Get more done with free privacy and productivity extensions for Google Chrome
Here are 50 extensions that focus on privacy and productivity. With these you can take screenshots, secure your browser, keep your passwords safe, take control of your tabs, secure your connection, do more with Gmail, grab text out of images, and much more.
All these extensions are free and are available to download from the Chrome Web Store.
Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
OneTab
When your tabs are in the OneTab list, you will save up to 95 percent of memory because you will have reduced the number of tabs open in Google Chrome.
I'm a Gentleman does one thing, and does it well -- it allows for easy downloading of images from a web page. You can press Alt and click to download, drag to download, or download every image n a page with a single click.
Are you getting tired of obnoxious ads blaring sound while you're browsing? AutoMute automatically mutes every tab opened in your browser, effectively allowing you to opt-in to hear audio in a web page, instead of forcing you to opt-out.
Yeah, I know that Google Chrome comes with a bookmark manager, but it's hardly anything to write home about. In fact, it's so basic that I've declared "bookmark bankruptcy" several times and just deleted them all and started again.
Google Bookmark Manager is the bookmark manager that Google Chrome should come with.
Not exclusively a Google Chrome extension, but it works in Google Chrome just fine.
Pocket is a place for you to put articles, videos or pretty much anything you want to later refer back to. Pocket an article or tweet on one device and it's instantly available across all your devices.
So much more than a password manager! On top of keeping your passwords safe and secure (and generating new ones for you to prevent reuse) Blur is also a privacy manager as well as a secure payments tool.
To go along with a URL shortener, you also need a URL unshortener!
Shortened links can be hiding anywhere. With the Unshorten Chrome extension, any shortened link (such as bit.ly or t.co) you click on will be automatically expanded and analyzed for malware giving you a clear view of where the link is taking you. Unshorten will also automatically remove known tracking cookies from the URL.
View and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files -- without needing Office installed on your computer.
Once the extension is installed, Office files that you drag into Chrome, open in Gmail, Google Drive, and more, will be opened in Docs, Sheets, and Slides for viewing and editing.
Found a webpage, image, or quote that you want to save for later? With the Google Keep Chrome Extension, easily save the things you care about to Keep and have them synced across all of the platforms that you use -- including web, Android, iOS, and Wear.
LastPass is an award-winning password manager that saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. Very secure, and very easy to sue
PanicButton makes it easier for you to hide all of your tabs at once just by clicking on a button. They are then saved as bookmarks in a separate folder. Afterwards, the PanicButton turns green and shows you how many tabs are currently hidden.
Disconnect Search is a service that uses a specialized VPN to allow you to search privately using your favorite search engine. The reason to use this is that they claim they don't log searches, IP addresses, or any other personal info.
Disconnected Search is available as an extension and a web service.
TabCloud allows you to save any window session and restore it at a later date or on another computer. This allows you to sync open tabs between multiple computers.
This Chrome extension lets you quickly and easily create your own home page. Forget about having numerous memory-hungry tabs open in your browser. Now you can do it all from your custom dashboard.
IE Tab exactly emulates IE by using the IE rendering engine directly within Chrome. This will enable you to use ActiveX controls and test your web pages with different versions of IE.
Ghostery is an extension that reveals "invisible" web, which consists of trackers, web bugs, pixels, and beacons placed on web pages by Facebook, Google, and over 500 other ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers - all companies interested in your activity.
Find out - and more importantly, control - who is tracking your browsing.
This extension allows you to enforce a 25 minute period of distraction-free work by blocking a whole host of time wasting websites (the list is customisable). As a reward, you get 5 minutes to blow on the websites of your choice before going back to work.
Like Ghostery, Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking what pages you look at on the web. If it detects that an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger will automatically block that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser.
Need a VPN to secure your browser connection? AnchorFree has a tool called Hotspot Shield that's not only free to use, but is ad-free and totally unlimited. I've been using it here for some time now and it does what is says it does, and has been totally reliable.
A sleek to-do app keeps you organized, focused, and more productive. The perfect to-do productivity app is there wherever you need it: on Google Chrome, mobile device, desktop, browser, Gmail, and more.
Project Naptha automatically applies state-of-the-art computer vision algorithms to every image your browser loads while browsing the web. The result is a seamless and intuitive experience, where you can highlight as well as copy and paste and even edit and translate the text formerly trapped within an image.
The web is an infinite source of distraction. StayFocusd does what is says on the tin - helps you to stay focused on the task in hand by blocking your favorite internet time-suck websites and services.
This extension allows your browser to monitor web pages for changes automatically. It can inform you whenever a particular page changes without you having to go and check every time, and it can even show you what the differences are.
I have a long list of websites that I keep an eye on using this tool, and so far it has worked flawlessly.
Make Google services such as Gmail a lot easier to use by removing much of the toolbar and navigation clutter. Be warned though that for the advanced features you need to be good with CSS.
Password protect your Gmail emails with this simple extension. Is it a 100% guaranteed bulletproof solution? I doubt it, but for stuff you just want to keep away from prying eyes, it's ideal.
The free spell checker and grammar checker by Grammarly helps you write clearly and confidently on Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, and nearly anywhere else on the Web.
With Grammarly, you can always be sure that your words are mistake-free and say what you mean.
If you're anything like me than you constantly have dozens of browser tabs open at any one time. And mostly you keep them open to remind you of something, not because you're using them at that time.
The Great Suspender will automagically unload each tab while retaining its favicon and title text. A tab can be restored by clicking anywhere on the page when it is needed.
Social Fixer enhances your Facebook experience and makes the site easier to use by adding a ton of great functionality. One of its most useful features is allowing you to filter out junk (might be just what you need to get rid of all those political posts swamping your feed right now).
Everyone likes emojis, right? Well, OK, maybe not, but if you do here's a quick and simple way to corral them and get 1-click copy and paste, or auto-input emoji anywhere in Chrome.
If you are a Google Chrome user and you're not making use of extensions, then you are really missing out. Here is a selection of extensions aimed specifically at boosting your productivity and privacy.
(Updated Nov 2017)
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Session Buddy
Session Buddy is a session manager for your browser that allows you to:
See all open tabs in one place.
Save open tabs and restore them later. Great for freeing up memory and avoiding tab clutter.
Recover open tabs after a browser or system crash.
Organize links by topic and find them when you need them with keyword search.
Easily consolidate link sets and eliminate duplicates.
Export link sets in a variety of text formats for use in email messages, documents, spreadsheets, and online posts.
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