How To Create To-Do Lists In WordPress

As a busy person trying to run a business or manage a team, time always seems to be in short supply.

There are just so many things to do and remember. You have clients to meet, project tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, appointments to make, schedules to keep and so on. The amount of things that need ”doing” never stops.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with fresh content and everything can suddenly begin to feel unmanageable and out of control.

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, if necessary, delegate responsibilities to members of your team or staff effectively.

One proven method 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.

To Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list can help to keep you on track and monitor your progress as you to get projects completed. Your to-do list can be detailed or specific, or act as a concise 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:

Free Up Resources

Creating to do lists means you don’t have to keep remembering things or store excessive information inside your head. Once tasks are written down on a to do list, your head is free to process other information and you can focus on other important things.

Better Strategic Planning

By creating and organizing your to do list, you can break larger projects into more doable tasks and formulate a strategic plan to get everything completed effectively.

Reschedule Or Reorganize Quickly

A to-do list helps you better cope with new and unexpected situations. If an appointment gets cancelled or extra time becomes available when a task gets completed sooner than expected, you can keep working with little to no disruption.

Ensures Accountability

Without accountability there’s no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability can also allow excuses to creep in and take over your work day.

Collaborate Better With Others

Using 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. Creating to-do lists, prioritizing tasks and working systematically increases your business productivity and efficiency.

What about adding to-do lists to your WordPress website?

In this step-by-step tutorial we are going to show you how to add a to do list to 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/

Plugin Description

This plugin lets you easily add a to-do list to a WordPress website or blog.

Plugin Features

Note: the features listed below are 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 a to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to do list option offers a number of different settings. You can delegate to do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email new to-do items to assigned users) 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 enable the display of deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well in the front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is also available as short code to display the to-do list items on your blog. There are 2 shortcodes for front-end list administration. Management of categories is accessed via the back-end.

If you plan to run a multi-author site 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.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

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

Locate the plugin in the Search Results section and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

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

When you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ area …

The section below shows you how to configure the plugin …

Plugin Setup

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

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

Let’s now go through 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 gets 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 lists.

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

List View

List View lets you choose how lists will be viewed. There are 3 list views available:

• Individual – Selecting this option lets each user create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option allows all users to share the same 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 you choose the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

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

Show Deadline

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you 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 enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays 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 are running a multi-author site 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 …

For more information about using this handy plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner – Editorial Solution Plugin For WordPress

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

Advanced Settings

After configuring the settings in the To-Do List Settings tab, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to continue …

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

In this screen you can customize your To Do lists, assign to-do items to other 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 …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you 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, visit the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize the labels for important, middle (normal) and lowest (low) priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), the item’s ID will show on your to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) shows the date your 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 settings in this section and assign to-do items to other users …

You can configure the following options 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 to display tasks only to users who have been assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this area (Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber) to display the type of users that can be assigned items. If you don’t 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 will automatically send an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

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

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

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

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option displays the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, you have a number of 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 email notices. Type the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Type in the email address that you want displayed as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type into this field a subject field for the email that will be sent automatically to users whenever a new item has been assigned to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Type in 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 lets you perform database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself …

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

You can perform the following tasks in this section:

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

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

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

• Backup, Clone & Keep Your WP Site Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

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

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

If you plan to configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or 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 non-admin users should only be allowed to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Here is a description of the settings for this tab:

View To-Do List

This option allows 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 option allows the chosen capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to delegate items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This allows the chosen 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 chosen capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

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

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be very useful. For example, you may decide to copy over data from an existing list to another website, or store the data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Here you can export or import your list 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 view or save your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to a storage device (e.g. your hard drive) …

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

You can include to-do list data in an export file (in XML format), either by checking ‘All content’ (includes everything – posts, pages, etc…), or selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to a storage device…

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 …

Locate the 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 are ready to start creating and editing your lists.

Plugin Usage

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

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

Adding New To-Do Items To Your List

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

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

You can also add a new item to your to-do list in 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, as the link is only going to send 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 how you have configured your plugin settings, some options may not display when when you add new to-do items.

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 are using a list type that lets you assign items to 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 delete a user) …

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

Repeat this process to add new items to your to-do list …

Edit And Remove To-Do Items From Your List

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

Depending on your 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 it inside their dashboard …

When the user assigned with completing an item ticks the item check box …

… the item no longer appears in the “To-Do” list …

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin provides added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your WordPress website using widgets, and display a list on any page or post using short codes.

Widgets

To add to-do lists 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 list to show …

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

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

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

• Using s

Plugin Short Codes

You can also add to-do lists on your site with shortcodes.

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

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

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

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

Once you know what information you want to display on your site, open up a new page or post and either type or paste the shortcode into the content area …

After publishing your post or page, you should see the list showing where you have inserted the short code …

For more information about this plugin, go here:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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