Gmail user? There is a good new for you. You can now install add-ons to enhance your Gmail functionalities? The feature was launched in October of 2017.
Gmail add-ons are different stuff to Gmail extensions. If you are talking about Gmail extension, you are basically talking about a browser extension. Gmail add-ons work on your Gmail account instead of browser. You can install it from your Gmail dashboard. At the time of writing, Gmail add-ons work on Gmail web and Gmail for Android. You only need to install them once and you will be able to use them on all of your devices.
In the meantime, the available add-ons is still in a very small number. Google has only added business-facing add-ons. If you are a user of such services as Asana, Trello and Wrike, you can directly turn an email into a task directly from your Gmail dashboard without needing to switch to another app. With more (should be) add-ons are coming, you will be able to do more with your Gmail account to streamline your job.
Installing a Gmail add-on
Before installing ones, you can check what are the available Gmail add-ons. Just sign-in with your Gmail account and click the Settings menu (gear icon) and select Get add-ons. A new window will appear. You can see the available add-ons on this window.
To install an add-on, simply click the add-on of the service you want to install and you will be seeing an install button on the add-on page.
Managing add-ons
When you have install a number of Gmail add-ons and want to stop using one of them, simply remove it from your Gmail account. Removing Gmail add-ons require more steps than installing. First off, you need to go to the settings menu by selecting the Settings option.
On the Settings page, you can select the Add-ons tab. Here, you will see the add-ons you have installed.
To remove an add-on, click the Manage link available on each item of the installed add-ons list.
Next, click the three-dot icon on the add-on you want to remove and select click Remove.
If you use the custom domain of Gmail, you will need to go the Admin Console to manage the Gmail add-ons. Only admin can manage the add-ons. So, you can ask your G Suite admin to request to remove the unnecessary add-ons.
Conclusion
Add-ons is the new feature of Gmail. They are intended to enhance the functionalities of Gmail to enable you getting more things done faster right from the Gmail dashboard without going nowhere. Currently, the available add-ons is in a very small number since Google seems hasn’t widely opened the feature for common developers. In the meantime, Google has only added business-facing add-ons.