How To Create To Do Lists In WordPress

When you run a growing business or manage a team, there is never enough time to get everything done.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have deadlines to meet, urgent tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need to get done never seems to stop.

Now … add the extra workload of promoting and growing your business online and keeping 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 manage your day.

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

To Do Lists – Benefits

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

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

Keep Things Organized

A to-do list helps you create order, stay organized and achieve your goals sooner.

Better Strategic Planning

By creating and organizing your to-do list, you can break down your workload into doable tasks and come up with a strategic plan to get things completed efficiently.

Document Your Work

To-do lists let you maintain documented logs of what has been done. You can use this as evidence of work to clients or employers, or simply as a method of helping you monitor your own productivity and efficiency.

Stress Less

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by the thought that there is so much that needs doing and very little time to do it in. Using a to-do list allows you to work on important things that have to be completed immediately, and push out non-urgent items that can be addressed later. This can help reduce stress.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off to do lists not only helps you feel more positive, motivated and in-control, it also allows you to relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that the workload is being completed 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. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work towards completing the tasks you have listed and your business efficiency and productivity is sure to improve.

What about using to do lists on your WordPress website or blog?

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to create a to do list in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a great little plugin for WordPress called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin provides users with a to do list feature.

Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To Do List to assign private to do lists for individual users, to have all users share your to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to do list has a variety of settings available. You can delegate to do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email new to do items to users) and optionally to have assigned items be seen 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 also included in the front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to help you manage your list and your to-do lists 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 administration of the list. Category management is accessible via the back-end admin section.

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 the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your WordPress administration section and click on Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click Activate Plugin …

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

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ page …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Setting Up The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

The Settings area is divided into four tabs:

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

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

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

This allows you to add categories that can help 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 using widgets or short codes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View allows you to choose how lists are viewed. You can choose from 3 list views:

• Individual – Selecting this option allows users to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option allows all users to 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 set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option lets you display which users have added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

Enabling this option lets you specify deadlines for your 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 enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu will display 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

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display content in your to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run 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 author that provides you with a complete WordPress editorial solution …

Go here to learn more this plugin: WordPress Post Planner

Once you are done configuring your 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 to continue …

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

In this section you can customize your To Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other users and carry out database maintenance.

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 options in this section:

Date Format

In this section 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 formatting dates in WordPress, refer to 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 (important), middle (normal) and low items …

Items prioritized as “important” are color-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’), item IDs will show on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) shows the date your table of items 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 to-do items to other users …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

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

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area Author displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the checkbox unticked for any roles that you don’t 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 …

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

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

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want to display categories in 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 is a useful option if your site has 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. Enter your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

In this field, enter the email address that you want to display as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Enter a subject field for the email that will be sent automatically to users when new items have been added in 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 allows you to perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data inside your plugin settings area itself …

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

The following tasks can be performed:

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

Any actions that you perform on your database from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to carry out database maintenance in this section, then remember to backup your WP database first.

If you don’t want to do your own backups, then consider using professional WordPress help services, or use a backup plugin. You can learn more about a great WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to automate WordPress backups here:

• Backup, Clone And Keep Your WordPress Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you have selected the Individual List type, the only configurable item applicable for 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 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 working with the Master list type make sure that you only permit non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s review the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

This option enables the chosen capability to view items in the dashboard widget and on the To-Do List page under the ‘Tools’ section.

Complete To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This option allows the chosen capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This allows the selected capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to assign to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This option permits 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 setting permits the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This setting allows the chosen capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

This allows the chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

Being able to import and export to-do list data can be very useful. For example, you may want 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 section …

Use this section to easily import or export 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 opens up a window allowing you to download and save the data as plain text to a storage device …

In addition to exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your main menu and choosing 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 on the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to your storage medium…

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 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.

Once you have configured all plugin settings, you can begin create and edit to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

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’ screen …

How To Add New To-Do Items

There are several 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 items to your to-do list inside the ‘To-Do List’ dashboard section 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 is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the screen) …

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

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

Select 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 make multiple users responsible for the same item (click on ‘x’ to delete users) …

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

Repeat the above process to keep adding items to your to-do list …

Edit And Delete 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 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 from their WordPress dashboard …

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

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

And gets listed the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the ’To-Do List’ plugin area …

Additional Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin provides added functionality that lets you display a to-do list on your WordPress site using widgets, and add lists to 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’ page (Appearance > Widgets) and drag the ‘To-Do List’ widget to the location in your sidebar menu where you would like your list to display …

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

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

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Plugin Shortcodes

You can also add to-do lists and checklists to your site with short codes.

To access the plugin’s short code documentation, select To-Do List > To-Do List from the admin menu …

Click the ‘Help’ tab on the 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 short codes to display lists on your pages and posts.

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 shortcode inside the content editor …

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

To download this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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