Yes, you spend a lot of time on the internet every day. And yes, you have a browser of choice. (Personally, I’m Chrome for life.) But did you know that your browser can do a lot more than just serve as the middleman between you and Google. In fact, it can actually be a handy tool for keeping you more organized. All you need to make that happen are a few handy little programs called extensions.
Extensions are small applications that add more functions to your browser. They’re easy to use, they’re almost always free, and they install with just one click. Thousands of extensions are available—but these six are a great way to start getting your digital life together.
1. Speed Dial 2
Stop wasting time searching for the links you use the most. Get Speed Dial 2 and organize your high-priority sites on one page so that you can access them quickly and easily.
You can customize your Speed Dial 2 directory so that your frequently visited pages and bookmarks are arranged just the way you like, and you can even style it with a look that fits your taste. Plus, you can sync your list with your phone or tablet.
And, as a bonus, you find out when and how often you visit each site—which might explain why you’re not as productive as you think.
For Firefox try Speed Dial. And for Safari, check out start.me.
2. Better History
Better History also helps you locate information about sites you frequent, but its focus is helping you sort through your digital history with clear navigation and powerful search.
Better History organizes all the links you’ve visited both chronologically and by domain—and it has an easy-to-use date and time picker if you’re on the hunt for a specific link. In addition, it lets you monitor the number of visits you make to each URL.
And now, Better History also makes it possible to delete history link-by-link or hour-by-hour—not that you’re doing anything sketchy and would need that, but just in case.
For Firefox try Norwell History Tools. And for Safari, check out Fetching.io.
3. Voice Clock
Of course your computer already has a clock so you can simply check the time, but the Voice Clock extension turns your clock into a tool to keep you on track throughout the day.
With Voice Clock, you choose the half-hour or one-hour intervals when you need an alert. And then, at alert time, a human(ish) voice will tell you what you need to hear. So, you can pump yourself up with a motivational “Go get ’em” in the morning and calm yourself down before your dentist appointment with “Think happy thoughts.”
For Firefox, take a look at ReminderFox.
4. Organizely
Instead of letting unneeded downloads and attachments pile up on your desktop, or losing important ones in an obscure folder, keep your files nice and neat with Organizely—an extension that processes new files automatically.
With Organizely, you set rules for each website and file type you usually download. Then, every time you get a file from that online source, it’s instantly added to the folder you’ve chosen. Or, if there are downloads you only need temporarily, you can set Organizely to automatically delete them after 24 hours so you don’t have to do any clean-up ever.
For Firefox, try Modern Download Manager.
5. Annopad
The internet might hold most of the world’s information nowadays, but where can you put your thoughts about it all? Annopad is the solution if you need to take any notes.
Just open Annopad from the toolbar icon, click “New,” and start writing. Your notes will be filed by web page and website. Good news—your information doesn’t have to stay in the Annopad extension. You can export it as a text file or a PDF that so you can share it or use it in other programs.
For Firefox look up FloatNotes. And for Safari, Mydex Browser Extension.
6. Extensity
Now that you’ve got all these useful extensions, of course you need an extension to organize your extensions. As silly as that might sound, a tool like Extensity is surprisingly useful if you have even a few extensions.
You can turn each one on and off by just clicking its icon in the Extensity extension. Why would you need to turn them off? Well, similar to how apps suck your phone’s battery, any open extensions are slowing down your browser.
For Firefox, look up Addons Manager Hilite.
You do plenty of work on the web, so why not put it to work for you? Download a few of these browser extensions, and your online life can be organized with just a click or two.