Google adds add-on features to Gmail

Google has added Gmail Add-ons to its webmail service. The extensions allow users to use functions from external services directly from Gmail, such as signing documents or scheduling tasks.

Add-ons that the user installs can be called up directly from messages to perform certain actions related to the email, without the user having to leave Gmail. The user only needs to install add-ons once to be able to use them on all their devices: they then work via both the web client and the Android app. Google is working with Apple to bring the feature to the iOS apps as well.

You can install it via the settings menu on the right side of the mailbox screen, with the ‘Add add-ons’ button. Then the G-Suite Marketplace appears with extensions for Gmail from which to choose. For now, there are only eight add-ons left. Among them are those from Asana, which allows users to create tasks based on messages. There is also an add-on of Dialpad, for calling contacts directly from messages and there is an extension for preparing invoices. DocuSign’s add-on for signing documents is coming soon, according to Google.

The functionality was available in preview from March. Google already introduced add-ons for Docs and Sheets in 2014 in combination with its Drive service. That functionality came to the Android apps for those services last year.