How To Create To Do Lists In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially when you are running a growing business or managing other people.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, tasks to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to put out, appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The amount of things that need to get done never seems to end.

Now … add the extra workload of promoting and growing your business online and keeping your website updated with fresh content and things can quickly start to feel unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a project, you need to be able to organize and manage your daily activities.

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

Benefits Of Using To Do Lists

A “to-do” list can help to keep you on track and monitor your progress when trying to complete tasks. Your to do list can be quite detailed or specific, or just serve as a reminder of what needs to be done over a given period of time.

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

Create Order

To-do lists help you create order, keep things organized and reach your goals faster.

Prioritize Your Time

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

Reorganize Or Reschedule Quickly

To-do lists help you better deal with changes in circumstances. If an appointment suddenly gets cancelled at the last minute or extra time has been made available when a task gets completed sooner than expected, you can keep working with little to minimal loss of focus.

Less Stress

Stress can result from feeling overwhelmed by so much to do and so very little time to do it in. Using a to do list lets you work on urgent things that need to be completed immediately, and reschedule items that can be addressed later. This can help you stress less.

Better Delegation Of Tasks

Having to do lists help you better assign work to other people. This is also important if you plan to collaborate 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 to-do lists, then prioritizing tasks and working towards completing the items listed improves efficiency and productivity in your business.

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

In this tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create to do lists in WordPress to help get things done online  faster and more efficiently using a customizable, multi-featured to-do list plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin URL

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

Description

This plugin lets you easily add a to do list to a WordPress website or blog.

Features

Note: the plugin features described below will be 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 includes different settings. You can assign to-do items to specific users (this includes a setting to email new to do items to the assigned user) and optionally to have assigned items be viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. There are also settings to enable the display of deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well 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 are also listed 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 2 short codes for front-end list administration. Category management is accessible through the back-end.

If you plan to run a multi-author blog you can use this to do lists plugin to create custom to do lists for your post planners if you also install a copy of the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

How To Install The Plugin

Inside your WordPress dashboard area, choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click “Activate Plugin” …

Note: You can also activate this plugin in the Plugins section …

Once you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: The settings area can also be accessed by selecting To-Do List > Settings from your admin menu …

This takes you to the plugin ‘Settings’ page …

The section below shows you how to set up the plugin …

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Setup

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

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

Let’s configure each of these tabs.

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 will be added to the To-Do List plugin menu …

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

You can create ‘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 allows you to choose how to-do lists will be viewed. You can choose from three to-do list views:

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

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how to-do list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

If enabled, you can display which members on your site have added an item to the to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

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

Show Progress

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

Show Admin Bar Menu

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu will display in your WP Dashboard 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 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, developed by the same plugin author that provides you with a complete WordPress editorial solution …

Visit this site for more information about using this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner – Plugin For WordPress

When you are done configuring your options, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

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

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

In this tab you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items 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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ screen lets you customize your To Do List …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Date Format

In this area 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, 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 and low items …

Highest priority items are colour-coded in red and low priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs will display on your list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

The following options can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

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

User Roles to Show

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

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 remaining 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 on the subject of your emails …

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want to-do categories to show the subject of your emails.

If you don’t want to-do categories added to the email subject, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

If enabled, you can display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, your site has a number of project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

Use this field to customize the “From” field when sending out email notices to users. Add the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, type a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent out to users when a new item has been assigned to your to-do list …

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.

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Database Cleanup

This area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to perform database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data inside your plugin settings area without having to access your web server …

This is useful if, for example, you see that items you have already deleted are still appearing on your site.

The tasks below can be performed:

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

Any database operations carried out from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to proceed with any of the database operations available in this section, then we recommend backing up your database first.

If you don’t want to do site backups, then get professional WordPress support, or use a backup plugin. You can read about a great WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you are using Individual List, the only item applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

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

By default, general capabilities for each user role are configured as follows:

• Subscribers: Read
• Contributors: Edit Posts
• Authors: Publish Posts
• Editors: Edit Others Posts
• Administrators: Manage Options

Note: When using the Master list type make sure that you only authorize non-administrator users to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

Let’s go through the settings in this section:

View To-Do List

Here you can allow the chosen capability to view items in the dashboard widget and on the To-Do List page under the ‘Tools’ section.

Complete To-Do Item Capability

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

Add To-Do Item Capability

This option allows the chosen capability to add new items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can enable the chosen capability to assign 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 selected capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can permit the selected 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 very useful. For example, you may want to transfer data from an existing list to another website, or export your list data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Use this section to export and import your list and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This opens up a window allowing you to view or save the data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to an internal or external storage device …

As well as exporting to-do list 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 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 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 previously saved to-do list data file and click ‘Open’ …

Once your data file has been uploaded in your settings area, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

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

Now that you have configured all of the plugin settings, you can begin create and edit to do lists.

How To Use The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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’ page …

How To Add New To-Do 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 from your WP admin bar …

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

You can also 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 is only going to send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section down the screen) …

The methods shown above 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 new items to your to-do list.

Set up 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 are using 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) …

Once you have added an item, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat this process to keep adding items to your to-do list …

Edit And Delete 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 how you have configured your settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to tasks may also receive email notifications …

Once you have created your to-do list, users can view it when logged into their WP user dashboard …

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

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

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

Additional Information

The Cleverness plugin provides additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and display a list on any page or post using short codes.

Using The Plugin Widget

To add a to-do list 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 list to appear …

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

Your list will appear where the ‘to-do-list’ widget has been placed (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using Widgets In WordPress

Plugin Shortcodes

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin also lets you display lists and checklists to your site using shortcodes.

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

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

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

The documentation section explains different ways to configure and use shortcodes for displaying lists and checklists on your pages and posts.

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

Publish your page or post and you should see the list showing in the location where you have added the shortcode …

To learn more about this plugin, go here:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can create and add to-do lists to your WordPress site or blog.

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