You may or may not know that Chrome is a web browser created by Google. (I use it and love it hard core.) It is fast, secure, and works on multiple devices. One thing you may not is that Chrome has tiny apps that extend its functionality. Those apps are called “extensions.”
App creators make these extensions to add a little extra oomph and functionality to your browser and web experience. They can save you time and enable you to enjoy your browsing. Yay! I’ve created a list of extensions that will save you time and increase your productivity so be sure to check them all out.
Simplify Your Inbox with These Email Extensions
I lurve gmail. Lurve it! So much that I use it to handle all of my emails—personal and authorly. If you love the mail platform as much as me, these extensions will help you manage your inbox so you can stay on top of all your messages.
Boomerang for Gmail
Boomerang for Gmail allows you to schedule email sending. Personally, I don’t want readers and friends to know that I work into the wee hours of the morning so I love that I can schedule emails to send at 8:00 AM the next day.
Another neat thing is that you can have Boomerang notify you when someone reads your message. It can also remind you about messages that haven’t been responded to by your recipient. This makes it easy to follow up with people like your cover artist, editor, or virtual assistant.
One feature that is really awesome is that Boomerang can “pause” your inbox. If you’re deep in the writing cave and you don’t want to be interrupted, you can click “pause.” Then you’ll only be notified about new messages you choose during a “pause.”
If you only want to receive messages from your virtual assistant but no one else, then Boomerang will only tell you about emails from your VA. Since email is one of my major distractions, this feature is awesome!
WiseStamp – Email Signatures for Gmail
WiseStamp helps you create beautiful signatures and add them to your messages in Gmail. It’s an awesome way to brand your emails and tell recipients about your website and books.
This extension allows you to create a basic signature with your name, image, and site URL but you can also take it a few steps further by including social media icons, blog posts or a recent tweet.
Right Inbox for Gmail
Right Inbox for Gmail is an extension that is verra similar to Boomerang. It allows you to schedule emails and get follow-up reminders on certain images.
One of the best features of Right Inbox is that it lets you schedule recurring emails. This is super helpful if you find yourself sending the same email again and again. For example, if you request an update from your VA every week, you can set the email to recur so you never have to think about it again.
Right Tasks for Gmail
If you’ve ever used Google Calendars then I’m sure you’re familiar with the tasks feature. You can use it to list tasks you need to complete and it stays open on the right side of your browser for easy access. It’s a great free feature, but you have to be in your calendar to use it, which means it’s not the most convenient tool.
With Right Tasks for Gmail, you can quickly and easily create a task list inside your inbox. Like the one for Google calendar, it stays tucked in the lower right corner so you can manage your email and tasks on one screen.
7 Extensions for Boosting Your Productivity
Staying productive with all of the distractions of the internet is never easy, but these extensions can prevent overwhelm and keep you on track.
Sticky Notes
Sticky Notes helps you capture your thoughts no matter what you’re browsing. This is insanely helpful if you’re listening to a webinar and want to remember something the host said. Or if you’re trying to outline a new book and need an area to brainstorm some ideas.
This Chrome extension is fast, secure, and private. A bonus is that you don’t have to worry about losing your notes if you clear your cache or delete cookies.
Todoist
Todoist (love, love, love!) is a simple to-do and task manager extension. The extension makes it easy to view, organize, and complete tasks. You can also delegate tasks right from you inbox. Totally helpful if you work with a virtual assistant or co-author.
There’s also the ability to color-code tasks, create sub-tasks, and manage projects. Another feature is the ability to add due dates to your tasks and even set some as recurring, so you know to do them monthly. (Like backup your website!)
Forest
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself wasting time on social media sites (ugh, Facebook) and other sites when I should be writing. (Author forums!) If you’re the same way, Forest might be a good extension for you. It’s a productivity app that game-ifies productivity. When you’re ready to focus, open the app and plant a tree. This tree will grow to full-size in thirty minutes.
But if you visit a black listed site, your tree withers. (Noooo…) To help you stay on track, you can build a forest of trees every day. It’s a simple and effective way to stop you from mindless browsing and force you to focus on your tasks.
Push Bullet
Push Bullet lets you manage your phone notifications from your desktop or laptop computer. It allows you to receiving your SMS messages and app notifications all in one central place.
Push Bullet also makes it easy to quickly and easily send links and files to your phone. The files automagically download so you just have to grab your phone and go.
Be Limitless
Be Limitless pushes you to be productive by keeping track and analyzing the time you spend on different web activities. You can see how long you browsed Facebook, read emails or just generally searched online.
A neat thing is that it puts you in control of what counts as productive time. If you’re logged into Twitter for a fun hashtag party, you can mark the time as productive even though it was social media related.
Be Limitless keeps the goal for your day front and center so you see it when you open a new tab. You can even add a to-do list and keep notes inside the extension.
Mercury Reader
Mercury Reader helps you clear away the digital clutter you can be distracted by when you’re reading web pages online. If you’re reading a long post and find the font hard to read or if the site you’re on has ads that slow it down, just click on the rocket icon.
Mercury Reader will display the content for you in a special web page reader. In the reader you can customize text size, fonts, and choose between a light and dark theme. It makes reading content online a breeze!
Sideplayer
Sideplayer allows you to watch Youtube vids while you work online by creating a small video player that sits on top of the web page you’re on. You can move this player around however you want so no blocking the content you’d like to see.
This makes it super helpful when you’re following a tutorial or webinar online. Instead of switching between tabs and pausing the video every few seconds, let it play in your tabs as you work. It makes it easy to follow along!
Transform Your New Tabs
There are quite a few Chrome extensions that can change the look and feel of new tabs. Let these extensions inspire and motivate you.
RatherNice
RatherNice is designed to boost your mood. When you open a new tab you’re greeted with a smiling glass half filled with water that gives you a compliment.
There are dozens of compliments, so you rarely see one that doesn’t apply to you. While it’s simple, this extension is a great way to put a smile on your face on a bad day.
Momentum
Momentum greets you every time you open a new tab with a beautiful image, inspirational quote and the current time. You’ll also see a weather icon so you know the current temperature. It also has a small to-do list feature.
When you open Momentum for the first time each day, it asks you what you’ll focus on. It only allows you to add one answer which forces you to think carefully about your number one priority for the day.
Infinity New Tab
Infinity New Tab is a minimalist tab option that will display flat icons that will take you to your fave websites each time you open a new tab. Forget typing in a long URL. Just click and go.
You can customize these sites based on your preferences so if you want to feature Gmail, Facebook, and Amazon KDP, you can. You can also include icons for apps or sites you visit frequently like EverNote or author forums. (Can you tell I spend a lot of time on author forums?)
My Quotes New Tab
My Quotes New Tab shows you an inspirational or motivational image every time you open a new tab/ It also loads a little search bar so you can quickly use Google or Yahoo to browse the web. Below that search bar you’ll see the current time, weather, and other icons you might find useful
One feature that sets My Quotes New Tab apart from others is that it can play music while you work. You can toggle this feature on/off by using the music note icon in the corner of your screen.
Create Beautiful Website Designs with These Extensions
Browsing the web is a great way to gain inspiration but often it’s hard to know how a designer developed a certain element. What color did they use? What font did they select? Stop searching and know the answers immediately by using these design extensions.
Colorzilla
Colorzilla is an extension that lets you to figure out the color of any element on a web page. If you love a shade of green you see on a website, you can click the color picker and discover its exact color.
A neat feature of Colorzilla is that it stores previous color selections. This allows you to easily find colors you’ve selected in the past so you don’t worry about losing one of your favorites.
Font Finder
Font Finder helps you discover the font(s) a web page is using. Once you’ve installed the extension, you simply have to right-click and select “inspect font.” Then you’ll be shown the name of the font. Super easy!
Font Finder doesn’t stop there, though. It will also reveal the color, size, and spacing of the font you picked.
Window Resizer
Window Resizer allows you to test how a web page will appear across different devices. You can open a site and click on the extension to pick from a list of gadgets like iPhone, Windows desktop and more.
Once you select the device, the page will reload and appear as it would on that layout. This can be useful for making sure your pages are loading correctly across different platforms.
3 Simple Extensions to Encourage Healthy Habits
Some Chrome extensions are super awesome because they prompt you to make healthy choices and develop new habits.
Break Timer
Break Timer is a Chrome extension that reminds you to take breaks and rest your eyes. Not quite ready to take a break because you want to wrap a project? Click the “postpone” button to be reminded in a few minutes.
A neat feature is the ability to customize the length of your breaks and their frequency. That means if you only want a quickie break every twenty minutes, you can make that selection. Or, if you prefer longer breaks, you can do that instead.
Drink
Have you ever been so deep in the writing cave that you forget to grab a drink for hours? With the Drink extension, those days are in your past.
Drink reminds you to stop and hydrate ever hour. It’s a simple but effective way to build short breaks into your day when you get up to grab a glass of water. (I prefer Crystal Light since water is just so blah boring.)
Posture Minder
Posture Minder helps you be more mindful of how you site while working. It reminds you to sit up straight at regular intervals such as fifteen minutes, thirty minutes or even sixty minutes. It all depends on your preference.
The reminders are snarky and meant to grab your notice, so you don’t automatically dismiss them. In addition to posture reminders, you can also tell the app to encourage you to take walks.
Optimize Your Browsing Session with These Extensions
Make your browsing experience smoother and get more done when you use these helpful Chrome extensions…
Clear Cache
Clear Cache allows you to quickly clean up your browser cache. Chrome—like all browsers—stores pieces of the sites you visit in the program cache. This speeds up your browser and makes websites load faster.
Except, sometimes the cache can be a problem. One of the issues is that if you make a change to your site that isn’t showing up. The problem is likely because some part of the site is still in the cache. With Clear Cache, you can quickly and easily wipe your cache. Then your changes should display withut a problem.
News Feed Eradicator
You might need the News Feed Eradicator extension if you spend hours on Facebook. It blocks you from seeing your feed when logged into your Facebook account.
Instead, you only see a randomly generated quote. Though you can customize that quote if you’d like. This can be helpful when you’re pushing yourself to complete a big project. You could put something simple in your feed like, “Butt in chair! Hands on keyboard! Eyes on your book!”
LastPass
LastPass is an extension that I use like it’s going out of style. It stores your passwords for you and makes it so that you only have to remember one master password for your LastPass account. With this master password, you have access to all of your passwords for any account.
When you visit a website like Facebook and your information is stored in LastPass, you only have to click on your username and LastPass will automatically enter your password for you.
No more struggling to remember your password or having to use the same password across all of your accounts. Now your passwords will be secure and easy to retrieve.
Loom
Loom allows you to capture video in Google Chrome and share it with others quickly and easily. You can record your desktop, yourself, or your current Chrome tab. It’s easy to use and you only have to click once to record, once to stop, and once to share with others.
Recording time and storage are currently unlimited. You can also download your videos into an MP4 file, making it easy to upload your video to other locations like YouTube or Facebook.
Conclusion
These are my favorite 25 Chrome extensions but there are literally hundreds (thousands?) of Chrome extensions that will turn the program into more than a simple web browser. If you’re new to extensions, I recommend beginning with the ones I’ve listed but you also shouldn’t be afraid to explore the Chrome Web Store for even more that might be helpful to you.
Do you have any favorite Chrome extensions you want to share? I’m always on the lookout for new extensions to make Chrome even more awesome.
