TECHNIQUES TO MANAGE ELECTRONIC MAIL PERSONAL ARCHIVES

• US 20100161737A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bansal, Yogesh, Consul, Ashish, Lavoie, Lauren B., Batthish, Karim M., Rook, Harvey
• Application Number:
  US12/342,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20100161737A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Techniques to manage email personal archives are described. A computer-implemented system may comprise a primary mailbox component, associated with a user, and operative to receive and send email. The computer-implemented system may further comprise an alternate mailbox component separate from the primary mailbox component and associated with the user and the primary mailbox, operative to store email. The computer-implemented system may also include a mail client operative on a client computer to access and display contents of the primary and alternate mailboxes substantially simultaneously. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system to manage data, comprising:

a primary mailbox component (102), associated with a user, and operative to receive and send electronic mail (email);

an alternate mailbox component (104) separate from the primary mailbox component and associated with the user and the primary mailbox, operative to store email; and

a mail client (106) operative on a client computer (202) to access and display contents of the primary and alternate mailboxes substantially simultaneously.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the content of the alternate mailbox is stored remotely from the client computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the content of the alternate mailbox is stored remotely from the content of the primary mailbox.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the primary mailbox component comprises at least one of:

an inbox folder (310), a sent items folder (314), a deleted items folder (306), or a search folder (316); and

wherein the alternate mailbox component comprises at least one of;

a deleted items folder (318) or a search folder (322).

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the alternate mailbox component is further operative to send an email from the alternate mailbox and to store a copy of the sent email in the sent items folder of the primary mailbox, and wherein the sent email appears to have been sent from the primary mailbox.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the alternate mailbox component is further operative to move a content item to the deleted items folder of the alternate mailbox when the item is deleted from the alternate mailbox.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising archiving policies (208) that, when applied, cause contents of the primary mailbox to be copied to, moved to, or deleted from the alternate mailbox automatically.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a user component (210) that comprises a list of associated mailboxes of a user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternate mailbox component comprises at least one of:

a unique identifier (108), a location (110), a display name (112), a mailbox address (114), a quota (116), or a flag (118).

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternate mailbox is created and associated with the primary mailbox remotely from the client computer, and wherein the mail client automatically discovers an alternate mailbox.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternate mailbox is accessible to an administrator regardless of whether the associated user is logged in to the primary mailbox.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein an alternate mailbox may be disassociated with the user and associated with a new user.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the mail client is operative to search the primary and alternate mailboxes in the same search operation.

14. A computer-implemented method of archiving data, comprising:

providing a primary email mailbox associated with a user;

providing an alternate email mailbox separate from the primary mailbox and associated with the user and the primary mailbox; and

providing access to the primary and alternate mailboxes via a mail client operating on a client computer.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

storing the contents of the alternate mailbox remotely from the client computer.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

storing the content of the alternate mailbox remotely from the content of the primary mailbox.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

creating and associating the alternate mailbox with the primary mailbox remotely from the client computer, and

automatically discovering an alternate mailbox with the mail client.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the primary and alternate mailboxes each comprise at least one subfolder, the method further comprising:

sending an email from the alternate mailbox; and

storing a copy of the sent email in a subfolder of the primary mailbox.

19. An article comprising a storage medium containing instructions that when executed enable a system to:

provide a primary email mailbox associated with a user;

provide an alternate email mailbox separate from the primary mailbox and associated with the user and the primary mailbox;

provide access to the primary and alternate mailboxes via a mail client operating on a client computer.

20. The article of claim 19, further containing instructions that when executed enable a system to store the contents of the alternate mailbox remotely from the client computer, or store the contents of the alternate mailbox remotely from the content of the primary mailbox.