How To Create A To-Do List In WordPress

When you are running a growing business or managing a team, there is never enough time to get everything done.

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 put out, deliveries to make, schedules to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to end.

Now … add the extra workload 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 overwhelming.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, it’s important 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 regain control is to use “to do” lists.

To-Do Lists – Benefits

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

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

Organization

A to-do list helps you create order, keep things organized and achieve goals faster.

Better Time Management

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and manage your workload more effectively. You can gain a clearer perspective on what’s truly urgent vs what’s not, and what steps should be done first.

Keep Documented Work Logs

To-do lists let you retain documented logs of the work you have done. You can use this to provide evidence of work done to employers or clients, or simply as a way of helping you track your own productivity and efficiency.

Accountability

With no accountability there is no commitment to completion, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability can also let excuses creep in and take over your work day.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Ticking items off to do lists gives you a sense of accomplishment and allows you to relax more, as you can objectively see (or show) that work is indeed being completed and that milestones are being reached.

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, prioritizing tasks and working towards completing the items on your list increases your business productivity and efficiency.

What about using to-do lists on your WordPress website?

In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to create to do lists in WordPress to help your team get things done  faster and more efficiently using a great little plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download The Plugin

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

Description

This WordPress plugin lets you easily add to do lists to WordPress.

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Features

Note: the plugin 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 individual users, to have all users share a 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 assign to-do items to a specific user (this includes a setting to email new to do items to assigned users) and optionally to have those items only viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings to enable the display of deadline and progress fields. Category support is included as well as front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to manage your list and your to-do lists can also appear on the 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 administration of the list. Management of categories is accessible via the back-end.

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

Plugin Installation

From your WP administration area, scroll down the main menu and 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 item in the Search Results tab and click Install Now …

Click Activate Plugin …

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

After the plugin has been activated, click on Settings …

Note: The ‘Settings’ section can also be accessed by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your admin menu …

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ screen …

The section below shows you how to go through the plugin configuration process …

Configuring The Plugin

The plugin’s ‘Settings’ area is divided into 4 tabs:

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

Let’s now go through each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize lists into categories, otherwise leave this option set to ‘Disabled’.

Note: When you enable this option, a ‘Categories’ item gets added to the To-Do List plugin 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.

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

List View

List View allows you to specify how your lists are viewed. There are 3 to do list views available:

• Individual – Use this option if you want each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Selecting this option lets all users share the same 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 you select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure to configure 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 choose Category, Alphabetical or ID, Category, ID or Alphabetical options, items will be first sorted by priority.

Show Added By

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), you can display which members have added an item to the to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If enabled (‘Yes’), you can specify deadlines for to-do items …

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, 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

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display content in to-do list items using paragraphs.

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run 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 …

Go here to learn more about using this plugin: WordPress Post Planner – WordPress Multi-Author Publishing Plugin

After you have configured your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button …

Advanced Settings

After you have configured the settings in the To-Do List Settings tab, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab …

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ section …

This tab lets you customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to users and carry out 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

Here you can customize your To-Do List …

The following settings can be configured in this section:

Date Format

In this area you can specify how to display dates on your to-do lists (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

In this area you can customize your labels for prioritizing highest, normal and lowest items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), the item’s ID will show on the list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

If enabled, the date your to-do list was added will display 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 area and assign to-do items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

If this option is enabled, you can 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 to display to-do items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leave this option disabled (‘No’) to display items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this section Subscriber) displays the type of users that can be assigned todo items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a particular 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 …

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

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 …

Leave this option disabled (‘No’) if you don’t want to-do categories added to the email subject.

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

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

From Email

Enter the email address that you want showing as the “sent from” address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type in a subject field for the email that will be distributed automatically to users whenever a new item has been added in 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

In this area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab you can carry out database maintenance operations related to plugin data inside your plugin settings area …

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

The tasks below can be performed:

• Delete Tables – Remove custom database tables that you are no longer using.
• Delete All To-Do Items – Erase 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 maintenance in this section, then we recommend backing up your database first.

If you don’t want to perform your own site backups, then hire a professional, or use a backup plugin. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that we recommend using to perform automated site backups here:

• Backup, Copy And Protect Your WP Sites With Backup Creator Plugin For WordPress

User Permissions

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

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

If you plan to set up user permissions and capabilities for Group and Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to have access to for each option …

By default, general capabilities for each user role are set 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 make sure that you only permit non-administrator users to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s now review the settings in this 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

This option allows the chosen capability to mark to-do items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This enables the selected capability to modify existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the selected capability to delegate items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can allow 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

This option enables the selected capability to delete individual to-do items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This enables the selected capability to purge all the completed items.

Add Categories Capability

This setting allows 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 want to transfer data from an existing to-do list to another website, or store your data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

Here you can easily import or export your list data and plugin settings …

Exporting To-Do List Data

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

This will open up a new window allowing you to view or save your data in plain text format to a storage device (e.g. your hard drive) …

As well as exporting data from the ‘Import/Export’ section, you can also export data by going to your WordPress admin menu and choosing 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 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 …

Select the file and click ‘Open’ …

Once uploading your data file, click the ‘Import Settings’ button …

Your file data will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you can start create and edit your lists.

How To Use The Plugin

To create a new to-do list, go to your WordPress admin menu and click on 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 several ways to add new to-do items.

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

You can also add a new item to your to-do 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 contains many items, since the link is only going to send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down 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.

Configure 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 allows you to assign responsibilities over items 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 delete users) …

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

Repeat this process to keep adding new items to your list …

Editing And Deleting To-Do Items

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

Depending on how you have configured the plugin (discussed earlier), users assigned to tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

After creating your to do list, users can view the list when logged into their dashboard …

When users assigned with the item complete the task and tick the item check box …

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness To-Do List plugin offers added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your website using widgets, and display lists on content inside a page or post 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 would like your to-do list to show …

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

The list will display where you have added the widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using s

Shortcodes

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

To access the plugin’s short code documentation, select To-Do List > To-Do List from your dashboard menu …

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

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

This section explains different ways to configure and use short codes to display lists on your posts and pages.

Once you know what information you would like to display on your site, create a new post or page and either type or paste the short code into the content area …

After publishing your post or page, you will see the list displayed where you added the shortcode …

For more information about this plugin, visit this site:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to create and add a to-do list in WordPress.

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