I love Google Apps. That is why I spend my days making videos to help everyone better utilize the platform. However, I’ve heard from many people that  Google is missing features in some key areas.

I have found that these are not really shortcomings, but open opportunities for other companies to create great tools for Google Apps users leveraging Google’s APIs.

So there is no need to pout about what you can’t do, I come bearing solutions! Third-party solutions, that is. Wherever Google Apps misses something, a developer has stepped up to fill the void with an extension, app, or add-on. Here are four opportunities that have been brilliantly utilized by third-party developers and how to use them.

1. Schedule an email to be sent later

 

I often receive questions about how to schedule an email to be sent at a later date, and with good reason! Since Gmail does not offer a native way to schedule emails, several Chrome Extensions have stepped up to provide this functionality. We took the time to compare the top three free email schedulers, so you can pick which one best fits your needs.

→ Which email scheduler is right for you?
→ How to schedule an email in Gmail

2. Is there sensitive information being shared from your Drive?

Google allows you to see which documents are being shared with whom, but you can’t feel truly secure unless you know what is contained in those documents. Without a third-party tool it is nearly impossible to find if a credit card number or social security number is being shared publicly without clicking into every single document on your domain. Using BetterCloud you can find which sensitive information is being shared and which documents contain this information.

3. A pain-free way to remove duplicates from a Google Sheet

Duplicates are one of the most common issues in large spreadsheets. Finding them all and removing them can be tricky, even with the aid of formulas. Remove Duplicates is an add-on that makes it easy to rid a Google Sheet of duplicate data in seconds.

4. When letting your users create their own email signatures doesn’t cut it

Gmail lets you create a personal signature that will display at the bottom of every email you send. But for most organizations, letting each user design their own can lead to unprofessional looking email signatures. In this case, you might want to explore using the third-party tool BetterCloud to push out a standardized signature to your entire organization.