Eight Chrome Extensions That Make Life Easier

Any time I can find something that helps make life a little easier I’m all for it.  There are some pretty amazing Chrome extensions that can do just that.  I’ve included eight of my favorites in this list that are guaranteed to save you time and energy.  You’ll find some of these useful for your students as well.

Google Tone 
This little jewel is pretty cool.  It broadcasts a URL to any computer in “earshot” that also has the extension.  No more having to go from student to student to make sure they typed it correctly.  They will be where they need to be in seconds. 
You simply go to the web page, click the Google Tone extension and let it broadcast the tone.  Others simply need to accept the website and you’re all set.

One Tab
My name is Cindy and I’m a tabaholic.  I like to open everything I need so I don’t have to keep re-opening tabs.  This results in my having 10-15 tabs open at a time.  I’ll admit this does slow down my computer and freaks out people who stumble across my screen.  One Tab takes all of those open tabs and condenses them down to a single tab.  All of your open tabs are now bookmarked links on that one screen.  Simply click Restore All to bring them back.  

It comes with a few options to lock or star the tab group for easy access.

Mercury Reader
If you do a lot of reading in online news or magazine sites, this one is a must for you.  This extension removes all of the distracting clutter (sidebars, ads, any extra information) and presents you with just the article and pictures, making it much simpler to read.  

TLDR (Too Long Didn’t Read)
This is a quick web page summarizing tool.  You simply go to the web page and click the TLDR extension in your toolbar.  I really wish this was around when I was working on my master’s degree.  This would have come in handy when I had to read those oh-so-long articles that almost put me to sleep.  

Speak It
Head to a web page, highlight the text, right click and click Speak it.  This little gem will begin reading the text to you.  You can even customize the voice.  
This is one of my favorites to use when I have a ton of things to do.  I can listen to the article while I cook dinner, prepare for a lesson or whatever I need to do.  

Grammarly
I need all of the help that I can get when I write. Grammarly is like a personal editor that checks spelling, grammar, and word choice.  Simply install the app and whenever you begin to type within compatible programs it goes to work catching errors as you go.

Checker Plus for Calendar
This is a nifty little extension that places a calendar icon on your toolbar.  If you hover over the icon you’ll see your agenda for the day without ever having to open Calendar.  When you need to see your calendar just click on the icon to open it.

Checker Plus for Gmail
Like Checker Plus for Calendar, you are able to quickly view your list of emails by hovering over the Gmail icon.  When you click on the icon it opens Gmail.  One of my favorite features of this extension is that it allows you to see new mail from all of your Google accounts in one place.  

There are thousands of Chrome extensions to choose from that can do most anything imaginable.  Using these eight extensions will help you to simplify the web and how you interact with the tools you use every day.

If you have a favorite extension, I’d love to hear about it.  I’m always on the lookout for tools to make life easier.
– Happy clicking!