Best Browser Extensions to Maximize Your Productivity

Todoist is basically a to-do list on steroids, and while it’s certainly not the only extension of its kind, it’s easily one of the most popular options for folks looking to better organize their time. The extension lets you create and manage tasks and projects for yourself, though you can also share them with others, including friends, family, or co-workers.

Momentum doesn’t mess around. And it doesn’t let you mess around, either. Right when your browser’s start page opens, Momentum hits you with the message: “Good morning, what is your main focus for today?” This prompts you to immediately consider what’s most important for you to get done that day.

BlockSite promises to help you “stop procrastination once and for all.” If you’re a skilled time waster and BlockSite’s lofty claim elicits a self-satisfied snicker, then take note — the huge popularity of BlockSite suggests it may well help you out. Setup includes adding websites to your block list so that BlockSite knows when to step in to stop you from straying from important tasks.

Noisli is a neat little extension that uses sound to create a pleasant environment, whether you’re working, studying, or simply trying to relax. The audio tracks are drawn mostly from nature and include birdsong, falling leaves, rainfall, wind, and waves. Other options include a whirring fan, coffee shop chatter, and the gentle hum of a train ride.

Workona is a more feature-rich version of OneTab that may better suit some users. This powerful tool endeavors to lower your stress levels by helping you organize and manage your work on the web. Workona offers a suite of features, including workspaces that let you keep a group of related tabs inside a single folder for easy access. You can create multiple workspaces for multiple projects, and switch between each one in a single click. When you select a workspace, all of the tabs that it contains will appear at the top of the browser. The extension autosaves these tabs, too, so you never have to worry about losing them.

Pocket is a popular read-it-later service that can help enthusiastic procrastinators focus on the task in hand. Say you’re researching a topic online and you get distracted by other articles that threaten to take you down a rabbit hole. To stay on task, you can simply send them to Pocket and read them at a more convenient time on any synced device.

If Pocket helps you to avoid a massive diversion from the job at hand, then you’ll have more time to deal with articles that you do need to read. However, the articles may be surrounded by all kinds of distractions, potentially causing both your mind and eyes to wander where they shouldn’t. That’s where Mercury Reader comes in.

Endless surveys suggest that people are still using ridiculously simple passwords for their online accounts, or the same password for multiple ones. Both methods risk a whole lot of bother down the road, so why not just use a password manager instead? They make the business of organizing and managing your online accounts so much easier, and mean you no longer have to remember gazillions of passwords or risk your online security by writing them all down.

Now, if you find yourself loading up lots of browser extensions, there may be a time when a website’s performance is impacted by one or more of them, preventing a page from behaving as it should. When this happens, you’ll want to temporarily switch off different extensions until you find the culprit. On the Chrome browser, for example, this is a somewhat cumbersome process involving multiple steps. But with the Extensity, you can turn extensions on and off in two quick clicks.