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9 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Every Day

LastPassMarch 05, 2019
Two out of every three people who surf the web use Google Chrome: it’s considered fast, reliable, and secure, and the Google Chrome extensions make it even better. The Google Chrome Web Store offers literally millions of extensions to choose from, and they can improve productivity while enriching your online experience. Google curates its collection via Editor’s Picks and categories, but if you’d like to narrow that down a bit more, here are 9 of our favorite Google Chrome extensions we use every day.

#1 OneTab

I have about a dozen tabs open at any given time. OneTab is the equivalent of Marie Kondo from the Netflix show “Tidying Up” asking me, tab by tab, which ones spark joy. With a single click you can clear the clutter and all open tabs are condensed into a list within a single tab. My laptop likes OneTab almost as much as I do because it saves a whole lot application memory. Download OneTab from the Chrome Web Store.

#2 Checker Plus for Gmail

I have three active Gmail accounts and needed a better way to use and manage them together. Checker Plus for Gmail unifies notifications and previews and lets me read and delete email without having to open Gmail itself.  Download Checker Plus for Gmail from the Chrome Web Store. 

#3 Bookmark Manager

I have a bookmark problem. I have more than I’d care to admit and they aren’t well organized. Enter Bookmark Manager. Using a Google search engine, the Bookmark Manager can help you find that nearly lost Food Network recipe. When you bookmark a page, this extension will even suggest a folder where it feels it best fits.  Download Bookmark Manager from the Chrome Web Store.

#4 Momentum

Momentum is a visually-pleasing, personalized productivity dashboardWhen you open a new tab on your Chrome browser, Momentum will serve up a photo, a quote that inspires or entertains, and ask you “What is your main focus for today?” and then display it to keep it top of mind. Momentum can manage your to-do list, display links to favorite sites, and report in on the weather. Download Momentum from the Chrome Web Store. 

#5 ScreenCastify 

This screen video recorder for Chrome lets you create screencasts and capture what is happening on your desktop, within a browser tab, or through your webcam. ScreenCastify lets you narrate and embed your webcam recording right into the screencast, and edit to create your final cutPublish your screencasts directly on YouTube, export, or load up to Google Drive.  Download ScreenCastify from the Chrome Web Store.

#6 StayFocusd

StayFocusd limits the amount of time you spend on websites that can pull a little too much focus from the ones you should be using. Set how long you will allow yourself to be on Facebook or YouTube and when your time is up, StayFocusd will block the site for the rest of the day. You also have the option to block specific pages or in-page content like videos and images.  Download StayFocusd from the Chrome Web Store.

#7 Todoist

There’s something about writing down everything I need to do that helps me to focus better. Unfortunately, I end up with too many lists in too many places. Todoist lets me get all my to-do’s out of my head and gives me one place to enter them, while they sync across my laptop, phone, and anything else that runs Chrome. You can easily turn a to-do into an active reminder, organize and prioritize your to-dos, and see daily or weekly overviews of your accomplishments (ever so more satisfying than crossing items off a list).  Download Todoist from the Chrome Web Store.

#8 Turn Off the Lights

It’s difficult to get any sort of cinematic experience out of watching a video on YouTube, Vimeo, or Hulu on your mobile device. With this nifty extension, you click on a lamp button and the entire page – except the video itself – will fade to dark. It might sound simple, but after a day of staring at multiple screens this will make you smile. Download Turn Off the Lights from the Chrome Web Store.

#9 LastPass

Last but not least, there is LastPass, a password manager that saves all your usernames and passwordsgenerates strong passwords for you, and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device you have. You only need to remember one master passphrase to access LastPass and everything you’ve stored in your digital vault.  Download LastPass for free from the Chrome Web Store. Leave a comment below to let us know what you think the best Chrome extensions are!