How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

If you are running a hectic business, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, urgent tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, schedules to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to end.

Now … add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with regular content and things suddently begin to feel unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily activities, track your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, delegate tasks to other people effectively.

One simple proven method that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to take control is to use “to do” lists.

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 detailed or specific, or serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done over a given period of time.

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

Clearer Thinking

Writing a to do list means you don’t have to try and remember things or store a ton of information inside your mind. Once things are jotted down on a to-do list, your mind is free to process information and you can focus on other important areas.

Be More Strategic

Creating and organizing to do lists helps you view the bigger picture and come up with a strategy for getting everything completed effectively.

Log Your Work

A to do list lets you retain documented logs of what work has been done. You can use this as evidence of work to employers or clients, or just as a means of helping you track your own productivity and efficiency.

Stress Relief

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and so very little time to do it all in. Using a to-do list lets you work on important things that need to get done immediately, and push out tasks that can be addressed at a later time. This can help reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and alleviate some of the stress you (and your team) may be feeling.

Collaborate Better With Others

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 systematic way and your business productivity and efficiency will increase.

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

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial we are going to show you how to create a to-do list in WordPress to help get things done online  faster and more efficiently 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/

Description

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

Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To-Do List to have 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 has a variety of settings available. You can delegate to-do items to a specific user (this includes emailing new to-do items to the user) and optionally to have those items only viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. 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 be displayed on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is available as well as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your blog. There are 2 short codes for front-end administration of the list. Category management is accessible through the back-end.

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

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your site’s dashboard scroll down the menu click on Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the Cleverness To-Do List item in the Search Results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installing it …

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

When the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ page …

Let’s configure the plugin …

Configuring The Plugin

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

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

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Select ‘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 create ‘public’ and ‘private’ categories for your lists.

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

List View

List View lets you specify how your lists will be viewed. There are three types of to-do list views you can select:

• Individual – Choosing this option lets users create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option allows all users to share the same to-do list.
• Master – Choose this option to create a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If you select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display which members 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

Enabling this option displays completion dates for to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled, you can specify deadlines for to-do items …

Show Progress

Enabling this option 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 Dashboard Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

This menu 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 your to-do list items using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a multi-author website or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, developed by the same author to help make the process of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

To learn more about using this handy plugin, go here: WordPress Post Planner

Once you have finished configuring your plugin options in this section, remember to 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’ screen …

In this section you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to users and perform plugin 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 options can be configured in this section:

Date Format

Here 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, see the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

In this area you can customize your labels for prioritizing highest, middle (normal) and low items …

Highest priority items are color-coded in red and lowest (low) priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs show on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled (‘Yes’), the date the to-do list was added shows up on the table of items …

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 section and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to assign tasks 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

Enable this option to display tasks only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display 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 todo items. Leave the checkbox unticked for any roles that you do not want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When you enable this option, WordPress will automatically send users an email with their assigned to-do items …

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

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

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This is a useful option if your website has various 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 emails to users. You can enter the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Add the email address that you want to display as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

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

Text in Emails Sent to User

In this field, 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

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

This is useful if, for example, you see that items you have deleted are still listed on your site.

The tasks below can be performed:

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

Any database operations performed from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are sure that you want to proceed with any of the database operations available in this section, then remember to backup your WP database first.

If you don’t want to back up your files yourself, then consider getting support services from a WordPress professional, or use a backup plugin. You can read about a great WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here:

• Back Up, Copy & Protect Your WordPress Website With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you select the Individual List type, the only permission that is 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 want users to have access to for each option …

By default, general capabilities of each user role are set 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 authorized to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s review the settings for the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

This option permits the selected capability to view 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 selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This setting enables the chosen capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

This enables 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 want to transfer data from one website to another, or store your list data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Here you can easily export and import your to-do list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

You can export and download your to-do list data settings by clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This will open up a window allowing you to view or download your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to a storage device …

As well as exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your dashboard menu and choosing Tools > Export …

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

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 …

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

Once uploading the 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 create and edit to do lists.

How To Use The Plugin

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

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

Add New To Do Items To Your List

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 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 contains many items, as the link will simply send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the page) …

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

Depending on how you have set up your plugin, you may or may not see certain options displayed when adding new items to your to-do list.

Select the options you have enabled for your to-do items, add appropriate values and information into the relevant fields and click on the ‘Submit To-Do Item’ button to add the to-do item …

Note: If you have selected a list type that allows you to 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 remove users) …

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

Repeat the above process to add new items to your to-do list …

Edit And Delete Items

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

Depending on how you have set up the plugin (discussed in the 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 user dashboard …

When a user assigned with completing an item clicks on the item check box …

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

And gets listed the ‘Completed Items’ table located in the ’To-Do List’ page …

Additional Plugin Information

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

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

The to-do list will display on your site where the ‘to-do-list’ widget has been inserted (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

Shortcodes

The Cleverness plugin also lets you display to-do lists on your site using short codes.

To access the plugin’s shortcode documentation, select To-Do List > To-Do List from your dashboard 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 …

The documentation section explains different ways to configure and use shortcodes for displaying lists on your posts and pages.

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

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

Visit the plugin website for more details about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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