Creating To-Do Lists In WordPress

If you plan to run a growing business, time always seems to be in short supply.

There is just too much to do and 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 stress of trying to get things done on time never ends.

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

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a team, you need to be able to organize and manage your daily activities.

One proven method that can help you save time, create a sense of order and manageability, and allow you to regain control is to use a “to do” list.

The Benefits Of Using To-Do Lists

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

Here are just a few of the many benefits of using to-do lists:

Free Up Resources

Creating a to-do list means you don’t have to try and remember stuff or store additional information inside your head. Once tasks are written down on a to do list, your brain is free to process other information and you can focus on more important things.

Strategize

By creating and organizing a to-do list, you can see the larger picture and formulate a strategy to get tasks done on budget and on time.

Quickly Reorganize Or Reschedule

Using to-do lists let you better handle urgent situations. If you suddenly find that an appointment has been cancelled or extra time is made available because some task got completed sooner than expected, you can continue moving forward with little to no loss of focus.

Ensures Accountability

With no accountability there is 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

Having to do lists help you better delegate tasks to others. This is also important if you plan to collaborate within a team (see further below).

As you can see, there are many benefits to using to do lists, both in business and in your personal life. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work in a focused manner and efficiency and productivity in your business will surely improve.

What about adding to do lists to your WordPress website or blog?

In this detailed tutorial we are going to show you how to easily add to do lists to a WordPress website or blog to help your business grow online  faster and more efficiently using a customizable, multi-featured to do list plugin for WordPress called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To-Do List

Download The Plugin

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

Plugin Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add customizable to-do lists to your WordPress website or blog.

Plugin Features

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

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

The shared to-do list offers a number of different 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 assigned items only seen by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users based on user roles. 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 backend to help you manage your lists and the to-do lists can also display on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as shortcode to display the to-do list items on your site. There are 2 shortcodes for front-end administration of the list. Management of categories is restricted to the back-end.

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

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your site’s dashboard section, scroll down the menu select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Click Activate Plugin …

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

When the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the ‘Settings’ screen by selecting To-Do List > Settings from your admin menu …

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ page …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Setup

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s now take you through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

To-Do List Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize your to-do 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 allows you to 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.

Categories set to ‘private’ 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 to-do lists are viewed. You can choose three kinds of list views:

• Individual – Selecting this option lets each user create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Select this option if you want all users to share one to-do list.
• Master – Use this option to create a 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 set the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered 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 this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which users on your site have added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If enabled, you will be able to specify deadlines for to-do tasks …

Show Progress

If enabled, you will be able to specify task progress indicators for your to-do items …

Show Admin Bar Menu

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WordPress 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

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

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, developed by the same plugin author that helps to make the process of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

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

After you have finished configuring your plugin 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 up the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

This area lets you customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to users and perform plugin database maintenance tasks.

Let’s step through how to configure the plugin’s ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Customize The To-Do List

In this area 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 in your todo list (e.g. month/day/year, day/month/year, etc.)

Note: To learn more about formatting 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 (important), middle (normal) and lowest priority items …

Items given the highest priority are color-coded in red and low priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled, item IDs will show on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled, the date the to-do list was added appears on your table of items …

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 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

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

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 items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this section Editor displays the type of users that can be assigned 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 automatically sends users an email with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled.

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip the remaining 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 to-do categories in the email subject.

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want categories added to the subject of your emails.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option displays the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This is a useful option if your site has 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 notices. You can enter the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

Add the email address that you would like to display as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

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

Text in Emails Sent to User

Type in 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 area you can carry out database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area itself without having to access your server …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

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

Any database operations you perform from this screen cannot be undone. If you are sure that you want to proceed with any of the database operations available in this section, then we recommend backing up your WP database first.

If you don’t want to perform your own backups, then get professional WordPress support services, or use backup plugins. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your backups here:

• Back Up, Copy & Protect Your WP Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

If you select Individual List, the only configurable option that is applicable for 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 would like users 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 working with the Master list type non-administrators should only be authorized to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list itself.

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

View To-Do List

This option allows 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

This setting enables the chosen capability to mark items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

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

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can permit the chosen capability to delegate 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 permit the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This setting enables the chosen capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

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

Import/Export

Being able to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may need to transfer data from an existing to-do list to another website, or export the 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 or import your to-do 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 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 admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress 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 save your file to your 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 in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

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

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

After configuring all plugin settings, you are ready to begin create and edit your to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

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

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

Adding New To-Do Items To Your List

There are a number of ways to add a new item to your to-do list.

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

You can also add new to-do items from 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) …

All 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 adding new items to your to-do list.

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 item to your list …

Note: If you are using a list type that lets you assign tasks to specific 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 delete users) …

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 keep adding items to your to-do list …

Editing And Deleting To-Do Items

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 (discussed in the previous section), users assigned to tasks may also receive email notifications …

After creating your to do list, users can view it from their dashboard …

When users responsible for the item complete the task and click on 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 To-Do List plugin offers additional functions that let you display a to-do list on your website using widgets, and display lists on any 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 your to-do list to display …

Configure the settings in the widget and click ’Save’ …

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 how to use widgets in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• Using WordPress Widget

Using The Cleverness Plugin Short Codes

You can also add to-do lists and checklists to your site using short codes.

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

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

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

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

Visit this site to learn more about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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