I hope all of you get some value from using these, my current top 4 productivity extensions for Google Chrome. They’re a life-saver if you find it hard to manage your time while working.
1. DF YouTube
If you use YouTube for any work related or educational purposes, you know how easy it is to be drawn in by the suggested video features that the video site has in place to keep you watching video after video, creating billions in advertiser revenue for them. This configurable tool hides suggested videos and the recommended videos that appear at the end of each video. It can also disable comment viewing and disable playlists — both of which can keep you off-task indefinitely. Use this tool for a few days, then turn it off and you’ll quickly see how much more productive your distraction free YouTube viewing really can be!
2. Better Search
This powerful little functionality booster is similar to the old Google Search Preview of days gone by. This is an excellent tool that I use daily as a freelance content provider, but it’s perfect for other professions and also for casual viewing. You can preview search results without opening new tabs; save, bookmark and tag sites you like; and block results that are useless to your interests. Like most Chrome extensions, Better Search is light and doesn’t hog too many resources.
3. Sortd
Sorted has a wicked and intuitive Trello/Kanban-style layout for Gmail. It’s a “skin” that integrates with your gmail account. Create boards to organize emails by category or importance, enjoy drag and drop functionality to organize a massive inbox. The beauty is it can act as an email “to-do list” making this a wicked time management tool that can keep you from opening emails that aren’t time-sensitive, but which have a habit of drawing you in and making you waste needless time that you don’t have. I love the ability to rename inbound email subject lines to make them more relevant and easily identifiable and organized. Perfect for secretaries and personal assistants who haven’t found an efficient way to organize the boss’s email priorities too! Learn more about its use and tips to maximize Sortd here.
4. DocuSign
I’m sure that digitally signing email documents will one day require nothing more than a fingerprint touched to the screen of a smart device. However, until that day arrives, DocuSign is a great free extension that allows you to sign documents with nothing more than a right click, in both gmail and Dropbox. It also has a reminder feature to remind you, or send reminders to recipients who you’re waiting on a signature from, while the GUI also shows the signed status of all your documents. This is a must have for digital signatures and document management.
Main image by Phil and Pam Gradwell
