Creating A To Do List In WordPress

When you are running a growing business or managing any kind of project that requires people to work together as a team, time is always in short supply.

There is just so much work to do and things to remember. You have deadlines to meet, projects to complete, priorities to attend to, fires to extinguish, calls and appointments to make, schedules to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to stop.

Now … on top of all this, add the extra dimension of trying to promote and grow your business online and keeping your website updated with new content and things can start feeling unmanageable and overwhelming.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a team, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your activities, monitor your progress, and, if necessary, assign tasks and responsibilities to other people effectively.

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

To-Do Lists – Benefits

A “to-do” list can help to keep you on track and measure your progress as you work towards specific goals. Your to do list can be very detailed and specific, or serve as a concise reminder of what needs to be done today, tomorrow, this week, this month, etc.

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

Stay Organized

To-do lists help you create order, stay organized and achieve your goals faster.

Prioritize Your Time

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time. You can gain a clearer perspective on what is more urgent vs what is not, and what steps should be completed first.

Reschedule Or Reorganize Quickly

Having a to-do list helps you better cope with sudden situations. If a meeting gets cancelled at the last minute or extra time becomes available when something gets completed sooner than expected, you can quickly reorganize and continue moving forward with little to minimal loss of focus.

Accountability

With no accountability there’s no commitment to getting things completed, 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.

Better Delegation Of Tasks

Having a to-do list helps you better delegate work to other people. This is also important when collaborating 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. Creating to-do lists, prioritizing tasks and working towards completing the items on your list improves your business efficiency and productivity.

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

In this detailed tutorial you are going to learn how to create a to-do list in WordPress to help your business grow faster and more efficiently using a great little plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin provides users with a to do list feature.

Features

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

You can configure Cleverness To-Do List to have private to do lists for individual users, 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 provides a number of settings. You can delegate to-do items to a specific user (this includes emailing new to-do items to assigned users) 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 enable the display of deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included as front-end administration.

A new menu item is added to the admin backend to manage your list and your to do list can also display on the dashboard widget.

A sidebar widget is available as well as short code to display the to do list items on your site. There are two shortcodes for front-end administration of the list. Management of categories is accessible through the back-end admin section.

If you plan to set up 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 install a copy of the developer’s premium plugin, Post Planner.

How To Install The Cleverness To-Do List Plugin

Log into your WordPress admin scroll down the menu select Plugins > Add New …

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

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 from the Plugins screen …

After you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

Note: The settings area can also be accessed 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 …

How To Configure The Plugin

The Settings screen is divided into four tabs:

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

Let’s go through each of these tabs.

To-Do List Settings

List View

List View lets you specify how your lists will be viewed. You can choose three to do list views:

Individual – Selecting this option lets users create and manage their own private to-do list.
Group – Selecting this option lets all users share one to-do list.
Master – Use this option to create 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 adjust the User Permissions appropriately in the ‘User Permissions’ tab (see further below).

Sort Order

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

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

Show Added By

If enabled, you can display which users on your site have 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

If enabled, you can specify deadlines for your to-do items …

Show Progress

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

Show Admin Bar Menu

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

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

Integrate with Post Planner

If you plan to run a multi-author site or blog, you can integrate the Cleverness To Do List plugin with a plugin called WordPress Post Planner, from the same plugin developer that helps to make managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

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

Once you are done configuring your plugin options in this section, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to update your settings …

Advanced Settings

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

This brings you to the ‘Advanced Settings’ area …

In this screen you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do tasks to other users and carry out 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

Here you can customize your To-Do List …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Date Format

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

Note: To learn more about formatting dates in WordPress, refer to the relevant section of the WordPress Codex below:

WordPress Codex – Formatting Date And Time

Priority Labels

This section lets you customize your labels for prioritizing important, normal and lowest items …

Items prioritized as “important” are shown in red in your lists and lowest (low) priority items display in a lighter shade of grey …

Show To-Do Item ID

Enabling this option will display the item’s ID on the to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

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

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

The following options can be configured in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to assign tasks 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 (‘Yes’) to display items only to users who have been assigned those items. Leaving this option disabled displays to-do items to all users.

User Roles to Show

Checking the boxes in this section Subscriber) displays the type of users that can be assigned items. Leave the checkbox unticked for any roles that you don’t 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 (‘No’) if you don’t want emails sent out to users.

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 to show to-do categories in the subject of your emails.

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

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enable this option (‘Yes’) to display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This option is useful if, for example, your site has a number of project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

This field allows you to customize the “From” field when sending out emails. You can enter your company name, your domain, your name, or anything you like in this field …

From Email

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

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Add into this field a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent to users when a new item has been added to your to-do list …

Text in Emails Sent to User

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

This section of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab lets you carry out database maintenance tasks related to plugin data inside your plugin settings area itself without having to access your server …

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

You can perform the tasks below in this section:

Delete Tables – Remove 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 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 database first.

If you don’t want to perform your own site backups, then get support from a WordPress professional, or use WordPress backup plugins. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here:

Back Up, Duplicate & Keep Your WordPress Web Sites Protected With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

User Permissions

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

If you select the Individual List type, the only configurable item applicable in this section is the View To-Do List option …

If you are configuring 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 …

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 permit non-admin users to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list.

Let’s review the settings in this tab:

View To-Do List

Here you can allow 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

Here you can permit the chosen capability to mark items as completed or uncompleted.

Add To-Do Item Capability

This option permits the chosen capability to add new to-do items.

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This option enables the chosen capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

Here you can allow the selected capability to delegate to-do items to individual users.

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

This setting 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

Here you can enable the chosen capability to delete individual items.

Delete All To-Do Items Capability

This allows the selected capability to purge all the completed to-do items.

Add Categories Capability

This setting enables 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 store your data for backup or reporting purposes.

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

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

Exporting To-Do List Data

You can export and download your list data settings by clicking on the ‘Download Export File’ …

This will open up a window allowing you to download and save your data in a plain text file (e.g. Notepad) to an internal or external storage device …

As well as exporting list data from the ‘Import/Export’ tab, you can also export data by going to your WordPress admin menu and selecting 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 selecting ‘To-Do’ from the ‘Choose what to export’ section and clicking the ‘Download Export File’ button to download your file to a storage medium…

Importing To-Do List Data

Importing a list data file is easy. Just 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’ …

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

Your file data will be imported.

Now that you have configured all plugin settings, you can start creating and editing to do lists.

Plugin Usage

To create a new to-do list, log into your WordPress dashboard, then go to the 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

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

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

You can also add new to-do items to your list using the ‘To-Do List’ dashboard section 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 already contains many items, since the link will simply take you to the “Add New To-Do Item” section at the bottom of the page) …

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

Depending on the way you have set up your plugin, some options may not display when adding new to-do items.

Configure the options you have enabled for your to-do items, add 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 lets you assign responsibilities over 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 a user) …

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

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

Editing And Deleting Items

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

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

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

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

… the item is removed from the “To-Do” list …

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

Additional Plugin Information

The Cleverness plugin provides additional functions that let you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and add lists to any 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 want your to-do list to appear …

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

The to-do list will now display wherever the ‘to-do-list’ widget was placed (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

Using s

Plugin Short Codes

You can also add lists and checklists on your site with short codes.

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

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

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

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 would like to display on your site, open up a new post or page and either type or paste the short code inside the content section …

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

To learn more about this plugin, visit this site:

Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a to-do list to your WordPress site.

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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum

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