Enhancement of e-mail client user interfaces and e-mail message formats
View Patent ↗An enhancement to e-mail user interfaces and message formats includes a dynamic preview window to view and retrieve attachments and summaries of e-mail messages directly in the e-mail list view or inbox view without opening an e-mail message. The efficient viewing mechanism further allows previews without cluttering the listing of the e-mails in the inbox by allowing the client to detect special preview instructions within an e-mail and run executables within the preview window. The enhancement is applicable to standalone e-mail clients (POP or IMAP based) and to web-based e-mail systems.
1. A method of enhancing an e-mail user interface by an e-mail application comprising:
processing by the e-mail application an e-mail received by said e-mail application, said e-mail containing one or more instructions pertaining to actionable content on which a user is able to act without opening said e-mail, said instructions containing at least one URL;
displaying a visual identifier for said e-mail on an inbox view listing of e-mails, said visual identifier identifying the presence and type of said one or more instructions;
associating a trigger for activation by a user with said e-mail on said inbox view listing of e-mails, said trigger comprising a visual element that is uniquely associated with said e-mail at a location proximate to said e-mail in said inbox view listing of e-mails;
upon activation by the user of the trigger, opening a temporary window over said inbox view solely for said e-mail, the temporary window being opened at a location proximate to said trigger to provide to the user a visual connection to said e-mail;
rendering the actionable content and one or more user actionable control elements within said temporary window in accordance with said instructions, wherein actuation by said user of said one or more user actionable control elements causes an action related to said user actionable content to be performed and the action to be sent to a server without the user leaving said temporary window; and
updating said actionable content to reflect said action so that changes to said actionable content are visible.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said instructions cause the e-mail application to load another application that enables said actions to be performed on said actionable content within said temporary window using said actionable control elements.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said rendered actionable content and said actionable elements are sized so as to fit within said temporary window without scrolling and to substantially fill said temporary window.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying within the temporary window said changes to said actionable content.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the actionable content following performing said action by the user.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said visual identifier has an appearance determined by said type of said instruction.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said actionable content is contained within the e-mail.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said actionable content is fetched from outside said e-mail upon actuation of the trigger and rendered within said temporary window.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said visual identifier on the e-mail entry in the inbox view indicates a change in the status of said user actionable content by a corresponding change in the appearance of the visual identifier.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said actionable content pertains to a calendar event, and wherein said visual identifier indicates proximity to said calendar event relative to a current time.
11. A method of enhancing an e-mail user interface, comprising:
processing an e-mail received by an e-mail application, the e-mail, said e-mail having actionable content on which a user can take an action without opening said e-mail and having one or more instructions relating to said actionable content, said one or more instructions containing at least one URL;
displaying on an inbox view listing of e-mails a visual identifier identifying the presence and type of said one or more instructions;
rendering the actionable content and one or more user actionable controls within said inbox view listing of e-mails in accordance with said instructions, said one or more user actionable controls being formed to perform an action on said actionable content upon actuation of said one or more user actionable controls by a user and the action to be sent to a server without opening the e-mail and without launching another application;
performing said action on said actionable content upon actuation of said one or more user actionable controls; and
updating said actionable content to reflect said action so that changes to said actionable content are visible.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said user controls enable one or more of calendaring, scheduling and approval actions to be performed on said actionable content.