How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

If you are a busy person trying to run a business or manage a team, 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 clients to meet, urgent tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need ”doing” never seems to end.

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

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, track your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks and responsibilities to team members efficiently.

A ”tried and true” method that can help you save time, reduce stressful workloads, and allow you to regain control is to use “to do” lists.

The Benefits Of Using A To Do List

A “to do” list helps you monitor your progress as you work towards completing projects. Your to do list can be detailed and specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of the things that need to be done today, tomorrow, this week, this month, etc.

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

Clear Thinking

Creating a to do list means you don’t have to try and remember things or clutter your head with details. Once tasks are recorded on a to-do list, your head is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Better Manage Your Time

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

Quickly Reorganize

Using to-do lists let you better deal with situations. If a meeting gets cancelled at the last minute or extra time becomes available because some aspect of the process got completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reorganize and continue moving forward with little to no disruption.

Relieve Stress

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by the fact that there is so much that needs to get done and very little time to do it in. Creating a to do list lets you prioritize urgent tasks that have to be completed immediately, and reschedule items that can be worked on at a later time. This can help reduce stress.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off a to-do list gives you a sense of accomplishment and allows you to stress less, as you can objectively see (or show) that the work is being completed and that progress is being made.

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 things systematically and productivity and efficiency in your business is sure to increase.

What about using a to do list on your website?

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

Cleverness To Do List

Download URL

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

Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add to-do lists to WordPress.

Features

Note: the plugin features described below are 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 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 specific users (this includes a setting to email a new to do item to the user) and optionally to have those items be viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels using capabilities. There are also settings available to show deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included in the front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is available as well as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your blog. There are 2 shortcodes for front-end list administration. Management of categories is accessed 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.

Plugin Installation

From your WP admin section, scroll down the main menu and select Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the entry in the Search Results section and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

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

Once you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ area …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Plugin Setup

The plugin’s ‘Settings’ area is divided into four tabs:

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

Let’s now take you through each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize your list 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 to 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 shortcodes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View lets you specify how to-do lists will be viewed. There are 3 types of to-do 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 – Selecting this option allows users to share the same to-do list.
• Master – Choose this option to have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual completion of items. 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 list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

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

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

Show Date Completed

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), completion dates will display for to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you specify deadlines for your to-do tasks …

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, the ‘To-Do List’ menu will display in your WP Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

If enabled (‘Yes’), 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 list items 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, from the same plugin developer that helps to make managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

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

When you have configured your plugin options in this section, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

After you have configured the settings in the To-Do List Settings tab, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab …

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

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 settings in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you specify how to display dates in your todo lists (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, see the date 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 given the highest (important) priority display in red in your lists and low priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

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

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Assign To-Do Items Settings

If you have selected either ‘Group’ or ‘Master’ View for your to-do list, you can configure the settings in this section and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following options in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option 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 items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled (‘No’) will display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Check the boxes in this area Contributor to display the type of users that can be assigned todo items. If you don’t want to assign to-do items to a specific role, then leave its checkbox unticked.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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

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

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip the other 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 to display to-do categories in the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want to display categories in the subject of your emails, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

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, your site 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 email notices. Type your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Type in the email address that you would like showing as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type into this field a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent to users whenever new items have been added 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 area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you carry out database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data inside your plugin settings area …

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

You can perform the following tasks:

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

Actions that you perform on your database from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to perform database maintenance in this section, then make sure to backup your WP database first.

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

• Back Up, Copy And Keep Your WP Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

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

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

If you are configuring user permissions and capabilities for Group or 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 non-administrators should only be permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s now review the settings for this section:

View To-Do List

This option enables 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

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

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to assign items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can enable 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 option permits the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

This option permits the selected 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 decide to transfer data from an existing to-do 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 …

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

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This opens up a new window allowing you to download and save the data in plain text format to a storage device (e.g. your hard drive) …

In addition to exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your main menu and selecting 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 just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click the ‘Download Export File’ button to save your file to an internal or external hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a previously saved to-do list data file, click on the ‘Browse’ button next to the ‘Choose File to Import’ field …

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

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

The data from the existing to-do file will be imported.

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

Plugin Usage

To create a new to do list, go to your WordPress admin menu and select To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

How To Add New Items To Your List

There are a number of ways to add new to-do items to your list.

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

You can also add new to-do items 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, since the link will simply send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the screen) …

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

Depending on the way you have configured the plugin’s settings, 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 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 lets you assign items to specific users, select a user from the drop-down list and assign them the item …

You can also assign items to multiple users (click on ‘x’ to remove users) …

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

Repeat this process to continue adding new items 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 …

Depending on your plugin configuration settings (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 the list inside their WP dashboard …

When a user assigned with an item completes the task and clicks on the item checkbox …

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

And displays in the ‘Completed Items’ table located in the ’To-Do List’ screen …

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin offers added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your WordPress website using widgets, and add lists to any page or post using short codes.

Widgets

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 location in your sidebar menu where you want the to-do list to appear …

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

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

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Using Plugin Shortcodes

You can also create lists on your site using shortcodes.

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

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

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

This section explains different ways to configure and use shortcodes to display lists on your pages and posts.

Once you know what type of information you want to add to your site, create a new page or post and either type or paste the short code inside the content area …

After publishing your page or post, you should see the list displayed where you have added the short code …

To learn more about this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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