How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

As a busy person trying to run a business or manage a team, time is always in short supply.

There is just too much to do and remember. You have so many deadlines to meet, project tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, deliveries to make, commitments to keep and so on. The “doing” never ends.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with new content and everything can start to become unmanageable and out of control.

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

One simple proven tool that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to take control is to use “to-do” lists.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list helps you track your progress as you to get tasks completed. Your to-do list can be very detailed or specific, or act as a reminder of the things that need doing today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

To Do Lists Create Order

A to-do list helps you create order, stay organized and reach your goals faster.

Save Time

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and better manage your workload. You can gain a clearer perspective on what is more important vs what is not, and what tasks should be done first.

Log Your Work

To-do lists allow you to keep documented logs of what work has been done. You can use this as evidence of work to employers or clients, or just as a way of helping you assess your own productivity and efficiency.

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 impact your productivity.

Better Delegation Of Tasks

To-do lists help you assign work to others better. This is also important if you plan to work within a team (see further below).

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

What about adding to-do lists to your website?

In this tutorial we are going to show you how to easily create a to-do list 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 Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

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

Plugin Description

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

Features

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

You can set up Cleverness To Do List to assign private to do lists for each user, to have all users share a 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 a specific user (this includes a setting to email a new to-do item to the user) and optionally to have assigned items be viewable 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 backend to manage your list and your to-do lists can also appear 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 shortcodes for front-end list administration. Management of categories is restricted to the back-end admin section.

If you plan to run a multi-author blog you can use the to do lists plugin to create custom to do lists for your post editors if you also download the Post Planner plugin.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Installation

Log into your WordPress dashboard and choose Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click “Activate Plugin” …

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

When the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The plugin’s ‘Settings’ area can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from the admin menu …

This takes you to the ‘Settings’ section …

Let’s set up the plugin …

How To Configure The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

The “To-Do List” plugin ‘Settings’ area is divided into 4 sections:

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

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

This allows you to 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 lists.

Private categories are not visible when using widgets or shortcodes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View lets you choose how lists will be viewed. There are 3 kinds of to do list views you can select:

• Individual – Selecting this option lets each user create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choosing this option allows all users to share one to-do list.
• Master – Use this option 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 set 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, Category or ID options, items will be first sorted by priority.

Show Added By

If this option is enabled, you can display which of your users has added an item to your 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 your to-do items.

Show Deadline

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you specify deadlines for your to-do items …

Show Progress

If enabled (‘Yes’), you will be able to specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

If enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu will display 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

If enabled, automatic paragraphs are used to display content in your to-do lists.

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 author to help make the process of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

For more information about this handy plugin, go here: WordPress Post Planner

After you are done configuring your plugin options, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings up the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

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

Let’s go 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 options in this section:

Date Format

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

Note: To learn more about how to format 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 labels for highest (important), middle (normal) and lowest priority items …

Items given the highest (important) priority are colour-coded in red and lowest (low) priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

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

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

You can configure the following options 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

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

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this area (Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber) displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the check box unticked for any roles that you don’t 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 emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Note: If you disable this option, 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 on the subject of your emails …

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

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want to display to-do categories in the email subject.

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

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

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

In this field, add a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent to users whenever a new item has been added to 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

This area allows you to perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data inside the plugin settings area without having to log into your web server …

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

The tasks below can be performed in this section:

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

Any actions that you perform on your database from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to perform database operations in this section, then make sure to backup your WP database first.

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, then use the services of a professional, or use WordPress backup plugins. You can learn more about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WordPress Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

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

If you choose Individual List, the only configurable option 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 would like users to be able to perform for each option …

By default, general capabilities of 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-admin users to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

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

View To-Do List

Here you can allow the selected 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 permit the chosen capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This permits the chosen capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to assign items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This permits 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 permits the selected capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

Here you can allow the chosen capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

Here you can enable 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 need to copy over 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 easily export or import 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 opens up a window allowing you to view or save the data in plain text format to a storage medium …

As well as exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your main 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 – pages, posts, 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 a storage device…

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 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.

Now that you have configured all of the plugin settings, you are ready to start create and edit to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

To create a new to-do list, go to your WordPress dashboard menu and click on To-Do List > To-Do List …

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

Adding New To-Do Items To Your List

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

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

You can also add new to-do items 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 is only going to 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 how you have set up your plugin, you may or may not see certain options displayed when when you add new to-do items.

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 to-do item …

Note: If you are using a list type that allows you to assign tasks 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 you have added the new item, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

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

Editing And Deleting Items From Your List

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

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

Once you have created your to do list, users can view it inside their dashboard …

When the user assigned with an item completes the task and ticks the item check box …

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

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

Additional Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin provides added functionality that lets you display a to-do list on your WordPress website using widgets, and display a list on content inside a page or post using short codes.

Plugin Widget

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 location in your sidebar (or footer) menu where you want your list to appear …

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

Your to-do list will display on your site where you have placed the ‘to-do-list’ widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• How To Use WordPress Widget

Using The Cleverness Plugin Shortcodes

You can also create lists and checklists to your site by placing shortcodes into your content.

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

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

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

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

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

Publish your post or page and you will see the list displayed in the location where you have inserted the shortcode …

Visit the plugin website here for more details about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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