The 7 Best Gmail Integrations To Maximize Productivity

Google Mail, or Gmail, is the most popular email platform worldwide, with over 1.8 billion users globally. If you want to break down Gmail usage by daily emails sent on the platform, the numbers become even more staggering — 306.4 billion emails are sent daily with Gmail, making it one of, if not the most, impactful tools in the world.

Why is Gmail so popular? One of the main reasons is because it is free. Creating a Gmail account takes under 60 seconds, and you can be up and running in no time. Another reason Gmail is so popular is because of the suite of Google services that are easy to use in tandem with Gmail, including Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Chat, Google Drive, and more. With a few clicks, you can chat with friends, plan personal or professional events, upload files for sharing, or create easily accessible documents to share with coworkers. 

Another reason Gmail is so popular is because it is accessible across a variety of devices. Using Gmail on your mobile device is simple with the Gmail app, as is using Gmail on your laptop, desktop, or iPad as each platform has its own app that makes usage very straightforward. There are many rich features you can utilize when sending an email. Attaching files of up to 25 MB per email, adding emoticons, bullets, multi-colored text, and scheduling an email to send for later are a few of the reasons there are over 300 billion Gmail messages are sent per day.

Aside from inherent Google integrations, there are thousands of other integrations that you can utilize with Gmail to amplify the experience even more. Why is that important? Another one of Google’s primary selling points is that it integrations and works well with tons of other workplace collaboration tools. By integrating Gmail with the other tools we use daily, this email provider becomes even more essential to our workflow and daily life. Because there are so many integrations, it can be hard to cut through the clutter. But no fear, we’ve rounded up our favorite Gmail integrations that ensure personal and professional success.

1. Hive x Gmail Integration

With Hive’s first-of-its-kind Gmail integration, you can bring your Gmail inbox right into your workplace project management software. Hive is a leading project management tool that used by teams of all sizes at companies including Starbucks, Comcast, Toyota and Google itself.

This integration allows you to access all of your Gmail messages from Hive, send and receive Gmail messages from the app, and enable connectivity between tools. This link between the two tools also allows you to assign next steps in Hive from a Gmail email, which is great for meeting follow ups and tracking next steps. To enable this link between Hive and Gmail, simply visit the Hive App store and toggle “On” the Hive Gmail tile. Then, log into your Gmail account, and watch your inbox be transported seamlessly into Hive.

2. Slack x Gmail

Slack is a workplace chat and collaboration tool that about 12 million people utilize all around the world. The great thing about Slack is that it streamlines all workplace communication into one app, and users can chat with teams, whole organizations, or individuals with a few clicks.

With the Slack and Gmail integration, you can transport an email from Gmail into a Slack channel or direct message. This is helpful when you want to discuss contents of an email with a group of people, instead of just forwarding an email to individuals. This integration is also great for teams working in the customer success space, as you can bring a customer email into your Customer Success Slack channel, and quickly discuss a solution.

To enable this integration, install the Slack for Gmail workspace add-on. From there, open any email and click on the Slack logo on the upper right, then choose the channel or person you’d like the message to be sent to. You can also add an additional message or attachments to the email.

3. Dropbox x Gmail Integration

Dropbox is one of the most popular file-sharing tools on the market, so it makes sense that there would be a hook-in point with Gmail, as people often need to send files to coworkers. With this Dropbox and Gmail integration, you can save and share files without leaving your Gmail inbox.

One of the major benefits of this integration is that you don’t have to worry about size limits of files, since they’re being stores in Dropbox and not Gmail. You also don’t need to constantly send over new versions of the same file — they versions will update in Gmail as they’re updated in Dropbox.

To enable this integration, your team leader in GSuite will be able to turn it on across your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to select the Dropbox icon within each email and select the files you’d like to link to from your Dropbox account.

4. Zoom x Gmail

In this new era of remote and hybrid work, video conferencing is more important than ever. And there’s no app that has been quite as influential in this space as Zoom. With Zoom, you can quickly and easily start video conferences with teammates or external parties with a few clicks — all you need is access to a Zoom link and you’re up and running.

With the Zoom and Gmail integration, you can easily schedule a meeting with someone that you’re emailing or start a Zoom meeting immediately. All you have to do to enable this integration is download Zoom for Gmail, and select the Zoom icon on the right-hand sidebar to either schedule or start a meeting directly from an email.

Bonus: Hive also has a great Zoom integration that you can utilize by simple typing “/zoom” into a chat window. Learn more about Hive x Zoom here.

5. EmailAnalytics x Gmail Integration

If you want to get into the analytics and details of your email use, EmailAnalytics is the way to go. With this Email Analytics and Gmail Integration, you’re able to measure essential productivity metrics like average response time, emails sent versus received, email traffic by day of the week, average word count, and more.

EmailAnalytics also allows you to segment out users by team and compare team-wide metrics versus other teams in your organization. Pretty cool, right? To utilize this integration, simply create an account on EmailAnalytics (this is a paid app), connect the tool to your Gmail account, and watch the data roll in.

6. Right Inbox x Gmail

Right Inbox is an incredible plug-in that allows you to level-up your email inbox and enables some great functionality, including the ability to send emails later, track your emails (knowing who is opening your emails and when), create customized email signatures, add contextual notes for your eyes only, set up email sequences, and create repeatable email templates.

Right Inbox is basically a turbocharged version of the traditional Gmail we all know and love. To get this Right Inbox integration for your Gmail account, download the Right Inbox extension on the Chrome Web Store and voila! You’re all set.

7. Hiver

If you’re looking to deliver fast and empathetic customer service without investing in bulky tools, then Hiver would be the ideal Gmail integration. With Hiver, you can bring helpdesk functionalities into Gmail, helping you streamline and manage customer queries in shared inboxes such as support@ or help@.

Hiver fits intuitively within Gmail’s native UI and that makes it very easy to use. With the Hiver and Gmail integration, you can assign emails as tasks, track their status in real-time and collaborate with team members without using Ccs or forwards. To get started with Hiver inside Gmail, simply install Hiver from the Google Workspace marketplace. You can then select users from your team whom you want to enable Hiver for.

Are there any other Gmail integrations that you’re a fan of that we might’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll consider adding it to this constantly-updated list.