Creating To Do Lists In WordPress

If you are running a hectic business or managing any kind of project that requires people to work as a group, time always seems to be in short supply.

There are just so many things to do and remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to put out, appointments to make, schedules to keep and so on. The “doing” never stops.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website updated with new content and everything can quickly start to become unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, track your progress, and, if necessary, delegate tasks and responsibilities to other people effectively.

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

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list helps you track your progress when trying to get tasks completed. Your to do list can be detailed and very specific, or serve as a concise reminder of the things that need to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

See Things More Clearly

Creating a to do list means that you don’t have to try and remember stuff or clutter your mind with details. Once tasks are jotted down on a to-do list, your head is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Strategize

By creating and organizing your to-do list, you can view the larger picture and come up with a strategic plan for getting things completed on budget and on time.

Keep Documented Work Logs

To-do lists allow you to keep documented logs of what work has been done. This can be used as evidence of work done to employers or clients, or simply as a means of helping you assess your own productivity and efficiency.

Eliminate Stress

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and very little time to do it in. Creating to do lists allow you to prioritize important items that have to get done immediately, and reschedule non-urgent tasks that can be worked on later. This can reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and help to relieve some of the stress you (and your team) may be feeling.

Improved Collaboration

Creating to-do lists and other project management tools is essential for working with others 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. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work in a focused way and your business productivity and efficiency is sure to increase.

What about using to do lists on your WordPress website?

In this detailed tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create a to-do list in WordPress to help your team get things done  faster and more efficiently using a great little WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin lets you easily add a customizable to do list to your WP website or blog.

Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To Do List to assign 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 specific users (this includes a setting to email new to do items to users) and optionally to have assigned items be 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 included as well in the front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to help you manage your lists and the to-do list can also appear 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 short codes for front-end administration of your list. Management of categories is accessed via 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 download a copy of the Post Planner plugin for WordPress from the same developer.

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

From your WP dashboard, scroll down the main menu and select Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the entry in the Search Results tab and click Install Now …

Click “Activate Plugin” …

Note: You can also activate the plugin from the Plugins area …

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s settings area can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ area …

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

How To Configure 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 – The options in this section let you customize your To Do lists, assign to-do items to other users and perform database maintenance tasks.
• User Permissions – Here you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types.
• Import/Export – The options in this section let you import and export your to-do plugin and list data settings.

Let’s configure each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

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

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

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

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

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

List View

List View lets you specify how to-do lists are viewed. There are 3 list views you can choose:

• 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 all users to share the same to-do list.
• Master – Use this option to create one master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If you select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which users on your site have added an item to the to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

Enabling this option lets you 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

If enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WordPress Dashboard Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

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

Use Auto Paragraphs

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

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, developed by the same plugin author to help make managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

Visit this site to learn more about this plugin: WordPress Post Planner

When you have finished configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings up the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

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

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 …

You can configure the following options in this section:

Date Format

In this area you can specify how to display dates on your todo lists (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about how to format dates in WordPress, refer to the date section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

Here you can customize the labels for highest (important), middle (normal) and low priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option will display the item’s ID on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) shows the date the To-Do Items table was added …

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Assign To-Do Items Settings

If you have selected ‘Group’ or ‘Master’ View for your to-do list, you can configure the options in this section and assign items to other users …

The following settings can be configured 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

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display tasks only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leave this option disabled to display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

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

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When you enable this option, WordPress automatically sends 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, you can 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 on the subject of your emails …

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

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want to-do categories to display the subject of your emails.

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 option is useful if, for example, you have multiple project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field allows you to customize the “From” field when sending out email notices. Type your company name, 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” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type in a subject field for the email that will be sent out automatically to users when a new item has been added in 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

This area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area itself …

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

The following tasks can be performed:

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

Any database operations performed from this screen cannot be undone. If you are comfortable to perform database maintenance in this section, then we recommend backing up your database first.

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

• Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WP Websites And Blogs Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

In this area you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types …

If you select Individual List, the only configurable item applicable for this section is the View To-Do List permission …

If you plan to set up user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to be able to perform for each option …

By default, general capabilities of 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 make sure that you only allow non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s review the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

Here you can enable 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

This setting allows the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can enable 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 enable the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

This option allows 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 one website to another, or export the data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Here you can 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 opens up a window allowing you to download and save the data as plain text to a storage medium (e.g. your hard drive) …

As well as exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your main menu and choosing 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 just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click the ‘Download Export File’ button to save your file to your storage device…

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

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

Now that you have configured 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 scroll down the menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Adding New To Do Items

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

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

You can also add new to-do items to your list using 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 contains many items, since the link is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the screen) …

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

Depending on the way you have set up your plugin, you may or may not see certain options displayed when when you add new to-do items.

Configure 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 new item to your list …

Note: If you are using a list type that allows you to 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 remove users) …

After After adding a new item, it will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

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

Edit And Delete To-Do Items From Your List

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 configured your plugin settings (see previous section), users assigned to tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

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

When users responsible for completing an item click on the item checkbox …

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

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

Using The Cleverness To-Do List 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 your list to appear …

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

Your to-do list will appear where the ‘to-do-list’ widget has been placed (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Using The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Short Codes

The 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 shortcodes, select To-Do List > To-Do List from the WP admin menu …

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

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

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

Once you know what information you would like to display on your site, create or edit a new or existing page or post and either type or paste the shortcode into the content editor …

Publish your page or post and you will see the list displayed exactly where you entered the short code …

Visit the plugin website here for more information about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can add to-do lists to your WordPress site or blog.

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