10 best Google Chrome extensions for productivity

There's a very good chance the most productive people you know aren't just naturally organized and efficient. Instead, they may be using an entire suite of tools to help them stay on track. Google Chrome extensions are an example of tools that can help with productivity issues. These miniature software programs work within your browser to add new and useful functionality.

We're taking a look at the best Google Chrome extensions for productivity. Extra bonus: All of these are completely free to use. You probably don't need every one of them, but activate a carefully selected few, and people might start to wonder how you manage to be quite so productive…

1. Ideal for anyone who spends too much time in their inbox: Checker Plus for Gmail

Credit: screengrab: amy-mae turner

Anyone who thinks they waste too much time on email should consider this handy tool. It allows you to get completely customized Gmail notification pop-ups to keep you up to date with what's happening in your inbox and save you from having your email open in a separate tab. You can also click on this extension's icon to get an inbox preview window to briefly check the first few messages in your inbox, as well as read, listen to, or delete emails without opening — and being distracted by — full-fat Gmail.

2. Ideal for anyone who needs a dual monitor set-up: Dualless

Credit: Screengrab: amy-mae turner

This extension is an absolute godsend for anyone who could really use a dual monitor setup, but either can't afford one or doesn't have the space to set one up. Dualless is described as "a poor man's dual monitor solution." It can double your productivity by splitting your browser window into two on your single screen in ratios that suit your needs, like 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, or 7:3. It's an impressive free tool.

3. Ideal for anyone who struggles to concentrate: Focus To-Do: Pomodoro Timer & To Do List

Credit: Screengrab: amy-mae turner

This extension ups your productivity by teaching you how to better manage your time at work. It's a timer that helps you break your day into half-hour chunks, based on the theories behind Francesco Cirillo's "Pomodoro Technique": You set a timer for 25 minutes of intense work; when the timer goes off you take a five-minute break; and then you begin the process again.

4. Ideal for anyone who regularly shares URLs: Google Tone

Credit: Screengrab: amy-mae turner

Google Tone is pure tech witchcraft. It lets you send URLs with one click, rather than copying and pasting and then sending. This extension creates a special sound signature for other computers' microphones to identify as a URL. It uses your computer's speaker to broadcast this unique sound code. Any computer that can "hear" this code (and is in the same physical location as you or on a video or audio call) that also has the extension will receive the audio and translate it into the URL you want to share.

5. Ideal for anyone who spends too much time correcting typos: Grammarly

Credit: screengrab: amy-mae turner

As Grammarly states, misspellings and grammatical errors can affect your credibility. Going back and spell-checking work takes up valuable time. Consider installing this extension to automatically correct your text as you type in Gmail, Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, and on millions of other sites. It will underline words that are spelled incorrectly in red, and flag grammatical errors and misuse of punctuation. It will even analyze how concise your writing is.

6. Ideal for anyone who struggles with ambient noise: Noisli

Credit: screengrab: amy-mae turner

What you hear while you work can seriously impede or improve your working process. The Noisli extension helps you create a soundscape to block out annoying ambient sounds and focus better. A variety of nature sounds, such as rain, waves, a forest, flames flickering, and so on, create bland audio to increase your concentration. Alternatively, there are train sounds, and even a noisy coffeeshop if that suits you better.

7. Ideal for anyone who uses Google's cloud computing solutions: Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides

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This clever little tool is ideal for anyone who has bought into the Google Drive way of life. It saves you time by allowing you to view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, without needing Office installed on your computer. When you're done viewing and/or editing you can save each file back to its original Office format or convert it to Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

8. Ideal for anyone who spends too much time on social media: StayFocusd

Credit: screengrab: amy-mae turner

StayFocusd keeps you from wasting time on websites that ruin your time-management efforts. You can add the URLs of sites you know you use for procrastination when you should be focussing on production. You can then set time limits of how long you will allow yourself to spend on each site on a daily basis. Once you hit that time limit, StayFocusd will block the site for the rest of the day.

9. Ideal for anyone who uses Zoom: Zoom Scheduler

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The Zoom Chrome Extension allows any user to schedule Zoom cloud meetings directly from Google Calendar. With the click of your mouse, you can start an instant meeting right there and then, or schedule a future one. Once you've set up a meeting, the URL is sent via a Google Calendar invitation. Anyone invited can join with a single click.

10. Ideal for anyone who finds themselves constantly translating: Google Translate

Norwegian outlet Dagbladet, translated to English, with dozens of other options available via the Google Translate extension. Credit: Screenshot: Google

Instead of copy-pasting and navigating to Google Translate on the web to translate text, Google Translate allows you to save time by allowing you to translate with the click of a button. With the aid of the extension simply highlight or right-click the text you wish to translate and voila it's translated!

Related Video: 10 ways to get the most out of your Google Drive ecosystem