GESTURES FOR GOOGLE CHROME
Most of the more complex functions of Chrome need to be accessed via a button or an entry in the primary or right-click menu. For a quicker alternative, this extension can bind complex actions to mouse gestures: simply hold down the right-click button on your mouse or touchpad and activate the gesture to perform the action. Customized gestures can be bound to almost any advanced function you can think of. We like to assign a simple, three-swipe gesture to close every tab except the one in the foreground.
HOVER ZOOM+
This tool allows the user to hover over a linked thumbnail image and view it in a simple pop-up window. It’s quite convenient if you often browse sites such as Reddit, which feature very small thumbnails for large images. The tool will display an image in its native resolution — unless that’s larger than your computer screen — and it supports animated formats like GIF and GIFV. It even allows for scrolling through a list of images on Imgur without opening the site.
MOMENTUM
Momentum replaces Chrome’s somewhat stoic “New Tab” page with a more colorful alternative. While there are plenty of similar options on the Chrome Web Store, Momentum’s curated landscape images focus on a big, easy-to-read clock that very aesthetically pleasing. Those who use Chrome’s URL bar for quick access to frequent sites won’t miss the bookmark functions, but if you rely on the default New Tab page links, you should probably skip this one.
PANIC BUTTON
A little light web browsing at work never hurt anyone, but your manager might not agree. This extension adds a simple button to Chrome’s toolbar that immediately hides all of your open tabs when clicked, saving them as temporary bookmarks for easy retrieval. The function can be bound to a keyboard shortcut for even faster (and more discrete) activation. Combine it with a hidden button, and you have an instant safety net for not working at work.
MERCURY READER
Mercury Reader combines the functions of a “read it later” bookmark tool with a reading-focused web page reformat. It automatically pulls out the text and key images from a page (ideally news or blog posts) and shows them in big text that’s easy on the eyes. The extension can also send pages to your account, or even to a Kindle for comfy reading later. The tool is configurable for your ideal reading preferences, too, and it automatically syncs across computers and mobile devices. If you find something you need a hard copy for, we can also help you print from Chrome more efficiently.
USER-AGENT SWITCHER
Some sites display their format differently for different browsers or operating systems. If you need to access an alternate view of a certain website —to save JPG or PNG images instead of WEBP images on the Google Play Store, for instance — this extension allows you to instantly switch between desktop and mobile versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, Safari, and the default iOS and Android web browsers. You can even set up rules that automatically load certain websites in a certain browser profile.
FEEDLY
Since the untimely demise of Google Reader, Feedly has taken over as the de facto standard for RSS readers on the web. It’s quite possible to use the service in your browser without trouble, but for quick access and an isolated window, the official extension is very handy. It also adds a Feedly Mini icon to the bottom-right corner of sites with compatible RSS feeds. If this bothers you, it can be disabled across the web, or only on specific sites.
EVERNOTE WEB CLIPPER
Frequent users of Evernote, the popular notation and bookmarking tool, will definitely want to check out this first-party extension. It allows users to quickly highlight text, images, or both, and save them to Evernote for later consumption. Custom modules also allow for greater functionality on frequently-used websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon — and there’s even a built-in screenshot tool. Notes and images can be tagged or assigned to specific Evernote notebooks.
STRICT WORKFLOW
Do you like using productivity apps that keep you concentrated and focused when you need to be, as well as give you breaks when it’s the proper time? Strict Workflow is designed to do just that. It creates an automatic blocker that blocks any non-related workpages that you select for 25 minutes. Then it gives you five minutes to relax, browse social media and Reddit and wherever else you want to, before diving back in for another 25-minute work stretch. It’s excellent enforcement if you tend to get a little distracted.
LAZARUS
Lazarus was a figure from the New Testament who was raised from the dead. It’s an appropriate metaphor for a service designed to automatically save information you enter into various web forms, so that they aren’t lost when your browser crashes or the site times out from an internal security measure. It’s particularly useful for long-form writing, like, say, entering several thousand words in a WordPress post, only to have it disappear when the server crashes. Not that we’d know anything about that…
ONETAB
OneTab is a solution for those of us who like to open a few too many tabs on Chrome. And while Chrome is a particularly minimalistic browser, having dozens of tabs open at the same time can still be a struggle. If your browser and your RAM tend to struggle at this point, OneTab offers a solution: A single tab that condenses your open tabs into a history-like list that you can reference instead, saving memory and speeding up Chrome for you.
SESSION BUDDY
Session Buddy is an essential tool for those who habitually open a specific set of tabs. It saves sessions that include a set of tabs that you want to have open at the same time. This is also handy if Chrome — or your computer itself — is particularly crash-prone. The tool’s internal management system even allows users to customize, save, export, and import session lists with ease.
PAPIER
Do you like to take random, short-term notes while using Chrome? If that’s you, you may not see much value in opening up a separate app designed for long-term notes just to jot down a few temporary thoughts – but Papier has you covered. This app allows you to open a blank Chrome tab that just lets you type on it. You can type whatever you want, and anything there will be automatically backed up to Chrome. Easy!
BOOMERANG FOR GMAIL
Boomerang allows Gmail users to postpone sending messages, something that’s sorely missing from the default user interface. It’s especially useful if you do business with people in other time zones (or continents), so that you don’t accidentally send that invoice request at 3 a.m. The service also includes reminders, which are handy if you’re waiting on a response, and applications for Android and iOS that let you use Boomerang when you’re away from your computer.
GMAIL OFFLINE
If you frequently use your laptop in areas without an internet connection — and especially if you’re in the habit of letting unread email pile up — then this official extension is for you. It caches Gmail messages locally, like a traditional email client, allowing you to read and reply to messages without an active connection. Saved replies are then sent the next time a connection is available. The customized interface looks more like an old-fashioned email client, too.
GOOGLE HANGOUTS
Hangouts is Google’s messaging client, which also moonlights as the stock SMS client baked into some Android phones. Hangouts is available as a regular website and as a mini tool housed inside Gmail, but if you’re a regular user, this standalone version is quite handy. It works just like a standard messaging client, complete with integrated notifications for incoming messages.
WEATHERBUG
There’s no shortage of weather plugins for Chrome, but WeatherBug is generally regarded as the best. The official extension includes a full-screen interface that’s laid out in a similar way to The Weather Channel, but users can add multiple custom locations. Quick links can switch the animated window to live Doppler radar maps — with additional options for viewing the temperature, humidity, wind speed, and other weather components — or livestreams, if they’re available in your area.
ADBLOCK PLUS
Adblock Plus is one of the most popular ad-blocking tools on the web. It blocks large selections of advertising networks at the server level, either replacing them on your screen with white space or simply collapsing them naturally into the format of the page. You have a choice to either select from a list of ad networks or block ads individually. Since most websites survive on advertising revenue, I’ll remind you that you can use the whitelist feature to turn ad-blocking off on sites you visit frequently.
LASTPASS
Among the various password management tools available, including Chrome’s built-in system, Lastpass is particularly well-regarded for both its ease of use and security. Lastpass uses a combination of a private master password, auto-generated passwords for websites and services, touch local-only data encryption, and two-factor authentication to make password filing both safe and fast. The official extension automatically keeps users logged into the service without having to use the web interface.
Advanced User Tools
CHROME REMOTE DESKTOP
There are many options for accessing your PC and helping someone else with theirs via remote desktop tools, but none of them are as affordable or as easy to use as Google’s first-party solution. Once installed, it will allow you to access your home computer — including desktop and other non-Chrome applications — from any device that can run Chrome, even Android or iOS devices. The interface is simple, but effective — and as long as your connection is stable, it’s quite speedy to use.
SIMILARWEB
If you do any work in web design, marketing, or content, then SimilarWeb can be a particularly valuable tool. This add-on allows you to look at traffic numbers, sources, activity over time and other valuable analytical data that will help you make important web decisions. It’s not as in-depth as going into Google Analytics, but it’s very fast and ideal for quick comparisons.
GOOGLE CAST
The Chromecast is one of the most popular video streaming gadgets on the market, mostly because it’s cheap and straightforward to use. While it’s mostly used with the official phone app, this browser extension will allow you to “cast” tabs to your television, including videos that aren’t available on phones or tablets. You still control the video on your computer though, so this is ideally suited for laptops or Windows-based 2-in-1 devices like the Surface Pro.
GOOGLE INPUT TOOLS
Typing exotic characters into text fields is always a bit of a headache, especially when you’re typing in a language not natively supported by your keyboard. Google Input Tools adds an easy, virtual keyboard or input panel for exotic characters, including currency symbols, Chinese characters, and emoji. The tool can even switch between multiple language inputs on the fly with a toolbar icon.
THE GREAT SUSPENDER
Chrome has many sterling qualities, but efficient RAM usage is not one of them. The Great Suspender is a friend to anyone who often lets dozens of tabs sit unused. It automatically suspends unused tabs after a set time, which frees up memory and keeps Chrome from getting bogged down in its own processes. The extension includes custom settings that allow you to adjust the time before suspension, and a whitelist for sites to keep permanently active, the latter of which is quite useful for email or instant messaging tools that offer notifications.
Make your own
Popular services often create their own Chrome app or extension these days, and those that don’t usually have a third-party version available. But if neither is to your taste, the Windows version of Chrome allows users to manually create a “web app” shortcut, which opens the page in a dedicated window with no unnecessary user interface elements. These application shortcuts can be pinned to the Windows Start Menu or taskbar. To create an application shortcut, open your desired Web page and click the Menu button. Then, click More tools and “Create application shortcut.”
This article was originally published on July 19, 2013, and updated on November 1, 2017 by Tyler Lacoma. Removed extensions no longer available such as Bing2Google, Zoho Writer, and SpeakIt. Readability was updated to Mercury Reader. Strict Workflow, OneTab, SimilarWeb, and Papier were added.
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