How To Create A To Do List In WordPress

If you are a business owner, time is always in short supply.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have clients to meet, urgent tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need to get done never seems to end.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra workload of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with fresh content and things can start to feel unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, it’s important to be able to organize and manage your day.

A simple proven method that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to gain some control is to use “to do” lists.

To Do Lists – Benefits

A “to do” list can help you monitor your progress as you work towards completing tasks. Your to do list can be detailed and very specific, or just serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

Clear Thinking

Writing to-do lists means that you don’t have to try and remember stuff or clutter your brain with details. Once things are recorded on a to do list, your head is free to process information and you can focus on other important areas.

Be More Strategic

After creating and organizing a to-do list, you can break down your workload into more doable tasks and come up with a strategy for getting things completed effectively.

Quickly Reschedule Or Reorganize

Having to-do lists help you better cope with situations. If you find that an appointment has been cancelled at short notice or extra time is made available when some aspect of the process gets completed sooner than expected, you can keep working without disruption.

Stress Less

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by the thought that there are so many things to do and very little time to do it all in. Using to-do lists let you work on important things that need to get done immediately, and reschedule non-urgent tasks that can be addressed at a later time. This can help reduce stress.

Better Delegation Of Tasks

Having a to-do list helps you better delegate work to others. This is also important when collaborating with others (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 a to do list, then prioritizing tasks and working in a focused way increases your business efficiency and productivity.

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

In this detailed tutorial we are going to show you how to easily create to do lists in WordPress to help get things done online  faster and more efficiently using a great little WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Plugin Download URL

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

Description

This WordPress plugin provides users with a to-do list feature.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To Do List to have 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 has a variety of settings available. You can assign to-do items to a specific user (this includes emailing a new to do item to the user) and optionally to have those items be seen 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 in the front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to manage your lists and your to do lists can also be displayed on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as short code 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.

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 Post Planner plugin.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Installation

Log into your WordPress admin scroll down the main menu select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin …

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

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ screen …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

How To Set Up The Plugin

The plugin’s ‘Settings’ screen is divided into 4 tabs:

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

Let’s review each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

Select ‘Enabled’ to organize your to-do 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 menu …

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

You can set up ‘public’ and ‘private’ categories for your to-do lists.

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

List View

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

• Individual – Choosing this option lets users create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option lets all users share the same to-do list.
• Master – This option allows you to have a master list for all users, where users have their own individual completion of items. If you choose the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Date Completed

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays completion dates for to-do items.

Show Deadline

Enabling this option 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

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP 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 (‘Yes’) to display content in your to-do lists using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you are running a multi-author site or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, from the same developer to help make managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

To learn more this handy plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner – Plugin For WordPress

After configuring your plugin options, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

In this screen you can customize your To Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other 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 …

You can configure the following settings in this section:

Date Format

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

Note: To learn more about how to format dates in WordPress, refer to the relevant 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 and lowest items …

Items prioritized as “important” are colour-coded in red in your lists and lowest priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will display item IDs on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) will show the date the items table was added …

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

If you have selected ‘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 area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option to 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 specifically assigned those items. Leave this option disabled to display items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this section Editor displays the type of users that can be assigned to-do 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

If you enable this option, WordPress will automatically send an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want to send out emails to users, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Note: If this option is disabled, skip the other items in this section.

Add Category to Subject

If you have enabled categories in your plugin settings and select ‘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 categories in the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want categories to appear the email subject, then leave this option disabled.

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 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 notices to users. Add your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

In this field, enter the email address that you would like to display as the “sent from” 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 when new items have been assigned in your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

Add 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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you perform database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data inside your plugin settings area itself without the need to log into your web server …

This is useful if, for example, you see that old todo items are still listed 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 of your to-do items.

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

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

• Back Up, Clone & Keep Your WP Website Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

Here you can configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types …

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

If you plan to configure user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you want users to have access to for each option …

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 working with the Master list type make sure that you only authorize 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 for the User Permissions 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

This option enables the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the chosen capability to assign to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can enable 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

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

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This allows the chosen capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

This enables 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 want to copy over data from one site to another, 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 …

Now you can export or import your list 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 window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to a storage device (e.g. your hard drive) …

As well as exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your admin 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 – pages, posts, etc…), or just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to your hard drive…

Importing To-Do List Data

Importing a previously saved to-do 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 your data file has been uploaded in your settings area, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file data will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you are ready to start creating and editing your to-do lists.

How To Use The Plugin

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

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

Adding New To Do Items To Your List

There are several ways to add new to-do items.

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

You can also add new to-do items in 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 send 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’ area.

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

Set up the options you have enabled for your to-do items, enter 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 allows you to assign responsibilities over items to users, select a user from the drop-down list and assign them the item …

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

After the new item has been added, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ 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 next to items under the ‘Action’ column …

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

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

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

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and display lists on content inside a post or page using short codes.

Widgets

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 menu location where you want the list to appear …

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

The to-do list will appear wherever the widget has been placed (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use s

Using Plugin Short Codes

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin also lets you add lists on your site with short codes.

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

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

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

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

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

After publishing your page or post, you should see the list showing in the location where you entered the short code …

For more details about this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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