Second only to Apple, Gmail is by far one of the most popular email clients. As of January 2023, Gmail’s market share was 28.04% with the third most popular client lagging behind at just 4.45%. Why is it so widely used?
A key contributor is Gmail’s inclusion in the larger Google Workspace ecosystem of tools. But another factor is that there are hundreds of extensions available that expand the possibilities of what you can do within Gmail. Want to see some of our favorite extensions for writing, productivity, and more?
5 Gmail extensions that can enhance your writing process
Let’s start with extensions that can speed up or otherwise enhance your writing process.
Jasper
The Jasper Chrome extension—our AI-powered writing assistant—works wonders in Gmail. Via templates, commands, or a mix of the two, you can write effective emails up to 10 times faster. Whether you correspond with clients or team members, send cold emails, or use Gmail to distribute marketing emails, Jasper can help.
For example, here’s a short cold email generated using the Personalized Cold Email and Email Subject Lines templates.
To generate the subject line, I input a fictional product name, a tone of voice, and a short sentence on the email topic. Jasper suggested several options, from which I picked the one you see above.
To generate the email, I entered some info about the product and the idea I wanted to pitch, along with an interesting fact about the recipient. Jasper gave me three cold email options to choose from.
Of course, I’d want to make some edits, like replacing “FIRST_NAME” with Austin’s name or listing some specific benefits of the proposed partnership. (The same would be true of any content generated with the help of artificial intelligence.) But Jasper provides a solid foundation to build from. And the better your prompts, the better he writes!
Top features:
- Templates: Use popular copywriting frameworks like AIDA, or other templates like Content Improver to write more effective emails.
- Commands: Give Jasper instructions on what to write and how.
- Languages: Let Jasper help you write in any of the 29+ available languages.
Pros:
- Jasper considers the context of an email thread to help you write more relevant replies faster.
- Access Jasper within Gmail instead of having to copy and paste between the two.
- The Jasper extension doesn’t just work in Gmail; you can also use it in Google Docs, WordPress, Webflow, and just about anywhere else you write online.
Cons:
- Jasper is a paid tool.
- You can’t access history within the extension so if you’d like to reference the output from a previous generation, you’ll have to go to the web app.
Pricing: You can take advantage of Jasper’s free trial, which includes 10,000 credits. Beyond that, pricing for the Boss Mode plan starts at $59 per month and varies by usage limit.
Discoverly
Discoverly gives a bird’s eye view of the work info, social profiles, and mutual connections of people who email you. It can come in handy when, for example, you need to verify the credibility of subject matter experts who respond to your queries on sites like Help a Reporter Out.
Top features:
- Work info: See a sender’s company and role.
- Connections: Learn what connections you share across LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Recent tweets: Check out the kind of content a person posts.
Pros:
- Discoverly minimizes the manual work of finding social media profiles (and online profiles in general) for contacts you’re not familiar with.
- You can invite friends to earn yourself access to more information about your contacts in Gmail.
Cons:
- As of now, you can’t see mutual connections for other platforms like Instagram.
- The website, onboarding flow, and user interface copy could be more informative to reduce friction.
Pricing: Discoverly has a free plan. However, you can pay $5 for some additional features like email search.
Streak CRM for Gmail
Streak’s Gmail extension is a great place to store contact info and notes on project stakeholders and content contributors. It’s also great if, for instance, you’re a freelance copywriter and need a simple and free CRM for managing customer relationships.
Top features:
- Pipelines: Create and manage databases of contacts.
- Snippets: Save reusable message drafts for later use.
- Mail merge: Send personalized emails in bulk (e.g. notifying experts that content they’ve contributed to has gone live).
Pros:
- Keep lists of contacts such as subject experts handy, along with notes and contact info.
- Streak has Android and iOS apps and integrates with Zapier and various APIs.
- The free plan is often sufficient for solo users, so Streak is great if you’re on a budget.
Cons:
- Some users have had trouble contacting customer support.
- Some users have reported a few bugs such as the email tracking feature not working.
Pricing: Streak has a free plan and four paid plans ranging from $19 to $159 per month.
Just Not Sorry
Want to become a more confident communicator and ditch phrases that undermine your message, opinions, and expertise? Just Not Sorry underlines problem areas to fix before you press send.
Top features:
- Underlines: Spot not-so-confident-sounding words and phrases.
- Explanations: Learn how certain words weaken your message.
Pros:
- As you consistently implement Just Not Sorry’s recommendations, you’ll be training yourself to naturally communicate more confidently.
- Your communications will be more concise, which your recipients will no doubt appreciate.
- The Just Not Sorry website features a full list of warning phrases and why you should avoid them, along with links to various additional resources.
Cons:
- Just Not Sorry doesn’t consider the context of the message you’re writing so its warnings aren’t always applicable.
- Users wish the extension worked in other text fields and word processors besides Gmail.
Pricing: Just Not Sorry is free.
Simple Gmail Notes
Do you ever save emails without context only to forget what you saved them for? Or do you need to sum up highlights or action items from a long email thread? With Simple Gmail Notes, you can add notes to any email.
Top features:
- Search: Use the extension’s search functionality to find old notes quickly.
- Preview: See the first few words in each note in your Inbox or preview entire notes by hovering.
- Template: If you often write notes using the same format or structure, create a template (if you’re a subscriber).
Pros:
- Besides accessibility in Gmail, your notes are also stored in Google Drive.
- You can use this extension across multiple Gmail accounts within the same browser.
- Simple Gmail Notes is available in 48 languages.
Cons:
- Users have encountered occasional glitches, such as the inability to create notes on certain emails.
- The extension looks dated.
Pricing: Simple Gmail Notes is free. However, you can support the developers for $2 per month or $20 per year.
5 Gmail extensions for painless task management
Next up: Tools that make tackling your daily to-do’s (including inbox management) easier.
Drag
Whether you need a no-fuss project management tool for yourself or are working on a team that relies heavily on email, Drag can save you time and frustration.
Top features:
- Workspaces: Manage several shared inboxes, Google Groups, or custom boards for tasks.
- Workflows: Create and share Kanban or list views of tasks inside Gmail.
- Labels: Organize, prioritize, and manage emails more easily.
Pros:
- Automate your most commonly used workflows.
- Drag integrates with over 4,000 other apps thanks to Zapier.
- Drag has Android and iOS mobile apps.
Cons:
- Drag may slightly slow down Gmail’s loading times.
- Users have noticed some occasional bugs.
Pricing: Drag has a free plan and three paid plans ranging from $10 per user per month to $18 per user per month.
Todoist for Gmail
Relying on memory to manually transfer tasks from Gmail to Todoist increases the chances they’ll slip through the cracks. Plus, it’s simply not efficient. Todoist For Gmail brings task management features to your inbox.
Top features:
- Add emails as tasks: Never forget to add a request made via email to your project management tool again!
- Complete tasks from Gmail: Check off your to-dos as you complete them without leaving Gmail.
- Follow-ups: Add dates and reminders to emails, so you don’t forget about important action items.
Pros:
- Todoist is straightforward and easy to use.
- There are more than 60 available integrations to make your workflows more efficient.
- Todoist is also available on desktop and mobile.
Cons:
- The free plan has some of the same limits as the Pro plan, which could be inconvenient for people who need to upgrade because they’ve hit a limit.
- The Gmail extension can be unreliable with users experiencing varying degrees of bugginess.
Pricing: There’s a free plan, as well as a Pro plan for $5 per month and a Business plan for $8 per month.
ActiveInbox
ActiveInbox, which claims to be the original Gmail plugin, has been around since 2006. It’s a popular choice for organizing Gmail tasks and cutting down on time allocated to email management.
Top features:
- Folders: Group related emails together for easy reference.
- Subtasks: Summarize conversations into action items.
- Due dates: Set deadlines from within any email.
Pros:
- You can break each day down into small tasks and then use the sorting functionality to view those tasks in the way that’s most convenient for you.
- If you want a simpler version of ActiveInbox, you can try ActiveInbox Lite, which turns off professional features like follow-up reminders, notes, etc.
- There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try a paid plan with no risk.
Cons:
- Some of the feature descriptions could be clearer, so people know what to expect before they try the extension.
- There’s no monthly subscription.
Pricing: There’s a free plan. ActiveInbox’s Professional plan costs $5.37 per account per month (paid annually), and you can inquire about custom Enterprise pricing.
FlowCrypt
With more hackers and trackers than ever, privacy and security are top priorities. Need to send or receive sensitive information or files such as proprietary business info from a client? Use the FlowCrypt Gmail extension.
Top features:
- Message encryption: Send and receive encrypted emails.
- File encryption: Send and receive emails containing encrypted files.
- Encrypted contact page: Allow anyone—whether or not they use encryption software—to send secure messages and files.
Pros:
- This extension protects your messages and files by securing them with keys only you and your recipients have access to.
- While there are advanced setup options as well, if you’re new to encryption, you can complete the basic setup in just a few clicks.
- FlowCrypt has mobile apps for Android and iOS and, unlike the extension, they also work with other email providers.
Cons:
- There’s no undo send feature like there is with regular emails.
- The website could more proactively explain how the basic setup works to relieve concerns for encryption newbies.
Pricing: FlowCrypt is free for up to 100 users. Beyond that, you’ll need to contact the team for custom enterprise pricing.
Sort Gmail Inbox by cloudHQ
If you’re desperate for a way to cut through inbox clutter and find the conversations you’re looking for faster, you’ll like Sort Gmail Inbox.
Top features:
- Sorting presets: Sort your inbox by unread emails, sender, company, and other criteria.
- Saving: Save emails sent to you as a PDF or Google spreadsheet.
- SMS alerts: Get text alerts whenever an email from an important client comes through.
Pros:
- You can dramatically cut down on time spent manually searching for emails.
- Filters are added to Gmail immediately upon installation and account creation so there’s no manual setup.
- For convenience, you can sort within three different domains: Inbox, Sent Mail, and All Mail.
Cons:
- The sorting functionality doesn’t work as well when managing multiple Gmail accounts.
- There’s no support available for free users.
Pricing: There’s a free version, as well as a Premium plan for $4.99 per user per month.
5 Gmail extensions for time management
Time is precious so here are some extensions to help you make the most of it.
CheckerPlus For Gmail
CheckerPlus’s Gmail extension provides a faster way to manage your inbox. With it, you can read or listen to full emails, and take action on them without opening each one.
Top features:
- Popup mail preview window: Read emails and archive, delete, or mark them as read without leaving your current tab.
- Voice notifications: Choose one of Google Chrome’s text-to-speech engines to have incoming emails read to you.
- Voice and video emails: Give your email communications a more personal touch, while also saving yourself time.
Pros:
- CheckerPlus is customizable with settings for text notifications, sound notifications, colors, and more.
- You can manage multiple email accounts with this extension.
- The creator of the extension is responsive, which is great if you encounter issues or have feedback.
Cons:
- The extension could benefit from a more modern look.
- Bugs are occasionally introduced when new features are added.
Pricing: CheckerPlus is free but you can unlock some extra features by contributing an amount of your choice to support the developer.
Calendly
As a copywriter, meetings are probably a part of your weekly routine—whether you meet with team members, clients, members of your target audience, or subject matter experts. Calendly’s extension, which features a Gmail integration, can make setting up those meetings less of a headache.
Top features:
- Scheduling links: Access and share your meeting links via the Gmail compose toolbar.
- Available times: Add up to three open slots into your emails.
- One-off meetings: Create one-time meetings outside of your regular event types.
Pros:
- When trying to wrangle several people for a meeting, you can send meeting polls to find the most popular time for everyone.
- This extension offers several ways to schedule meetings within Gmail (e.g., insert the plain link, hyperlink highlighted text, etc.).
- You can create unlimited one-on-one events, meeting polls, and one-off meetings even on the free plan.
Cons:
- Some users have encountered bugs. (One user review noted that the extension sometimes removes itself from Gmail.)
Pricing: Calendly has a free plan, three paid plans ranging from $10 to $20 per seat per month, and Enterprise pricing.
Boomerang for Gmail
With over 1 million users, Boomerang For Gmail is a popular extension for email management and meeting scheduling. The best part? It has features powered by artificial intelligence to help maximize your efficiency and even improve your writing skills.
Top features:
- Magic live calendar: Include a link to your always up-to-date calendar in your emails.
- Respondable: Get insights on the sentiment, politeness, and subjectivity of your emails based on analyses by a neural network.
- Boomerang Insights: Get an AI-powered analysis of your writing style, writing level, how you manage your inbox, and more.
Pros:
- Boomerang supports multiple calendars and integrates with Zoom and Google Meet.
- There are Android and iOS mobile apps available so you’re not limited to using the extension online.
- Boomerang is SOC 2 Type 2 certified, meaning that it handles sensitive information with care.
Cons:
- There’s no monthly plan.
- Users would like more features (such as multiple account syncing) to prevent scheduling conflicts.
Pricing: Boomerang has a free plan, as well as three paid plans ranging from $4.98 per month billed annually to $49.98 per month billed annually.
Inbox When Ready
Got a bad habit of going down the rabbit hole of unread emails when you have better things to do? Do you find yourself distracted by your inbox every time a new email arrives? Inbox When Ready can help you gain control.
Top features:
- Hide inbox: Avoid distractions when writing messages or searching for a specific email, and only see your inbox when you choose to.
- Scheduled lockout: Batch your email management sessions and lock yourself out of your inbox during other hours of the day.
- Inbox budget: Set an intention for how many times you’ll check your inbox and how much time you’ll spend, and get feedback on how you’re doing.
Pros:
- Besides hiding your inbox, you can also hide notifications for the category tabs.
- This extension doesn’t just alter your behavior when in Gmail—its features help reduce the impulse to check your inbox throughout the day.
- You can use the Pro version of Inbox When Ready for all of your email addresses.
Cons:
- Some users don’t care for the email signature that advertises the extension on the free plan.
Pricing: All new users get a 14-day free trial of the Pro plan, which costs $4 per month paid annually. There's also a team plan with custom pricing.
FreeBusy Copilot
If none of the other meeting scheduling extensions we’ve covered suit your fancy, you may be interested in Freebusy Copilot.
Top features:
- Meeting polls: Find a time that works for everyone when sending meeting invites to more than one person.
- Suggest meeting times: Get an overview of when recipients are available and suggest a list of times for them to choose from.
- Event templates: From within Gmail, set a standard duration, agenda, and location for recurring meetings.
Pros:
- Defaults from event templates can be overridden for one-off meetings so you can maintain flexibility.
- You can set availability per client, project, or event type for greater control over your schedule.
- FreeBusy works with 16+ calendars, including Google, Office 365, Outlook, and more.
Cons:
- The Gmail integration isn’t available on the free plan—you’ll have to subscribe.
- It’s not as easy as it could be to manage multiple calendars.
Pricing: FreeBusy has a free version. Besides that, there are two plans priced at $6 and $15 per month, and an Enterprise plan with custom pricing and volume-based discounts.
10 additional Gmail extensions worth looking into
There are plenty of extensions for Gmail that can ease the stress of your work life. They can help with everything from time to task management and, of course, writing. In this section, we’ll go over all the extensions that don’t quite fit into a neat category like the ones we deep dived already.
Mailtrack
Mailtrack allows you to see when your emails have been read, when they go unopened, and when they’ve been opened many times in a short period. This is incredibly useful, especially when managing complex projects with large teams.
Pros:
- Allows you to get insights that are normally reserved for dedicated email marketing platforms
- Adds mail merge functionality to Gmail for powerful personalization
- GDPR compliant, so no worries about violating privacy
Cons:
- Can be slow at times
Pricing: Free
RightInbox
Rightinbox ets you schedule one-time, follow-up, and recurring emails or create notes, templates, signatures, etc. This is especially useful if you’re running cold email outreach campaigns manually or on a smaller scale through Gmail.
Pros:
- Set reminders about replying to emails or completing tasks
- Create follow-up email sequences that only send if you didn’t get a reply
Cons:
- Free version is quite limited in functionality
Pricing: There’s a free plan which only allows you to send 5 emails per month and paid plans begin at $7.95 per month, giving you unlimited emails.
Gmelius
Gmelius empowers you to manage shared inboxes, organize email conversations with labels or Kanban boards, and collaborate with team members. Gmelius is incredibly useful for teams that manage a shared inbox, like “team@companyname.com” or “support@companyname.com” emails.
Pros:
- Transforms Gmail into a shared inbox with team collaboration features
- You can monitor team performance with detailed reports
- Adds Kanban board-style visualization to your inbox workflow
- Gmelius is available for iOS & Android
Cons:
- It can be costly if you run a large team
Pricing: Paid plans start at $24 per month, per user on your team.
Rename Email
Rename Email lets you give email threads a new subject line, so they’re more descriptive, memorable, or easier to search for in the future. This is useful for those who have a lot of back and forth emails that need to be referenced later on. For example, if you’re a designer who works with a lot of revision updates, it can be useful for archiving communication surrounding that.
Pros:
- The sender won’t know you’ve renamed their email
- Can be used to break up long, back and forth email threads
- Makes referencing emails easier because you can find them quicker
Cons:
- Sometimes has compatibility issues with other Gmail extensions
Pricing: Free
Simplify Gmail
Simplify Gmail improves almost every aspect of your Gmail experience with everything from email spy tracking blockers to additional categorization options.
Pros:
- Better UX than the out of the box Gmail design
- Adds saved searches functionality
- Adds new keyboard shortcuts to Gmail
Cons:
- Only an aesthetic design change, doesn’t improve performance
Pricing: $2 per month
Pause Gmail
Pause Gmail allows you to limit when emails appear in your Gmail inbox so you can reduce distractions and get more writing done. The ultimate in personal productivity.
Pros:
- Remove email interruptions so that you can get more work done
- Reclaim hours of productivity lost to checking and replying to emails
Cons:
- You have to unpause your emails to be able to search old emails
Pricing: Free
Vocal
Vocal lets you send voice notes in Gmail to give asynchronous communication a more personal feel. This is also handy when audio can convey more of an emotional tone or explain complex topics in ways that text just can’t.
Pros:
- One-click voice recording, embedded directly into Gmail
- Built-in shortcuts for lightning-fast communication
- MP3 attachments for hassle-free listening
Cons:
- Doesn’t have video capabilities like platforms like Loom
Pricing: Free for up to 20 voice notes per month. Paid plans cost $21 per month and give you unlimited voice notes.
Giphy
Giphy is a leader in its space, allowing you to quickly search the Giphy library for GIFs, stickers, emojis, and more. Add personality to your emails by embedding GIFs for any occasion!
Pros:
- The largest GIF library available online
Cons:
- Might be seen as unprofessional in some circumstances
Pricing: Free
Send Anywhere
Send Anywhere is a powerful Chrome extension that lets you share files up to 50GB through Gmail.
Pros:
- Attach large files to your emails
- Ad-free platform and free to use
Cons:
- Some reviewers had trouble with the installation
Pricing: Free
Mailbutler
Mailbutler gives insights into your contacts, including the best time to email them, and create signatures, templates, and more in Gmail.
Pros:
- AI-powered email copywriting assistant
- Adds email tracking functionality to Gmail
- Robust template library you can use for many occasions
Cons:
- Can be a little buggy at times
- Sometimes crashes after updating Chrome
Pricing: Basic email tracking plans start at $4.95 per month, per user and to use the AI copywriter, you’ll need to be on the Professional plan for $8.95 per month, per user.
Try the Jasper Chrome extension today
No matter what kind of emails you need to write—or whatever content you’d like to create—you’re covered. Jasper’s AI Chrome extension works pretty much anywhere you write on the web, including within Gmail. And it’s up to you how you use it. You can use templates (like you saw earlier) or give Jasper a command like “write an email about [topic].”
Jasper will instantly start writing for you, and you can quickly make any tweaks before pressing “Send” or hitting “Publish.”
To try out the Jasper Gmail extension for yourself, download it from the Chrome web store and, if you haven’t already, sign up for your free trial. In just a few minutes, you’ll be on your way to writing better emails faster!
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