Extensions I Can’t Live Without (plus some others)

Posted on Posted in Posts Tagged with

I’m always looking for ways to make my work just a bit easier.  Is there a way to add new records to Zotero automatically?  Does my public library (or any of its related consortial systems) have this book in audio?  Can I make the PDF of this page look less cluttered? 

Fortunately, I can solve all of these problems (and more) with browser extensions.  With a click of a button, I can add great tools in mere seconds.  Some of these may look familiar from Mari Cheney’s excellent extensions round-up from 2018, but with new features.  Others are brand new (or at least new since 2018).

These are the extensions I can’t live without

  • Zotero Connector (Chrome, Firefox) – Click the extension icon and Zotero will save whatever page you are on to your most recent library (or you can change libraries when you save).   Zotero collects whatever metadata the connector can find, adding that information to the record automatically (thus saving hours of work copying and pasting).   In addition to files for research, I also use the connector to save articles and posts to my “Read these” library so I can get back to them later.  Zotoro can save nearly everything from your browser – except PDFs if the Adobe extension is on.  Fortunately, most PDFs have landing pages, which is a better option in any case.
  • Adobe (Chrome, Edge) – Edit or mark up PDFs in your browser.  This can be very convenient for quick edits and updates.
  • Print-Friendly (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)  – Don’t want all of those extraneous links and images when you download a webpage as PDF?  Print-Friendly lets you decide which text and images to keep, creating a much cleaner PDF. 
  • One Click Extensions Manager (Chrome, Edge) – Don’t need an extension on for now? Turn it off instantly with one click (as it were).
  • 1Password (Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) – Instantly access passwords in any browser – passwords protected by the 1Password secure password app.  
  • Library Extension (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) –I love audiobooks, and I especially love free audiobooks from the library. Thanks to my local consortia, I have access to Hoopla and eight different Libby libraries.  That’s great in that I have a wide selection; not so great in needing to search different catalogs to find what I want.  Thanks to this extension, when I’m on a book’s webpage (e.g. on Amazon), I can instantly find out if I have library access. I can see which libraries offer the book in audio, how many copies the library has, whether the book is in Libby or Hoopla, and if the book is currently available for checkout. 

These are useful, too 

  • Lean Library (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari) – Can I access this article through my work library? No need to hunt through the catalog to find out – Lean Library will let me know! Lean Library connects to our catalog and informs me if an article or book is available, even when I’m not connected to the proxy server or VPN. Note that to use Lean Library, it needs to be enabled by your library.
  • Perma.cc (Chrome, Firefox) – Perma.cc creates permanent records for websites, providing a snapshot of the site as well as a permanent URL. It’s a great tool as it is, and this extension makes it even better, letting you create your Perma.cc record with a single click.
  • OneTab (Chrome)- Do you have hundreds of tabs open?  Dozens of tab groups?  With one click OneTab will save them for later access.  OneTab recently added a few great features (or at least new to me): saving tab groups, naming saved groups, and adding notes to groups. 

Some more random extensions

  • Notion Web Clipper (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) – save websites to your Notion projects.
  • Reader View (Chrome) – Declutters websites to make reading articles and posts easier.
  • Recipe Filter (Chrome, Firefox) – Extracts the recipe from all of that extra content.
  • Privacy Badger (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera): EFFs tool to protect users from trackers.

 Important caveat!

Extensions can certainly make life easier – but some come with a cost.  Extensions sometimes require extensive permissions to function, which also raises commensurate privacy issues (be sure to check to see if an extension’s privacy policy works for you).  For some extensions, an open-source alternative may be available.  For example, TheTab.Ninja (Chrome) is a tabs/tab groups manager similar to OneTab.  However, TheTab.Ninja is open-source, available on GitHub, and backs up saved tabs into the user’s personal GitHub space, providing additional privacy and security options.

About

Manager of Emerging Technology Initiatives, Harvard Law School