System for managing and organizing stored electronic messages

Abstract

A computer-based system catalogs and retrieves electronic messages saved in a message store. The system automatically organizes each saved message into multiple folders based on the contents and attributes of the message, and implements improved methods for manually organizing messages. Unlike prior art systems, where a message exists in only one folder, the system uses lightweight message shortcuts to display the message in multiple folders simultaneously. The system preferably permits messages to be organized by: 1) basic message and attachment properties, e.g. date, status, attachment type; 2) extended message properties that the user can specify, e.g. keywords; and 3) correspondent or bulk mail sender/recipient, with automatic separation of bulk mail from correspondence. Performance and usability are improved by performing reads incrementally and by providing multiple sorting keys.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for automatically organizing electronic messages in a computer system, the method comprising: 
 receiving an electric message having a plurality of properties;    storing the electronic message in a data store;    automatically identifying a plurality of folders with which the electronic message is to be associated by applying rules to the properties of the stored message; and,    automatically generating a plurality of shortcuts to the stored message, each of the shortcuts comprising an element directly or indirectly identifying the stored message and an element directly or indirectly identifying one of the plurality of folders.    
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1  comprising storing the plurality of shortcuts as records in a database.  
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 2  wherein at least one of the properties comprises a date and the rules include a rule which identifies one folder with which the message is to be associated based upon a comparison of the property's date to a current date.  
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3  comprising periodically and automatically generating new shortcuts, each of the new shortcuts associating the stored message with a folder based upon a comparison of the property's date to a current date.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the data store holds a plurality of messages and the method comprises receiving from a user folder selection information identifying a selected one of the plurality of folders, retrieving from the database a plurality of shortcuts associated with the selected folder, each of the shortcuts associated with a different one of the plurality of messages, and displaying a representation of the retrieved shortcuts on a display.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein each of the shortcuts comprises a SortKey value and retrieving from the database a plurality of shortcuts comprises retrieving the plurality of shortcuts in order of the SortKey values of the retrieved shortcuts.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein retrieving each of the plurality of groups from the database comprises sequentially retrieving shortcuts associated with the selected folder from the database in order of the SortKey value until either: 
 a) a last shortcut associated with the selected folder has been retrieved from the database; or,  
 b) at least a predetermined number of shortcuts has been retrieved from the database in a current group and the SortKey value for a most recently retrieved shortcut is different from the SortKey value for a second-most-recently retrieved shortcut.  
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the folders comprise a plurality of date folders each associated with a different period, the method comprising automatically generating a shortcut to the message in each of the plurality of date folders for which the time associated with the message is between the beginning and the end of the folder's period.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the date folders comprise a Today folder for which the period is a current day, a This Week folder for which the period is a current week, a Yesterday folder for which the period is an immediately previous day and a Last Week folder for which the period is an immediately previous week.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the properties include a time and the method comprises identifying a period corresponding to the time associated with the message and creating a date folder associated with the identified period.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the record in the database has a length of 64 Bytes or less.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the record in the database has a length of 32 Bytes or less.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the record in the database has a length of 24 Bytes or less.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the message has an attachment and the shortcut additionally comprises an AttachId value identifying the attachment.  
     
     
         15 . The method of claim  24  wherein the attachment is stored in a data store and the AttachId value is an address of the attachment in the data store.  
     
     
         16 . The method of claim  24  wherein the attachment is stored in a data store and the AttachId value is an address of an AttachmentSummary record in the database, wherein the AttachmentSummary record contains an address for the attachment in the data store.  
     
     
         17 . The method of claim  24  comprising identifying a type of the attachment and automatically creating a shortcut to the message in a folder corresponding to the type of attachment.  
     
     
         18 . The method of claim  27  comprising automatically creating the folder corresponding to the type of attachment.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the shortcuts comprise entries in a Shortcut table having a primary key comprising a plurality of ordered fields.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the primary key comprises MessageId+AttachId+FolderId, where AttachId is a field containing a value which associates the shortcut with an attachment to a message.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1  comprising, for a plurality of messages, identifying one or more addresses associated with the message and creating a shortcut to the message in a folder associated with each of the addresses.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  comprising applying the rules of FIG. 24A to each of the addresses.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1  comprising creating the shortcuts at least in folders associated with each of: a time associated with the message; a sender of the message; and a type of attachment associated with the message.