Every second you save when responding to time-sensitive emails could mean the difference between feeling accomplished or feeling defeated. Logging into your account and having to open a separate tab waste valuable time you can’t afford to lose.
Checker Plus is a Chrome extension made to give you up-to-date notifications on your most important emails.
What is Checker Plus
Jason Savard is the maker behind the plugin extension Checker Plus. He has created a one-of-a-kind email notifier with few competitors able to match the features included.
Checker Plus is a Chrome extension that lets you manage all your Gmail accounts with one click.
The best part is that the extension matches your Gmail inbox interface incredibly well so that you can hardly tell the difference between the two. You get sound notifications anytime a new email comes in with a number display.
The unique features that Checker Plus has included in the extension separate itself from your actual inbox and make it worth considering as one of the best Gmail extensions available.
Features of Checker Plus
More than just a notification system, Checker Plus has been developed for people who need innovative technology to help them manage their inboxes while working on other projects.
Hear Your Emails
When you open any email inside Checker Plus, you have a series of extra options not typically found in your Gmail settings.
One of its more unique features is being able to hear part of your email without needing to look or read it.
Clicking on the Hear Email option starts a computer voice that will automatically read part of your email to give you an idea of the content inside so you can decide to respond immediately or check at a later time.
Managing All Gmail Accounts
Checker Plus automatically pulls all the Gmail accounts that you are associated with and has them collected in one area inside the extension.
Once you click the extension, you’ll see on the left-hand side all your different accounts, and you can easily see your emails for each account by clicking on the icons.
You can also scroll down your feed to see your new emails in different accounts, one after the other in front of you.
With this method of logging in to Gmail, you never have to switch accounts because your inbox only displays one account at a time. It’s easy to manage multiple Gmail accounts this way.
Voice Reply To Emails
By right-clicking the Checker Plus logo and clicking on options, you will view the dashboard with additional settings.
In the Voice Input tab, you can check the box available to enable voice reply for any of your emails.
Once you head back to the extension and click to compose a new email, you’ll notice a microphone option at the bottom.
You can use this microphone to voice your email’s contents rather than type them, saving you time and effort.
Anything Gmail Can Do
Most of your Gmail inbox features are also available in Checker Plus, including the ability to send emails, add labels, archive, delete, mark as unread, move to different folders, and delete.
You can even add emails to your calendar for important messages or open the emails in your regular Gmail inbox.
The tool is a simple email notifier, so you cannot access past folders to find old messages. However, the tool lets you add these folders in the additional settings section.
The icon in your browser has the number of unread emails imposed onto the icon. You can hover your mouse over the icon, and it will show a preview of the text for each new email.
This makes it easy to decide if you want to take action or leave the email to deal with later.
More Customization Options
The Checker Plus dashboard offers a variety of customization options that could enhance the user experience.
You can change all the notifications you receive, including the sound and colors. You can also schedule a do not disturb feature that will not notify you when enabled.
Its do not disturb feature can connect to your Google Calendar as well for remaining private during special events.
Checker Plus allows you to choose which Gmail account you want to display, as well as which categories and folders you have in those accounts.
There is even a list of keyboard shortcuts that make using the app even more efficient, and you can create a list of your own custom shortcuts.
Pros and Cons of Checker Plus
There isn’t a more efficient way to check your Gmail inbox than Checker Plus, and you get to see all your Gmail accounts in one place.
You have a couple of different ways to preview the content inside the email without having to open it, including rolling over the icon and having the content read to you by a computer voice.
Managing your emails is easy because Checker Plus uses most of the features that your Gmail inbox includes. So there is little need to go through a separate tab to check emails.
A disadvantage of the extension is that one person is essentially responsible for updating and managing it. Consequently, there can be errors when using it, and certain features don’t always work.
Furthermore, the extension doesn’t have much information on using it, so if you get stuck or have a question, you have to ask in the Chrome Web Store comment section, and the creator does not reply to new messages.
Consider also how much time a notifier would take away from your day or current tasks. If you need your inbox monitored for important emails, this is one way to go. Otherwise, you might have to spend too much time on it.
Do You Need Checker Plus?
Checker Plus is an extension ideal for managing your everyday Gmail accounts and emails, which are time-sensitive. But if your emails can wait and you don’t like being distracted, Checker Plus could be more of a nuisance than a benefit.