How To Create A To Do List In WordPress

There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, especially if you are running a hectic business or managing any kind of project that involves people working together.

There are so many things to do and remember. You have clients to meet, project tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to put out, calls and appointments to make, schedules to keep and so on. The amount of things that need ”doing” never seems to stop.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of promoting and growing your business online and maintaining your website updated with new content and everything can quickly start to become unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a team, you need to be able to organize and manage your day.

One simple “tried and true” tool that can help you save time, alleviate stressful workloads, and allow you to regain control is to use “to do” lists.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to do” list can help you track your progress when working towards your objectives. Your to-do list can be very detailed and specific, or act as a 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:

Organization

A to do list helps you create order, keep things organized and achieve goals sooner.

Better Strategic Planning

Creating and organizing to-do lists helps you break larger projects into doable tasks and create a strategic plan for getting everything done on budget and on time.

Quickly Reorganize

A to-do list lets you better handle urgent situations. If you suddenly find that an appointment has been cancelled at the last minute or extra time becomes available when some task gets completed sooner than expected, you can keep working without loss of focus.

Ensures Accountability

With no accountability there’s no commitment to completion, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability allows excuses to creep in and take over your work day.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Ticking items off a to-do list gives you a feeling of accomplishment and allows you to relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that the workload is getting done and that milestones are being reached.

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 productivity and efficiency in your business will surely improve.

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 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 customizable, multi-featured to-do list plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Plugin Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add a customizable to-do list to a WordPress site.

Features

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

You can set up the plugin to assign private to-do lists for individual users, to have all users share your to-do list, or to have a master list with individual item completions.

The shared to-do list option provides a number of settings. You can delegate to do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email a new to do item 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. 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 manage your lists and the to do list can also display on a 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 administration of your list. Category management is accessible via the back-end.

If you plan to run 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 download the Post Planner plugin from the same developer.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

From your WordPress dashboard area, click on Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the entry in the Search Results area 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: You can also get to the plugin’s ‘Settings’ area by choosing To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s go through the plugin setup process …

Plugin Configuration

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

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

Let’s review 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 will be 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 create ‘public’ and ‘private’ categories for your lists.

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

List View

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

• Individual – Use this option if you want each user to be able to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option allows all users to share one to-do list.
• Master – Choose this option to have one master list for all users, where users have their own individual completion of items. If using 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 sort list items.

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

Show Added By

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which users on your site have added an item to your 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

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

Show Progress

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) 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 Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

Enabling this 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 lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

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

To learn more about this plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner – Multi-Author Publishing Plugin For WordPress

Once you are done configuring your plugin options in this section, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ area …

In this section you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to users and perform 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

Here you can customize your To Do List …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

Here you can specify how to display dates on your todo list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, refer to 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 lowest items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), the item’s ID appear on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option will show the date the table of items was added …

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 area and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

If enabled, you can 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 assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled will display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area (Administrator displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the check box unticked for any roles that you do not want to assign to-do items.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When this option is enabled (‘Yes’), WordPress will automatically send an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

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

Note: If you disable this option, 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.

If you don’t want categories displayed 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 is a useful option if you have various project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field lets you customize the “From” field when sending out email notifications to users. Enter the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Add the email address that you want displayed 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 sent out automatically to users whenever a new item has been added in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to carry out database maintenance operations related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

Any actions that you perform on the database from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to carry out database operations in this section, then make sure to backup your WP database first.

If you don’t want to perform site backups, then consider getting professional WordPress assistance, or use backup plugins. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:

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

User Permissions

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

If you choose the Individual List type, the only item applicable for 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 want users to perform for each option …

The default general capabilities for each user role are set 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 allow non-administrators to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s now review the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

This permits 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 chosen capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the selected capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This enables the chosen capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the selected capability to delegate items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This enables 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 selected capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

Here you can allow the chosen capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

Being able 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 list data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Here you can import or export your data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

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

As well as exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, 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 just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click on the ‘Download Export File’ button to save your file to an internal or external hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a list data file, 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 your data file, click on the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file data will be imported.

After configuring all plugin settings, you can start create and edit your to-do lists.

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

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

Adding 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 admin bar …

You can also add new to-do items 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 is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the screen) …

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

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

Configure 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 item to your list …

Note: If you have chosen 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 assign multiple users to the same item (click on ‘x’ to remove a user) …

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

Repeat this process to add new items to your to-do list …

Editing And Deleting To Do Items

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 configured the plugin (discussed earlier), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

After creating your to do list, users can view it from their own dashboard …

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

… the item no longer appears in the “To-Do” list …

And displays 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 a to-do list on your WordPress site using widgets, and insert lists into any page or post using short codes.

Using The 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 display …

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

The to-do list will now display wherever you have added the widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Using Plugin Shortcodes

You can also display to-do lists and checklists to your site by inserting short codes into your content.

To access the plugin’s shortcode documentation, click on To-Do List > To-Do List from the admin menu …

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

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

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

Once you know what type of information you want to display on your site, open up a new post or page and either type or paste the shortcode inside the content section …

Publish your page or post and you should see the list showing exactly where you added the short code …

To download this plugin, go here:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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