Analyzing email content to determine potential intended recipients

Abstract

Described herein are processes and devices for analyzing email content to determine potential intended email recipients. One of the devices described is an email content analyzer device. In some embodiments, the email content analyzer device is configured to analyze content in a part of an email message that is not an email address recipient field, obtain identifying information about a potential intended recipient of the email message, such as by looking for possible names of intended recipients within the body of the email message, and analyze the context of the identifying information in the content to determine the identity of the potential intended recipient. For example, the email content analyzer device compares the identity of the potential intended recipient to an email addresses in an email address recipient field on the email message and determines whether the email message was intended for the potential intended recipient.

1 . A method comprising:
 prior to transmission of an electronic mail message, determining that a first indication of an intended recipient occurs in content of the electronic mail message while analyzing the electronic mail message, wherein a second indication of the intended recipient occurs in a first type of recipient address field of the electronic mail message;   analyzing a context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message;   determining that the intended recipient is of a first recipient type of a plurality of recipient types with respect to the electronic mail message based, at least in part, on said analyzing the context of the first indication within the content of the electronic mail message, wherein the first recipient type corresponds to a second type of recipient address field of the electronic mail message and a second recipient type of the plurality of recipient types corresponds to the first type of recipient address field;   determining that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field based on the determining that the intended recipient is of the first recipient type; and   moving the second indication of the intended recipient from the first type of recipient address field to the second type of recipient address field in response to determining that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing the context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message comprises determining at least one of a location of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content and punctuation in relation to the first indication of the intended recipient, wherein determining the punctuation in relation to the first indication of the intended recipient comprises determining a type of punctuation adjacent to the first indication of the intended recipient immediately followed by a hard return, wherein the type of punctuation comprises one or more of a comma, a colon, and an ellipsis. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating the electronic mail message in response to a reply-to-all function, wherein the reply-to-all function copies the second indication of the intended recipient into the first type of recipient address field. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising displaying one or more of a warning indicator graphic that indicates the moving of the second indication of the intended recipient from the first type of recipient address field to the second type of recipient address field and a warning indicator graphic that indicates the that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field. 
     
     
         5 . A computer program product comprising:
 a machine-readable medium consisting of one of more of a computer memory, a random access memory, a hard disk, a digital versatile disk, a basic input/output system read-only memory, a synchronous dynamic random- access memory, and an extended data output random-access memory, said machine-readable medium having machine-readable program code embodied therewith for analyzing email content to determine intended email recipients, said machine-readable program code comprising:
 machine-readable program code configured to
 determine that a first indication of an intended recipient occurs in content of an electronic mail message, wherein a second indication of the intended recipient occurs in a first type of recipient address field of the electronic mail message; 
 analyze a context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message; 
 determine that the intended recipient is of a first recipient type of a plurality of recipient types with respect to the electronic mail message based, at least in part, on analysis of the context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message, wherein the first recipient type corresponds to a second type of recipient address field of the electronic mail message and a second recipient type of the plurality of recipient types corresponds to the first type of recipient address field; 
 determine that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field based on determination that the intended recipient is of the first recipient type; and 
 move the second indication of the intended recipient from the first type of recipient address field to the second type of recipient address field in response to determination that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field. 
 
   
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the machine-readable program code is further configured to one or more of present a warning indicator graphic to indicate that the second indication of the intended recipient from the first type of recipient address field is to be moved to the second type of recipient address field and present a warning indicator graphic to indicate the that the second indication of the intended recipient is incorrectly placed in the first type of recipient address field. 
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the email content analyzer module is configured to analyze the context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message being configured to determine punctuation in relation to the first indication of the intended recipient, wherein the machine-readable program code is configured to determine the punctuation in relation to the first indication of the intended recipient being configured to determine a type of punctuation adjacent to the first indication of the intended recipient immediately followed by a hard return, wherein the punctuation in relation to the first indication of the intended recipient is one or more of a comma, a colon, and an ellipsis 
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the machine-readable program code is configured to generate the electronic mail message in response to a reply-to-all function, wherein the reply-to-all function is configured to copy the second indication of the intended recipient into the first type of recipient address field. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the machine-readable program code is configured to analyze the context of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content of the electronic mail message being configured to determine a location of the first indication of the intended recipient within the content, wherein the location comprises one or more of a greeting line and a portion of the electronic mail message that contains email history. 
     
     
         10 . A computer program product for analyzing email content to determine intended email recipients, said computer program product comprising:
 a machine-readable medium consisting of one of more of a computer memory, a random access memory, a hard disk, a digital versatile disk, a basic input/output system read-only memory, a synchronous dynamic random-access memory, and an extended data output random-access memory, said machine-readable medium having machine-readable program code embodied therewith for analyzing email content to determine intended email recipients, said machine-readable program code comprising:
 machine-readable program code configured to
 generate a draft email that includes email recipient fields of a plurality of recipient types that comprise a first recipient type and a second recipient type, 
 scan email content that is in parts of the draft email that are other than the email recipient fields, 
 find at least one contact identifier in the email content, wherein the at least one contact identifier identifies a potential contact recipient of the draft email, and wherein the potential contact recipient is not a sender of the draft email, 
 analyze the at least one contact identifier in context of the email content, 
 determine, based on the context of the at least one contact identifier, an intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient that corresponds to the first recipient type, 
 select at least one email address for the potential contact recipient from one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the second recipient type, and 
 determine, based on determination that the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient corresponds to the first recipient type, that the at least one email address is incorrectly placed in the one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the second recipient type. 
 
   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the machine-readable program code is configured to analyze the at least one contact identifier in the context of the email content being configured to determine at least one of a type of punctuation mark that indicates a greeting in relation to the at least one contact identifier, a type of punctuation mark that immediately follows the at least one contact identifier, a type of punctuation mark adjacent to the at least one contact identifier immediately followed by a hard return, and whether the at least one contact identifier is located in a greeting line of the email content. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the machine-readable program code is further configured to,
 determine a name of the potential contact recipient within a body of the draft email,   analyze the name within context of the body of the draft email, and   determine the intended recipient role based on the context of the name within the body of the draft email.   
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the machine-readable program code is further configured to,
 search contact profile records,   find a matching profile with a profile name that matches the name of the potential contact recipient,   ascertain the at least one email address from the matching profile,   determine that the at least one email address is incorrectly placed in the one of the email recipient fields in response to determining that the first recipient type matches the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient, and   display a warning indicator graphic to indicate that the at least one email address is incorrectly placed in the one of the email recipient fields.   
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the machine-readable program code is further configured to,
 propose a possible reorganization of the at least one email address into another of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type, which first recipient type matches the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the machine-readable program code is further configured to,
 place the at least one email address into another of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type, which first recipient type matches the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient.   
     
     
         16 . A method comprising:
 generating a draft email, wherein generating the draft email automatically places a plurality of email addresses into email recipient fields, wherein the email recipient fields comprise a first recipient type and a second recipient field;   selecting at least one email address of the plurality of email addresses from one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type;   determining a name of a contact related to the at least one email address;   scanning an email body of the draft email to find the name in the email body;   analyzing the name in the context of the email body;   determining, based on the context of the name in the email body, an intended recipient role for the contact, wherein the intended recipient role corresponds to the second recipient type;   determining, based on determination that the intended recipient role for the contact corresponds to the second recipient type, that the at least one email address is incorrectly placed in the one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type;   selecting a warning indicator graphic specified via a preference setting in a profile for a sender of the draft email; and   presenting the warning indicator graphic to indicate the at least one email address is incorrectly placed in the one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein said analyzing the name in the context of the email body comprises determining at least one of a type of punctuation mark that indicates a greeting in relation to the name within the email body, a type of punctuation mark that immediately follows the name, a type of punctuation mark adjacent to the name and immediately followed by a hard return, and whether the name is located in a greeting line of the email body 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 determining that the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient is not a role that corresponds to the first recipient type; and 
 determining that the at least one email address is not in another one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the second recipient type. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 moving the at least one email address from the one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the first recipient type to another one of the email recipient fields that corresponds to the second recipient type. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 determining that the intended recipient role for the potential contact recipient is a direct recipient role; 
 determining that the at least one email address is not positioned in a direct recipient field; and 
 indicating that the at least one email address is not positioned in the direct recipient field.