Luckily, the Chrome Web Store has an incredible slew of extensions you can use to adjust just about any part of your browsing experience.
If you’re the type of person who wants to do more with Chrome using only the power of your voice, then look no further. Here are four of the best Chrome extensions to do just that.
1. Voice Actions for Chrome
First on this list comes Voice Actions for Chrome. As you might have guessed from the extension’s name, this lets you control your browser using your voice, something that isn’t otherwise possible.
The most straightforward feature here is that Voice Actions for Chrome lets you search the web using your voice. All you need to do is navigate to the Voice Actions button in your extension bar, and Voice Actions for Chrome will begin listening to your voice.
There’s a little sound here to let you know when the extension is listening, and the speech recognition works well even with street names and background noise. You may have to adjust a couple of settings on install, such as the microphone that the extension uses by default and the tab’s permissions, though.
From there, all you need to do is start talking. The extension’s default behavior has it search for anything that it’s unfamiliar with. If you just talk normally or ask the extension a question, then it’ll take your query directly to Google.
Voice Actions for Chrome is more than just a speech to search or to text service, however. You can use the extension to go directly to various websites, and control Chrome directly.
For example, if you wanted to search for a YouTube video, you can ask the extension for “Videos of” whatever it is you wanted to find. You can change the video site the extension searches to a good range of others, or have Voice Actions for Chrome read this as a command to go to a search engine.
You can control Chrome this way as well. If you want to manage your tabs, for example, you can use Voice Actions for Chrome to do just that by saying “Switch to” and then whatever tab you would rather be on.
2. Talk and Comment
Next up on this list comes Talk and Comment. If you’re the type of person who would much rather call than text, or who simply feels like they communicate better with their voice, then this extension might just be for you.
Talk and Comment is a relatively intuitive extension with a fairly simple premise. Leaving voice notes is often a better way of communicating, but there is very little support for doing so. Talk and Comment aims to remedy this.
All you need to do to use the extension is first install it. There will be a couple of things that need adjusting, such as giving the extension permission to access your microphone, but from there it’s all very easy.
To actually make use of the extension, all you need to do is find the little microphone button hidden on the right of your screen. When you click it, the extension will begin to record for you. You can choose to discard any of your voice notes if you don’t like them, or hit the tick to accept.
The extension will turn your voice recording into a voice note that you can put anywhere. Since the link is just text, you can use these voice notes anywhere that text would normally be accepted, such as Facebook, or any forum.
The one downside here is that Talk and Comment only keeps your voice notes active for 90 days, so if you’re looking for anything particularly permanent, then this may not be the best solution.
3. Mote
If you’re looking for voice notes with a wider range of features, then Mote is a great candidate.
Mote is integrated directly into Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, and Classroom. It’s also integrated entirely into Gmail. The upside of this is that you’ll find the extension has specific features for each of these services that would be impossible otherwise, though you will find that the extension is unable to do so on other websites.
All you need to do with Mote is start talking once you’ve got the extension running and selected, and you’ll be able to create a voice note right then and there.
What’s great is that Mote automatically creates a transcript of your voice note when you speak, which means that you can talk and have others read your messages if you each prefer. You can translate this transcript into a range of different languages as well, if you so wish.
4. Handsfree for Web
Finally, if you’re looking for something that will let you navigate every part of the web with just your voice, then Handsfree for Web aims to do just that for you.
Handsfree at its core is relatively simple. You give the extension commands using your voice, and the extension does those things. The complexity comes from the huge number of different commands supported that let you browse in any way that you want.
You can use the extension to click, for instance, by using the corresponding voice command. Handsfree will break the webpage down into clickable elements and allocate each a number, which you can then select with another voice command.
You can similarly use voice commands to fill in input fields, manage bookmarks, and control video content among a range of other features.
Do More With Your Voice
As you can see, there’s a lot that you can accomplish using just the power of Chrome and your voice. Whether it’s voice notes or voice control, the limits to your browsing come down only to your imagination.
As such, there’s no reason to limit yourself to just what Chrome is capable of by default. Search for more, use your voice, and find the perfect extension for you.
