Method for reading electronic mail in plain text

• US 20040243926A1
• Filed: 05/28/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Pengelly, Robert C.J., Trenbeath, Brian L., Cardenas, Liza, Slugenova, Henrieta
• Granted Patent: US 7,373,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/501.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Systems and methods for converting text of an electronic mail message in a non-plain text format to text in a plain text format are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of converting text of an electronic mail message to a plain text format, said method comprising:

determining whether text of an electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text, converting the text to a plain text format.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a hypertext markup language (HTML) format;

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, converting the text in HTML format to plain text format;

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a rich text format (RTF); and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a RTF, converting the text in RTF to plain text format.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in the plain text format.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in HTML format or plain text format; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in RTF, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in RTF or plain text format.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

when attempting to preview or open an electronic mail message having text in a format other than plain text,

providing a message to a user that the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text format; and

preventing immediate display of the electronic mail message.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format or a plain text format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

after the step of converting the text to a plain text format,

providing a message to a user that the text of the electronic mail message has been converted to plain text format; and

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in plain text format.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a first tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate the step of converting text of the electronic mail message to a plain text format.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

providing a second tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate a step of converting text of a digitally signed electronic mail message to a plain text format.

11. A tools option available to a user of a software application, wherein the tools option allows the user to activate or deactivate the method of claim 1.

12. A tools option available to a user of a software application, wherein the tools option allows the user to activate or deactivate a step of converting electronic mail text in a non-plain text format to text in a plain text format.

13. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of converting text of an electronic mail message to a plain text format, said method comprising:

determining whether text of an electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text, converting the text to a plain text format.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a hypertext markup language (HTML) format;

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, converting the text in HTML format to plain text format;

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a rich text format (RTF); and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a RTF, converting the text in RTF to plain text format.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in the plain text format.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in HTML format or plain text format; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in RTF, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in RTF or plain text format.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

when attempting to preview or open an electronic mail message having text in a format other than plain text,

providing a message to a user that the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text format; and

preventing immediate display of the electronic mail message.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format or a plain text format.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

after the step of converting the text to a plain text format,

providing a message to a user that the text of the electronic mail message has been converted to plain text format; and

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in plain text format.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

providing a first tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate the step of converting text of the electronic mail message to a plain text format.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

providing a second tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate a step of converting text of a digitally signed electronic mail message to a plain text format.

23. A computing system containing at least one application module usable on the computing system, wherein the at least one application module comprises application code for performing a method of converting text of an electronic mail message to a plain text format, said method comprising:

determining whether text of an electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text, converting the text to a plain text format.

24. The computing system of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a hypertext markup language (HTML) format;

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, converting the text in HTML format to plain text format;

determining if the text of the electronic mail message is in a rich text format (RTF); and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a RTF, converting the text in RTF to plain text format.

25. The computing system of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in the plain text format.

26. The computing system of claim 24, further comprising the steps of:

if the text of the electronic mail message is in a HTML format, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in HTML format or plain text format; and

if the text of the electronic mail message is in RTF, providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in RTF or plain text format.

27. The computing system of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

when attempting to preview or open an electronic mail message having text in a format other than plain text,

providing a message to a user that the electronic mail message is in a format other than plain text format; and

preventing immediate display of the electronic mail message.

28. The computing system of claim 27, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format or a plain text format.

29. The computing system of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

after the step of converting the text to a plain text format,

providing a message to a user that the text of the electronic mail message has been converted to plain text format; and

displaying the text of the electronic mail message in plain text format.

30. The computing system of claim 29, further comprising the steps of:

providing an option of viewing the text of the electronic mail message in a non-plain text format.

31. The computing system of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

providing a first tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate the step of converting text of the electronic mail message to a plain text format.

32. The computing system of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

providing a second tools option to a user, wherein the user can activate or deactivate a step of converting text of a digitally signed electronic mail message to a plain text format.