Unveiling the Ultimate Solution: Manage Your Microsoft To Do Tasks in Linux with Ao - Never Miss a Beat!

If you’re a Linux user who relies on Microsoft To Do to manage your tasks, you’ve likely been frustrated by the lack of support for the operating system. But fear not - there is a solution that will allow you to seamlessly manage your Microsoft To Do tasks within Linux.

Introducing Ao - an open-source, lightweight task management application that integrates with Microsoft To Do. With Ao, you can easily create, complete, and manage your tasks, all within your Linux system.

But what makes Ao the ultimate solution for managing your Microsoft To Do tasks in Linux? Let’s take a closer look.

Customizable Views

Ao allows you to customize your task views, so you can see exactly what you need to see at a glance. You can choose to view your tasks in a list format, a grid format, or a custom format that you can configure to suit your preferences. You can also filter your tasks by due date, priority, status, and more, so you can focus on what’s important.

Color-Coded Tags

With Ao, you can assign color-coded tags to your tasks, making it easy to visually organize your to-do list. You can create custom tags to suit your specific needs, such as “work” or “personal,” or use the default tags provided by Microsoft To Do. This feature makes it easy to identify which tasks require your attention, even when you’re working with a large number of tasks.

Syncs with Microsoft To Do

Ao syncs with Microsoft To Do, so your tasks in Linux will always be up-to-date with your tasks on other devices. You can create tasks in Microsoft To Do on your phone, for example, and they’ll appear in Ao on your Linux system. This feature eliminates the need to switch between applications or manually input tasks, so you can stay on top of your to-do list with minimal effort.

Lightweight and Fast

One of the biggest benefits of Ao is its lightweight design. The application is fast and responsive, so you can quickly create, edit, and complete tasks without any lag. This is particularly important for users who rely on task management applications to stay organized - you don’t want to waste time waiting for your application to load or respond.

Open-Source

Finally, Ao is an open-source application, which means it’s free for anyone to use and modify. This is particularly appealing to Linux users who value open-source software and want to contribute to the development of new applications. The code for Ao is available on GitHub, so you can explore it, contribute to it, or fork it and create your own version.

In conclusion, if you’re a Linux user who relies on Microsoft To Do to manage your tasks, you don’t have to compromise your workflow. With Ao, you can seamlessly integrate Microsoft To Do into your Linux system, and enjoy all the benefits of a lightweight, customizable, and fast task management application. Give it a try and never miss a beat in your workflow again!

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References

  1. Ao. (n.d.). In GitHub. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from https://github.com/klaussinani/ao
  2. Microsoft To Do. (n.d.). In Microsoft. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from https://todo.microsoft.com/
  3. Unsplash. (n.d.). In Unsplash. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from https://unsplash.com/

Do you use Microsoft’s To-Do to manage your tasks on your smartphone and Windows laptop. Would you like to do the same on your primary Linux desktop? With Ao, you can! Let’s see how you can manage your Microsoft To-Do from your Linux desktop.

Installation

Ao is available on multiple platforms. If you are on Linux, the easiest way to get the latest version is by using snap:

It’s worth noting that in Ubuntu comes with snap support baked-in by default, and you can find Ao’s snap in Ubuntu Software among the other “Productivity” apps.

If you aren’t fond of Snapcraft (here’s how to install Snapcraft if you disagree) and are using an Arch, Red Hat, or Debian compatible distribution or prefer AppImage, you can find packages of Ao at GitHub. After downloading the package for your distribution, install it like you would any other package. For example, on Debian, you would have to enter in a terminal something like:

At Ao’s Github page you will also find versions for Mac and Windows. We don’t know how many people would prefer it over Microsoft’s official app that is natively available on both platforms, especially since Ao doesn’t radically change or upgrade its features.

Sign in

Ao is a wrapper for Microsoft’s online version of To-Do. To use it, you have to be online and have an Outlook or Skype account. The first thing Ao will do after running is to ask for those login credentials. We won’t go through registering for Microsoft’s services and will skip to the app itself.

Like the Real Thing

Microsoft’s To-Do works in Ao in precisely the same way you’d expect from the web application simply because it is the web application.

On the left, you have a sidebar with all your task categories. At the top, you can see some predefined categories that help to better manage your tasks.

  • In Important, you will find all the tasks you have assigned a star to.In Planned, all tasks with a date.Assigned to you contains all tasks someone else has assigned to you, allowing you to share task lists.In Flagged email, you will find all emails from your Outlook inbox that you marked with a flag.Tasks acts as the home for all entries that you haven’t assigned elsewhere.

Managing Tasks and Lists

To enter a new task in a list, select it and then click the top of its page, right under the list’s title. Type the contents of your task and either hit Enter on your keyboard or click “ADD” on the right. Note that the entry field remains active after adding a task, allowing you to keep adding more tasks to the same list.

To add tasks to another list, select it and repeat the process.

By selecting a task with a left-click, a panel appears on the right, offering more control.

The first option, “Add step,” allows you to add subtasks to your task, turning it into a mini-project. The second one, “Add to My Day,” adds the task to To-Do’s special “My Day” list that contains all active tasks of the day.

The rest of the options allow you to add a reminder, due date, select if (and when) the selected task will repeat, assign it a color/tag/category, add a file, or a note.

To move tasks from one list to another, you can “drag and drop” them with your mouse.

To mark a task as completed, click in the empty circle on its left, and to prioritize it over the others, click on the star on its right.

Finally, to create new lists, note the option with precisely that name at the bottom of the left category panel.

Desktop Power

With Ao, you can use shortcuts to create new lists, move between them, add, edit, mark as complete, or delete tasks. The predefined important categories have their own shortcuts, allowing you to jump directly to them.

The following is a list of the shortcuts we found most useful while using Ao:

  • Jump To: My Day – Ctrl + MJump To: Important – Ctrl + IJump To: Planned – Ctrl + PJump To: Tasks – Ctrl + JNew List – Ctrl + LDelete List – Ctrl + Shift + DRename List – Ctrl + YNew Task – Ctrl + NDelete Task – Ctrl + DRename Task – Ctrl + TAdd Task to My Day – Ctrl + KMark Task as Completed – Ctrl + Shift + NAdd Reminder to Task – Ctrl + Shift + EAdd Due Date to Task – Ctrl + Shift + T.Hide Completed To-dos – Ctrl + Shift + H

As you can see, it is easy to manage your Microsoft To-Do in Linux, but if you are looking for a similar to-do app for macOS/iOS, the default Reminders app is a very useful to-do app. Here is how you can make good use of the Reminders app in Mac.

OK’s real life started at around 10, when he got his first computer - a Commodore 128. Since then, he’s been melting keycaps by typing 24/7, trying to spread The Word Of Tech to anyone interested enough to listen. Or, rather, read.

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