How to manage tasks on Linux with AO
AO is an unofficial take on the Microsoft Todo app for Linux. It aims to give Linux users an elegant way of managing their tasks using the Microsoft tool. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through how to install AO on Linux and how to use it too.
Installing AO on Linux
Before going over how to use the AO application to manage tasks on Linux, we must demonstrate how to install it. Installing AO on Linux can be done in many different ways, such as DEB package, RPM package, Pacman package, AppImage, Snap, etc.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, the AO app must be installed via a downloadable DEB package. To get the package, run the following wget download command below.
wget https://github.com/klaussinani/ao/releases/download/v6.9.0/ao_6.9.0_amd64.deb
After downloading the AO DEB package, you can install the software on your computer using the Apt command.
sudo apt install ./ao_6.9.0_amd64.deb
Debian
If you’re using Debian, you’ll be able to install AO, much like how it is installed on Ubuntu. To start the process, download the DEB package using the wget command below.
wget https://github.com/klaussinani/ao/releases/download/v6.9.0/ao_6.9.0_amd64.deb
After the DEB package is done downloading, use the dpkg command to install AO on your computer.
sudo dpkg -i ao_6.9.0_amd64.deb
With the AO package installed, correct any dependency errors that may have arisen using the apt-get install -f command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
The AO application is installable on Arch through an official Pacman package. However, this Pacman package doesn’t provide “libappindicator-sharp,” a required dependency. Furthermore, this dependency doesn’t install easily via the AUR, as the PGP key is broken.
Not to worry, there’s an AO package on the AUR that decompiles the DEB release of the app. To install it, enter the commands below in succession.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri trizen -S ao
Fedora
The way to install AO on Fedora is via the official RPM package. To start the installation, use the wget download tool to download the RPM file to your computer.
wget https://github.com/klaussinani/ao/releases/download/v6.9.0/ao-6.9.0.x86_64.rpm
After downloading the RPM file to your computer, run the dnf command below to install the AO app.
sudo dnf install ao-6.9.0.x86_64.rpm
OpenSUSE
On OpenSUSE Linux, AO is installed via an RPM package file, much like Fedora Linux. To start the installation, use the following wget command to grab the RPM package file from the internet.
wget https://github.com/klaussinani/ao/releases/download/v6.9.0/ao-6.9.0.x86_64.rpm
After downloading the AO RPM package file to your OpenSUSE Linux PC, install it using the following Zypper installation command.
sudo zypper install ao-6.9.0.x86_64.rpm
AppImage
There’s an AppImage release of the AO task manager available. To install it on your PC, enter the following commands below in succession.
mkdir -p ~/AppImages cd ~/AppImages wget https://github.com/klaussinani/ao/releases/download/v6.9.0/ao-6.9.0-x86_64.AppImage sudo chmod +x ao-6.9.0-x86_64.AppImage ./ao-6.9.0-x86_64.AppImage
Snap
AO is available as a Snap package. To install it, first ensure that you have the Snapd runtime installed. Then, run the snap install command.
sudo snap install ao
Manage tasks with AO
To manage your tasks in AO, start by launching the app. Then, sign in to your Microsoft account. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be presented with the AO user interface.
In the AO user interface, locate the “Tasks” section in the sidebar, and click on it with the mouse. After selecting the “Tasks” button in AO, you will see an empty To-do list with an “Add a task” button.
Select the “Add a task” button with the mouse. Once this button is selected, the button will transform into a text box. Write out your new task in AO using your computer keyboard.
After writing out your task in the AO textbox, press the Enter key on the keyboard. By pressing Enter, AO will add the new task to the list. To mark this task important, find the star next to it and select it with the mouse. Repeat this process as much as needed to add all of your tasks to the AO app.
When all tasks are added to your task list, you’re ready to go. To check off task items, click on the completed box on the left near each task.
Scheduling tasks
To schedule a task in AO, do the following. First, add the task to your list. Then, click on it with the mouse. After selecting it with the mouse, locate “Add a due date,” and click on it.
Once you’ve selected “Add a due date,” you’ll be able to schedule your task for a specific date and time. You’ll also be able to set a reminder by clicking on “Remind me” and categorize it by selecting “Pick a category.”
