Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Everyone — with the exception of old people still clinging to their AOL addresses decades after their 500 free hours have expired — uses Gmail. At this point, it’s almost a byword for email, with individuals and workplaces embracing it enthusiastically.

That’s because it’s really good, and offers a bunch of welcome features that allow you to bring sense to your inbox.

Here’s a great example. Did you know that Gmail ignores pretty much everything in the address after a plus sign (excluding the @gmail.com bit, obviously)?

So, let’s imagine your email is totallyfakeemail@gmail.com.  Emails sent to totallyfakeemail+social@gmail.com and totallyfakeemail+shopping@gmail.com will both be delivered.

So, why would you use this?...

Need to unsend an email or attachment? We’ve all been there. Criptext lets you recall any message you send through its service with just a click.

Available for Gmail as an extension for Chrome and Safari, Criptext encrypts your outgoing mail and shows you when it was opened. It converts your email text into an image only when it’s opened, so it can’t be scanned by bots. You can recall a message at any time or set it to self-destruct after a specified time.

Google makes the Chrome browser and Google makes Gmail. Naturally, the Chrome Web Store has some excellent extensions to improve your Gmail experience. But it also has several that you don’t need. Let’s sift the gems from the mud.

Note: The extensions in this list work only with Gmail. If you prefer the time-saving Inbox by Gmail, there are separate extensions for that.

Inbox by Gmail is Google's most recent approach to email organization and management. It can give you a simpler email workflow. Find out if Inbox by Gmail can be the better choice for you.

ActiveInbox: Send Mails Later and Manage Email Tasks

If you’re a Gmail power user, this is the best extension you can install. But be warned, ActiveInbox is free for a one month trial, after which it costs $50 per year....