Taskbuilder turns your WordPress site into a project and task manager: create a project, add its members, create tasks, and track them on a dashboard, list or Kanban board. This guide takes a new customer from installing the plugin to a working project in four steps, then covers who can do what, using Taskbuilder on your website, and the add-ons.

Install and activate #

Install Taskbuilder like any WordPress plugin; it needs WordPress 5.6 or later and PHP 7.4 or later.

1. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New, search for Taskbuilder, then click Install Now and Activate.
2. Or download the ZIP, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, choose the file and click Install Now, then Activate.
3. Open Taskbuilder > Dashboard in the WordPress admin menu.

On your first visit the Dashboard shows a Getting Started with Taskbuilder panel. It lists the four steps below, ticks each one only when it is really done, and disappears once you are set up. You can close it at any time with the × button; that hides it for you only.

The Taskbuilder menu holds everything you need day to day: Dashboard, Projects, Tasks, My Tasks, Email Notifications and Settings.

Step 1: Create a project #

A project groups the work for one team, client or area of work; every task belongs to a project.

1. Go to Taskbuilder > Dashboard and click Add New Project (or Taskbuilder > Projects > Add New).
2. Under Project details, enter a Name (required) and a Description of what the project should achieve.
3. Under Schedule, set the Start date and End date.
4. Under Team & visibility, pick a Category, add users in Assign User, and turn on Make Project Public only if everyone should see it.
5. Click Add Project.

You need permission to create projects. Site administrators always have it; other users need the WPPM Manager or WPPM Administrator capability (see Who can do what). If you do not see Add New Project, ask your site administrator.

Step 2: Add project members #

Only members of a project can see it (unless it is public) and be assigned its tasks, so add your team before you create tasks.

1. Open the project from Taskbuilder > Projects.
2. In the Project Team box, click Manage team (the pencil icon).
3. Search for a user, choose their project role, and save. Repeat for each person.

Each member has one project role, which decides what they can do in that project:

Project role	What they can do
Manager	Runs the project: creates tasks, assigns people, changes statuses, and manages the team.
Co-worker	Works on tasks they are assigned. What else co-workers may do is set in Settings > Co-workers Permission.
Client	Follows the project’s progress.

The Getting Started panel ticks this step only when one of your projects has a member other than you.

Step 3: Create tasks #

A task is one piece of work in a project, with an owner and a due date.

1. Click Add New Task on the Dashboard (or Taskbuilder > Tasks > Add New).
2. Enter the Task Name, for example “Design the landing page”.
3. Choose the Project. The list shows only projects you are allowed to add tasks to.
4. Add a Description, a Start date and an End date (the due date), and a Priority.
5. In Task Members, search for and add the people who will do the work. Only members of the chosen project can be assigned.
6. Click Add Task.

Inside a task you can add subtasks, checklists, comments and attachments, and change its status and assignees.

If Add New Task says “You need access to a project before creating tasks”, you have no project to add tasks to yet. Create one (Step 1) or ask a project manager to add you to theirs.

Step 4: Track progress #

Move each task through its statuses as work happens; Taskbuilder starts with Todo, In Progress, Hold and Completed, and you can rename or add statuses in Settings.

Where	Use it to
Dashboard	See Active Projects, My Tasks, Completed Tasks and Overdue Tasks at a glance; click a card to open that list.
My Tasks	Work through the tasks assigned to you, across all projects, by tab: All, Today, Upcoming, Overdue, Completed.
Tasks > List view	Search, filter and sort every task you can see, and change several at once with Bulk Actions.
Tasks > Kanban view	Drag a card to another column to change its status.

To update one task, open it and change its status, assignees or dates. When a task is completed, it moves to the Completed tab and counts toward the project’s progress.

Who can do what #

Two things decide what someone can do: a site-wide capability, set on their WordPress profile, and their role in each project.

Who	Set where	Can create projects	Sees and manages
Site administrator	WordPress role	Yes	Every project, and all Taskbuilder settings
WPPM Administrator	User profile > Capability	Yes	Every project, and Taskbuilder settings
WPPM Manager	User profile > Capability	Yes	The projects they create or are a member of
Project manager	Project > Project Team	No	That project: its tasks, team and statuses
Co-worker	Project > Project Team	No	Their tasks in that project, plus what Co-workers Permission allows
Client	Project > Project Team	No	That project’s progress

To let someone create projects: go to Users > Edit user, set Capability to WPPM Manager or WPPM Administrator, and click Update User.

To control what co-workers may do: go to Taskbuilder > Settings > Co-workers Permission and choose whether co-workers can create tasks, add checklists, change task status and assign task users.

Use Taskbuilder on your website #

Your team can also work from your website’s front end, without opening the WordPress admin, through pages that hold a Taskbuilder shortcode.

Taskbuilder creates a Dashboard page and a My Tasks page for you the first time an administrator opens it. For projects and tasks, create the pages yourself:

1. Go to Pages > Add New, give the page a title (for example “Projects”), and add a Shortcode block containing the shortcode below.
2. Publish the page.
3. Go to Taskbuilder > Settings > Page Setting, choose the page for each screen, and click Save Changes, so links in emails and lists open the right page.

Shortcode	Shows
wppm_dashboard	The dashboard
wppm_projects	Projects, with full project management
wppm_tasks	Tasks, with full task management
wppm_tasks project="Project name"	Only the tasks of one project
wppm_my_tasks	Tasks assigned to the signed-in user
wppm_public_projects_tasks	Tasks of public projects

Visitors must be signed in to use these pages, and they see only what their capability and project roles allow.

Add-ons #

Add-ons extend Taskbuilder; see them all in Taskbuilder > Addons, and after installing one, enter its key in Taskbuilder > License to receive updates.

Add-on	What it adds
Reports	A Projects Overview across all your projects, and per-project task reports with charts and CSV / PDF export
SupportCandy Integration	Creates a task automatically for each new SupportCandy ticket and adds private notes to the ticket
WooCommerce Integration	Creates a task automatically for each new WooCommerce order
Custom Fields	Extra fields on projects and tasks (text, number, drop-down, date, file)
Timer	A start / stop timer on each task, with a time log
Recurring Tasks	Tasks that are created again daily, weekly or monthly
User Groups	Groups of users you add to projects and tasks in one step
Duplicate Project	Copies a project with its tasks, members, comments and custom fields
Calendar	Month, week and list calendar views of tasks
Gantt Chart	A timeline of a project’s tasks
Email Piping	Creates tasks and from incoming email
BuddyPress Integration	Projects and tasks for BuddyPress groups

Frequently asked questions #

I don’t see Add New Project. You don’t have permission to create projects. Ask your site administrator to give you the WPPM Manager capability (Who can do what).

Add New Task says “You need access to a project before creating tasks”. There is no project you can add tasks to. Create a project, or ask a project manager to add you to theirs.

I can’t assign someone to a task. Only project members can be assigned. Add them to the project first (Step 2).

My Tasks is empty, but I have tasks. My Tasks shows only tasks assigned to you, not tasks you created. If it says “No tasks match your filters”, click Clear filters.

How do I hide the Getting Started panel? Click the × in its corner. It also disappears by itself once all four steps are done.

Where do I get more help? Read the full documentation at taskbuilder.net or contact Taskbuilder support.