Free Chrome Extensions for Entrepreneurs With Crazy Long To-Do Lists and Too Many Open Tabs Trick out your browser to simplify your life.
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If you spend all day in your browser, you need to get organized. You're likely toggling among social media accounts, email, shared documents, search queries, to-do lists and articles you're meaning to read, and when the tabs pile up, it can be hard to focus.
You might try keeping things in separate windows or on separate monitors, but that doesn't change the fact that most of what you're looking at is likely browser-based. Google Chrome is your connection to nearly everything you need to access, but the trouble is, it's also a window to distractions. That's why it's up to you to hack it, to tame it and to download a bunch of browser extensions that will put you back in control.
Related: A Guide to Reducing Unneeded Distractions and Time-Sucks So You Can Be More Productive
Read on for 15 browser extensions that are a cinch to install and will help you get way more done with just a few clicks.
1. Boomerang
Do you ever start drafting an email, only to realize it's 11 p.m. and you don't want to subject anyone to your night owl, always-hustling tendencies? So you save it as a draft, only to have to squeeze in time the following day to finish it and send it off? That is, if you even remember?
Boomerang for Gmail is the answer to the hours you keep outside the 9-to-5. You can draft and even hit "send" on an email any time, then use the scheduling feature to select the date and time you'd like it to be sent. It also comes with read receipts, link click-tracking and "Respondable" software, which "uses artificial intelligence to help you write better, more actionable emails in real-time."
The basic, free version of Boomerang includes all above features, but subscriptions with additional bells and whistles, such as mobile access, are available for $5, $15 and $50 per month.
2. OneTab
Are you a tab hoarder who's more apt to let the web pages pile up than navigate away from a search you're finished with? Well, this habit not only clutters your computer visually, but also, it likely slows down your computer -- and, in turn, your work.
OneTab allows you to consolidate all of your tabs into one. It simply makes them into a new tab, at which you'll see a list of each page and a link to it. When you want to return to one of the tabs, click the link and it will reopen. You can also edit the list from within OneTab in case you change your mind about wanting to hold onto something.
Its functions get even more granular: OneTab also provides settings for users who want to name consolidated tabs (say, for a bunch of links related to a single project), as well as those who want to exclude some open tabs from the consolidation process.
Related: 10 Unique Free Tools and Resources for Entrepreneurs You Probably Don't Know About
3. 1Password
Speaking of consolidation, how much time do you spend hunting down or resetting your passwords to various online accounts because you've forgotten them? Or, in the words of stand-up comic John Mulaney, spending your day "telling a robot that you're not a robot"? Have you ever wished that you could just log in to the entire internet, with one password unlocking your accounts all at once?
1Password is one of the many password solutions that allows you to do a version of that, and it has a Chrome Extension. Through the extension, you'll have easy access to managing which passwords are included in your 1Password account. Logging in when you go to a site that's included in your 1Password list will be seamless.
Be wary, though: In the past, this extension has been susceptible to some bugs that have led to password theft, according to Network World. The alternative is a safer method in which the 1Password software downloaded to your desktop is where the controls live (however, leaving your browser puts you at risk of interrupting your workflow).
4. Pocket
Busy entrepreneurs don't have time to read long, analytical articles every time a good link appears on their screens. Saving articles to your bookmarks versus saving them to Pocket is akin to the difference between stowing things away on a shelf in the back of your closet versus simply tucking them into your, well, pocket.
The extension places a button directly to the right of your URL bar, so when you open an article only to realize you don't have time to read it in that moment, you click the button and it saves the article to a list that's accessible from your desktop or a mobile app.
When you open the articles from your Pocket list, they load without ads and other clutter -- often even without images, which streamlines the reading process and keeps you focused. Pocket also curates articles for users who want to stay in-the-know without hunting down their own reading material.
Related: 20 Surprising Things You Can Do With Google Search
5. Keepa
The Keepa extension is perfect for any entrepreneur who keeps tabs (no pun intended) on fluctuating product prices on Amazon. If you have it installed, you can set up which Amazon pages you want to monitor, and the Keepa will let you know if a price falls in real time, or if a previously out-of-stock item becomes available.
Users also have access to graphs that display product price history over time, displayed right on the web page, so users can get a comprehensive view of recent deals and price drops. (It goes without saying that this tool is great for power shoppers, too.)
Entrepreneurs: What are your favorite Chrome extensions? Let us know in the comments below.
