Chrome Extensions-Did You Miss These Productivity Tools?

Chrome Extensions You MissedChrome extensions aim to do just what they say – extend the capacities of your Chrome browser.  You can tweak, customize, and make your browsing experience more efficient using these tools.

Here at The Time Finder, we’re always looking for tech tools that help you find more time, and some Chrome extensions are more successful at that than others.

If you’re a Chrome user, I invite you to review our list and see if any of these extensions pique your interest:

Chrome Extensions You Might Have Missed:

Tomatoes is an extension that encourages you to use the Pomodoro Technique as you work.  If you haven’t tried this technique, you’ll want to consider it for a significant boost to your efficiency and effectiveness.

What Tomatoes does is track your time in 25-minute increments, at the end of which, you take a 5-minute break (also timed by Tomatoes).  This is a powerful incentive to stay focused; and the breaks mean that you step away from your work briefly, and come back refreshed and ready to refocus!

In response to feedback from users, the developers of Tomatoes have added a ticking sound which you can turn off or on, depending on your preference.  And if you search the Web Store for “Pomodoro Technique” you’ll find that there are other Chrome Extensions and Apps to choose from.

Chrome Remote Desktop lets you remotely login to other computers you authorize (if they are running a Chrome web browser). Once connected, you can control the other desktop on your screen. This can be very handy if you have more than one computer and need to access files you left on your PC from your laptop. We are still exploring this Chrome Extension, but it looks like it has a lot of productive possibilities!

Another of the Google Chrome Extensions that can save you time is Gmail Offline, which allows you to keep working in Gmail, even when you don’t have connectivity.  Here’s how they describe it:

Gmail Offline beta is a Gmail app built to support offline access, allowing mail to be read, responded to, searched and archived without network access. After first start-up, Gmail Offline will automatically synchronize messages and queued actions anytime Chrome is running and an Internet connection is available. More than just an offline app, the streamlined user interface, based off Gmail’s popular tablet interface, provides extremely fast response time with a pure, email focused experience.

Caught at home in an ice storm with the internet down?  Well, with Gmail Offline you’d be able to clean up your Gmail, get mail ready to send, delete spam and unneeded items, and have it all sync with your account as soon as you’re back on-line.  This has lots of potential as a time-saving tool.

Feedly is the heir-apparent to Google Reader, and is worth checking out if you like using a feed reader.  We especially like the ease with which you can subscribe to feeds using Feedly and the friendly display.

Finally, we’ve been using (and enjoying) FitBolt.  This is one of the Chrome Extensions that we wrote about in November.  It gives you reminders about health, nutrition, exercise, and posture. The notifications come at intervals you specify and this tool is extremely helpful if you spend long spans of time working at a desk!

I hope that you find these Chrome Extensions intriguing, and would love to hear about tools that you find especially helpful.  Share them here and join the discussion!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with the brands, topics, or products that are mentioned here, and have not received any compensation for writing this content.

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Comments

  1. Gmail offline would be really useful as I use a chromebook when I’m travelling! I’m off to check it out

    • Thanks for stopping by, Fiona (and I loved your post about the 5:2 Diet). I’m so glad that Gmail Offline sounded like it might be helpful to you. My VA has used it to de-clutter her mail when offline and swears by it.

  2. Those are some handy extensions.. i will give them a try..

  3. Keep in mind that those chrome extensions use up computing power.
    And, if you are like me, with eight to twelve tabs open, your viewing experience is radically altered (read s–l–o–w) with more than one or two extensions and more than three tabs open…

    • Thanks for stopping by, Roy, and I appreciate the caution. Eight to twelve tabs is a bit more than we tend to have going at one time, but it’s an excellent point to keep in mind – so thanks!

  4. Catherine James says

    Wow, glad I read this, there are several items that you mentioned that I want to try. Just got a tablet and Chrome Remote and gmail offline are something that can come in very handy, especially when I’m out and about. I’m always afraid to try something knew on my computers without first reading a little about it.

    Thanks

    • Hi Catherine –

      I’m so glad that you found this helpful! While Chrome Remote works on PC’s and Macs … and most likely on Android Tablets, if you have an iPad, these Chrome extensions aren’t yet available, form what we can tell. Too bad! 🙁

      Hope your new tablet is an Android! 😉

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