Creating To-Do Lists In WordPress

When you run a growing business or manage other people, time always seems to be in short supply.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have deadlines to meet, tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, 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 workload of promoting and growing your business online and maintaining your website updated with regular content and everything can start becoming unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a team, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your daily activities, monitor your progress, and, if necessary, assign responsibilities to members of your team or staff efficiently.

One simple “tried and true” method that can help you save time, reduce stressful workloads, 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 detailed or specific, or act as a concise reminder of what needs to be done over a given period of time.

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

Think More Clearly

Writing to do lists means you don’t have to try and remember stuff or store information inside your head. Once things are written down on a to-do list, your brain is free to process other information and you can focus on other areas that could be more important.

Better Manage Your Time

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and better manage your workload. You can gain a clearer perspective on what’s more urgent vs what’s not, and what tasks have to be done first.

Quickly Reorganize

Using to-do lists help you better handle events. If a meeting suddenly gets cancelled at the last minute or extra time becomes available because some task got completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reschedule and keep moving forward with little to minimal loss of focus.

Reduce Stress

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and so little time to do it in. Creating a to do list allows you to work on important items that have to be completed within the time you have available, and reschedule items that can be addressed later. This can help you stress less.

Collaborating With Others

Creating to do lists and other project management tools is essential for getting other people involved 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 focused way improves efficiency and productivity in your business.

What about adding a to do list to your WordPress website?

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to easily add a to do list to a WP website or blog to help your business grow online  faster and more efficiently using a great little plugin for WordPress 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 to-do lists to WordPress.

Features

Note: the plugin features listed below will be 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 the same to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to do list option offers a number of different settings. You can assign to do items to specific users (this includes a setting to email 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 to different users based on user roles. There are also settings available to enable the display of deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included as front-end administration.

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

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

If you plan to set up a multi-author blog you can use this plugin to create custom to-do lists for your post editors if you also download a copy of the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Installation

Log into your WordPress admin section and in the menu choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click Activate Plugin …

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

When you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: The settings section can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your dashboard menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ area …

Let’s configure the plugin …

How To Configure The Plugin

The plugin’s ‘Settings’ screen is divided into 4 tabs:

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

Let’s now go through each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

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

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

This lets you add categories that can help organize your 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 allows you to specify how to-do lists are 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 – Choose this option if you want all users to be able to 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 completion of items. If using the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

If this option is enabled, 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

Enabling this option displays completion dates for your 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

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

Use WYSIWYG Editor

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

Use Auto Paragraphs

Enable this option to display content in your to-do lists using paragraphs.

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, from the same plugin developer that provides you with a complete WordPress editorial solution …

To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner – Multi-Author Publishing Plugin For WordPress

After you have configured your plugin options, remember to 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 proceed …

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

This area lets you customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks 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

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

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, refer to the relevant 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 lowest (low) items …

Items given the highest (important) priority are shown in red and lowest priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs will show on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option will display the date your table of items 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 options in this section and assign to-do 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 to-do items 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

Enable this option to display to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled displays items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this section Contributor to display the type of users that can be assigned to-do items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a specific role, then leave its check box unticked.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

If 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 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 categories displayed in the subject of your emails.

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want categories added to the subject of your emails.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to 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 lets you customize the “From” field when sending out emails to users. Add your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Type in the email address that you want showing 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 sent out to users whenever new items have been assigned to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

In this field, type 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 operations related to plugin data inside your 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 showing on your site.

You can perform the following tasks in this section:

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

Any 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 remember to backup your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, then consider getting professional WordPress help, or use backup plugins. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your WordPress backups here:

• Back Up, Clone & Keep Your WP Sites Protected 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 are using Individual List, the only setting that applies in this section is the View To-Do List permission …

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

The default general capabilities of 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-administrator users should only be authorized to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s now review the settings for 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 allow the selected capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This option allows the chosen capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This permits the selected capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to delegate to-do 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 chosen capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

This enables the selected capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be very useful. For example, you may want to copy over data from an existing to-do list to another website, or export the 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 easily export or import your to-do list 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 will open up a new window allowing you to download and save the data in plain text format to a storage medium (e.g. your hard drive) …

In addition to exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your WordPress dashboard 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 selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ button to save 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 …

Select the file in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

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

Your file data will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you can begin creating and editing to-do lists.

How To Use The Plugin

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

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

How To Add New 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 dashboard bar …

You can also add new to-do items from 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, as the link is only going to send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

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

Depending on how you have configured your plugin’s settings, you may or may not see certain options displayed when new items to your to-do list.

Select 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 item to your list …

Note: If you have selected a list type that allows you to assign items 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 a user) …

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

Repeat this process to keep adding items to your to-do list …

Edit And Delete 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 how you have configured your plugin settings (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 when logged into their own WP dashboard …

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

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

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

Using The Plugin Widget

To add to-do lists 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 the list to display …

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

Your list will display where you have placed the widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using Widgets In WordPress

Shortcodes

The Cleverness plugin also lets you display to-do lists and checklists to your site by inserting shortcodes into your content.

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

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

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

The documentation section explains various ways to configure and use shortcodes to display lists on your pages and posts.

Once you know what information you would like to display on 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 page or post, you will see the list showing exactly where you have inserted the short code …

Go here to download this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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