Threaded presentation of electronic mail

摘要

A threaded list of e-mail messages is provided by checking each received message against previous messages to determine whether the new message is associated with previous messages. If so, then a new thread is created. The new thread has an associated thread header, which stores metadata bout the messages in the thread. If the received message is related to messages in an existing thread, then the received message is added to that thread, and the thread header for that thread is updated to reflect data from the received message. The thread header appears with messages in a message list view of the inbox, and provides data about the thread. Messages that are not part of a thread are shown in the same view as threaded messages, without a thread header. This allows a user to view both threaded and non-threaded messages in a single view.

主权项

1. A method for threading e-mail messages, the method comprising:
receiving an e-mail message; displaying unthreaded information about the e-mail message in a sortable portion of an e-mail user interface responsive to a determination that the e-mail message is unrelated to any other e-mail message in the mailbox; and associating the received e-mail message with one or more e-mail messages as an e-mail thread responsive to a determination that the e-mail message is related to the one or more e-mail messages, comprising:
creating a thread header comprising information about the e-mail thread responsive to a determination that the e-mail thread comprises only the received e-mail message and a single related e-mail message;updating the thread header to include information derived from the attributes of contents of the received e-mail message; anddisplaying the thread header in a sortable portion of the e-mail user interface only if the e-mail thread comprises at least two e-mail messages.