As a content manager for a marketing agency by day and a freelance writer and editor by night, I am constantly looking for online tools to help simplify my job and save time anywhere I can. The Chrome extensions for writers mentioned here help me organize my daily workflow and cut corners where I can.
Content
- 1. Grammarly
- 2. Power Thesaurus
- 3. OneTab
- 4. SEOquake
- 5. Evernote Web Clipper
- 6. Check My Links
- 7. Similar Sites
1. Grammarly
Price: Free with premium option
Grammarly is one of my favorite Chrome extensions for checking grammar and spelling mistakes while writing within the browser. The tool highlights mistakes for you in over 500,000 apps and programs, including Google Docs and WordPress.
Installing the Grammarly extension is a game changer, as it prevents you from toggling between tabs or apps to check spelling, grammar, and syntax. Additionally, the grammar checker provides edit suggestions for tone, clarity, and vocabulary, making it the perfect Chrome extension for writers who offer freelance services or work with multiple clients.
Installing this Chrome extension is easy, but you must first create an account with Grammarly. Once registered, Grammarly automatically integrates with your Chrome browser and displays solutions for spelling and simple grammar mistakes. Some features require a subscription to Grammarly Premium for $12/month.
2. Power Thesaurus
Price: Free with premium option
Do you ever proofread your writing and find yourself unhappy with some of the language you use? If so, Power Thesaurus is a great Chrome extension to improve your writing style!
Once you install the Power Thesaurus extension, you can easily find synonyms or antonyms for words anywhere in a Chrome tab. Highlight the word you wish to replace, then click the Power Thesaurus logo to access its definition, a list of synonyms, and a list of antonyms. If you don’t see anything you like initially, click “view all” to open a new tab with more options.
The free version works well, but writers who pay $2.49 per month can unlock additional features with this Chrome extension to improve their vocabulary even more. Do note that the extension doesn’t work with all websites, notably WordPress.
3. OneTab
Price: Free
OneTab is a simple Chrome extension that saves selected tabs for later use. This extension is particularly useful when doing research in your web browser.
OneTab helps you organize all your tabs into groups. You can also use OneTab to restore tabs after you have closed or exported them or shared them as a webpage. These features let you collaborate with coworkers or clients, prevent you from opening too many tabs at once, and ensure you don’t lose valuable research data.
Keep in mind OneTab will close all your tabs if you try to use certain features (like Import/Export), so make sure any documents you are working on are saved and backed up prior to using these features. Also, because OneTab tracks previous browsing sessions, individuals using the same device could keep tabs on your browsing history.
4. SEOquake
Price: Free
SEO tools are a necessary part of the workflow for those who work exclusively in web content and blogging. Thankfully, SEOquake is a free Chrome extension for writers that makes it easy to evaluate webpages from an SEO standpoint.
Personally, I use SEOQuake on a daily basis, and it’s a must-have for anyone who regularly performs competitor analysis. The tool provides comprehensive data about any webpage’s word count, keyword prominence, linking, and more. Simply type in a URL, click on the SEOquake extension at the top of your Chrome browser, and begin reading through the data you want.
There are sometimes pitfalls with this Chrome extension for writers, as it sometimes pulls extraneous data, dependent on how the website is set up. For instance, it may pull words from social media feeds or a menu instead of purely looking at the words on the page. That small issue aside, it’s a great way to check out the competition or gain insights on your own content.
5. Evernote Web Clipper
Price: Free with premium option
Evernote Web Clipper is an official extension from the Evernote app to help you quickly clip web pages, articles, and other online data to save for later use. The app even lets you screen capture full pages or just portions of websites you want to save, to streamline your reading for later.
When you open the extension, you’ll have the option to save a page or article, take a screenshot, save a bookmark, or multi-select parts of a page. This allows you to access your saved clips in the Evernote app or on Evernote for the web.
Like Grammarly, the Evernote Chrome extension requires a registered account to use. Once signed in, you can open the extension to save any data from a site you want. Then, access the clip later, instantly share it with colleagues, and more. You can also add tags and comments or attach the web clip to a task.
6. Check My Links
Price: Free
When editing web pages with lots of links, checking these manually can take hours or even days. However, there is a Chrome extension that writers can use to cut this time down exponentially: Check My Links.
Using Check My Links is easy: just download the extension, then open the web page with links you want to check. Once it loads, click on the Check My Links logo in your toolbar. The extension quickly finds all the links on the selected page and checks each one. It highlights working links in one color and broken links in another, making scanning the page and replacing broken links in minutes easy.
Once the Chrome extension finishes running, replace links as needed or download a list of bad links to review before proceeding. Either way, you’ve saved hours and avoided publishing content with outdated, broken links.
7. Similar Sites
Price: Free
Similar Sites is a Google Chrome extension that can help writers in their research for content. As the name implies, the tool provides pages that are similar to the ones you pull up while using the extension.
To use Similar Sites, just click on the extension while you are on any webpage, and it will show you a list of similar pages for that same topic. This tool is a great way to collect statistics and data, perform research, or find competitors with pages or posts similar to your own.
Save Time, Write Better
When you spend hours researching and writing each day, you need hacks like these Chrome extensions for writers to save time and energy. If you are looking for more helpful tools for writers, I recommend using ChatGPT or other AI tools ethically. Or, consider saving time and effort in nearly every aspect of your life with voice assistants.
Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Megan Glosson.
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Megan Glosson –
Staff Writer
Megan Glosson is a freelance technology writer based in Nashville, TN. She has extensive experience working with everything from printers to smart home systems, and serves as the go-to “tech guru” for a small business that sells digital products. Megan has created thousands of articles for online publications and company blogs, including How-To Geek, Clean Email, and Review Geek. When she’s not writing, you will probably find Megan playing board games with her partner and two children or swimming in the pool. You can check out Megan’s entire portfolio on her website, https://www.meganglosson.com/.
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