How To Create A To Do List In WordPress

Time is always in short supply, especially when you run a growing business.

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 extinguish, appointments to make, schedules to keep and so on. The amount of things that need to get done never seems to end.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping 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 project, you need to be able to organize and manage your daily tasks.

One simple proven method that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to regain control is to use “to-do” lists.

The Benefits Of Using To-Do Lists

A “to-do” list helps you monitor your progress when trying to complete tasks. Your to-do list can be detailed or specific, or act as a concise reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, this week, this month, etc.

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

To-Do Lists Help Keep Things Organized

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

Strategize

After creating and organizing a to do list, you can break your workload into doable tasks and create a strategic plan to get tasks completed on time and on budget.

Quickly Reorganize And Reschedule

To-do lists help you better cope with changes in circumstances. If you suddenly find that an appointment has been cancelled or extra time becomes available because some part of the project was completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reorganize and reschedule and keep moving forward without disruption.

Ensures Accountability

With no accountability there’s no commitment to completion, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability allows excuses to creep in and take over your productivity.

Collaborate Better With Others

Using 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. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work systematically and efficiency and productivity in your business will increase.

What about adding to do lists to your WordPress website?

In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to create to do lists in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a great little plugin for WordPress called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

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 listed below will be discussed in more detail in the tutorial section.

You can set up 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 settings. You can delegate to-do items to specific users (this includes a setting to email a new to do item to the user) and optionally to have those items only seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings available 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 the to do list can also display on a 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 accessed via the back-end admin section.

If you plan to run 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 own the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your WP admin section and click on Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click “Activate Plugin” …

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

When the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The settings screen can also be accessed by selecting To-Do List > Settings from the dashboard menu …

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s go through the plugin setup process …

Setting Up The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

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

Let’s configure each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize 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 plugin menu …

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

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

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

List View

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

• Individual – Choosing this option allows users to 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 have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If using the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how your to-do list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option lets you display which of your members has added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled, you can 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 (‘Yes’) lets you display the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WordPress 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

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

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a collaborative website 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 this handy plugin, go here: WordPress Post Planner – WordPress Editorial Solution Plugin

After you have configured your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ area …

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

Here you can customize your To-Do List …

You can configure the following settings in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you 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 date section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

In this section you can customize labels for highest, middle (normal) and lowest priority items …

high priority items are shown in red in the lists and low priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs display on your to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) shows the date your table of items was added …

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 options in this area and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to 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

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

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this area Editor to display the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the checkbox 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, WordPress will automatically send an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

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

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip other 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-do categories to show the email subject.

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enable this option to display 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 to users. Type the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Type in the email address that you would like displayed as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, enter a subject field for the email that will be sent out automatically to users when a new item has been assigned in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Type in 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 area allows you to carry out database maintenance tasks related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area without the need to access your server …

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

The following tasks can be performed in this section:

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

Any database operations you perform from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to proceed with any of the database operations available in this section, then remember to backup your database first.

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, then get professional WordPress help, or use backup plugins. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Sites 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 Individual List, the only setting that is applicable for this section is the View To-Do List option …

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

By default, general capabilities of 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-administrators should only be allowed to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

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

View To-Do List

This 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 permit the selected capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the selected capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to modify existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the chosen capability to delegate to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

Here you can allow the selected 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 one site to another, or store your data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Here you can easily export and import your 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 window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to an internal or external hard drive …

As well as exporting 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 a WordPress export file (in XML format), either by checking ‘All content’ (includes everything – posts, pages, etc…), or selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to an internal or external hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

Importing a previously saved to-do list data file is easy. Just 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 your data file has been uploaded to your settings area, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file will be imported.

After configuring all plugin settings, you are ready to begin create and edit your to-do lists.

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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 …

Add New To-Do Items

There are several ways to add new to-do items.

For example, you can add new items to your to-do list from your admin bar …

You can also add a new item to your to-do list 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 contains many items, as the link is only going to send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section down 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.

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 item to your list …

Note: If you are using a list type that lets you assign responsibilities over items to users, select a user from the drop-down list and assign them the item …

You can also assign multiple users to the same item (click on ‘x’ to delete users) …

After After adding a new item, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ 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 next to each item under the ‘Action’ column …

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

Once you have created your to do list, users can view the list from their user dashboard …

When a user assigned with completing an item clicks on the item check box …

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin offers additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and display lists on any post or page using shortcodes.

Using The Cleverness 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 location in your sidebar menu where you would like the to-do list to appear …

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

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

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

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Using Plugin Shortcodes

You can also display lists on your site using short codes.

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

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

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

This section explains various ways to configure and use shortcodes for displaying lists and checklists on your pages and posts.

Once you know what type of information you want to add to your site, create a new post or page and either type or paste the short code into the content area …

After publishing your post or page, you should see the list displayed exactly where you have added the shortcode …

For more details about this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add to-do lists to your WordPress site.

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