7 Gmail add-ons to improve your email productivity

This handy add-on lets you add notes to any email for your reference. Once you install the add-on, you have to give it access to your Google Drive on the first run – this has to be done as all the notes are saved to your Google Drive. Once done, you will see a text area on top of each email where you can add text notes. These notes are also visible in your inbox for quick view. You can change the colour of your notes to categorize them, add them to Google Calendar for reminders and even search among the notes, if required.

3. Grammarly

The Grammarly extension enables you to quickly find and correct any spelling and grammar errors in your email text. It automatically scans your text as you type and gives you improvement suggestions directly in your Gmail interface. It also offers suggestions that can help set the tone of your email text to be friendly or professional, depending on your chosen preferences. You will have to sign-up for a free account of Grammarly to use the service.

4. SaneBox

This AI-based add-on can organize your entire Gmail inbox as per your requirements. It shows you only important emails in the box while the others are moved under the SaneLater folder. You can check the SaneLater folder when you have the time. Moreover, it automatically identifies and sorts all of your newsletters into a category of your choice. There is also an option to create a custom category if you want to categorize items like shopping receipts, social media updates, etc. The AI can even be trained to identify which emails should be categorized under a particular folder if it misses a specific sender. You get a free 14-day trial, and after that, it is $7 per month (approx. Rs 510/month).

5. Briskine

Email templates for Gmail: the Briskine add-on helps reduce time spent typing the same email text repeatedly. It gives you access to pre-set templates right in your Gmail compose window, using which you can insert pre-written text instantly. The free version gives you access to 30 templates that you can customize as per your requirements. When creating a template, you need to create a keyboard shortcut for it and using this shortcut, you can instantly get the pre-set text in your email. If you don’t remember the keyboard shortcut, you can tap on the Briskine logo in the compose window and access all of your templates immediately.

6. MailTrack

Ever wondered if the email that you sent was even opened? With the MailTrack add-on, you no longer have to wonder about this. Once enabled, it shows a checkmark notification in your inbox. A single checkmark indicates mail has been delivered, whereas two checkmarks indicate the mail has been opened. The free version lets you track unlimited emails, but each of your emails will show a signature “Sent with MailTrack”. The Pro version for US$ 5 per month gives the option to remove the signature and adds features like real-time notification, link tracking, daily report, reminders and so on.

7. Dictation for Gmail

The dictation add-on for Gmail adds the option to speak out your email message. You just click on the microphone icon next to the send button and start speaking – the add-on automatically identifies and types in your spoken words in the email body. The add-on comes with support for 60 languages, including Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and few other local Indian languages. The spoken-to-written word conversion is not 100% accurate, but it was able to deliver 90% accuracy in our usage. Once you are finished speaking, you can make a few minor changes to the email and send it out.