---
title: Getting Started with Taskbuilder
description: "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…"
url: "https://taskbuilder.net/docs/getting-started-with-taskbuilder/"
updated: "2026-10-22"
category: installation
---

# Getting Started with Taskbuilder

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](https://taskbuilder.net/docs/basic-installation/) or contact [Taskbuilder support](https://taskbuilder.net/support/).