This week we will continue examining Chrome Extensions. They will all be related to one item…Google. Since I have gotten emails thanking me for this series of articles I have bad news for those who liked it, we only have one more to go after this one. For those of you that were bored that could be good news.
Google Docs, Google Keep, Google Sheets and Google Slides are the group of extensions we will look at first. Here I must be honest – they are not that helpful to me. Basically, they allow you to add a desktop icon to your desktop or menu item and when clicked they will open up the particular app. I have found the same thing can work by creating a shortcut in your browser for any of them that do the same thing. So I cannot whole heartedly recommend them.
Google Docs Offline is a good workable extension. It will allow you to open, edit, review and save Google files while you are not online; hence the name. If you create or edit a document while offline the next time you get back online, they will sync up and your new/edited files will be put on Google Drive in the cloud. Using this extension, you will always have the latest copy while online or off. This is a neat feature and one that I do recommend.
Next is Google Voice which in my opinion is one of the best applications supplied by Google second only to Google Search itself. I use this extension often. It does take a bit of setup so I suggest you go here, support.google.com/voice, and get instructions.
There are many features of Google Voice (GV for short). First it gives you a free phone number for GV use. You match it to your phone and the fun begins. One great feature is that it allows you to read any voicemails you receive on GV. Yes, Google translates it, almost immediately, into an email and sends it to your Gmail account. The translation is not always perfect but it is usually very close.
It will also allow you to text from your computer and/or mobile phone. Another neat trick is that you can personalize your voicemail greetings. You may have separate ones for individuals or groups in your Google Contacts as well as a different one for strangers.
It offers good protection from spam calls which I mentioned several weeks ago. Another of my favorites is that you can use several phones for the account. This means that you could take the original call on your cell, go into your home and continue the call on your landline, or office phone, or spouses phone and on-and-on.
One last feature about the app before I finally get to the extension. It will let you to listen to people leaving you a voice message. You can listen without them hearing you and decide if you would like to interrupt and speak with them or let them go straight through to voice mail.
The extension allows you to see a list of calls received, text other phones, go to your inbox for GV or change options. I use my GV number for all incoming calls. In my greeting I tell everyone that if you do not leave a message I will block your number and no longer receive calls from them. That way if I get a hang up or a message that I am under investigation by the IRS (which is happening way to often now that people are scamming phone numbers) I block and delete the offending number with GV. It is a bit of a cumbersome process which I hope Google simplifies soon but it works great.
