If you have been using Google products for a while, you will know the procedure. They start something with great fanfare, invest a lot of money in it, then turn it off and on.
But some Google products do not compare to the fact that they actually thrive year after year. Google spends so much time and investment on them that you can see that they are serious about making these products the best they can.
One is Gmail, which is now 15 years old, which is a lifespan by Google product standards. It was pretty amazing when it started, but now that add-ons are slowly being introduced, Gmail is getting much better.
Where are the add-ons?
A white plus sign (+) appears at the bottom of the right sidebar of Gmail (after logging in). Clicking on it opens the Google Suite Marketplace with Gmail add-ons in the front and center. You can also click here outside of Gmail.
So far, the choice is limited as Gmail add-ons are a relatively new feature. But despite the limited choice, all Gmail users MUST install the following.
Dropbox
Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud-based storage platform for files, pictures, videos, music, and anything else you can fit into your storage quota. First, you’ll need a free cloud-based Dropbox account, which you can get by clicking here Then install this add-on and connect it to your Dropbox account by entering your credentials.
You will now have a Dropbox icon in a new email window, and you can connect to attachments in your Dropbox account. When people click on an attachment link in an email, it is downloaded to their computer.
This is an ingenious way to get around the annoying 25MB attachment size limit that all email services impose on their users.
Stripe
Font
This is a MUST if you want to track who opens your emails, if you want to send emails at a specific time, or if you want to snooze emails so they come back in your inbox later (although Gmail now has its own snooze feature ).
Streak is actually a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for merchants, but anyone can use snooze, track email openings, and send emails later. Nice to use.
Scale
Zoom in
As Skype is steadily going down the toilet due to poor management by Microsoft, people are looking for alternatives. One of those that is commendable is Zoom
Using the Gmail plugin, you can start video meetings, schedule appointments, and view a list of all your upcoming appointments. Zoom is tuned to overtake Skype in the video conferencing wars.
DocuSign
DocuSign
Paper contracts are fast becoming a thing of the past, but with the proliferation of teleworking, contracts are needed more than ever. Electronic signing of documents is a hot trend now and DocuSign is the industry leader.
With the Gmail add-on, you can quickly and easily open PDF contracts, add an electronic signature, and send the document back.
Big disappointment – Trello
The Great Disappointment – Trello
Trello is a free online project management tool that will suit most people. With this add-on, you can add new Trello project cards from received emails without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. You can also add text from the body of the email to your Trello card.
That everything is good – in theory. Because I couldn’t get this add-on to work! Within a matter of hours, he refused to log into my account. Judging from the comments on this, it looks like you should stay away from that too.
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