How To Create A To Do List In WordPress

As a business owner, time always seems to be in short supply.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have clients to meet, projects to complete, meetings to attend, fires to put out, calls and appointments 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 workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with regular content and things can start to become unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a team, you need to be able to organize and manage your daily activities.

A proven tool 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.

The Benefits Of Using A To-Do List

A “to-do” list can help you monitor your progress as you work to achieve your objectives. Your to do list can be quite detailed and specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, this week, this month, etc.

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

Free The Brain

Writing a to-do list means you won’t have to memorize stuff or store a ton of information inside your head. Once things are recorded on a to do list, your brain is free to process information and you can focus on other things that are important.

Better Time Management

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and manage your workload more effectively. You can develop a clearer perspective on what’s more urgent vs what is not, and what tasks should be done first.

Keep Work Logs

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

Less Stress

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by the thought that there is so much that needs to get done and so little time to do it all in. Using a to-do list allows you to prioritize urgent things that need to be completed within the time you have available, and reschedule items that can be worked on at a later time. This can help reduce stress.

Delegate Better

To-do lists help you better delegate work to other people. This is also important when collaborating within a team (see further below).

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, then prioritizing tasks and working in a focused manner improves your business efficiency and productivity.

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

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

Cleverness To-Do List

Download The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Description

This plugin lets you easily add a customizable to-do list to your WP website or blog.

Features

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

You can set up Cleverness To-Do List with 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 item completions.

The shared to do list has a variety of settings available. You can delegate to-do items to a specific user (this includes emailing a new to do item to the assigned user) and optionally to have those items be viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings to show deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well in the front-end administration.

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

If you plan to set up a multi-author site you can use this to-do lists plugin to create custom to-do lists for your post editors if you also install the Post Planner plugin for WordPress from the same developer.

Plugin Installation

Inside your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click “Activate Plugin” …

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

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s ‘Settings’ section can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your dashboard menu …

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ area …

Let’s go through the plugin setup process …

How To Set Up The Plugin

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

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

Let’s now 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 gets added to the To-Do List 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 when using the sidebar widgets or short codes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View lets you choose how your to-do lists are viewed. There are 3 types of list views you can choose:

• Individual – Use this option if you want each user to be able to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Select this option if you want all users to share one to-do list.
• Master – This option allows you to have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If you choose the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how to-do list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option lets you display which of your members has 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 items …

Show Progress

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can 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

If this option is enabled, you will be able to add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor …

Use Auto Paragraphs

Enable this option to display content in to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running 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 …

To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner

Once you have finished configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

In this area you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to users and perform plugin database maintenance tasks.

Let’s take you 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’ screen 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 on your to-do lists (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, visit the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

Here you can customize your labels for prioritizing highest (important), normal and lowest items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option will display item IDs on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option will show the date the To-Do Items table was added …

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 settings in this section and assign items to other users …

The following options can be configured in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you assign to-do items 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 to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this area Editor to display the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the check box unticked for any roles that you don’t want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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

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

Note: If this option is disabled, skip the 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 in the subject of emails sent to users …

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

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want categories displayed in the subject of your emails.

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 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

Use this field to customize the “From” field when sending out emails. Type your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent out to users whenever a new item has been assigned in 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 of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you perform database maintenance operations related to plugin data inside your plugin settings area …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

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

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, then consider using a professional service, or use WordPress backup plugins. You can learn more about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

In this section you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types …

If you are using the Individual List type, the only setting that is applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

If you plan to configure user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like 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 working with the Master list type make sure that you only permit non-admin users to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s go through the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

This 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

Here you can permit the selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the selected capability to delegate to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This setting enables 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 allows the selected capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

This setting enables 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 transfer data from an existing list to another website, or export the data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Now you can export or import your list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

To export and download your data settings click on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This opens up a new window allowing you to download and save your data as plain text to a storage device …

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

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress 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 on 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 and click ‘Open’ …

Once uploading the data file, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file will be imported.

Now that you have configured all of the plugin settings, you can begin create and edit your lists.

Plugin Usage

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

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

Adding A New Item To Your List

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

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

You can also add new items to your to-do list inside 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 will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the screen) …

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

Depending on how you have set up your plugin, some options may not display when adding new items to your to-do list.

Select 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 to-do item …

Note: If you are using a list type that lets you 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 remove users) …

After the new item has been added, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

Repeat this process to add new items to your list …

Edit And Delete To Do Items From Your List

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

Depending on how you have set up the plugin (discussed earlier), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

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

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

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and insert a list into any page or post using shortcodes.

Plugin Widget

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 menu location where you would like your to-do list to show …

Configure the widget settings and click ’Save’ …

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

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

• Using Widgets In WordPress

Using Plugin Short Codes

You can also add lists on your site by inserting shortcodes into your content.

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

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

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

This documentation section explains different ways to configure and use short codes for displaying lists on your posts and pages.

Once you know what information you would like to add to your site, create or edit a new or existing post or page and either type or paste the shortcode into the content area …

After publishing your post or page, you should see the list displayed where you have inserted the shortcode …

To download this plugin, go here:

• 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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