How To Add To-Do Lists In WordPress

Learn how to easily create a to-do list in WordPress.

Creating To-Do Lists In WordPress

WordPress Tutorials - How To Create To-Do Lists In WordPressTime is always in short supply, especially if you run a hectic business or manage any kind of project that requires people to work as a team.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have deadlines to meet, urgent tasks to complete, meetings to attend, fires to extinguish, appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The “doing” never seems to stop.

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 new content and things can start to become unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, you need to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, keep track of your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, assign tasks to other people efficiently.

A 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 a “to do” list.

To Do Lists – Benefits

A “to do” list can help you monitor your progress when trying to achieve certain objectives. Your to-do list can be very detailed and specific, or serve as a concise reminder of tasks that need doing over a given period of time.

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

Free Your Brain

Writing a to do list means that you won’t have to memorize stuff or store information inside your brain. Once things are jotted down on a to do list, your brain is free to process other information and you can focus on things that are more important to you.

Strategize

Creating and organizing to do lists helps you break down larger projects into more doable tasks and create a strategic plan to get everything done effectively.

Quickly Reschedule Or Reorganize

A to do list helps you better deal with sudden situations. If a meeting gets cancelled or extra time becomes available when a task gets completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reschedule or reorganize and keep working with little to minimal loss of focus.

Reduce Stress

Stress can come from feeling overwhelmed by the fact that there are so many things that needs doing and so very little time to do it all in. Creating to do lists allow you to prioritize urgent items that need to be completed within a reasonable timeframe, and push out non-urgent items that can be addressed at a later time. This can help reduce stress.

Better Delegation Of Work

Having to-do lists help you better assign tasks to others. 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 in a systematic way improves your business efficiency and productivity.

What about using a to-do list on your WordPress website?

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 plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

to do list Cleverness

Download The Plugin

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

Plugin Description

This plugin provides users with a to do list feature.

Features

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

You can configure the plugin to have private to-do lists for each user, 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 option has a variety of settings available. 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 viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels using capabilities. There are also settings to show deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well as 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 appear on a dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is available as well 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 via the back-end.

If you plan to run a multi-author site you can use this to do lists plugin to create custom to do lists for your post editors if you also download a copy of the Post Planner plugin from the same developer.

Installing The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

In your site’s administration section, scroll down the main menu and choose Plugins > Add New

WP Plugin

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

Cleverness to-do lists - to-do lists Cleverness - Install Cleverness To-Do List

Locate the plugin in the Search Results tab and click Install Now

Cleverness to-do list plugin - Cleverness to-do lists plugin - Install Cleverness To-Do List

Activate the plugin after installing it …

Cleverness WP plugin to-do list - plugin to-do list - Activate To Do List Plugin

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

Cleverness - Cleverness plugin - Activate To-Do List

Once you have activated the plugin, click on Settings

WordPress plugin to do lists - Cleverness to-do list - To Do List Plugin Settings

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

WP plugin to do lists - To Do List > Settings

This takes you to the plugin ‘Settings’ screen …

Cleverness to do list - To Do List Settings Tab

Let’s go through the plugin setup process …

How To Set Up The Plugin

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

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

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

To-Do List Settings

Cleverness - 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 plugin menu …

to do lists Cleverness - To Do List Menu

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

Cleverness plugin to do list WP - To-Do List Add Category

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

Private categories will not be visible when using widgets or short codes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

List View allows you to specify how to-do lists are viewed. You can choose from 3 list views:

  • Individual – Choose this option if you want 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 – Use this option to have one master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If using the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you configure the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).
Sort Order

Cleverness to-do lists plugin WP - To Do List Settings Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option lets you display which users have added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

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

plugin to-do list - To Do List Deadline

Show Progress

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

Cleverness plugin to do lists - To-Do List Progress

Show Admin Bar Menu

If enabled, the ‘To-Do List’ menu displays in your WordPress Dashboard Admin bar

WordPress plugin to-do lists - Show Admin Bar Menu

Use WYSIWYG Editor

This option lets you add and edit items on your to-do list using the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor

Cleverness - WYSIWYG editor

Use Auto Paragraphs

If enabled (‘Yes’), automatic paragraphs are used to display content in to-do list items.

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

WordPress Post Planner

Go here to learn more about this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner

After you have finished configuring your plugin options in this section, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

WP save changes button

Advanced Settings

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

Cleverness plugin to-do lists WP - To Do List Advanced Settings

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

Cleverness to-do list - To-Do List Advanced Settings Tab

This section lets you 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 allows you to customize your To Do List …

Cleverness WP to-do list plugin - Advanced Settings - To-Do List Customization Settings

The following options can be configured 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

In this section you can customize the labels for important, middle and lowest (low) priority items …

Cleverness plugin WP - Priority drop-down menu

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

Cleverness to-do list - sort by priority

Show To-Do Item ID

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

to do lists Cleverness - Show To Do Item ID

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled (‘Yes’), the date your to-do list was added shows up on your items table …

Cleverness plugin WordPress - sort by date added

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

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

plugin to-do list - To-Do List Advanced Settings > Assign To-Do Items Settings

You can configure the following options in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to assign to-do items to other users …

to do list plugin - Assign To Do Items to 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

If this option is enabled, you can display tasks only to users who have been 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 Author 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 don’t tick its checkbox.

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 …

to-do list Cleverness - Assigned To Do Items Email

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want to send out emails to users.

Note: If this option is disabled, skip 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 on the subject of your emails …

Cleverness to do list - Add Category to Subject

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

If you don’t want to show categories in the subject of your emails, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, you have multiple project managers assigning to-do items to users …

Cleverness - Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field lets you customize the “From” field when sending out email notices. Type the name of your company, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

Cleverness plugin WP - From Field for Emails Sent to User

From Email

In this field, add the email address that you want to display as the “sent from” email address …

Cleverness to-do list plugin - To-Do Item Email From Field

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add a subject field for the email that will be distributed automatically to users when a new item has been assigned in your to-do list …

WP plugin to do lists - Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

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.

plugin to do lists - Text in Emails Sent to User

To-Do List Advanced Settings > Database Cleanup

In this area you can perform database maintenance operations related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area without the need to log into your web server …

to do lists plugin - To Do List Advanced Settings > Database Cleanup

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

You can perform the following tasks:

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

Disclaimer

Actions that you perform on the database from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable 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 get professional support, or use backup plugins. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to completely automate your file and data backups here:

User Permissions

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

to-do lists Cleverness - User Permissions

Useful Information

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

WordPress plugin to-do lists - User Permissions Settings - View To-Do-List dropdown menu

If you plan to set up 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 …

Cleverness - User Permissions - View To-Do-List

The 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-administrator users to view and complete items, otherwise they will have the ability to edit the Master list.

to do list Cleverness - User Permissions Settings

Let’s review the settings for the User Permissions tab:

View To-Do List

This setting permits 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 allow the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This permits the chosen capability to add new to-do 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 selected capability to assign to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This setting permits 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 enable the chosen capability to delete individual 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

This setting permits the selected capability to add new categories.

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be useful. For example, you may want to transfer data from an existing to-do list to another website, or store the list data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

plugin to do lists Cleverness - Import/Export Tab

Here you can easily export and import your to-do list data and plugin settings …

Cleverness to do lists plugin - Import/Export Tab

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

WP to-do lists plugin - Import/Export Settings Tab - Import/Export Settings Section - Download Export File

This opens up a new window allowing you to view or download your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to an internal or external drive …

to-do lists Cleverness - Import/Export Settings - Export Settings File

As well as exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your dashboard menu and selecting Tools > Export

Export WP Menu

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 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…

WordPress Menu Export - To-Do Data File

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 …

Cleverness plugin to-do lists WordPress - Import/Export Tab - Import/Export Settings Section - Import To Do Data File

Select the file and click ‘Open’ …

Cleverness WP to-do list plugin - Import/Export Settings - Import/Export Settings Section - Import File

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

WP to-do lists plugin - Import/Export Tab - Import/Export Settings - Import To-Do Data File

Your file data will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you are ready to begin create and edit your to-do lists.

How To Use The Plugin

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

Cleverness plugin WP to-do list - To-Do List Menu

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

to do list plugin - To-Do List page

How To Add New To Do Items To Your List

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

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

Cleverness plugin - How To Add New To-Do Items To Your List

You can also add new to-do items to your list from the ‘To-Do List’ dashboard section by clicking on the ‘Add To-Do item’ link …

WordPress to-do list plugin - How To Add New To-Do Items To Your List

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 send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the screen) …

to-do list plugin Cleverness - Adding New Items To Your To Do List

All the methods shown above will bring you to the ‘Add New To-Do Item’ section.

Depending on the way you have configured the plugin’s settings, you may or may not see certain options displayed when new items to your to-do list.

Configure 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 …

to-do list plugin Cleverness - Add New Items To Your List

Note: If you have selected a list type that allows you to assign items to specific users, select a user from the drop-down list and assign them the item …

WP to-do list plugin - Assign To-Do Items to Users

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

Cleverness plugin WordPress to do lists - Assign To-Do Items to Users

Once a new item has been added, it will display as an entry in the ‘To-Do Items’ table …

WP plugin to-do lists - How To Add New To Do Items

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

Cleverness to do list - How To Add A New Item To Your To-Do List

Editing And Removing To Do Items From Your List

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

Editing And Deleting Items From Your List

Depending on how you have configured the plugin (discussed in the previous section), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

WP to do lists plugin - Email Assigned To Do Items to User

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

plugin to-do list Cleverness - View To Do List

When users assigned with completing an item tick the item checkbox …

to-do lists plugin - Complete To Do List Items User Dashboard

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

WP plugin to-do list - Completed To-Do List Item

And gets listed the ‘Completed Items’ section located in the ’To-Do List’ page …

Cleverness plugin WP - Complete To-Do List Item

Additional Plugin Information

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

Plugin Widget

To add to-do lists 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 (or footer) menu where you would like your list to display …

Cleverness to do lists - Plugin Widget

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

Cleverness plugin to do list WP - Plugin Widget

The list will appear where you have inserted the widget (i.e. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

to do list plugin Cleverness - Using The Plugin Widget

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

Using The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Shortcodes

Cleverness To-Do List also lets you create lists 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 your dashboard menu …

Cleverness plugin to do list WordPress - To-Do List > To-Do List

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

to-do lists Cleverness - Using The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Short Codes

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

Using The Cleverness Plugin Short Codes

This 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 display on your site, create a new post or page and either type or paste the short code inside the content editor …

Plugin Shortcodes

After publishing your post or page, you will see the list showing in the location where you have inserted the shortcode …

Using Plugin Short Codes

Visit the plugin website to learn more about this plugin:

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

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