Creating To Do Lists In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially if you run a hectic business or manage a team.

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 put out, calls and appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need ”doing” never stops.

Now … add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with new content and everything can quickly start to become unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, keep track of your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks to members of your team or staff effectively.

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

The Benefits Of Using A To-Do List

A “to do” list helps you track your progress as you complete tasks. Your to-do list can be quite detailed or specific, or just serve as a reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

Free Your Brain

Creating a to-do list means that you don’t have to keep remembering things or clutter your brain with details. Once things are recorded on a to-do list, your mind is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Be More Strategic

By creating and organizing your to do list, you can break down larger projects into more doable tasks and create a strategic plan to get everything completed on budget and on time.

Log Your Work

A to do list allows you to keep documented logs of the work you have done. This can be used as evidence of work to clients or employers, or just as a means of helping you assess your own productivity and efficiency.

Ensures Accountability

Without accountability there’s no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability can also let excuses creep in and influence your productivity.

Improved Collaboration

Creating to-do lists and other project management tools is essential for collaborating 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. Creating to-do lists, then prioritizing tasks and working systematically increases your business efficiency and productivity.

Let’s turn now to using to-do lists on your website or blog. More specifically, adding a to-do list to WordPress.

In this detailed step-by-step tutorial we are going to show you how to easily create to do lists in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a great little 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 plugin provides users with a to do list feature.

Plugin Features

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

You can configure the plugin to have private to-do lists for individual users, to have all users share a to do list, or to have a master list with individual completion of items.

The shared to-do list includes 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 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 to display deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included 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 a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your site. There are two shortcodes for front-end administration of your list. Category management is accessible through the back-end.

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

How To Install The Plugin

In your WP dashboard, go to the main menu and select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin after installing it …

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

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ page …

The section below shows you how to go through the plugin configuration process …

How To Configure The Plugin

The Settings screen is divided into 4 sections:

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

Let’s configure each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

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

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

This lets you add categories that can help organize your to-do 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 using the sidebar widgets or shortcodes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View allows you to choose how your to-do lists will be viewed. There are 3 list views you can choose:

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

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how to order to-do list items.

If you select Category, Alphabetical or ID, Category, ID or Alphabetical options, items will be sorted first 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 if ‘List View’ is set to ‘Group’.

Show Date Completed

If this option is enabled, completion dates will display for your to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

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

Show Progress

If this option is enabled, you can specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

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

Use Auto Paragraphs

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display content in your to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a collaborative site or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To-Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, from the same plugin developer that provides you with a complete WordPress editorial solution …

Visit this site to learn more about using this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner

Once you have configured your plugin options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

After configuring the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab …

This brings you to the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

This area lets you customize your To Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other 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 …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

In this area you can specify how to display dates in your todo list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about how to format dates in WordPress, see the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize labels for highest, middle and lowest (low) priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled, the items’ IDs show on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will show the date the table of items 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 area and assign items to other users …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you 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

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

Checking the boxes in this section Subscriber) displays the type of users that can be assigned to-do items. If you don’t want to assign to-do items to a specific role, then don’t tick its checkbox.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

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

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

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 in the subject of emails sent to users …

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

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 option is useful if, for example, you have several 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 to users. Add the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

Enter the email address that you want displayed as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Enter a subject field for the email that will be sent automatically to users whenever new items have been added in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Type into this field 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

In this section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab you can carry out database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself …

This is useful if, for example, you notice that old items are still appearing on your site.

You can perform the tasks below:

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

Any database operations you perform from this screen cannot be undone. If you are comfortable to carry out database operations in this section, then remember to backup your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to back up your site yourself, then get help from a WordPress professional, or use a WordPress backup plugin. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your site backups here:

• Back Up, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Websites And Blogs With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

If you have selected Individual List, the only item that is applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

If you plan to configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to be able to perform for each option …

By default, general capabilities for 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 non-admin users should only be authorized to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

Here is a description of the settings for the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

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

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 allow the selected capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to delegate to-do 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

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

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This setting permits the selected 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 transfer data from one site to another, or store the list data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

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

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This will open up a new window allowing you to download and save the data as plain text to a storage medium …

As well as 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

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 previously saved to-do list data file and click ‘Open’ …

Once your data file has been uploaded to your settings area, click on ‘Import Settings’ …

Your file data will be imported.

Once you have configured all plugin settings, you can start creating and editing 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 you to the ‘To-Do List’ page …

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 WP dashboard toolbar …

You can also add a new item to your to-do list inside 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 will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the screen) …

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

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

Select the options you have enabled for your to-do items, enter appropriate values and 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 lets you assign tasks to 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) …

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

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

Editing And Removing Items From Your List

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

Depending on your plugin configuration plugin settings (discussed in the previous section), users assigned to tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

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

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

… the item disappears from the “To-Do” list …

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides additional functions that let you display a to-do list on your website using widgets, and insert a list into any page or post using shortcodes.

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 menu location where you would like the list to display …

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

The list will appear wherever you have inserted the ‘to-do-list’ 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 The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Shortcodes

The plugin also lets you add to-do lists on your site by placing short codes into your content.

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

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

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

The documentation section explains different ways to configure and use short codes to display lists on your pages and posts.

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

Publish your page or post and you should see the list displayed in the location 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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