Creating To Do Lists In WordPress

As a business owner or busy manager, time always seems to be in short supply.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have clients to meet, projects to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to end.

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

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a team, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your daily activities, monitor your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks to members of your team efficiently.

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

The Benefits Of Using To Do Lists

A “to-do” list can help you monitor your progress as you work towards specific goals. Your to-do list can be very detailed and very specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done over a given period of time.

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

Create Order

A to do list helps you create order, keep things organized and achieve goals faster.

Better Strategic Planning

Creating and organizing to do lists helps you break larger projects into more doable tasks and create a strategic plan to get tasks completed effectively.

Reorganize Quickly

A to-do list helps you better deal with situations. If a meeting gets cancelled at the last minute or extra time has been made available when some task gets completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reschedule and continue moving forward without disruption.

Stress Relief

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by the fact that there is so much to do and so little time to do it in. Using to do lists allow you to prioritize urgent items that need to get done within the time you have available, and reschedule non-urgent tasks that can be worked on later. This can help reduce stress.

Delegate Better

To-do lists help you assign work to others better. This is also important if you plan to collaborate with others (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. Creating to do lists, then prioritizing tasks and working in a focused way increases your business efficiency and productivity.

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

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial we are going to show you how to create to-do lists in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a customizable, multi-featured to-do list WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To-Do List

Download The Plugin

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

Description

This plugin lets you easily add to do lists to a WordPress site.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Features

Note: the features described 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 the same to-do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to do list includes different settings. You can delegate 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 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 help you manage your list and the 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 2 short codes for front-end list administration. Management of categories 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.

How To Install The Plugin

Log into your WordPress dashboard area, and select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin after installing it …

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

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This takes you to the plugin ‘Settings’ screen …

The section below shows you how to set up the plugin …

Configuring The Plugin

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s review each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

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

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

This allows you to 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.

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

List View

List View lets you specify how lists are viewed. You can select three list views:

• Individual – Select this option if you want each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option lets users share the same to-do list.
• Master – Choose this option to have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If you choose 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 list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

If this option is enabled, you can display which of your users has 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 tasks.

Show Deadline

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

Show Progress

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you will be able to specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

If this option is enabled, the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WordPress 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 to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run a multi-author 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 about using this WordPress plugin, go here: WordPress Post Planner

After you have finished configuring your plugin options in this section, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

After you have configured the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to proceed …

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

In this area you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to other users and carry out plugin 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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you customize your To-Do List …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

Here you can 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, visit the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

In this section you can customize your labels for prioritizing highest (important), middle (normal) and low items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled, item IDs will show on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

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 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

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display items only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this section Subscriber) to display the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the check box unticked for any roles that you do not want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When you enable this option, WordPress will automatically send users an email with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled.

Note: If you disable this option, skip the other 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 on the subject of your emails …

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

If you don’t want to-do categories to appear the subject of your emails, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

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

Use this field to customize the “From” field when sending out emails. Type the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Add the email address that you want showing 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 added to 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 section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab you can perform database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data directly from the plugin settings area itself without having to access your web server …

This function is useful if, for example, you notice that old items are still showing on your site.

The tasks below can be performed:

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

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

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, then get professional support, or use a WordPress backup plugin. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to perform automated backups here:

• Back Up, Copy And Protect Your WordPress Sites With Backup Creator WP Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you have selected Individual List, the only configurable option that applies in this section is the View To-Do List permission …

If you plan to set up 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 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 using the Master list type make sure that you only authorize non-admin users to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

Let’s go through the settings in the User Permissions section:

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 selected capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This allows the selected capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the chosen capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to delegate items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can permit 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 permits the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

This option enables the selected capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may decide 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 area …

Here you can import and export your list and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This opens up a window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to a storage medium (e.g. your hard drive) …

As well as exporting data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your WordPress dashboard 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 – pages, posts, etc…), or just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click 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 previously saved to-do list data file and click ‘Open’ …

Once uploading the data file, click on the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file will be imported.

Once you have configured all plugin settings, you are ready to start create and edit your lists.

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

To create a new to-do list, go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Add New To Do 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 from your admin toolbar …

You can also add new to-do items to your 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 already contains many items, since the link will simply send 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 the plugin’s settings, 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 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 lets you 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 a user) …

After a new item has been added, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat this process to continue adding new items to your to-do list …

Editing And Deleting To-Do Items

To edit or delete an item, click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ buttons next to items 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 inside their own user dashboard …

When users assigned with completing an item click on the item check box …

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

And appears in the ‘Completed Items’ table located in the ’To-Do List’ page …

Additional Plugin Information

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

Using The Plugin Widget

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

Configure the widget settings and click the ‘Save’ button …

Your to-do list will display on your site 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:

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Shortcodes

The plugin also lets you add to-do lists and checklists to your site with short codes.

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

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

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

This documentation section explains various ways to configure and use shortcodes to display lists and checklists on your content.

Once you know what type of information you would like to add to your site, create or edit a new or existing page or post and either type or paste the short code into the content section …

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

For more details about this plugin, go here:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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