Pre-send evaluation of E-mail communications

• US 8,539,029 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Manning, Sara L., Dougherty, Jesse M., Thomas, Shawn M., Waddoups, Nathan F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R
• Application Number:
  US11/927,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20090113001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,150 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/245, 715/824, 715/821, 715/810, 715/764
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A system for identifying attributes associated with content of an e-mail message and alerting a user includes a client device programmed to allow a user to create an e-mail message including at least one recipient and a message content, a server programmed to check an attribute of the e-mail message, and to send the e-mail message, and one or more information stores in communication with the server, the information stores including information about the e-mail message. The server is programmed to query the information stores to obtain information about the e-mail message as the message is being composed by the user, and the server sends a mail tip to the client regarding the e-mail message. The client is programmed to provide the mail tip to the user, the mail tip being formatted and positioned by the client so that it is integrated within a header section of the e-mail message.

Claims

1. A system for identifying attributes associated with content of an e-mail message and alerting a user regarding the attributes, the system comprising:

a client device programmed to allow a user to create an e-mail message including at least one recipient and a message content;

a server programmed to check an attribute of the e-mail message, and to send the e-mail message; and

one or more information stores in communication with the server, the information stores including information about the e-mail message;

wherein the server is programmed to query the information stores to obtain information about the e-mail message as the e-mail message is being composed by the user, and the server sends a response to the client regarding the e-mail message;

when the response includes a mail tip, the client is programmed to provide the mail tip to the user based on the response, the mail tip being formatted and positioned by the client so that it is integrated within the e-mail message; and

when the response includes a roadblock, the client is programmed to disable a send button of the e-mail message based on the response to prevent the e-mail message from being sent, the roadblock comprising the at least one recipient not being authorized to see the contents of the e-mail message, the send button being grayed out to indicate that the send button is disabled.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the client is further programmed to display a dialog box, the dialog box being programmed to require the user to acknowledge the dialog box before sending the e-mail message.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the client is further programmed to position the mail tip between a ribbon and an address field in a header section of the e-mail message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the e-mail message checked by the server are selected from the group consisting of:

(1) a size of the e-mail message exceeds a threshold, (2) a number of recipients contained in the e-mail message exceeds a threshold, (3) the e-mail message contains a restricted attachment, (4) the e-mail message contains an improperly formed Simple Mail Transport Protocol address, and (5) the e-mail message contains a reply-all response from a Blind Carbon Copy recipient.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the email message checked by the server are selected from the group consisting of:

(1) the recipient is out of office, (2) the recipient is external to an organization, (3) the recipient'"'"'s mailbox is full, (4) the recipient has restricted access, (5) the recipient'"'"'s e-mail address is misspelled, and (6) the recipient is no longer employed in the organization.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the email message checked by the server are selected from the group consisting of:

(1) a size of a distribution list exceeds a threshold, (2) the distribution list is a moderated distribution list, (3) the distribution list has restrictions regarding access, and (4) the distribution list includes members external to the organization.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the client is selected from the group consisting of:

(1) a desktop e-mail client, and (2) a mobile device client.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the information stores are selected from the group consisting of:

(1) the sender'"'"'s mailbox, (2) the recipient'"'"'s mailbox database stores, (3) a local cache,

     4) a directory service, and (5) a remote server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the server includes a web services module, the web services module containing a mail tip module.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the mail tip is displayed by the client within a given period of time of an e-mail compose event.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the mail tip is displayed by the client within a given period of time of an e-mail compose event.

12. A method for alerting a user to information associated with sending of an e-mail message, the method comprising:

receiving from a client an e-mail compose event, the e-mail compose event occurring during composition of an e-mail message;

accessing one or more information stores to obtain information about the e-mail message;

checking an attribute associated with the e-mail message selected from the group consisting of;

(1) a size of the e-mail message exceeds a threshold, (2) a number of recipients contained in the e-mail message exceeds a threshold, (3) the e-mail message contains a restricted attachment, (4) the e-mail message contains a reply-all response from a Blind Carbon Copy recipient, (5) the recipient'"'"'s mailbox is full, (6) a size of the distribution list exceeds a threshold, (7) the distribution list is a moderated distribution list, and (8) the distribution list has restrictions regarding access;

selecting a mail tip from a plurality of mail tips, the mail tip corresponding to the information about the e-mail message obtained from the one or more information stores;

sending a response to the client during the composition of the e-mail message, the mail tip being configured such that the client can integrate the mail tip within a header section of the e-mail message; and

disabling a send button of the e-mail message when the response includes a roadblock to prevent the e-mail message from being sent, the roadblock comprising the recipient not being authorized to see the contents of the e-mail message, the send button being grayed out to indicate that the send button is disabled.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising accessing the information stores selected from the group consisting of:

(1) the sender'"'"'s mailbox, (2) the recipient'"'"'s mailbox database stores, (3) a local cache, (4) a directory service, and (5) a web site.

14. A method for validating a Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) address of an e-mail message, the method comprising:

receiving from a client an e-mail compose event, the e-mail compose event occurring during composition of an e-mail message, the e-mail compose event including an addition of one or more recipients having SMTP addresses;

accessing at a server a cache of SMTP addresses;

checking one of the SMTP addresses of one of the recipients by checking that a domain associated with the SMTP address matches one listed in the server cache of SMTP addresses;

performing a Domain Name Service lookup for the domain;

sending a response to the client during the composition of the e-mail message before the e-mail message is sent if the domain is matched; and

disabling a send button of the e-mail message when the response includes a roadblock to prevent the e-mail message from being sent, the roadblock comprising the one of the recipients not being authorized to see the contents of the e-mail message, the send button being grayed out to indicate that the send button is disabled.