How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

If you run a growing business or manage a team, time always seems to be in short supply.

There are so many things to do and remember. You have deadlines to meet, project 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 stop.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website updated with new content and things can start becoming unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your activities, keep track of your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks and responsibilities to members of your team effectively.

A ”tried and true” method that can help you save time, alleviate stressful workloads, and allow you to take control is to use a “to-do” list.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list helps you track your progress when trying to get projects completed. Your to-do list can be very detailed or specific, or serve as a concise reminder of tasks that need to be done over a given period of time.

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

Free Your Brain

Writing to do lists means you won’t have to keep remembering things or store information inside your mind. Once things are recorded on a to do list, your brain is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Be More Strategic

After creating and organizing a to-do list, you can view the larger picture and formulate a strategy for getting everything done efficiently.

Keep Work Logs

To-do lists allow you to keep documented logs of what work has been done. This can be used to provide evidence of work done to employers or clients, or just as a way of helping you monitor your own productivity and efficiency.

Accountability

Without accountability there is no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability lets excuses creep in and take over your work day.

Better Delegation Of Tasks

A to-do list helps you better assign tasks to other people. 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. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work systematically and your business productivity and efficiency will increase.

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

In this tutorial we are going to show you how to easily add a to do list to a WordPress website or blog 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/

Plugin Description

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

Features

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

You can set up the plugin to have 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 assigned items only seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. There are also settings to show deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well as front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is also available as short code to display the to-do list items on your site. There are two short codes for front-end list administration. Category management is accessed via the back-end admin section.

If you plan to run a multi-author site you can use this plugin to create custom to do lists for your post planners if you also own the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

In your site’s dashboard, go to the menu and click on 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 Cleverness To-Do List plugin in the Search Results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installing it …

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

Once 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’ section …

The section below shows you how to set up the plugin …

Setting Up The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

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

Let’s take you through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

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

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

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

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

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

List View

List View lets you choose how your to-do lists will be viewed. You can select three to do list views:

• Individual – Selecting this option lets each user create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choose this option if you want all users to be able to share the same to-do list.
• Master – Use 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 list items.

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display which of your users has added an item to your to-do list.

Note: This setting only applies if ‘List View’ is set to ‘Group’.

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

Enabling this option lets you specify deadlines for to-do items …

Show Progress

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can 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 Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor …

Use Auto Paragraphs

If enabled (‘Yes’), automatic paragraphs are used to display content in your to-do lists.

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, developed by the same author that helps to make the task of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

To learn more about using this handy plugin, go here: WordPress Post Planner – Editorial Solution Plugin For WordPress

Once you have finished configuring your plugin options in this section, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

After you have configured the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to continue …

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ area …

This section lets you customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to users and perform 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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to 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 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 important, middle (normal) and low items …

Items prioritized as “important” are shown in red in the lists and lowest (low) priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs appear on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled, 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 area and assign items to other users …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option 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 specifically assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled (‘No’) displays to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this area (Administrator 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 you enable this option, WordPress automatically sends users an email with their assigned to-do items …

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want to send out emails to users.

Note: If this option is disabled, skip the remaining 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 show to-do categories in the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want to show categories in the email subject, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

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 you have multiple 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. Add your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, add a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent out 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 tasks associated with plugin data directly from the plugin settings area itself without the need to access your server …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

Any database operations carried out 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 manually, then consider getting support services from a WordPress professional, or use a backup plugin. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your WordPress file and data backups here:

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

User Permissions

In this area you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and 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 setting up user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you want users to have access to for each option …

The 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 make sure that you only permit non-administrator users to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Below is a description of the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

Here you can enable the selected 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 setting enables the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This permits the chosen capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This setting allows the chosen capability to delegate to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can allow 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

Here you can permit the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This option enables the chosen capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

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

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may need to copy over data from an existing to-do list to another website, or export your 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 import or export 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 new window allowing you to download and save your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to an internal or external drive …

In addition to exporting 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 an export file (in XML format), either by selecting ‘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 an internal or external 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 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 the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file will be imported.

After configuring all of the plugin settings, you are ready to start creating and editing to do lists.

Plugin Usage

To create a new to do list, log into your WordPress admin, then scroll down the menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

How To Add 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 admin toolbar …

You can also add new items to your to-do list using 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 contains many items, as the link is only going to send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

All the methods shown above will take 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 when you add new to-do items.

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

Note: If you are using a list type that allows you to assign responsibilities over items 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 delete a user) …

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

Repeat this process to keep adding new items to your list …

Editing And Deleting 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 configured your plugin settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

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

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

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

And gets added to the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the main screen of the ‘To-Do List’ plugin …

Additional Plugin Information

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

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 menu location where you would like your list to appear …

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

Your to-do list will display where you have placed the ‘to-do-list’ widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Plugin Shortcodes

The plugin also lets you display to-do lists to your site with short codes.

To access the documentation on using shortcodes, click on To-Do List > To-Do List from the dashboard menu …

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

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

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

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

Publish your post or page and you will see the list showing in the location where you have inserted the short code …

Go here for more information about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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