In spite of numerous efforts, emails still exist and are thriving more than ever. But their fundamental shortcomings have remained the same. It's still relatively easy for your Gmail inbox to get clogged up with spam. Inbox zero is still a dream for many, you still treat your email as a free commodity and give it everytime a website demands a new account. You get the idea.

Thankfully, third-party Gmail plugins have come a long way in the meantime. Here are nine best Google Chrome extensions for all your emailing needs.

1. FlowCrypt

FlowCrypt Google Chrome Extension

There are myriad aspects of your digital life which deserve better security and emails undoubtedly is one of them.

FlowCrypt is a free extension which lets you send encrypted emails to anyone on Gmail or Google Inbox (RIP). Once you've linked your account, the extension asks you to set a custom passphrase and only if the recipient knows that, it can read the message. If the person at the receiving end doesn't have FlowCrypt or any other encryption platform, you can even set a one-time password for the email.

Your attachments are also secured by the extension. For a monthly fee, you can compose self-destructing emails, send files larger than 25MB, and more.

Download: FlowCrypt (Free, premium subscription available)

2. Burner Emails

Burner Emails Google Chrome Extension

Remember that time when a website asked you to create an account for accessing some information and your inbox ended up being swamped with promotional emails? Well, you don't have to give out your personal email in those scenarios. It's time for you to get used to disposable emails.

Try Burner Emails, a Chrome extension which lets you easily produce and manage new temporary emails. Whenever you come across an email form field, you can simply hit the Burner Email icon, enter the new disposable address, and view the content.

Of course, if the website requires you to verify it, there's a solution for that too. You can have the tool forward emails to your personal email and disable the link as soon as you're done. It is ingenious and the type of plugin every internet user needs today.

Download: Burner Emails (Free)

3. Hunter

Hunter Google Chrome Extension

Ever scrounged a website for emails? Next time, let Hunter do it for you.

The free extension is capable of going through websites and sift through the email addresses available on its several pages. You can search a specific keyword from its omnibar menu and browse by category too. Hunter also allows you to save leads and revisit them all later from a central dashboard.

The free version maxes out at a thousand requests and for more, you will have to pay.

Download: Hunter (Free, premium subscription available)

4. Hiver

If you're someone who handles multiple company mailboxes for purposes such as sales or support, you should check out Hiver.

The extension comes with the ability to integrate mailboxes so that you don't have to constantly juggle between them. You can manage them from the same place. Also, you can assign these mailboxes to your colleagues and monitor their activities.

There are a bunch of more features Hiver offers including a snooze option, templates, and more.

Download: Hiver (Free)

5. Rebump

Rebump Google Chrome Extension

Rebump is another clever extension which automates one of the most annoying aspects of emails: the follow-ups. The plugin sends a follow-up response every few days if you don't get a reply. You can tweak the messages and their timelines of when they should be dispatched as well.

There's also an option to track emails' progress, check whether the recipient has read the follow-ups and more. Rebump is free for the first thirty days and at least five dollars a month after that.

If you need help setting up your follow-up timeline, here's how to master the art of follow-up and networking. 

Download: Rebump (Free, premium subscription available)

6. Email This

Can't escape the email vortex but still want to catch up on articles? The Email This is the productivity aid you need for your inbox.

This one lets you email articles and links from around the web to your inbox. The extension also gets rid of every distracting elements such as embedded links or advertisements so that you can quickly go through the clean copy.

There's no sign-up or access required. If you opt for the premium subscription, you can also label these links, receive them as attachments, and more.

Download: Email This (Free, premium subscription available)

7. Mailtrack

Mailtrack Google Chrome Extension

Mailtrack, as the name suggests, allows you to track your emails whether you're on your phone or desktop. The extension lets you know when the email was read, how many times it was opened, and which platform was the recipient on.

Mailtrack can even notify you as soon as the email is read. Mailtrack is mostly free but you can pay extra to access a few premium features such as the ability to disable Mailtrack signature, daily reports, and more.

Download: Mailtrack (Free, premium subscription available)

8. Email Monster

Email Monster Google Chrome Extension

Email Monster offers free templates and layouts for designing personalized emails. There are a plethora of options to choose from whether you'd like to send an invoice or create a party invitation. The interface is fairly straightforward too and even allows you to easily customize the designs.

Download: Email Monster (Free)

9. Sortd

Sortd Google Chrome Extension

Watching your list of unread emails pile up every second can be distressing. But what if you could turn in Trello-like lists? Still quite distressing. But in the latter's case, at least you will have better organizational tools. Therefore, take a look at Sortd.

Sortd turns your mailbox into a multi-list layout where you can simply drag and down emails into specific lists like Marketing, Personal, and respond to them with a better plan in place. From there, you can set reminders, notes, and prioritize each of them so you don't end up missing the ones which are important.

Download: Sortd (Free)

Master Your Gmail Inbox

Our email habits can help us start off the day well or turn it into a bumpy few minutes. So it pays to pay attention to the right extensions that tame the information overload. Now that you've learned about every essential Chrome extension for emails, here are a dozen tips and tools for mastering the Gmail inbox.