How To Create To-Do Lists In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially if you are a busy person trying to run a business or manage a team.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, projects to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The “doing” never ends.

Now … add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with new content and things can start feeling 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 manage your daily tasks.

A proven method that can help you save time, alleviate stress, and allow you to regain control is to use “to do” lists.

To Do Lists – Benefits

A “to do” list helps you monitor your progress as you work to achieve a certain goal. Your to-do list can be very detailed and specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of tasks that need to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

Think Clearly

Creating to-do lists means that you won’t have to memorize things or clutter your head with details. Once tasks are written down on a to-do list, your head is free to process information and you can focus on other areas that are more important.

Manage Your Time Better

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and better manage your workload. You can develop a clearer perspective on what is truly urgent vs what isn’t, and what tasks have to be completed first.

Reorganize Quickly

To-do lists help you better deal with events. If you suddenly find that an appointment has been cancelled at the last minute or extra time has been made available because some task got completed sooner than expected, you can keep moving forward with little to no loss of focus.

Less Stress

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and so little time to do it all in. Using to do lists let you prioritize urgent things that need to get done immediately, and reschedule tasks that can be addressed at a later time. This can help you stress less.

Feeling Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off to do lists not only makes you feel more productive, motivated and in-control, it also allows you to relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that work is indeed getting done and that things are moving forward.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using to-do lists, both in business and in your personal life. Creating to do lists, then prioritizing tasks and working in a systematic way increases your business productivity and efficiency.

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

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

Cleverness To Do List

Download The Plugin

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

Description

This WordPress plugin provides users with a to do list feature.

Features

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

You can configure the plugin with 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 item completions.

The shared to do list includes different settings. You can delegate to do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email new to-do items to the assigned user) and optionally to have those items be viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings available to show deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well 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 appear 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 shortcodes for front-end list administration. Category management is accessible via the back-end.

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

Installing The Plugin

In your site’s dashboard area, choose Plugins > Add New …

In the Install Plugins section, type in “cleverness” into the search field and click the Enter button on your keyboard …

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

Click Activate Plugin …

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

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This takes you to the plugin ‘Settings’ screen …

Let’s configure the plugin …

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Configuration

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

• To-Do List Settings – This section is where you specify the main plugin settings.
• Advanced Settings – In this tab you can customize your 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 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 now configure each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize your list 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 to your to-do lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

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

Categories set to ‘private’ 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 your lists will be viewed. There are 3 to-do list views available:

• Individual – Choosing this option lets users create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Use this option if you want all users to be able to share the same to-do list.
• Master – This option allows you to have one master list for all users, where users have their own individual completion of items. If you choose 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 list items.

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 of your users has added an item to the to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), completion dates will display for your to-do items.

Show Deadline

If enabled, you will be able to specify deadlines for to-do tasks …

Show Progress

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you 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 WP Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

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 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 developer that provides you with a complete WordPress editorial solution …

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

When you are done configuring your plugin options, 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 …

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

This section lets you customize your To Do lists, assign to-do items to other users and carry out 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 to-do list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, visit 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 prioritized as “important” are shown in red and lowest priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option will display item IDs on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will show the date your To-Do Items table 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 options 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

Enabling this option lets you display tasks 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 (Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber) to display the type of users that can be assigned to-do 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

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

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want to send out emails to users.

Note: If you disable this option, 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 appear the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want categories to display the email subject, then leave this option disabled.

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 several 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 notifications to users. You can enter the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

In this field, type the email address that you would like showing as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, type a subject field for the email that will be automatically distributed to users whenever new items have been added to 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 lets you perform database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area without the need to log into your web server …

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

You can perform the tasks below:

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

Any actions that you perform on the database from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to perform database maintenance in this section, then make sure to backup your database first.

If you don’t want to do your own backups, then use the services of a professional WordPress provider, or use backup plugins. You can read about a great WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your WordPress file and data backups here:

• Backup, Clone & Protect Your WP Website With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

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

If you are setting 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 as follows:

• Subscribers: Read
• Contributors: Edit Posts
• Authors: Publish Posts
• Editors: Edit Others Posts
• Administrators: Manage Options

Note: When using the Master list type non-admin users should only be allowed to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

Let’s now 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

Here you can allow the selected capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This option 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

This option allows the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

Here you can permit the selected 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 list data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Here you can export and import your to-do list data 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 will open up a new window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to an internal or external drive …

In addition to exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your 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 – posts, pages, etc…), or just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click 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 …

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

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

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

After configuring all of the plugin settings, you can begin create and edit 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 select To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

How To Add New To Do Items

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 WP admin bar …

You can also add new to-do items to your list 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 contains many items, as the link will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section down the page) …

The above methods will take you to the ‘Add New To-Do Item’ section.

Depending on the way you have configured the plugin settings, some options may not display when when you add new to-do items.

Configure 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 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 items to multiple users (click on ‘x’ to delete a user) …

Once you have added a new item item, it will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

Repeat the above process to continue adding 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 your plugin configuration plugin settings (discussed in the previous section), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

After creating your to do list, users can view the list from their own dashboard …

When users responsible for an item complete the task and tick the item checkbox …

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

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

Additional Information

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

Using The Cleverness To-Do List 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 appear …

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

Your list will now display where the widget has been inserted (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using s

Using The Cleverness Plugin Short Codes

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin also lets you add lists on your site by inserting short codes into your content.

To access the documentation on using short codes, click on To-Do List > To-Do List from your WP admin 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 screen …

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

Once you know what information you want 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 area …

After publishing your page or post, you will see the list displayed in the location where you entered the short code …

Visit this site 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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