1. All Of Gmail Inside a Chrome Extension
This first Chrome extension will give you everything that you’ll ever need for managing emails of multiple accounts right in the extension toolbar. It’s called Checker Plus for Gmail. You can reply and send emails, add labels, get notifications with sounds and much more. Well, let’s have a look at them one by one.
Composing and Replying Emails
With Checker Plus, you can quickly reply to emails the moment you get them. You get a notification as a Chrome card. Clicking on the card will take you to Gmail. Clicking on reply will open the extension toolbar to reply from the extension itself. But, there’re not many options available while replying. You can only send the text. No files or images can be uploaded. Another nice little feature I liked is the previous and next options to switch between emails. This way you can reply to emails consecutively without going back to the main menu. Also, you get the option to open the email in Gmail.
Customization
You can do tons of customization with the available options. Click on the menu with three dots and select Options. You’ll be taken to a new tab page. All the settings are well organized and as I said you can do loads of customization. One thing I’d like to point out is the settings for ACCOUNTS / LABELS. You can set a specific notification sound for a specific label. Also, you get the settings for voice input while replying (it’s in beta). Each and every setting is well explained and can be easily modified. Some settings need a contribution account. You need to donate some amount in order to unlock these settings.
Skins
It’s all about the visuals. If you use Gmail app on your mobile then this extension will give you the same material design feel. Talking about the feel, it has two layouts that you can use. First is the default checker plus theme and the other is the native Gmail design. You might want to stick with the default theme but the Gmail design gives access to categories which is more helpful. Also, there’s an option available to change the skin of the extension. But, to apply these skins, you need a contribution account. Here you can enable and disable different elements of the UI. And, three themes – Dark, Green and Newspaper are available. It’s a huge extension of its kind with over 900,000+ users. And, there’s just one developer. But, great support and regular updates are delivered.
2. A Lightweight Alternative
If you think the above extension has just too much to offer and you want an extension that can notify for new emails from multiple accounts then you should try multiNotifier. It does just one thing and does it perfectly. Whenever a new email drops, you’ll get a notification with a card displaying the information. Clicking on the card will take you to Gmail. You can’t open or reply to emails from the extension like the above extension. It just notifies you. That’s all. But, the cool thing here is that you’ll always be logged into your Gmail account. So, whenever you click on a card to check the email it’ll directly open your Gmail without asking for your password. But, first you need to configure and add your account credentials. Add your username and password. You can give a name to the account to identify it better. Also, you can narrow down your notification by adding a specific label. If you have a Google apps domain, you have an option for that too. Both options are hidden under advanced options. Important: You might be thinking how secure is your password? Here’s the answer from the developer. The extension works just fine. One thing I did notice is that there was a delay in notifications. I enabled both the extensions and multiNotifier displayed its notification after around 6-7 seconds. Also, it looks like the extension hasn’t been updated for a long time. You can’t rely on the extension for a long time. But, overall it does get the job done.
What is Your Quickest Way to Access Gmail?
I definitely am sticking to Checker plus. It’s the quickest way to access Gmail, for me. But, what is yours? Do you still type in mail.google.com in your address bar? Or maybe you’re just too lazy to even think of a quicker way to access it. Do let us know what do you think about these extensions after you try them out. ALSO SEE: 10 Incredibly Useful Email Productivity Tools and Add-ons
