It's late Friday afternoon, and the FedEx driver is due any moment for the last pickup before the weekend. Suddenly, without warning, an urgent email pops into your Microsoft Outlook inbox. A customer needs three widgets, and they need them yesterday.

But you don't even flinch. You click the "ship" button on your FedEx QuickShip toolbar, choose the customer's name from your Outlook address book, and create the shipment. Disaster averted. World saved.

Or something like that.

The FedEx QuickShip toolbar is a free toolbar that integrates into your Outlook 2003 or 2007 inbox. The belief is that the integration of these two entities will lead to saved time and increased productivity. To be fair, you can do plenty with the FedEx QuickShip toolbar: create and track U.S. shipments, get rates, schedule pickups, and find the nearest staffed FedEx location – all without leaving your Office Outlook application. And that's a plus.

However, we think the "integration" between FedEx and Outlook isn't nearly integrated enough. It seems that the only integration is a new toolbar and the ability to ship to any address in your Outlook address book. Otherwise, the act like they don't know each other. Want to track a package in your Outlook inbox? You'll need to copy the tracking number, choose track from your toolbar, and paste it into the tracking field. Of course this might save a little time...but how is this much different than pasting that same number into a web browser?

For you who use Outlook and FedEx as your main weapons, this should be a boon. For all others...we'd wait for a more integrated solution.

You'll need Outlook 2003 or 2007 and a FedEx shipping account.

[via AppScout]