How To: Skip Your Inbox and Go Straight to Composing a New Message in Gmail

As someone who uses his email account a substantial amount, I know exactly how hectic it can get. On a regular work day, I receive around twenty to thirty emails—from my alma mater, my job, bars and restaurants, and Nigerian princes that need to borrow some money to save their country.

Just yesterday I received an email that said I won $1,200,000 and all I have to do to claim it is give them my address and Visa card information.

What could possibly go wrong?

It's these influx of messages that can at times become a distraction when I need to write an email. As soon as I open my inbox, I'm bombarded left and right with letters and sometimes I don't even know where to start. Thanks to a new Chrome extension, you can now bypass the flurry of emails when writing one with Open Compose Window for Gmail.

With Open Compose, you can now avoid having to see your inbox while you write. Instead, you simply have to tap an icon in the upper right hand corner of Chrome, which opens the Gmail compose window without opening Gmail itself.

So far, I've found the extension pretty useful. Instead of getting sucked into my inbox, I can just write my emails in peace and get back to work.

Now I just have to work on not checking my Facebook and Twitter every ten minutes...