We love productivity Chrome extensions.
If you didn’t know this, you haven’t looked at our list of over 50+ free productivity extensions for Gmail.
And if you use Gmail, we absolutely recommend trying (at a minimum) the most popular ones from that list:
Multi Email Forward
Multi Email Forward lets you select multiple emails and forward them all at once! You can even select your entire inbox and forward it to a new email with 1 click.
Free Email Tracker Tracking
Free Email Tracker gives you the ability to track who’s read your emails, when they were opened, what links were clicked, and what device was used — all from an easy-to-use dashboard.
Meeting Scheduler
Meeting Scheduler is the easiest way to let people choose a time to meet with you! Click the “Calendar” icon from a new email to create a link to your calendar. Recipients can click the link to select an available time from your calendar.
5 New Productivity Chrome Extensions We Tested and Found Helpful
Of course, there are extensions outside Gmail-specific tools that are great at helping you get more done in less time.
We went hunting to see which ones showed up on the various “best of” blogs lately. We tried a bunch of new ones and ended up finding five that we really liked.
5. Wikiwand
Wikiwand takes the functional Wikipedia page you’ve come to expect and turns it into something beautiful.
Wikipedia goes from this:
To this:
I have to be honest, it didn’t help my productivity that much. Mostly, it just made the experience of using Wikipedia more enjoyable.
It did make things easier to find—and that left navigation bar is much nicer with this extension activated.
If you use Wikipedia often, this one is worth an add.
4. News Feed Eradicator for Facebook
At number four is News Feed Eradicator for Facebook, which was easily the most painful experiment of the bunch.
I don’t use the Facebook News Feed that much. But I do like to scroll through the latest updates when I log on. Seeing this blank screen instead was jarring.
It was fantastic for productivity—don’t get me wrong. I have a number of tasks I do on Facebook every day that are directly related to my job.
I kept the extension installed in case I wanted to use it later. But I admit I disabled it.
I guess I’m a bigger Facebook addict that I thought.
3. StayFocusd
Number three is StayFocusd, another productivity extension that was cruel and unforgiving and… I have to admit… very effective.
It let me list sites I know I use to procrastinate, then limit the time I spend on those sites.
I don’t know what you do when you’re wasting time, but I read the news. Yahoo. Google News. The BBC.
If I’m really procrastinating, I go down the YouTube rabbit hole and I never come back.
To keep me on track, StayFocusd asked me what sites I wanted to restrict. Then it asked how much time I wanted to allow myself.
I decided to be harsh on myself and listed 5 minutes.
Two hours later, when I started procrastinating, a little red countdown timer appeared in the upper corner counting down the 5 minutes I had on a restricted site.
Not wanting to use all my allotted time, I got back to work—quickly.
2. OneTab
Our second favorite new productivity extension is OneTab, which collapses all of your open tabs into ONE tab with just a click.
Quick: How many tabs do you have open right now?
I have 26!
It’s crazy that I operate with that many pages open, but such are my habits.
You know when I found it most helpful? When I was streaming music or a video and someone called me via Skype, which happens to me several times a week.
In the past, I’d frantically search for the Pandora or YouTube tab trying to turn it off so I could answer the call. I almost never found it in time.
No longer. Now I can get to any tab in a blink.
1. Noisli
The new Chrome extension we loved most in these tests was Noisli—a creative little ambient noise generator you can control from within Chrome.
Noisli plays a variety of ambient sounds. What I love is the ability to mix them together to create my own ideal ambient soundtrack.
When I first opened Noisli, it immediately started playing the sound of rain with a mix of thunder.
I was in love from the start. There are also the sounds of waves, river water, leaves blowing, a train on railroad tracks, and a variety of other options.
Dial them up or down as you like, then control them from the Chrome extension in the top right of your browser.
If you’re curious, my custom mix is Rain (high) + Thunder (low) + Fireplace (medium) + Coffee Shop (low).
Other Productivity Chrome Extensions from Our Library of Tools
In addition to the extensions we highlighted above, we invite you to look over our full list of productivity Chrome extensions.
Almost all are 100% free to anyone using Gmail or an email hosted by G Suite.
