Improve Your Ubuntu Workflow with These Essential Productivity Apps

In this article, I’m sharing a couple of my personal favourites that I use every day on my Ubuntu machine. These apps help me stay focused, manage my work efficiently, and ultimately, get more done.

1. Diodon: A Lightweight Clipboard Manager

Link: https://github.com/diodon-dev/diodon

If you’re looking for a simple, no-frills clipboard manager, Diodon is an excellent choice. It’s incredibly lightweight and easy to use, integrating seamlessly with the GNOME desktop environment.

Why I Love It

The main selling point of Diodon is its simplicity. It does one thing, and it does it well: it keeps a history of your copied text. This is a lifesaver when you need to retrieve something you copied a few minutes ago but have since copied something else.

Room for Improvement

However, Diodon’s simplicity is also its some drawbacks. It lacks some of the advanced features you might find in other clipboard managers:

Limited Shortcuts: There isn’t a default shortcut to quickly bring up the clipboard history, which can slow you down.
No Index-Based Pasting: You can’t, for example, press a key combination to paste the second-to-last item in your history.
No Searching feature:

The Verdict: Diodon is perfect for users who want a minimal, resource-friendly clipboard manager. If you need more advanced features like image support or powerful keyboard shortcuts, you might want to look at alternatives like CopyQ.https://copyq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

2. GNOME Pomodoro: Master Your Focus

Link: https://gnomepomodoro.org/

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. The GNOME Pomodoro app is a fantastic tool for implementing this technique on your Ubuntu desktop.

Why It’s Great for Focus

This app is more than just a simple timer. It’s designed to help you stay in the zone and avoid burnout.

Full-Screen Notifications: When a Pomodoro session or a break ends, it displays a full-screen notification that’s hard to ignore. This is great for reminding you to take a much-needed break or to get back to work.
Flexible Breaks: You can easily skip a rest period if you’re in the middle of a flow state and want to keep going.
Gentle Reminders: The app gives you a heads-up before a session or break is about to end, so you’re not caught off guard.

A Minor Quibble

My only small complaint is with the top bar integration. It displays a circle that fills up as the timer progresses, but it doesn’t show the exact remaining time. You have to click on the icon to see the details. It’s a minor issue, but having the exact time visible at a glance would be a nice touch.

The Verdict: If you’re a fan of the Pomodoro Technique or just want a better way to manage your time and focus, the GNOME Pomodoro app is a must-have. It’s a simple yet powerful tool that can significantly improve your productivity.

Final Thoughts

Writing this article led me to an interesting discovery. While I’ve been content with Diodon’s simplicity, researching alternatives reminded me that there’s always something new to try. I was particularly impressed by the feature set of CopyQ, and I’m planning to give it a spin to see if it can further optimise my workflow.