9 Gmail add-ons: the best Gmail ex­ten­sions for Chrome

With Gmail add-ons for the Chrome browser, you can customise standard Gmail features to your liking. Ad­di­tion­al features of Gmail ex­ten­sions let you optimise the per­form­ance and func­tion­al­ity of your mailbox. Below, we present the most practical add-ons.

What are Gmail ex­ten­sions?

It’s likely you’ve en­countered ‘ex­ten­sions’ online before. But what is an add-on exactly? Add-ons are ex­ten­sions that are specially developed for programs to optimise func­tion­al­ity and layout. In everyday life, add-ons are mainly used in con­nec­tion with browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Many add-ons are available as free ex­ten­sions, while others require a fee. Apart from anti-tracking and ad-blocker add-ons, Gmail add-ons are among the most popular Chrome ex­ten­sions because they allow home users and busi­nesses to adjust the features of their Gmail inbox.

How to add a Gmail extension to Chrome?

If you’ve never used an add-on before, fear not! In­stalling add-ons is easy as 1-2-3 and can be done in just a few clicks.

Step 1: Launch the Chrome Web Store in the Chrome browser. You can view all available Chrome add-ons here, including Gmail ex­ten­sions.

Step 2: Pick a desired Gmail add-on, click on the cor­res­pond­ing extension and then on ‘Add to Chrome’ to the right.

Step 3: Confirm your selection by clicking on ‘Add extension’.

Step 4: Depending on your chosen Gmail extension you may need to restart the browser. Al­tern­at­ively, you may be able to continue browsing as normal after in­stall­a­tion.

Step 5: If you want to view your add-ons, click on the three dots at the top right (‘Customise and manage Google Chrome’) > ‘Settings’ and then ‘Ex­ten­sions’ to the left. You’ll be able to view the list of your current add-ons here.

Useful Gmail add-ons in Chrome

The following Gmail ex­ten­sions are useful for private or pro­fes­sion­al use to customise and optimise your Gmail inbox just the way you want.

Boomerang

Functions:

• Provides time-shifted, automated sending of emails.
• Messages to col­leagues, clients or friends are not sent im­me­di­ately, but at a specified time, fa­cil­it­at­ing forward task planning
• Handy for sending group/mass emails
• Sends reminders of un­answered mails and archives received emails
• Offers various templates, AI-assisted writing, and read receipts

Useful for:

• Customer service op­er­a­tions to provide customers with quality and timely messages
• For HR man­age­ment to send and schedule re­cruit­ing emails on time
• Forward-thinking users who may need to schedule their emails

Mailtrack

Functions:

• Script-based tracking of all email activ­it­ies
• Read/open receipt for sent emails
• Real-time no­ti­fic­a­tions if an email was read
• Analysis of email activ­it­ies in clear dashboard

Useful for:

• Users sharing news­let­ters
• HR managers mon­it­or­ing re­cruit­ing activ­it­ies
• Boards of directors and B2B marketers

Inbox When Ready

Functions:

• Locks the Gmail inbox for a specified period of time until existing mails are processed
• Hides inbox after specified period of time
• Inbox remains active, but doesn’t alert user with inbox no­ti­fic­a­tions
• Limits the number or duration of inbox visits if desired

Useful for:

• Users with high mail volume
• Users who prefer to work through emails in a dis­cip­lined manner within fixed time frames without being dis­trac­ted by no­ti­fic­a­tions

Simplify Gmail

Functions:

• Provides a clean, sim­pli­fied Gmail layout and interface
• At­tract­ive, min­im­al­ist design that high­lights the most important screen elements in the inbox

Useful for:

• Users who want to focus on the es­sen­tials of email without getting dis­trac­ted or losing track of what’s going on

Simple Gmail Notes

Functions:

• Provides note and comment functions to annotate emails
• Optimises inbox clarity and shortens reac­quaint­ance with current or past con­ver­sa­tions

Useful for:

• Customer service, marketing, or op­er­a­tions staff
• Users who com­mu­nic­ate in­tens­ively with many people and need to swap between topics or dis­cus­sions quickly

WiseStamp

Functions:

• Cus­tom­ised and per­son­al­ised email sig­na­tures
• Add photos, comments, notes, contact in­form­a­tion, social media profiles, and more to personal or business email sig­na­tures.

Useful for:

• Corporate/business emails
• Re­cruit­ing, ap­plic­a­tion, marketing, and sales
• Suitable for creatives who want to draw attention to current or past projects and platforms as part of their email signature

Trocker

Functions:

• Marks and blocks mail trackers in incoming messages.
• Alerts of hidden tracking pixels in emails.

Useful for:

• Users who value privacy and do not want to be tracked and monitored by hidden mail trackers

FollowUp.cc

Functions:

• Users can set a time period after which a reminder is sent for mails that have been sent but are still un­answered.
• Follow-up functions enable keeping an eye on out­stand­ing replies even when high volumes of emails are sent, so that users can follow up again.

Useful for:

• Marketing and sales staff
• B2B customer ac­quis­i­tion
• Customer service and ac­count­ing

Streak CRM

Functions:

• Combines Gmail with practical CRM ex­ten­sions
• Filter function for customer in­form­a­tion and automated overview
• Pipelin­ing of business processes
• Creation of sub­folders (e.g. for business deals, sales, or present­a­tions)
• Time-con­trolled sending of mails
• An al­tern­at­ive CRM system for small busi­nesses
• Per­son­al­ised summary of mail traffic

Useful for:

• Customer service and customer man­age­ment
• Marketing, sales, and dis­tri­bu­tion
• Start-ups and freel­an­cers