The 5 Best Chrome Extensions You Never Knew You Needed—Until Now

1 | Instapaper

I save a lot of articles. I come across quite a few every day while I’m doing my daily tasks at work, but I don’t have the time to stop what I’m doing and read each and every one. So, what to do? I save them for later with Instapaper.

Instapaper is one of the simplest, yet most useful, Chrome extensions out there. Once installed, all it is is a small “I” on your Extensions Bar, but when you find something you’d like to save for later, all you need do is click the icon once and it automatically saves the entire offline version of the article to your Instapaper account—which also has a great mobile app.

**The best part? **Since the app is built around offline use cases, even if you’re stuck on the F train or in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way home, you can still enjoy your previously saved articles without any internet connection.

Instapaper*Instapaper browser extension to save links for offline reading.*chrome.google.com

2 | ColorZilla

This one is a lifesaver for graphic designers and creators alike.

Want to know the exact color of that particular brand’s website? Or maybe you’re trying to match your font color to the dark blue of the ocean from a photo you came across online.

ColorZilla’s got you covered.

What the extension allows you to do is essentially use an eyedropper tool on any webpage to find out the exact Hex color code for any part of the page.

I use this a lot at FirstMark to make sure that when I post about the companies in our Firstmark family that I’m always using their actual brand colors from their websites. I’ve also used this in my personal work to ensure color consistency when I’m building my own website.

ColorZillaAdvanced Eyedropper, Color Picker, Gradient Generator and other colorful goodieschrome.google.com

3 | Boomerang

This is an oldie, but a goodie.

Simply put, Boomerang allows you to schedule emails in Gmail. Say you love to tackle your inbox late at night, but your coworkers aren’t exactly thrilled about the 11:59pm emails they keep receiving from you. With Boomerang, you can schedule those emails to send the next morning via Boomerang. All you do is press “Send with Boomerang” and it loads them into the “Boomerang Outbox.” You can also adjust the send schedule up until the time you’ve set.

Bonus: You can also use the extension to “boomerang” or bubble up threads back to the top of your inbox at a future time of your choice. This was especially useful before Gmail’s new ‘nudge’ system—but it still comes in handy.

For example, say Joe Shmoe sent you an email earlier in the week and you told him you’d circle back up with him by end of the week. By using Boomerang, you can set that thread to reappear at the top of your inbox.

Boomerang for Gmail*The ultimate email productivity tool. Send later, track responses, and use AI to write better emails.*chrome.google.com

4 | Grammarly

If you’re not a self-policing your grammar these days, can you really call yourself a child of the internet?

Grammarly is a super simple extension that, even as I type out this sentence, is spell-checking and grammar-checking my work. Once installed, it pretty much has you covered across the internet. Missing a letter in a tweet? Not anymore. How about that Oxford comma you keep forgetting? Nuh uh, not in this browser.

I just use the free version, but I have heard great things about the freemium version as well.

Grammarly for Chrome*Enhance your written communication everywhere you type!*chrome.google.com

5 | Dashlane

Finally, I have to give a shoutout to a FirstMark-family company, Dashlane. (Full disclosure, FirstMark is an investor in Dashlane, but I was not paid by my company nor Dashlane to include them in this list).

If you’re unfamiliar with the product, Dashlane is a best-in-class digital identity manager. They handle all of your passwords, across every device, works seamlessly with Face ID, etc. etc. etc. They also have a nifty digital identity scorecard of sorts where you can see how many redundant passwords you use and easily swap out those old “password123” ones for much more secure alternatives.

The best part is that their Chrome extension, once enabled, automatically fills in not only all of those pesky Username/Password combinations you’re always forgetting, but also it can keep track of addresses, payment information, and more so in a way your online shopping addiction just got a whole lot easier.

Don’t blame me…

Dashlane - Password Manager*Never Forget Another Password. Store them securely as you browse. Autofill them and log in instantly to your favorite…*chrome.google.com

Bonus | Color Tab

One of my idiosyncratic obsessions is with properly balanced color palettes. I get easily bored by the standard combinations we see in Powerpoint templates and Excel spreadsheets—enough with the Red, Yellow, Green already!

Color Tab is an extension that once enabled turns every new tab you open into a unique color palette, complete with Hex codes for you to save for your projects (example below).

Color Tab*A Beautiful Color Palette With Every New Tab!*chrome.google.comI hope you found these six Chrome extensions useful and let me know what your favorite ones are by posting a comment below or tweeting at me here.

To reiterate, I was not paid by any of the extensions above to include them in this list—I simply love these tools and wanted to share them with my audience—you!

Cover image by OMGChrome.com