Creating A To-Do List In WordPress

Time always seems to be in short supply, especially if you run a growing business.

There is just too much to do and remember. You have deadlines to meet, project 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 stop.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of promoting and growing your business online and keeping your website or blog updated with fresh content and everything can suddenly begin to feel unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a team, it’s important to be able to organize and manage your daily activities.

A proven method that can help you save time, reduce stress, and allow you to regain control is to use a “to do” list.

To Do Lists – Benefits

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

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

Keep Things Organized

Having a to do list helps you create order, keep things organized and reach your goals sooner.

Manage Your Time Better

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you manage your time more effectively. You can develop a better perspective on what’s truly important vs what is not, and what steps should be done first.

Keep Documented Work Logs

A to do list allows you to maintain documented logs of what you have done. You can use this as evidence of work done to clients or employers, or simply as a way of helping you monitor your own productivity and efficiency.

Ensures Accountability

With no accountability there’s no commitment to completion, and no motivation to take meaningful action. Lack of accountability can also allow excuses to creep in and take over your productivity.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Crossing items off your to do list not only makes you feel more positive, motivated and in-control, it also lets you relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that the work is being completed and that things are moving forward.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using a to-do list, both in business and in your personal life. Creating a to-do list, prioritizing tasks and working to complete the items listed increases your business productivity and efficiency.

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

In this detailed tutorial we are going to show you how to easily add to do lists to 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

Download URL

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 listed below will be 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 a to-do list, or to have a master list with individual item completions.

The shared to do list offers a number of different settings. You can delegate to do items to specific users (this includes emailing new to-do items to users) and optionally to have those items be seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings available to display 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 are also displayed on a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is available as well as short code to display the to do list items on your blog. There are two short codes for front-end administration of the list. Category management is accessible via the back-end.

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

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

In your WordPress admin, select Plugins > Add New …

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

Locate the Cleverness To-Do List plugin in the Search Results tab and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

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

After you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s ‘Settings’ section can also be accessed by selecting To-Do List > Settings from the dashboard menu …

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Setting Up The Plugin

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s go through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

Select ‘Enabled’ to organize lists 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 lets you add categories that can help organize your to-do lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

You can create ‘public’ and ‘private’ categories for your lists.

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

List View

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

• Individual – Select this option if you want each user to be able to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Select this option if you want all users to be able 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 that you adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which of your users has added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If enabled (‘Yes’), you will be able to 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

Enabling this option lets you display the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WordPress Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

This menu 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 plan to run a collaborative 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 that helps to make the task of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

Go here to learn more about this plugin: WordPress Post Planner – WordPress Editorial Solution Plugin

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

Advanced Settings

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

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

In this screen you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other users and perform plugin 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

In this section you can 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 in your to-do list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

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

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

Here you can customize the labels for highest (important), middle (normal) and lowest (low) priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option will show item IDs on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the date your items table 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 section and assign items to other users …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

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

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display tasks only to users who have been specifically assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled will display to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this section (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 you enable this option, WordPress automatically sends users an email 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 other settings 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-do categories to appear the subject of your emails.

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This is a useful option if your website has several 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 emails. Type your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Add into this field the email address that you would like showing as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add into this field a subject field for the email that will be sent out automatically to users when new items have been assigned to 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 allows you to perform database maintenance tasks associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself …

This is useful if, for example, you notice that previously deleted to-do items are still appearing on your site.

You can perform the tasks below:

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

Any actions that you perform on the database from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to perform database maintenance in this section, then we recommend backing up your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, then consider getting support from a WordPress professional, or use backup plugins. Learn about a great WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your WordPress file and database backups here:

• Back Up, Copy & Keep Your WordPress Web Site Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

User Permissions

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

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

If you are setting up user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to perform for each option …

The 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 non-admin users should only be authorized to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s review the settings in the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

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

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This setting allows the selected capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This enables the chosen capability to delegate to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

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

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This option permits the selected capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

Here you can permit the selected 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 decide to transfer 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 area …

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

Exporting To-Do List Data

You can export and download your data settings by clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This will open up a new window allowing you to download and save your data in plain text format to an internal or external storage device …

In addition to exporting data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your WordPress main menu and choosing Tools > Export …

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress export file (in XML format), either by checking ‘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 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 previously saved to-do list data file in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

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

Your file will be imported.

Once you have configured all of the plugin settings, you can start creating and editing to-do lists.

How To Use Cleverness To-Do List

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 A New Item To Your List

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

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

You can also add new to-do items to your list in the 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 already contains many items, as the link is only going to take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

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

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

Select 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 new to-do item …

Note: If you are using a list type that lets you assign items 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 delete a user) …

Once After adding a new item, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat the above process to continue adding items to your to-do list …

Editing And Deleting Items

To edit or delete an item, click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ buttons next to each item under the ‘Action’ column …

Depending on your configuration settings (discussed in the previous section), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

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

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

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

And gets added to the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the main screen of the ‘To-Do List’ plugin …

Additional Information

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

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 menu location where you want the list to display …

Configure the widget settings and click the ‘Save’ button …

Your list will display wherever you have placed the widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Using Plugin Short Codes

You can also create to-do lists on your site by inserting shortcodes into your content.

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

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

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

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

Once you know what information you would like to add to your site, create or edit a new or existing page or post and either type or paste the short code inside the content editor …

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

To download this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you can add to-do lists in WordPress.

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