Google Chrome Extensions: Top List 2021
Studies show that employees waste as much as three hours per day, not counting breaks and lunchtime. While we all need to take a few extra breaks here and there, a lot of wasted time can be easily saved with some organizational tools.
Google Chrome extensions can help you get more done in less time — if you know how to use them.
There are many Google Chrome extensions available to help with everything from saving money on consumer products to helping you be more productive. Many of them work for teams, so leaders can encourage employees to be more productive by reducing or eliminating distractions.
The best part is that extensions are free. Try them all to see what works best for you.
What are you waiting for? Let’s dive into 12 of the best Google Chrome extensions available.
12 Best Chrome Extensions for Work and Productivity
We’ve all fallen into the trap of going down rabbit holes during the workday. One minute you’re opening your calendar to see what meetings are scheduled for the day, and the next, you’re becoming an expert in waterfowl migration patterns.
We often don’t mean to get so distracted. We just can’t help ourselves! Fortunately, there are plenty of extensions that can help you stay on track, so you can get more done every day.
Todoist
The digital to-do list Todoist can help you prioritize your day, week, and month. Categorize tasks so you can quickly see what you have to do for work or home. You can also quickly see tasks from your team members, which can help team leaders and project managers stay on top of major projects. Get desktop notifications and sync your Google calendar, so you never miss a meeting or deadline.
Block Site
Some days, even the most organized to-do list isn’t enough to keep you distraction-free. For those days, there’s Block Site. As the name suggests, the Block Site extension will block up to six distracting websites for you, so you can’t access them. Instead, you’ll be greeted with a humorous photo reminding you to get back to work. You can set timers to block time for focusing. During these times, you won’t be able to access distracting websites. But don’t worry — you can get back to them on your breaks.
Online Video Converter
If your workday involves a lot of video editing, you should check out this convenient Online Video Converter extension. It lets you edit and compress videos from your browser. You can also change the video format for online videos. There are conversion options for multiple types of files, including video-to-video, video-to-audio, audio-to-audio, and audio-to-video. Simply upload videos from your Dropbox, Google Drive, or computer.
Buffer
Have you ever stumbled across a great article to post on social media, only to forget where you found it when you’re finally ready to schedule your post? The Buffer extension has a solution for you. Use the extension to schedule posts directly from any website. You will need to have a Buffer account that is connected to your social media platforms. Then, you can easily save and schedule posts to publish on all of your social media channels.
Movavi ScreenShot
Take screenshots to the next level with the Movavi ScreenShot extension. This handy tool lets you take full-page screenshots as well as partial screen captures. It can be used in all modes, including incognito. Images are saved as JPG files as default, but you can make adjustments when you save your file or upload it to the cloud.
Tab Wrangler
If you end your day with dozens upon dozens of tabs open, then the Tab Wrangler extension might be for you. This extension helps you keep your tabs clean by automatically closing tabs after a designated time (don’t worry, you can get them back easily). It corrals your tabs into one spot so you can easily find them again. It also lets you lock tabs that you don’t want to close automatically. You’re left with only the tabs that you want open.
Adblock Plus
Sites that run too many ads can be slow and difficult to open. Block ads across sites with the Adblock Plus extension. This useful tool blocks annoying video ads and banners, popups, and more. In addition to improving page load time, it makes searching the internet more secure by reducing your risk of clicking on a harmful ad. Recognizing that many websites rely on ad revenue, Adblock Plus lets you whitelist your favorite sites and gives you the option to view ads from approved sites.
Extensions Manager (Switcher)
Once you start adding extensions to your browser, you may find that you need a way to manage and organize them all. Extensions Manager is an extension that allows you to view all of your extensions and see which ones you use and which ones are sitting around collecting dust. You can enable, disable, and uninstall extensions and applications from the extension.
Checkbot
If your company runs a website and wants to give users the most optimized experience, you should check out Checkbot. This extension will crawl your website and give you detailed feedback on areas to improve for SEO. It will check things like page load time, security issues, SEO issues, and broken links. Use it every time you make an update or change to your website to make sure there aren’t any problems before a customer lands on your page.
Grammarly
Whether you’re sending out an email, writing a blog post, updating website content, or drafting an internal document, you want your writing to be as clear and grammatically correct as possible. The Grammarly extension automatically checks your writing for typos, misspellings, and incorrect grammar. The upgraded version will also give you recommendations to make your sentences more concise and reduce repetition.
Google Dictionary
If you’ve ever had to stop what you’re doing to look up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary, you know how distracting and time-consuming it can be. The simple act of moving from one tab to another could be all it takes for you to go from having a productive morning to getting sucked into the distracting world of the internet. With the Google Dictionary extension, you can highlight the unfamiliar word and get a popup definition. Save time and learn new words without using multiple tabs.
FoxClocks
If you do business with people across time zones, then you need the FoxClocks extension. It quickly shows you what time it is around the world right from your browser. It even considers daylight savings time, so you always have the most up-to-date time displayed. The “search city” feature makes it easy to quickly figure out what time it is in any city in the world. Try it the next time you need to schedule a meeting with someone across the ocean.
Conclusion
There’s no reason why you should waste your time battling open tabs, waiting on ads for pages to load, or going down rabbit holes on distracting websites. No matter what’s slowing you down during the day, there’s an extension that can help.
Google Chrome extensions give you a lot of ways to stay organized and productive throughout the day. Try these extensions to get more out of every workday.