How To Create To-Do Lists In WordPress

Time is always in short supply, especially if you run a hectic business.

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 put out, calls and appointments to make, commitments to keep and so on. The stress of trying to get things done on time never seems to stop.

Now … add the extra dimension of promoting and growing your business online and maintaining your website or blog updated with new content and things can quickly start to become unmanageable and chaotic.

Whether you run a business, website, blog, or manage a project, it’s important to be able to organize and prioritize your daily tasks, track your progress and daily accomplishments, and, if necessary, delegate responsibilities to members of your team or staff efficiently.

One proven tool that can help you save time, alleviate stress, and allow you to regain control is to use a “to do” list.

The Benefits Of Using A To-Do List

A “to do” list can help you monitor your progress as you work towards completing tasks. Your to do list can be detailed or specific, or act as a concise reminder of the things that need doing over a given period of time.

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

Stay Organized

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

Better Manage Your Time

Prioritizing tasks on your list helps you save time and better manage your workload. You can develop a better perspective on what’s more important vs what’s not, and what tasks have to be done first.

Keep Documented Work Logs

A to do list allows you to retain documented logs of what work has been done. You can use this as evidence of work done to employers or clients, or simply as a way of helping you assess your own productivity and efficiency.

Accountability

Without accountability there’s 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 impact your productivity.

Improved Collaboration

Using to do lists and other project management tools is essential for collaborating with other people on some of your larger or more complex projects.

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 systematically improves your business efficiency and productivity.

Let’s turn now to using a to do list on your website or blog. More specifically, adding to do lists to WordPress.

In this detailed tutorial you are going to learn how to easily create a to do list in WordPress to improve business efficiency and productivity using a customizable, multi-featured to-do list WordPress plugin called Cleverness To-Do List.

Cleverness To Do List

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 are discussed in more detail in the tutorial section.

You can set up Cleverness To Do List with private to-do lists for individual users, to have all users share your 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 assign to do items to specific users (this includes emailing a new to-do item to assigned users) and optionally to have those items be viewable by that user. You can also assign different permission levels to different users. There are also settings to display deadline and progress fields. Category support is also included as front-end administration.

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

A sidebar widget is available as well as short code to display the to do list items on your blog. There are two shortcodes for front-end list administration. Category management is accessed through the back-end.

If you plan to run 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 site’s dashboard and choose 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 area and click Install Now …

Click Activate Plugin …

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

Once you have activated the plugin, click on Settings …

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

This brings you to the plugin ‘Settings’ section …

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

Cleverness To-Do List Plugin Setup

The Settings screen is divided into four sections:

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

Let’s review each of these sections.

To-Do List Settings

Categories

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

Note: If you enable this option, a ‘Categories’ item is added to the To-Do List plugin menu …

This allows you to add categories that you can then use to organize your lists (see ‘Plugin Usage’ section further below for more details) …

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

Categories marked ‘private’ are not visible when using the sidebar widgets or shortcodes (only when ‘Sort Order’ is set to ‘Category’)

List View

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

• Individual – Choosing this option lets users 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 create a master list for all users, where users have their own individual items to complete. If using 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 your to-do list items will be sorted.

If you select ID, Alphabetical, or Category options, items will be sorted first 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 to-do tasks.

Show Deadline

If this option is enabled, you can specify deadlines for your to-do tasks …

Show Progress

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

Show Admin Bar Menu

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) displays the ‘To-Do List’ menu in your WP Dashboard 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 to display content in your to-do lists 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, from the same developer to help make managing a multi-author WordPress site easier …

For more details about this plugin, visit this site: WordPress Post Planner

After configuring your plugin options in this section, remember to 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 continue …

This brings up the ‘Advanced Settings’ screen …

In this area you can customize your To-Do lists, assign to-do items to other users and carry out database maintenance tasks.

Let’s go 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 …

The following options can be configured in this section:

Date Format

This section lets you specify how to display dates in your todo lists (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

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

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

Show To-Do Item ID

If this option is enabled (‘Yes’), item IDs display on your to-do list …

Show Date To-Do Was Added

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

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 settings in this section and assign items to other users …

You can configure the following settings in this area:

Assign To-Do Items to Users

Enabling this option (‘Yes’) lets you 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 to display items only to users who have been specifically 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 todo items. If you do not want to assign to-do items to a specific role, then leave its checkbox unticked.

Email Assigned To-Do Items to User

When you enable this option, WordPress automatically sends an email to users with their assigned to-do items …

If you don’t want emails sent out to users, then leave this option disabled (‘No’).

Note: If this option is disabled, you can skip the remaining 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 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 subject of your emails.

Leave this option disabled if you don’t want categories to show the email subject.

Show Who Assigned the To-Do Item in Email

Enabling this option lets you display the user who assigned the to-do item in the email. This is a useful option if your site has multiple project managers assigning to-do items to users …

From Field for Emails Sent to User

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

From Email

In this field, enter the email address that you would like to display as the “sent from” email address …

Subject Field for Emails Sent to User

Type in a subject field for the email that will be automatically sent out to users whenever new items have 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

This area of the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab allows you to perform database maintenance operations associated with plugin data inside the plugin settings area …

This function is useful if, for example, you see that previously deleted todo items are still showing on your site.

You can perform the tasks below:

• Delete Tables – Delete any custom database tables that you are no longer using.
• Delete All To-Do Items – Erase all to-do items.

Any database operations performed from this screen cannot be reversed. If you are comfortable to perform database maintenance in this section, then make sure to backup your database first.

If you don’t want to back up your data yourself, then consider using professional help services, or use a WordPress backup plugin. You can learn more about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:

• Backup, Duplicate And Protect Your WP Websites With Backup Creator WordPress Plugin

User Permissions

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

If you choose the Individual List type, the only configurable item that applies in this section is the View To-Do List permission …

If you are configuring user permissions and capabilities for Group or Master List types, select the highest level capabilities that you would like users to perform for each option …

The default general capabilities for each user role are 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-administrator users should only be permitted to view and complete items, otherwise they will be able to edit the Master list itself.

Let’s review the settings in the User Permissions section:

View To-Do List

This option allows the chosen 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 permits the selected capability to mark to-do items as completed or not completed.

Add To-Do Item Capability

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

Edit To-Do Item Capability

This option enables the selected capability to edit existing items.

Assign To-Do Item Capability

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

View All Assigned Tasks Capability

Here you can allow 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 allow 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 items.

Add Categories Capability

This option allows 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 need to copy over data from one website to another, or store your data for backup or archiving purposes.

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

Here you can easily import or export 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 opens up a new window allowing you to download and save your data as plain text to a storage device …

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

You can include to-do list data in a WordPress 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 your hard drive…

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 …

Locate the file in your hard drive or external drive and click ‘Open’ …

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

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

After configuring all of the plugin settings, you can begin create and edit to-do lists.

Plugin Usage

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

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

Add A New Item To Your To-Do List

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

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

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

The methods shown above will take 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 when you add new to-do items.

Select 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 new 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 remove a user) …

Once you have added the item, it will display as an entry in the ‘To-Do List’ table …

Repeat the above process to continue 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 next to items under the ‘Action’ column …

Depending on how you have configured your plugin settings (discussed earlier), users assigned to completing tasks may also receive email notifications …

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

When a user assigned with an item completes the task and ticks the item checkbox …

… the item no longer appears in 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 provides added functionality that lets you display to-do lists on your site using widgets, and insert a list into 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’ section (Appearance > Widgets) and drag the ‘To-Do List’ widget to the menu location where you would like the to-do list to appear …

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

Your to-do list will now display wherever you have inserted the ‘to-do-list’ widget (e.g. the sidebar menu, footer, etc.)

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

• Using s

Using Plugin Shortcodes

Cleverness To-Do List also lets you display to-do lists and checklists to your site using short codes.

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

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

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

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

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

After publishing your post or page, you should see the list showing where you entered the short code …

Go here for more details about this plugin:

• Cleverness To-Do List WordPress Plugin

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

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