6 Awesome Chrome Extensions to try!
by Francesco D’Alessio
There are so many great Chrome extensions out there, the world of the Google Chrome Web store is beautifully organised and ready for you to go “extension” mad.
Here are 6 Chrome Extensions that I think deserve your attention, and that personally help me on a daily basis towards a brighter and more fluid workday.
I created a YouTube video, called “5 Awesome Chrome extension episode #1” covering this but this Medium article adds a few more! I will be also continuing this as a YouTube series too.
1. Todoist Chrome extension
After speaking with a lot of people about this, not many people know this exists. Todoist have made a fantastic Chrome web store application that replicates the core features of Todoist, like adding tasks, checking tasks and clearing activities, it offers you a little window into Todoist without having to run over in the application. Worth an install for sure!
Download Todoist Chrome Extension
2. Rescue Time: track your online time.
I’m impressed with RescueTime, it’s a fantastic tracker for your measuring your online productivity. RescueTime follows the sites you are on and create ongoingn reports based on how efficient you are and what sites you were on during your time. It will give you a score and track exactly how many hours you spent on each site/source.
Download RescueTime Chrome Extension
Notes:
*One error I think it has, is that it doesn’t track your offline usage, which means these 3 hours that I’m pumping articles into Google Drive will go unnoticed. But the 12 minute Facebook session will later on and lower my grades. I believe they have a Windows app so this is probably where I could gain if I didn’t have a Chromebook.
3. CSS Stylebot
Productivity apps online are great, but sometimes you work better with some small adjustments, if you’re impatient like myself and want to edit a few pages of a website so that it looks a little more visually practical when you visit next, I recommend having a look at CSS Stylebot. I use this with Todoist to change the font on the Web version as well as a few elements like bolding the “project” folders.
4. Emoji Box: Add emoji anywhere! 😄
I work in Marketing, emoji’s are vital for customer interaction, social media engagement and also general — sometimes Emoji just don’t format well on a computer or don’t process when you simply tap in “:)” so I use “EmojiBox” as a way to pinch intra-cut emoji when I need them and add them to whatever I’m doing. This Chrome extension has saved me heaps of time goggling emoji names and also sharing posts.
5. Screencastify: Easy screen recording
If it wasn’t for YouTube Editor and Screencastify I don’t think I’d have a YouTube channel. This is one of the most productive tools when it comes to creating a quick video via your browser. Screencastify allows you to record screen recordings with ease using an in-browser extension, that connects to your camera and microphone. Really easy to start using and get recording.
6. Grammarly: Write like a professional!
Every web email, every web tweet and every web YouTube description I’ve sent in the 7 months has been analysed by Grammarly, And it’s saved me hours of work. It’s a great way to not only learn about your mistakes but a way to get them fixed on the spot. Grammarly checks for spelling errors, grammatical errors and sentence structures, it’s free to download and use — and a great way to improve your grammar skills. STUDENTS, get this! (I didn’t Grammarly here, it has some issues not supporting Medium, Google Drive and a few other web based apps).
7. Bonus — Forest Chrome Extension:
I’ve mentioned Forest Chrome extension before. This is basically a “Pomodoro” timer for your chrome browser. It’s easy to set-up and a way for you to block websites, keep on task and grow your forest (alongside the iOS + Android App). If you’re looking at tools to reduce distraction, I highly recommend trying it out!
Thank you for reading :)
Francesco D’Alessio is a productivity app reviewer, fan and user! He creates videos on his YouTube channel, blogs, articles for Lifehack.org, Despreneur and much more to help educate the world about productivity tools and resources. He’s been featured on CNET, Microsoft, Todoist’s Blog and more for his work.
Twitter: Francesco D'Alessio
