How To Create A To Do List In WordPress

There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, especially if you are a business owner or busy team leader.

There are so many things to do and remember. You have clients to meet, urgent 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 workload of promoting and growing your business online and keeping your website updated with new content and everything can quickly start to become unmanageable and out of control.

Whether you are running a business, website, blog, or managing a team, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, monitor your progress, and, if necessary, delegate tasks to members of your team or staff efficiently.

One simple 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.

To Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list can help you track your progress as you to get projects completed. Your to do list can be quite detailed or specific, or serve as a reminder of the things that need to be done today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

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

Clear Thinking

Creating to-do lists means you won’t have to memorize stuff or store information inside your mind. Once things are recorded on a to do list, your mind is free to process other information and you can focus on other things that may be more important.

Better Strategic Planning

After creating and organizing a to do list, you can see the larger picture and create a strategy for getting tasks done on time and on budget.

Quickly Reorganize And Reschedule

Having a to do list helps you better handle events. If you find that an appointment has been cancelled or extra time becomes available because a task was completed sooner than expected, you can continue moving forward with minimal loss of focus.

Ensures Accountability

With no accountability there is no commitment to getting things completed, and no motivation to act with a sense of purpose. Lack of accountability can also allow excuses to creep in and take over your productivity.

Feeling Of Accomplishment

Ticking items off to do lists gives you a feeling of accomplishment and allows you to stress less, 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 to-do lists, both in business and in your personal life. Create a list, prioritize your list items and work in a systematic way and your business efficiency and productivity is sure to improve.

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 tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create to do lists in WordPress to help get things done online  faster and more efficiently using a customizable, multi-featured to-do list plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Download The Plugin

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

Description

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

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 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 has a variety of settings available. You can delegate to do items to specific users (this includes emailing a new to do item to the user) and optionally to have those items only 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 as front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the backend to help you manage your lists and your to-do list can also be displayed on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is also available as shortcode to display the to do list items on your blog. There are two 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 use a copy of the Post Planner plugin.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

From your WP dashboard, scroll down the main menu and select Plugins > Add New …

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

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

Activate the plugin …

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

After you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: You can also get to the settings screen by choosing To-Do List > Settings from your dashboard menu …

This takes you to the plugin ‘Settings’ page …

Let’s go through the plugin configuration process …

Setting Up The Plugin

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

• To-Do List Settings – This section lets you specify the plugin’s main settings.
• Advanced Settings – This area is where you can 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 Master and Group List types.
• Import/Export – This section is where you export and import to-do plugin and list data settings.

Let’s configure each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

Choose ‘Enabled’ to organize your list 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 …

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 to-do lists.

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

List View

List View lets you specify how to-do lists are viewed. You can select three kinds of to-do list views:

• Individual – Selecting this option allows each user to create and manage their own private to-do list.
• Group – Choose this option if you want all users to share the same 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 select the ‘Master’ list view, make sure that you adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (this is covered further below).

Sort Order

‘Sort Order’ lets you specify how list items will be sorted.

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

Show Added By

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you display which of your members has added an item to your to-do list.

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

Show Date Completed

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

Show Deadline

If enabled, you will be able to 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 enabled (‘Yes’), the ‘To-Do List’ menu will display in your WP Dashboard Admin bar …

Use WYSIWYG Editor

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) 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 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 to help make the task of managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

Go here for more information about using this handy plugin: WordPress Post Planner

After configuring your options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

Once you have configured the general settings, click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab to proceed …

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

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

Let’s step 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 …

You can configure the following options in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you 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, refer to the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

In this area you can customize labels for highest (important), middle (normal) and low priority items …

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs will display on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

Enabling this option will display 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 options in this area and assign items to other users …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option lets you 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 lets you 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 section Subscriber) to display the type of users that can be assigned todo items. Leave the checkbox 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 will automatically send users an email with their assigned to-do items …

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

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip other settings 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 in the subject of emails sent to users …

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

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

If enabled, you can display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, your website 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 emails to users. Type your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like into this field …

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

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

Text in Emails Sent to User

Add 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 of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to perform database maintenance tasks related to plugin data directly from the plugin settings area …

This is useful if, for example, you see that old items are still showing up 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 – Erase all of your 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 remember to backup your WordPress database first.

If you don’t want to back up your files manually, then get professional WordPress assistance, or use a backup plugin. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:

• Back Up, Duplicate & Protect Your WordPress Web Site With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

If you select Individual List, the only permission that applies in this section is the View To-Do List permission …

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

By default, general capabilities of each user role are set 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 permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s go through the settings for the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

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

Add To-Do Item Capability

This permits the selected capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the selected capability to edit existing to-do items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

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

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

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

Add Categories Capability

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

Import/Export

The ability to import and export to-do list data can be very useful. For example, you may decide to transfer data from an existing list to another website, or export the list data for backup or archiving 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 opens up a new window allowing you to view or save the data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to a storage medium (e.g. your hard drive) …

In addition to exporting to-do list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your dashboard 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 – pages, posts, etc…), or just select ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and click the ‘Download Export File’ button to save your file to a storage medium…

Importing To-Do List Data

To import a 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 and click ‘Open’ …

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

Your file will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you can start create and edit your 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’ page …

Adding New To-Do Items To Your List

There are a number of ways to add new to-do items.

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

You can also add new to-do items using 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 already contains many items, since the link will simply send you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section further down the page) …

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

Depending on the way you have configured your plugin’s settings, some options may not display when adding new items to your to-do list.

Select 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 items to specific 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 users) …

After the item has been added, the item will be listed as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat this 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 plugin configuration settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive an email notification in their inboxes …

After creating your to do list, users can view the list inside their own dashboard …

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

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

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides 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 shortcodes.

Using The 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 location in your sidebar (or footer) menu where you would like the list to display …

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

The to-do list will now display where you have added the ‘to-do-list’ widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using WordPress Widget

Plugin Short Codes

Cleverness To-Do List also lets you add to-do lists and checklists on your site by placing shortcodes into your content.

To access the documentation on using shortcodes, 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 to access the Shortcode Documentation screen …

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

Once you know what information you would like to add to your site, open up a new page or post and either type or paste the shortcode inside the content area …

After publishing your post or page, you will see the list showing exactly where you entered the shortcode …

Visit the plugin website here to download this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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