Google has finally decided to increase the fluidity of workflow in its Gmail application and web service through the introduction of add-ons for Gmail, following news from earlier this year that suggested support was on the way. What that means is that users can now get to work directly in their email without having to navigate between multiple pages or applications. Several add-ons can already be found and installed via the G Suite Marketplace through the button below. The most useful aspect of the new add-ons is probably that they allow for certain tasks to be undertaken while staying in Gmail so that the information inside emails themselves can be accessed at the same time. They also tie directly into popular services that are already in use by many businesses, such as Wrike, Trello, or Intuit QuickBooks. Best of all, developers with the know-how to do so can create their own add-ons to better suit their own needs or the needs of their organization.
As to the add-ons themselves, there are ten available as of this writing and at least one more planned for release soon. First up is Asana, which can be used to communicate and to create and track tasks between customers, clients, or team members on Asana within Gmail. Trello continues along those same lines, allowing emails to be turned into actionable tasks for completion by the involved team. Wrike takes that further and allows for updates to task details and for comments to be made about tasks that are being undertaken through Wrike task comments. Add-ons from Dialpad and RingCentral, in the meantime, allow for calling or text messaging over the cloud. Streak follows a similar vein and can be added for more insight into contact details, in addition to enabling snippets to be taken from a given email and sent directly through Streak. On the other hand, managers and human resources workers can manage candidates and their resumes or job applications without ever leaving Gmail, too, thanks to an add-on called Hire. Invoices can be created and sent out from within Gmail through the Intuit QuickBooks Invoicing add-on. Beyond that, the QuickBooks tool can also be used to track invoice statuses and payments. Continuing along that same vein, Smartsheet is a spreadsheet program that ties directly into the Smartsheet service so that content and attachments can be tied into the sheets directly from emails. Finally, ProsperWorks allows for access to customer data, including log activities from business calls, demos, and meetings. Opportunities, tasks, and events can also be viewed from within Gmail using the add-on for ProsperWorks.
Another add-on, from DocuSign, is also said to be in the works. That will allow for business documents and more to be signed digitally, without having to open up another application to complete the action. As alluded to above, and shown in the images below, any of the add-ons will not only work in the web-version of Google’s email app. They also link across all sign-ins to Gmail with an associated account whether the user is on a computer or an Android device. On mobile, once add-ons have been installed, users simply need to navigate to an email and then scroll to the bottom of the page. Add-ons are displayed in a horizontally-scrollable list along the bottom of individual emails or Gmail conversation threads.
Get it on G Suite Marketplace
