How To Create To-Do Lists 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 to do and remember. You have deadlines to meet, tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, calls and appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need to get done never stops.

Now … add the extra dimension of promoting and growing your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with regular content and everything can quickly start to become unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your activities, keep track of your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, delegate responsibilities to other people effectively.

One simple “tried and true” tool that can help you save time, reduce stress, and allow you to take control is to use a “to-do” list.

Benefits Of Using To Do Lists

A “to-do” list can help you monitor your progress when trying to complete projects. Your to-do list can be detailed or specific, or act as a 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:

Think More Clearly

Writing a to do list means that you don’t have to memorize things or clutter your mind with details. Once things are recorded on a to do list, your brain is free to process information and you can focus on other important areas.

Better Manage Your Time

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you manage your time better. You can develop a better perspective on what is more urgent vs what’s not, and what steps need to be completed first.

Document Your Work

A to-do list allows you to keep documented logs of the work you have done. You can use this as evidence of work to employers or clients, or simply as a method of helping you monitor your own productivity and efficiency.

Ensures Accountability

Without accountability there’s no commitment to completion, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability can also let excuses creep in and impact your productivity.

Delegate Better

A to-do list helps you assign tasks to other people better. This is also important when collaborating within a team (see further below).

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 in a systematic way and your business efficiency and productivity will increase.

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

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

Cleverness To Do List

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add customizable to-do lists to your WordPress website or blog.

Plugin Features

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

You can configure the plugin with 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 new to do items to the assigned user) and optionally to have assigned items be seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings to display deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well as front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is available as well as short code to display the to do list items on your site. There are two short codes for front-end list administration. Category management is restricted to the back-end admin section.

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

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Inside your WordPress dashboard, scroll down the main menu and choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin …

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

When you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the plugin’s ‘Settings’ screen by selecting To-Do List > Settings from your dashboard menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ area …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Configuring The Plugin

The Settings area is divided into 4 sections:

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

Let’s take you 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 plugin menu …

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

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

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

List View

List View lets you specify how your to-do lists will be viewed. You can choose from 3 to do list views:

• Individual – Select this option if you want each user to be able to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option allows users to share the same 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 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 your to-do list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option lets you display which users on your site have added an item to the 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 to-do items.

Show Deadline

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you specify deadlines for your to-do items …

Show Progress

If enabled, you will be able to 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 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 to display content in your to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

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

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

When you are done configuring your plugin options in this section, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

In this screen you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to users and perform database maintenance.

Let’s step 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

In this section you can 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, 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 prioritizing highest, normal and low items …

Items given the highest (important) priority display 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 will show on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

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 section and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

If this option is enabled, you can 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 (‘Yes’) to display items only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled displays to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area Contributor displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a particular role, then don’t tick its checkbox.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

If this option is enabled, WordPress will automatically send users an email with their assigned to-do items …

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

Note: If this option is disabled, skip the remaining 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 show categories in the subject of your emails.

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want categories to appear 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 your website has various project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

Use this field to customize the “From” field when sending out email notices. Add your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Enter the email address that you want displayed 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 automatically distributed to users whenever new items have been assigned to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Add 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

This section allows you to perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data directly from your plugin settings area …

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

You can perform the tasks below:

• Delete Tables – Delete custom database tables that are no longer being used.
• Delete All To-Do Items – Erase all of your 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 make sure to backup your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to do manual backups, then get professional support, or use a backup plugin. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to perform complete file and data backups here:

• Back Up, Clone & Protect Your WordPress Site 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 for this section is the View To-Do List permission …

If you are configuring user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to perform 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 make sure that you only permit non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

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

View To-Do List

Here you can enable 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 enables the selected capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This permits 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

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

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This enables 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 need to transfer 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 …

Use this section to export or import your list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

To export and download your list data settings click on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This will open up a new window allowing you to download and save 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 admin menu and choosing 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 just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click on the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to your hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

Importing a list data file is easy. Just click on the ‘Browse’ button next to the ‘Choose File to Import’ field …

Select the previously saved to-do list data file in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

After uploading your data file, click on ‘Import Settings’ …

Your file will be imported.

Once you have configured all of the plugin settings, you can start 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 you to the ‘To-Do List’ page …

Add New Items To Your List

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

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

You can also add new to-do items inside the 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 already contains many items, since the link will simply send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section down the page) …

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

Depending on how you have set up your plugin, some options may not display when new items to your to-do list.

Set up 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 have chosen a list type that allows you to 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) …

Once the new item has been added, the item will display as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

Repeat this process to keep adding new items to your list …

Edit And Delete 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 your plugin configuration settings (see 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 inside their user dashboard …

When users responsible for the item complete the task and tick the item check box …

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

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

Additional Information

The Cleverness plugin offers additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your website using widgets, and display lists on any page or post using short codes.

Using The Cleverness 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 menu location where you would like the list to display …

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

The to-do list will now display where the ‘to-do-list’ widget has been inserted (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Using The Cleverness Plugin Short Codes

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

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

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

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

This section explains different 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 display on your site, create a new page or post and either type or paste the short code inside the content area …

After publishing your page or post, you will see the list showing where you entered the shortcode …

Go here for more information about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can add to-do lists in WordPress.

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