METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING ENTERPRISE EMAIL MANAGEMENT

摘要

An enterprise email system (100) processes incoming email using a set of configurable rules that examine each message for a specific attribute state condition and invoke a configurable action when the attribute satisfies the condition. A number of actions may be invoked such as routing a message to a specific mail queue (151, 152, 153). The enterprise email system (100) assigns a mail queue timer when a message is moved into a mail queue. Each mail queue has a different mail queue timeout value that specifies the maximum amount of time that a message may sit idle within a mail queue. A mailbox timer is then set for the message and the mailbox timer is compared with a mailbox timeout value that specifies the amount of time that message may sit idle within a mail queue. If the mail queue timer expires, the message is returned to the mail queue form where it came.