shortcodes

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

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

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

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

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

Once you know what information you would like to add to your site, open up a new post or page and either type or paste the short code inside the content area …

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

To download this plugin, visit the plugin website:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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