Systems and methods for providing an email client interface with an integrated tabular data management interface

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing an email client interface that includes an integrated supplemental interface are provided. The supplemental interface provides access to data stored within a tabular data management system. The supplemental interface may present a form that is automatically generated based on a column layout in a sheet stored in the tabular data management system. The supplemental interface may automatically select a sheet to be opened based on information in an email message, and may automatically add information from the email message to the sheet. The tabular data management system may allow image data to be stored and displayed within cells of tabular data.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for concurrently managing data from an email server and a tabular data server using a combined interface, the method comprising:
 retrieving, by an email application executing on a computing device, an email message from the email server;   generating, by the email application, an email interface for presenting the email message;   extracting, by the email application, information from the email message;   obtaining, by the email application, tabular data from the tabular data server using the extracted information; and   presenting, by the email application, the tabular data, wherein the tabular data is presented in a supplemental interface within the email interface generated by the email application.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information extracted from the email message is a subject of the email message, and wherein obtaining tabular data from the tabular data server includes retrieving a tabular data row that matches the subject of the email message. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein presenting the tabular data includes:
 determining a set of columns present in the tabular data;   generating a form interface that includes a field for each column in the set of columns; and   presenting the generated form interface in the supplemental interface.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 displaying retrieved tabular data within the fields of the form interface;   receiving at least one edit to the retrieved tabular data via the fields of the form interface; and   transmitting the at least one edit to the tabular data server to be saved.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 displaying the form interface with blank values or default values within the fields of the form interface;   receiving at least one input value in the fields of the form interface; and   transmitting the at least one input value to the tabular data server for the creation of a new row of tabular data that includes the at least one input value.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 receiving an input that indicates image data to be added to a tabular data cell; and   transmitting the image data to the tabular data server for storage and display within the tabular data cell.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 receiving an input that indicates a data file to be associated with a tabular data row; and   transmitting the data file to the tabular data server for storage in association with the tabular data row.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 transmitting body text of the email message to the tabular data server to be stored in association with a tabular data row presented in the generated form interface.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the generated form interface comprises:
 retrieving data from the email server or the tabular data server; and   using the retrieved data to provide selectable options for entry of data values into the form interface.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the retrieved data includes contact information. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein using the retrieved data to provide selectable options for entry of data values into the form interface includes presenting a list of selectable options to auto-complete a partial entry in the form interface. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 automatically retrieving an inline image or an image attachment from the email message; and   transmitting the inline image or the image attachment to the tabular data server to be stored in a tabular data cell or in association with a tabular data row.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the email message is retrieved via a POP connection, an IMAP connection, a MAPI connection, an ActiveSync connection, a WebDAV connection, a web service connection, or an HTTP connection to a web interface. 
     
     
         14 . A system for combining the display of email data and tabular data from different sources into a single interface, the system comprising:
 an email server system;   a tabular data management system;   an end user computing device that includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by one or more processors of the end user computing device, cause the end user computing device to present a user interface that includes:
 a list of email messages stored by the email server system; 
 a body of a selected email message from the list of email messages; and 
 a form interface for retrieving and presenting tabular data relating to the selected email message. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving and presenting tabular data relating to the selected email message includes:
 extracting a subject from the email message;   retrieving a tabular data row from the tabular data management system that matches the subject of the email message; and   presenting values from the tabular data row via the form interface.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving and presenting tabular data relating to the selected email message includes:
 presenting a retrieval interface for searching tabular data content or browsing tabular data content; and   retrieving a tabular data row from the tabular data management system based on a selection received by the retrieval interface.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving and presenting tabular data relating to the selected email message includes:
 retrieving a tabular data row from the tabular data management system;   determining a set of columns present in the tabular data row;   generating a form interface that includes a field for each column in the set of columns; and   presenting the generated form interface.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving and presenting tabular data relating to the selected email message includes:
 retrieving data from the email server system; and   using the data from the email server system to provide selectable options within the form interface for entry of data values into the form interface.   
     
     
         19 . A computing device configured to store and present tabular data, wherein the computing device is further configured to provide a data store for storing tabular data;
 and wherein presenting tabular data includes:   presenting a plurality of rows, wherein each row has a row height and a plurality of columns, wherein each column of the plurality of columns has a column width, and wherein each intersection of a row and a column is a cell;   receiving a command to insert image data into a given cell;   retrieving the image data based on the command;   storing the image data in the data store; and   presenting an image within the given cell using the image data.   
     
     
         20 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein presenting the image within the given cell using the image data includes:
 receiving a command to change a row height or a column width associated with the given cell; and   resizing the image to fit within the changed row height or changed column width.   
     
     
         21 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein presenting the image within the given cell using the image data includes:
 receiving a command to insert a row above a row of the given cell or a column to the left of a column of the given cell; and   maintaining the presented image within the given cell after inserting the row or the column.   
     
     
         22 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein presenting the image within the given cell using the image data includes:
 receiving a command to reorder the plurality of rows or the plurality of columns; and   maintaining the presented image within the given cell after reordering the rows or the columns.   
     
     
         23 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein presenting the image within the given cell using the image data includes:
 receiving a command to hide or filter a row above a row of the given cell or to hide or filter a column to the left of a column of the given cell; and   maintaining the presented image within the given cell after hiding or filtering the row or the column.   
     
     
         24 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein retrieving the image data based on the command includes automatically retrieving inline image data from an email message or retrieving image data from an image attachment from an email message. 
     
     
         25 . The computing device of  claim 19 , wherein receiving a command to insert image data into a given cell includes:
 receiving a command to present a file dialog;   presenting the file dialog to receive a selection of an image file; and   generating the command to insert the image data into the given cell based on the selected image file chosen with the file dialog.