New Microsoft Office Starbucks Extension Lets You Schedule Coffee Meetings, Buy Gift Cards

The technological powers that be understand that people often don’t want to click around in more apps or programs than they have to. In a move meant for caffeine lovers on the job, one of Microsoft’s newest add-ins for its Office programs lets Starbucks customers do things like schedule meetings at the local coffee shop and buy gift cards for the store as well from within Outlook.

The new extension will run inside Outlook on both Macs and PCs in the coming weeks, reports Mashable.

Customers using the tool will be able to buy and send gift cards via email as well as schedule meetings at their local Starbucks. After the appointment has been scheduled, you can also order coffee beforehand so it arrives right in time.

The Starbucks plugin joins the roughly 100 other add-ins like Uber, Yelp, and Evernote. It sounds like Microsoft is confident users will like the new feature.

“Our customers like innovation — they like interacting with Starbucks in new and interesting ways,” Gerri Martin-Flickinger, the new Starbucks chief technology officer, said on stage at Microsoft’s Build developer conference today, as reported by GeekWire.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist