How To Add To-Do Lists In WordPress

Learn how to easily create a to-do list in WordPress.

How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

WordPress Tutorials - Creating To Do Lists In WordPressIf 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

Cleverness

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 …

Plugin Menu

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

Cleverness WordPress plugin to-do list - Cleverness plugin - Install Cleverness To Do List

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

Cleverness plugin to-do list WordPress - Cleverness to-do lists - Install Cleverness To-Do List

Activate the plugin after installing it …

Cleverness plugin WP - WordPress to-do lists plugin - Activate Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Cleverness plugin WordPress to do lists - Cleverness plugin WordPress - Activate Cleverness To-Do List

When the plugin has been activated, click on Settings

WP to do lists plugin - Cleverness to-do lists plugin - To-Do List Plugin Settings

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

Cleverness - To-Do List > Settings

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ page …

Cleverness to do list plugin WordPress - To-Do List Settings Tab

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

plugin to do lists Cleverness - 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 …

to-do lists Cleverness - To Do List Categories Menu

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

Cleverness plugin WordPress to do list - To Do List Categories > Add New Category

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

Cleverness WordPress to-do lists plugin - To Do List 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 …

WP to do list plugin - To Do List Deadline

Show Progress

Enabling this option lets you specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Cleverness WP plugin to-do lists - To Do List Progress

Show Admin Bar Menu

If this option is enabled, the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WP Dashboard Admin bar

Cleverness plugin WordPress - Show Admin Bar Menu

Use WYSIWYG Editor

This menu option lets you add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor

Cleverness to-do lists plugin - 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 …

WordPress Post Planner - WordPress Multi-Author Publishing Plugin

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 …

WP save changes

Advanced Settings

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

Cleverness - Advanced Settings

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

Cleverness to do lists - To Do List Advanced Settings

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 …

Cleverness to do lists plugin - Advanced Settings Tab - To-Do List Customization Settings

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 …

Cleverness WP to-do list plugin - Priority Labeling

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

Cleverness to-do list plugin - Priority column

Show To-Do Item ID

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

Cleverness plugin WP to do lists - Show To Do Item ID

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

Cleverness to do lists plugin WordPress - Date Added column

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 …

to-do list Cleverness - To-Do List Advanced Settings > Assign To Do Items Settings

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 …

Cleverness to do lists - Assign To Do Items to 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 …

Cleverness to-do list - Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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 …

Cleverness to-do list - Add Category to Email Subject

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 …

Cleverness plugin to do lists WordPress - Show Who Assigned the To Do Item in Email

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 …

Cleverness plugin WordPress - From Field for Emails Sent to User

From Email

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

WordPress plugin to do lists - Show Who Assigned the To Do Item in Email

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 …

Cleverness WordPress plugin to do list - To Do Item Email Subject Field

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.

WordPress to do lists plugin - To-Do Item Email Text Field

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 …

Cleverness to-do list - To Do List Advanced Settings > Database maintenance

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.

Disclaimer

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:

User Permissions

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

Cleverness - User Permissions Tab

Important Info

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

Cleverness to do list plugin - User Permissions Tab - View To-Do-List

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 …

Cleverness plugin WordPress to do list - User Permissions Tab - View To-Do-List

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.

to-do list plugin - User Permissions

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 …

Cleverness plugin WP to do list - Import/Export Settings Tab

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

WordPress plugin to do list - Import/Export Settings

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

Cleverness to do list plugin WordPress - Import/Export Tab - Import/Export Settings Section - 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 …

WP to do list plugin - Import/Export Tab - Export Settings

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

Export WP

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…

Export Menu - To-Do Data File

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 …

WP to do list plugin - Import/Export Settings - Import/Export Settings - Import File

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

to-do list Cleverness - Import/Export Tab - Import/Export Settings - Import To Do File

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

to-do list plugin - Import/Export Tab - Import/Export Settings - Import To-Do Data File

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

Cleverness plugin WP to do lists - To-Do List > To-Do List

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

Cleverness plugin WP - To-Do List page

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 …

Cleverness plugin - How To Add New To Do Items To Your List

You can also add new to-do items in the Dashboard by clicking on the ‘Add To-Do item’ link …

Cleverness plugin WP to-do lists - Adding A New Item To Your To Do List

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) …

plugin to-do list - Adding New To-Do Items

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 …

Cleverness plugin WP to-do lists - Adding A New Item To Your List

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 …

Cleverness - Assign To-Do Items to Users

You can also make multiple users responsible for the same item (click on ‘x’ to remove users) …

Cleverness - Assign To-Do Items to Users

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

Cleverness plugin WordPress to-do list - Add New Items To Your List

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

Cleverness plugin - Add A New Item To Your 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 …

Edit And Delete To Do Items

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 …

WP to-do lists plugin - Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

Once you have created your to-do list, users can view it from their own user dashboard …

to-do list plugin - View To Do List

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

Cleverness plugin WP - Complete To Do Item

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

to do list plugin Cleverness - Completed To-Do Item User Dashboard

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

plugin to do list Cleverness - Complete To Do List Item

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 …

Cleverness plugin WordPress to do lists - Using The Cleverness Plugin Widget

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

WordPress plugin to-do list - Plugin Widget

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 do lists plugin - Using The Plugin Widget

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

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 …

Cleverness plugin to do lists - To-Do List > To-Do List

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

to-do lists Cleverness - Plugin Short Codes

Click on the ‘Shortcodes’ menu entry to access the Shortcode Documentation screen …

Using The Cleverness To Do List Plugin Short Codes

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 …

Using Plugin Shortcodes

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

Using The Cleverness Plugin Shortcodes

Visit the plugin website for more details about this plugin:

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

***

"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)

***