How To Create To Do Lists In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially if you are running a hectic business.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have clients to meet, projects to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to put out, deliveries 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 workload of promoting and growing your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with regular content and everything can quickly start becoming unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your activities, monitor your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks to members of your team or staff effectively.

One simple proven method that can help you save time, alleviate stress, and allow you to take control is to use a “to-do” list.

To Do Lists – Benefits

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

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

Free Up Resources

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

Strategize

Creating and organizing to do lists helps you view the larger picture and formulate a strategy for getting things completed on time and on budget.

Quickly Reorganize And Reschedule

Using to do lists let you better cope with unforeseen situations. If a meeting suddenly gets cancelled or extra time becomes available when a task gets completed sooner than expected, you can keep moving forward with little to minimal disruption.

Accountability

Without accountability there’s no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability allows excuses to creep in and take over your productivity.

Delegate Better

Having to do lists help you better assign tasks to others. This is also important when collaborating on a team-based project (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 a to do list, prioritizing tasks and working in a focused manner increases your business efficiency and productivity.

What about using a to do list on your website or blog?

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to create to do lists in WordPress to help your business grow online  faster and more efficiently using a great little plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To-Do List

Download The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Plugin Description

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

Features

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

You can configure the plugin 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 completion of items.

The shared to-do list option has a variety of settings available. You can delegate to-do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email a new to-do item to assigned users) 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 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 help you manage your list and the to-do list can also appear on a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as shortcode to display the to do list items on your site. There are 2 shortcodes for front-end administration of your list. Category management is accessed through 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 planners if you also download a copy of the Post Planner plugin for WordPress from the same developer.

How To Install The Plugin

From your WordPress dashboard area, scroll down the menu and choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click Activate Plugin …

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

After you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the plugin’s settings area by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your dashboard menu …

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ section …

The section below shows you how to configure the plugin …

How To Set Up The Plugin

The “To-Do List” plugin ‘Settings’ screen is divided into 4 tabs:

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

Let’s now go through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

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

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

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

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

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

List View

List View allows you to choose how lists will be viewed. You can choose three to do list views:

• Individual – Choosing this option lets each user create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option lets users share one to-do list.
• Master – This option allows you to create a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If using the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you configure 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 select Alphabetical, Category or ID options, items will be sorted first by priority.

Show Added By

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which users 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

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

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP Dashboard 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

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

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 …

Go here for more information about using this plugin: WordPress Post Planner – Multi-Author Publishing Plugin For WordPress

Once you are done configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

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

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

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

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

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize your labels for prioritizing important, middle (normal) and low items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will display item IDs on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled, the date your to-do list was added shows up on your table of items …

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 to-do items to other users …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you 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 to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leave this option disabled to display to-do 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 to-do items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a specific role, then don’t tick its check box.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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

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

Note: If this option is disabled, 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 on the subject of your emails …

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

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want categories to show the subject of your emails.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option lets you display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, you have various 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 emails to users. Add the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Type into this field the email address that you want showing as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, type a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent out to users when new items have been assigned to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Enter 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 of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you perform database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area …

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

The following tasks can be performed in this section:

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

Any database operations carried out from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to carry out database maintenance in this section, then we recommend backing up your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to do manual backups, then consider getting assistance from a WordPress professional, or use a WordPress backup plugin. You can read about a great WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to perform complete WordPress backups here:

• Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WP Website Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

Here you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types …

If you choose the Individual List type, the only item applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

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 be able 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 using the Master list type non-administrators should only be permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

Let’s review the settings for this section:

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 permit the chosen capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to assign 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 enables the selected 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 chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may want to transfer data from one website to another, or store the 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 import or export your list and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

To export and download your 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 an internal or external storage device …

In addition to exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress 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 storage medium…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a 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 in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

After your data file has been uploaded to your settings area, click on ‘Import Settings’ …

Your file will be imported.

After configuring all plugin settings, you can start create and edit to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

To create a new to do list, go to your WordPress admin menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Adding New To Do Items

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

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

You can also add new to-do items to your list inside 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, as the link is only going to send 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’ area.

Depending on how you have set up your plugin, some options may not display 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 lets you assign tasks 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 a user) …

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

Repeat the above process to continue adding items to your list …

Editing And Deleting To Do Items

To edit or delete an item, click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ buttons associated with 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 …

After creating your to do list, users can view the list when logged into their own dashboard …

When the user assigned with an item completes the task and clicks on the item check box …

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

And gets added to the ‘Completed Items’ table located in the ’To-Do List’ screen …

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and display lists on any post or page using short codes.

Widgets

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 would like your list to appear …

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

The list will appear wherever you have inserted the ‘to-do-list’ widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Short Codes

Cleverness To-Do List also lets you create lists and checklists on your site using shortcodes.

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

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

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

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

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

Publish your post or page and you should see the list showing in the location where you have inserted the shortcode …

To download this plugin, visit the plugin website:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a to-do list to your WordPress site or blog.

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