Patent Publication Number: US-10318542-B2

Title: Information management of mobile device data

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/787,280, filed Mar. 6, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,529,871, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/618,506, filed Mar. 30, 2012, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Increasingly, people generate data and metadata across multiple computing devices and multiple hosted services. For example, during the course of a single day, a person may use a laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet computer, and smartphone in order to view and edit files, e-mails, or other data objects. As another example, a person may use hosted solutions such as Facebook, Gmail, Google Docs, and salesforce.com to communicate with others and conduct work. A person may not be able to access the files and information they need readily from a single interface, since the files are scattered across multiple computing devices and hosted sites. Moreover, conventional information management systems are often focused on organizing, protecting, and recovering the data from fixed computing devices, such as servers or desktop computers. As a result, a person&#39;s hosted data and mobile data may be scattered outside of the purview of conventional information management systems and that data will therefore not be backed up or otherwise actively managed. Thus, in the event that a mobile device is lost or broken or a hosted service has a service disruption, there is a risk that a person&#39;s critical data may be lost, without any way to recover it. 
     The need exists for systems and methods that overcome the above problems, as well as systems and methods that provide additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and methods and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems and methods will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an example of a suitable information management environment in which aspects of the inventive systems and methods may operate. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates examples of production and non-production data that may be processed by the information management environment of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a hierarchical arrangement of resources for the information management system of  FIG. 1 , including information management cells. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an example of resources forming an information management cell. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for collecting and managing a user&#39;s hosted data. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface for receiving authentication information and information management policies for hosted accounts. 
         FIG. 7A  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for sending mobile device data to an information management system that may be performed at a mobile device. 
         FIG. 7B  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for collecting and managing mobile device data that may be performed at a distribution module. 
         FIG. 7C  illustrates one example of a graphical user interface that may be provided in order to receive authentication information and management policies for mobile data. 
         FIG. 8A  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for managing a user&#39;s data that may be performed at a distribution module. 
         FIG. 8B  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for managing a user&#39;s data that may be performed at a computing device. 
         FIG. 9A  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface for receiving distribution policies for a user&#39;s data. 
         FIG. 9B  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface for defining a distribution policy. 
         FIG. 10  shows an example of an object log index. 
         FIG. 11  shows an example of a distribution index. 
         FIG. 12  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for providing a user with unified access to all of her hosted data and data from other computing devices. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface for providing a user with unified access to all of her hosted data and data from other computing devices. 
         FIG. 14  is a flow chart that illustrates a process for providing a user with access to her data that may be performed at a distribution module. 
         FIGS. 15A and 15B  show illustrative examples of a native interface to an application and a “live browse” interface. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the disclosure. 
     Overview 
     A software, firmware, and/or hardware system for comprehensive information management is disclosed. The system helps collect, manage and distribute, in a unified fashion, data and metadata from numerous sources, including data and metadata originating from hosted services and mobile devices. The system can help a user obtain a unified view of her data across numerous devices and also keep data synchronized across numerous computing devices associated with the user. The system permits users to define simple or complex data distribution policies to help drive data distribution and synchronization across the user&#39;s devices. The system allows a user on a mobile device to perform “live browsing” of the files on another computing device that is associated with the user. The system also permits a user of a mobile device or other limited-feature device to execute full-featured applications installed on a remote computing device (e.g., a desktop or laptop device) and to interact with the full-featured application via the input-output hardware of the limited-feature device. 
     The system offers numerous benefits. First, from a single interface, users can browse and search for files from practically any of their computing devices or hosted services and access those files. Second, the system provides a closed corporate collaboration environment where data objects are exchanged and synchronized across multiple devices, but using the resources of a private information management system, not an untrusted or untried third-party service. As a result, copies of an organization&#39;s data objects are not unnecessarily exposed to others because the copies do not need to be stored or controlled by third parties. Third, the system permits an organization to better comply with data retention regulations and other regulations by capturing and managing practically all of a user&#39;s data, not just the user&#39;s data that originates from fixed computing devices. Fourth, the system can permit an organization to better respond to unexpected data losses, such as the loss of a mobile device or a service outage by a hosted service, because the system is actively managing copies of mobile data and hosted data. Other benefits are of course possible. 
     Various examples of the invention will now be described. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and enabling description of these examples. One skilled in the relevant art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Likewise, one skilled in the relevant art will also understand that the invention may include many other obvious features not described in detail herein. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail below, so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description. 
     The terminology used below is to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific examples of the invention. Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Description section. 
     Information Management Environment 
     Aspects of the technologies described herein may be practiced in an information management environment  100 , which will now be described while referencing  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the environment  100  includes multiple computing devices that execute numerous software applications to facilitate the operations of an organization (or multiple affiliated organizations), such as a household, corporation or other business entity, a non-profit organization, an educational institution, or a governmental agency. The computing devices may include one or more: servers  105  (such as mail servers, file servers, database servers, print servers, and web servers), personal computers  110 , workstations  115 , or other types of fixed computing systems such as mainframe computers and minicomputers (not shown). The servers  105  may include network-attached storage (NAS) filers. 
     The environment  100  may include virtualized computing resources, such as a virtual machine  120  provided to the organization by a third-party cloud service vendor or a virtual machine  125  running on a virtual machine host  130  operated by the organization. For example, the organization may use one virtual machine  125 A as a database server and another virtual machine  125 B as a mail server. The environment  100  may also include mobile or portable computing devices, such as laptops  135 , tablet computers  140 , personal data assistants  145 , mobile phones  152  (such as smartphones), and other mobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set top boxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. 
     Of course, other types of computing devices may form part of the environment  100 . As part of their function, each of these computing devices creates, accesses, modifies, writes, and otherwise uses production copies of data and metadata that are typically stored in a persistent storage medium having fast I/O times. For example, each computing device may regularly access and modify data files and metadata stored on semiconductor memory, a local disk drive or a network-attached storage device. Each of these computing devices may access data and metadata via a file system supported by an operating system of the computing device. 
     The environment  100  may also include hosted services  122  that provide various online services to the organization or its constituent members (e.g., the organization&#39;s departments, employees, independent contractors, etc.) such as social networking services (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest), hosted email services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail), or hosted productivity applications or other hosted applications (e.g., Microsoft Office 365, Google Docs, Salesforce.com). Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs), cloud services, and all manner of delivering computing or functionality via a network. As it provides services to users, each hosted service may generate additional “hosted data and metadata” that is associated with each user. For example, Facebook may generate and store photos, wall posts, notes, videos, and other content that are associated with a particular Facebook user&#39;s account. 
     The organization directly or indirectly employs an information management system  150  to protect and manage the data and metadata used by the various computing devices in the environment  100  and the data and metadata that is maintained by hosted services on behalf of users associated with the organization. One example of an information management system is the CommVault Simpana system, available from CommVault Systems, Inc. of Oceanport, N.J. The information management system creates and manages non-production copies of the data and metadata to meet information management goals, such as: permitting the organization to restore data, metadata or both data and metadata if an original copy of the data/metadata is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, or disaster, or because of a service interruption by a hosted service); allowing data to be recovered from a previous time; complying with regulatory data retention and electronic discovery (“e-discovery”) requirements; reducing the amount of data storage media used; facilitating data organization and search; improving user access to data files across multiple computing devices and/or hosted services; and implementing information lifecycle management (“ILM”) or other data retention policies for the organization. The information management system  150  may create the additional non-production copies of the data and metadata on any suitable non-production storage medium such as magnetic disks  155 , magnetic tapes  160 , other storage media  165  such as solid-state storage devices or optical disks, or on cloud data storage sites  170  (e.g. those operated by third-party vendors). Further details on the information management system may be found in the assignee&#39;s U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/751,850, filed Mar. 31, 2010 entitled DATA OBJECT STORE AND SERVER FOR A CLOUD STORAGE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING DATA DEDUPLICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE CLOUD STORAGE SITES, now U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010-0332456, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
       FIG. 2  helps illustrates some differences between “production copies” of data and metadata and “non-production copies” of data and metadata in the data management environment  100 . As shown, each computing device  205  in the environment  100  has at least one operating system  210  installed and one or more applications  215 A-D, such as mail server applications, file server applications, mail client applications, database applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications, entertainment applications, and so on. Each application can access and modify various production copies of files stored in a production data storage medium  218 , which may be a network attached storage filer or form part of a Hadoop distributed file system, Open VMS file system, or other type of distributed file system, simply by making conventional file system calls via the operating system  210 , without needing the information management system  150  to intervene on behalf of the operating system or application. The production copies of files may include structured data (e.g., database files), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structured data, and thus may include one or more documents  220 A-B, spreadsheets  225 , presentation documents  230 , video files  232 , image files  234 , email mailboxes  235 , html/xml or other types of markup language files  222 , and/or databases  240 . The operating system  210  may also access and modify production copies of files and other data, such as files in a system volume and/or boot volume. The hosted data and metadata used by a hosted service are also “production copies” of data and metadata since the hosted service accesses and modifies the user&#39;s data and metadata as part of its services. Production copies of data may include not only files, but also subsets of files, each of which a related application  215  or the operating system  210  treats as an independent functional unit, but which is not separately addressed in the associated file system. For example, a single email mailbox  235  may include multiple email messages  245 A-C, email headers, and attachments. As another example, a single database  240  may include multiple tables  255 A-C. As used herein, a “data object” refers to both (1) any file that is currently or previously addressable by a file system and (2) a functional subset of such a file that has a particular function for a related application  215 A-D or the operating system  210 . Each data object may be further decomposed into one or more data blocks each of which is a collection of data bits within the data object that may not have any particular function for a related application or the operating system. In addition to data objects, the operating system  210  and applications  215 A-D may also access and modify production copies of metadata, such as boot sectors, partition layouts, file or data object metadata (e.g., file name, file size, creation/modification/access timestamps, file location within a file folder directory structure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists (“ACLs”)), and system metadata (e.g., registry information). In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems and operating systems, some applications maintain indices of production metadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individual email messages. Thus, as shown in  FIG. 2 , each data object may be associated with a production copy of object metadata (“Meta1-11”), which may be file system metadata and/or application-specific metadata. 
     The information management system  150  accesses or receives copies of the various production copies of data objects and metadata, and via an information management operation (such as a backup operation, archive operation, or snapshot operation), creates non-production copies of these data objects and metadata, often stored in one or more non-production storage mediums  265  different than the production storage medium  218  where the production copies of the data objects and metadata reside. A non-production copy of a data object represents the production data object and its associated metadata at a particular point in time (non-production objects  260 A-C). Since a production copy of a data object or metadata changes over time as it is modified by an application  215 , hosted service  122 , or the operating system  210 , the information management system  150  may create and manage multiple non-production copies of a particular data object or metadata, each representing the state of the production data object or metadata at a particular point in time. Moreover, since a production copy of a data object may eventually be deleted from the production data storage medium and the file system from which it originated, the information management system may continue to manage point-in-time representations of that data object, even though a production copy of the data object itself no longer exists. 
     For virtualized computing devices, such as virtual machines, the operating system  210  and applications  215 A-D may be running on top of virtualization software, and the production data storage medium  218  may be a virtual disk created on a physical medium such as a physical disk. The information management system may create non-production copies of the discrete data objects stored in a virtual disk file (e.g., documents, email mailboxes, and spreadsheets) and/or non-production copies of the entire virtual disk file itself (e.g., a non-production copy of an entire .vmdk file). 
     Each non-production object  260 A-C may contain copies of or otherwise represent more than one production data object. For example, non-production object  260 A represents three separate production data objects  255 C,  230  and  245 C (represented as  245 C′,  230 ′ and  245 ′, respectively). Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), a non-production object may store a representation of a production data object or metadata differently than the original format of the data object or metadata, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, or otherwise optimized format. Although  FIG. 2  shows that a single production data object (e.g.,  255 C), and its associated data object metadata (e.g., Meta11) are represented by the contents of only a single non-production object (e.g.,  260 A), the entire contents of a single production data object and/or its metadata at a particular point in time may instead span across numerous non-production objects. Also a single non-production object  260  may contain copies of or otherwise represent production data objects that originated from different computing devices. 
     Non-production copies include backup copies, archive copies, and snapshot copies. Backup copies are generally used for shorter-term data protection and restoration purposes and may be in a native application format or in a non-native format (e.g., compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). Archive copies are generally used for long-term data storage purposes and may be compressed, encrypted, deduplicated and/or otherwise modified from the original application format. In some examples, when an archive copy of a data object is made, a logical reference or stub may be used to replace the production copy of the data object in the production storage medium  218 . In such examples, the stub may point to or otherwise reference the archive copy of the data object stored in the non-production storage medium so that the information management system can retrieve the archive copy if needed. The stub may also include some metadata associated with the data object, so that a file system and/or application can provide some information about the data object and/or a limited-functionality version (e.g., a preview) of the data object. A snapshot copy represents a data object at a particular point in time. A snapshot copy can be made quickly and without significantly impacting production computing resources because large amounts of data need not be copied or moved. A snapshot copy may include a set of pointers derived from the file system or an application, where each pointer points to a respective stored data block, so collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and state of the data object at a particular point in time when the snapshot copy was created. In “copy-on-write”, if a block of data is to be deleted or changed, the snapshot process writes the block to a particular data storage location, and the pointer for that block is now directed to that particular location. The set of pointers and/or the set of blocks pointed to by a snapshot may be stored within the production data storage medium  218 . 
     Non-production copies of a data object or metadata may be distinguished from a production copy of a data object or metadata in several ways. First, a non-production copy of a data object is created to meet the different information management goals described above and is not directly used or modified by applications  215 A-D, hosted services  122 , or the operating system  210 . Second, a non-production copy of a data object is stored as one or more non-production objects  260  that may have a format different from the native application format of the production copy of the data object, and thus often cannot be directly used by the native application or a hosted service  122  without first being modified. Third, non-production objects are often stored on a non-production storage medium  265  that is inaccessible to the applications  215 A-D running on computing devices and hosted services  122 . Also, some non-production copies may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available (e.g. not mounted tape or disk.) Offline copies include copies of data that the information management system can access without any human intervention (e.g. tapes within an automated tape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies that the information management system  150  can access only with at least some human intervention (e.g. tapes located at an offsite storage site). 
     The information management system  150  also generates information management data  275 , such as indexing information, that permit the information management system to perform its various information management tasks. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a computing device  205  may include one or more data management agents  280  that provide client-side functions for the information management system. 
     Information Management System 
       FIG. 3  shows a hierarchical arrangement of resources that may form an information management system  150 . As shown, the information management system  150  includes multiple information management cells  350  arranged in a hierarchy, with some information management cells (e.g.,  350 D-E) subordinate to other information management cells (e.g.,  350 B). A global storage manager  305 , which may form part of a global information cell  350   x , manages the overall hierarchy of information management cells by receiving reports from the various subordinate information management cells related to the operation of the cells, determining global information management policies in light of received reports, and pushing information management policies towards subordinate cells for implementation. The global storage manager may also maintain and disseminate, to the various cells, system-wide information management data. A superior information management cell (e.g.,  350 B), may perform similar tasks for its subordinate cells (e.g.,  350 D-E) and/or otherwise act as an intermediary between the subordinate cells and the global storage manager  305 . 
     Information Management Cell 
       FIG. 4  shows an arrangement of resources that may form an information management cell  350 . As shown, the information management cell includes a storage manager  402 , one or more media agents  410 A-M, one or more non-production storage mediums  155 - 870 , one or more computing devices  205 A-N, and one or more production data storage mediums  218 A-N. Outside of the information management cell are hosted services  122 , which may interact with media agents  410  and its components, as described further herein. In some examples, all or a portion of an information management cell may be implemented as an object store, as described in assignee&#39;s U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/751,850 (introduced more fully and incorporated by reference above). 
     The storage manager  402  may be a software module or other application that coordinates and controls information management operations performed by one or more information management cells  350  to protect and control copies of non-production data objects and metadata. As shown by the dashed lines  416  and  422 , the storage manager may communicate with some or all elements of the information management cell  350 , such as the media agents  410  and computing devices  205 , to initiate and manage backup operations, snapshot operations, archive operations, data replication operations, data migrations, data distributions, data recovery, and other information management operations. The storage manager may control additional information management operations including ILM, deduplication, content indexing, data classification, data mining or searching, e-discovery management, collaborative searching, encryption, and compression. Alternatively or additionally, a storage manager may control the creation and management of disaster recovery copies, which are often created as secondary, high-availability disk copies, using auxiliary copy or replication technologies. 
     The storage manager  402  may include a jobs agent  455 , a management agent  450 , a network agent  445 , and an interface agent  460 , all of which may be implemented as interconnected software modules or application programs. The jobs agent  455  monitors the status of information management operations previously performed, currently being performed, or scheduled to be performed by the information management cell  350 . The management agent  450  provides an interface that allows various management agents  450  in multiple information management cells  350  (or in a global storage manager  305 ) to communicate with one another. This allows each information management cell  350  to exchange status information, routing information, capacity and utilization information, and information management operation instructions or policies with other cells. In general, the network agent  445  provides the storage manager  402  with the ability to communicate with other components within the information management cell and the larger information management system, e.g., via proprietary or non-proprietary network protocols and application programming interfaces (“APIs”) (including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST, virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, hosted service provider APIs). The interface agent  460  includes information processing and display software, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an API, or other interactive interface through which users and system processes can retrieve information about the status of information management operations or issue instructions to the information management cell and its constituent components. The storage manager  402  may also track information that permits it to select, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplication databases, or similar databases within its information management cell (or another cell) to be searched in response to certain queries. 
     The storage manager  402  may also maintain information management data, such as a database  465  of management data and policies. The database  465  may include a management index that stores logical associations between components of the system, user preferences, user profiles (that among other things, map particular information management users to computing devices or hosted services), management tasks, or other useful data. The database  465  may also include various “information management policies,” which are generally data structures or other information sources that each includes a set of criteria and rules associated with performing an information management operation. The criteria may be used to determine which rules apply to a particular data object, system component, or information management operation, an may include:
         frequency with which a production or non-production copy of a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used, accessed, or modified;   access control lists or other security information;   the sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object as determined by its content and/or metadata;   time-related factors;   deduplication information;   the computing device, hosted service, computing process, or user that created, modified, or accessed a production copy of a data object; and   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different components.
 
The rules may specify, among other things:
   a schedule for performing information management operations,   a location (or a class or quality of storage media) for storing a non-production copy,   preferences regarding the encryption, compression, or deduplication of a non-production copy,   resource allocation between different computing devices or other system components (e.g., bandwidth, storage capacity),   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted services,   network pathways and components to utilize (e.g., to transfer data) during an information management operation, and   retention policies (e.g., the length of time a non-production copy should be retained in a particular class of storage media).       

     As noted above, each computing device  205  may include one or more data management agents  280 . Each data management agent is a software module or component that helps govern communications with other system components. For example, the data management agent receives commands from the storage manager  402  and sends to and receives from media agents  410  copies of data objects, metadata, and other payload (as indicated by the heavy arrows). Each data management agent accesses data and/or metadata stored in a production data storage medium  218  and arranges or packs the data and metadata in a certain format (e.g., backup or archive format) before it is transferred to another component. Each data management agent can also restore a production copy of a data object or metadata in a production data storage medium  218  from a non-production copy. A data management agent may perform some functions provided by a media agent, which are described further herein, such as compression, encryption, or deduplication. Each data management agent may be specialized for a particular application (e.g. a specified data management agent customized to handle data generated or used by Exchange by Microsoft Corp.). Alternatively or additionally, a more generic data management agent may handle data generated or used by two or more applications. 
     Each computing device  205  may also include a data distribution and live browsing client module  405  (herein “distribution client module”). The distribution client module  405  is responsible for, inter alia, associating mobile devices and/or hosted service accounts with users of the information management system, setting information management policies for mobile and other computing devices, pushing data objects to a distribution module for distribution to other computing devices, providing unified access to a user&#39;s data via an interface, and providing live browsing features. The various functions of the distribution client module are described in greater detail herein. 
     A media agent  410 , which may be implemented as a software module, conveys data, as directed by the storage manager  402 , between a computing device  205  (or hosted service  122 ) and one or more non-production storage mediums  155 - 870 . Each media agent  410  may control one or more intermediary storage devices  418 , such as a cloud server or a tape or magnetic disk library management system, to read, write, or otherwise manipulate data stored in a non-production storage medium  155 - 870 . Each media agent  410  may be considered to be “associated with” a storage device and its related non-production storage media if that media agent is capable of routing data to and storing data in the storage media managed by the particular storage device. A media agent may communicate with computing devices  205 , hosted services  122 , storage devices  418 A-D, and the storage manager  402  via any suitable communications path, including SCSI, a Storage Area Network (“SAN”), a Fibre Channel communications link, or a wired, wireless, or partially wired/wireless computer or telecommunications network, including the Internet. 
     To perform its functions, the media agent  410  may include a media file system module  425 , a data classification module  435 , a content indexing module  420 , a deduplication module  430 , an encryption module  475 , a compression module  485 , a network module  415 , a distribution module  490 , and a media agent database  440 . The media file system module  425  is responsible for reading, writing, archiving, copying, migrating, restoring, accessing, moving, sparsifying, deleting, sanitizing, destroying, or otherwise performing file system operations on various non-production storage devices of disparate types. The media file system module may also instruct the storage device to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load or eject certain storage media such as a tape. 
     The network module  415  permits the media agent to communicate with other components within the system and hosted services  122  via one or more proprietary and/or non-proprietary network protocols or APIs (including cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hosted service provider APIs). The deduplication module  430  performs deduplication of data objects and/or data blocks to reduce data redundancy in the cell. The deduplication module may generate and store data structures to manage deduplicated data objects, such as deduplication tables, in the media agent database  440 . The encryption module  475  performs encryption of data objects, data blocks, or non-production objects to ensure data security in the cell. The compression module  485  performs compression of data objects, data blocks, or non-production objects to reduce the data capacity needed in the cell. 
     The content indexing module  420  analyzes the contents of production copies or non-production copies of data objects and/or their associated metadata and catalogues the results of this analysis, along with the storage locations of (or references to) the production or non-production copies, in a content index stored within a media agent database  440 . The results may also be stored elsewhere in the system, e.g., in the storage manager  402 , along with a non-production copy of the data objects, and/or an index cache. Such index data provides the media agent  410  or another device with an efficient mechanism for locating production copies and/or non-production copies of data objects that match particular criteria. The index data or other analyses of data objects or metadata may also be used by the data classification module  435  to associate data objects with classification identifiers (such as classification tags) in the media agent database  440  (or other indices) to facilitate information management policies and searches of stored data objects. 
     The distribution module  490  may be a set of instructions that coordinates the distribution of data objects and indices of data objects. The distribution may occur from one computing device  205  to another computing device  205  and/or from hosted services  122  to computing devices  205 . As a first example, the distribution module may collect and manage data and metadata from hosted services  122  or mobile devices  205 . As another example, the distribution module may synchronize data files or other data objects that are modified on one computing device so that the same modified files or objects are available on another computing device. As yet another example, the distribution module may distribute indices of data objects that originated from multiple computing devices and/or hosted services, so a user can access all of their data objects through a unified user interface or a native application on their computing device. The distribution module may also initiate “live browse” sessions to permit communications between different computing devices so that the devices can interchange data and metadata or so the devices can provide computing resources, such as applications, to each other. The functions performed by the distribution module are described in greater detail herein. 
     Manacling Hosted Data 
     To provide comprehensive management of all of an organization&#39;s data, the information management system  150  (or IMS) may collect and manage hosted data associated with individual users of the IMS, such as individual employees or members of the organization that operate or utilize the IMS.  FIG. 5  shows a process  500  for collecting and managing hosted data in an information management system. The process  500  may be performed by the distribution module  490  or another system component. The process  500  begins at block  505 , where the distribution module receives authentication information and information management policies for the hosted services accounts (or simply “hosted accounts”) associated with a user of the information management system. For example, the distribution module may receive an indication that the distribution module should periodically collect copies of the data and metadata associated with the user&#39;s hosted accounts on social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter), hosted email services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail), hosted applications (e.g., Office 365, Google Documents, and Salesforce), or other hosted services. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates one example of a graphical user interface  600  that the distribution module may provide in order to receive authentication information and information management policies for hosted accounts. As shown, the interface  600  may include IMS username and password fields  602  and  604  so that the user can provide authentication information or other credentials that identify the person as a registered user of the information management system  150  (e.g., as IMS user “jane65”). Alternatively, the IMS user may be identified using credentials obtained from an operating system or directory or security service, such as an Active Directory service. Although not shown, the interface  600  may also include a field to permit the IMS user to provide an identifier associated with the particular IMS they are associated with. 
     The interface  600  also includes several selection boxes  605  or similar elements to permit the user to identify the hosted accounts the user has. For illustrative purposes, the interface  600  shows only the hosted services Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, Dropbox, and Box.net. However, as indicated by the services selection field  630 , the information management system may also support numerous other hosted services, including practically any hosted service that generates production data and metadata for a user and provides APIs or other interfaces that permit the distribution module to access the user&#39;s data and metadata. For each selected service, the interface  600  provides username and password fields,  610  and  615 , where the user can enter hosted account authentication information or credentials to permit the IMS to access the user&#39;s data and metadata hosted on the service. 
     For each selected service, the interface also includes a policy selection dropdown menu  620  or similar selection means so that the user can associate the selected service with a particular information management policy for collecting and managing the service&#39;s hosted data and metadata. A policy may include any of the criteria and rules described above in connection with the discussion of information management policies generally. The selected policy may specify how frequently the distribution module should collect hosted data from the service, the type or other characteristics of hosted data that the distribution module should collect (e.g., all data versus photos versus documents, etc.), and/or the types of information management operations that the IMS should perform on collected hosted data (e.g., deduplication, content indexing, data classification, archiving, back up operations, etc.). The selected policy may also specify where or how non-production copies of the hosted data should be stored. The interface can include options for all of these criteria and rules, as well as other criteria and rules. 
     As shown with element  620   a , to simplify the user experience, the interface  600  may provide a suggested default or mandatory policy (e.g., “FB default” policy) for each service (e.g., all data content is collected twice a day). For each selected service, the interface  600  may also include an alias field  635  where a user can provide a descriptive alias for the hosted account, to permit the user and the IMS to readily identify the hosted account as a data source for the user. 
     The interface  600  may be presented to a user via a web browser (e.g., as a web portal), or may be presented to a user via a mobile application or other application installed on the user&#39;s computing device, such as a mobile device. For example, the interface  600  may be provided by the same application used to produce the interface  770 , which is described further herein. In examples where the interface  600  is presented via a mobile application, some or all of the entry fields may be auto-populated by the application. For example, the application producing interface  600  may detect other applications installed on the mobile device that are associated with hosted services or local data related to these other applications. For example, the application used to produce interface  600  may detect that a user&#39;s mobile device has a Facebook application installed and may therefore automatically select “Facebook.” 
     Although not shown in  FIG. 6 , it should be noted that the information management system  150  permits administrators of the information management system  150  to define or modify information management policies for the hosted data of other users, including policies that prohibit the collection and management of certain hosted data. For example, an IMS administrator may create a system-wide policy that specifies that photos or videos that originate from any employee&#39;s Facebook hosted account cannot be collected. The IMS may disregard or override any information management policies set by an individual user to the extent that those individual rules are contrary to an administrator-defined policy. 
     Returning to the process  500  of  FIG. 5 , at block  510 , the distribution module  490  associates the hosted account information received at block  505  with the IMS user. For example, in an IMS user profile data structure, the distribution module may associate the IMS user identified by fields  602  and  604  with the hosted services, aliases, authentication information, and policies received at block  505 . 
     At block  515 , the distribution module  490  sets or adjusts information management policies to govern the collection and management of the hosted data associated with the user. For example, in accordance with the user&#39;s policy preferences that were received at block  505  (and any administrator-defined policies), for each hosted service selected, the distribution module may set a policy specifying which of the user&#39;s hosted data should be collected from the service and the schedule for collecting the hosted data. Continuing the previous example, the distribution module may set a policy to collect all of the user jane65&#39;s data and metadata from her “Facebook Jane” account twice a day. 
     At block  520 , the distribution module  490  collects hosted data and metadata in accordance with the applicable information management policies that were set at block  515 . To do so, the distribution module may utilize general or service-specific APIs to request any new data or metadata associated with a user&#39;s hosted account on the prescribed schedule. As part of its request, the distribution module may provide the authentication or credential information (e.g., username/password or other credentials) that it received at block  505  in order to gain access to the user&#39;s hosted data and metadata. 
     The process  500  ends at block  525 , where the distribution module  490  manages collected hosted data in accordance with applicable information management policies. For example, the distribution module may perform deduplication, content indexing, data classification, and/or archiving; create additional non-production copies (e.g., backup copies or archive copies); restore copies of the data and metadata to a production location; or perform information lifecycle management of the hosted data in accordance with the applicable information management policies set at block  515 . 
     In some examples, the distribution module may restore or expose hosted data at a new location that is different from its original hosted location so that an organization can interact with the data in a different fashion. For example, the distribution module may restore IMAP data that was generated by a first hosted email service (e.g., Gmail) so that it is accessible via a second hosted email service (e.g., Hotmail) or a local email client (e.g., Outlook). As another example, the distribution module may restore hosted data to an organization&#39;s network attached storage filer. In such an example, data that was previously accessible only via a service-specific API of a hosted service would now be accessible to the organization via Network File System or Common Internet File System protocols. 
     Managing Mobile Device Data 
     To provide comprehensive management of all of an organization&#39;s data, the information management system  150  may also collect and manage data and metadata generated by the mobile devices owned or used by individual users of the IMS, such as individual employees or members of the organization that operates or utilizes the IMS. For example, the IMS may collect and manage all employees&#39; data and metadata generated from smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and/or other mobile devices (which may be referred to herein simply as “mobile data”).  FIG. 7A  is a flow chart that illustrates a process  700  for sending mobile data to an information management system that may be performed at a mobile device, e.g., by the distribution client module  405 . In some examples, before the process  700 , the distribution client module  405  and accompanying data management agents  280  are downloaded and installed on a user&#39;s mobile device as a mobile application (e.g., via a company&#39;s intranet, via an “app store” or via another distribution channel). 
     The process  700  begins at block  705 , where the distribution client module  405  receives IMS authentication information and management policies for the mobile data from a mobile device.  FIG. 7C  illustrates one example of a graphical user interface  770  that the distribution client module may provide on the mobile device in order to receive authentication information and management policies. As shown, the interface  770  may include IMS username and password fields,  772  and  774 , so that the user of the mobile device can provide authentication information or credentials that identify the person as a registered user of the information management system  150  (e.g., as IMS user “jane65”). Although not shown, the interface  770  may also include a field to permit the IMS user to provide an identifier associated with the particular IMS she is associated with. The interface  770  also includes a device alias field  775  whereby a user can provide a descriptive alias for the mobile device that permits the user and the IMS to readily identify the mobile device as a data source for the user. 
     The interface  770  includes several selection boxes  776  or similar elements to permit the user to identify what types of mobile data from the mobile device the user wants the IMS to collect and manage. For illustrative purposes, the interface  770  shows only the data types of pictures, documents, emails, applications and application data. However, as indicated by the selection field  776   e , the information management system may also support the collection and management of numerous other types of mobile data. Moreover, in some examples, the interface  770  permits a user to define more granular criteria for the mobile data that should be collected and managed by the IMS. For example, the interface  770  might permit a user to define which particular applications and application data are collected and managed and/or might permit the user to define other selection criteria (such as file size, file extension, or particular source directory folders on a mobile device). 
     The interface  770  also includes policy selection menus  778  or similar selection means so that the user can associate each selected data type (or all data types) with a particular information management policy for collecting, managing or distributing the selected type of data. A selected policy may include any of the criteria and rules described above in connection with the discussion of information management policies generally. A selected policy may specify the frequency with which the distribution client module collects data from the mobile device, the type of network connectivity that can or cannot be used for data collection or distribution (e.g., a WiFi connection or a domestic cellular network), a specific “blacklist” of network access points or IP addresses that cannot be used for data collection or distribution, a specific “whitelist” of network access points or IP addresses that may be used for data collection or distribution, and operating conditions such as battery life that must be satisfied during data collection or distribution. The policy may also specify that certain data objects cannot be opened on the mobile device unless the mobile device is within a certain IP address range or connected via a specific network. The policy may specify particular directories on the mobile device file system for which data should be collected and managed. The policy selected may also specify the types of information management operations that should be performed on the mobile data after it is collected (e.g., deduplication, content indexing, data classification, archiving, etc.). The selected policy may also specify where or how non-production copies of the mobile data should be stored. As shown with element  778   a , to simplify the user experience, the interface  770  may provide a suggested default or mandatory policy (e.g., a Default policy where data is collected once a day, and only when the mobile device has a WiFi connection). To illustrate the use of the interface  770 , in the example shown in  FIG. 7C , the IMS user “jane65” has opted to have the pictures, documents, applications and application data on her mobile device sent to the IMS once a day when there is a WiFi connection available. 
     Although not shown in  FIG. 7C , it should be noted that the information management system  150  permits administrators of the information management system to define or modify information management policies for the mobile data of other users, including policies that prohibit the collection and management of certain mobile data. For example, an IMS administrator may create a system-wide policy that specifies that photos that originate from any employee&#39;s mobile device cannot be collected. As another example, an IMS administrator may set a policy that prohibits employees from connecting a mobile device to the IMS unless the IMS administrator has already added an identifier for the mobile device (e.g., an IMSI or IMEI) to a system-wide “whitelist” of authorized devices. The IMS may disregard any information management policies set by an individual user to the extent those individual rules are contrary to an administrator-defined policy. 
     Returning to  FIG. 7A , at block  710 , the distribution client module  405  associates the mobile device with the user. For example, the distribution client module may send identifying information to the distribution module  490  such as: the IMS user authentication information obtained at block  705  (e.g. “jane65” and password or other credentials), the alias given to the mobile device, and/or identifiers for the mobile device (e.g., hardware, software, or subscriber identifiers associated with the mobile device such as an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), and/or MAC address). In response, in an IMS user profile data structure, the distribution module may associate the identified IMS user with the device alias and other identifiers. The distribution module  490  may also provide the distribution client module with an indication of a particular distribution module  490  that will service the mobile device during data collection or distribution. 
     At block  715 , the distribution client module  405  sets or adjusts information management policies to govern the collection and management of the mobile data from the mobile device. For example, in accordance with the user&#39;s policy preferences that were received at block  705 , for each data type selected, the distribution client module may set a policy specifying the schedule and other rules for sending mobile data to an information management system. Continuing the previous example, the distribution client module may set a policy to collect all of jane65&#39;s pictures, documents, applications and application data from the tablet named “Janes tablet” once a day when a WiFi connection is available. The distribution client module may also send the policies to other components, such as a storage manager  402  or the distribution module  490 . 
     Next, at block  720 , the distribution client module  405  sends mobile data from the mobile device to an IMS in accordance with the applicable information management policies. The mobile data may be sent opportunistically, e.g., when a high-speed or low cost network connection such as WiFi is available. The distribution client module may instruct data management agents installed  280  on the mobile device to send data both in (1) an initial operation so the IMS can collect existing data objects from the mobile device and (2) in subsequent scheduled operations so the IMS can collect new or modified data objects from the mobile device. Returning to the previous example, after the user preferences have been received at block  705 , if a WiFi connection is available, the distribution client module may initially instruct various installed data management agents  280  to package up and send any of jane65&#39;s existing pictures, documents, applications and application data from the tablet named “Janes tablet” to a distribution module  490 . From thereon, once a day, when a WiFi connection is available on the Janes Tablet device, the distribution client module may instruct various installed data management agents  280  to package up and send any changes to jane65&#39;s pictures, documents, applications and application data to the distribution module  490 . After block  720  the process  700  ends. 
     Although the process  700  was described as being performed by a distribution client module  405  on the mobile device whose data is being sent, some or all of the process  700  may be performed by another computing device that acts as an intermediary. For example, a mobile device may tether (physically or wireless) to a laptop or desktop computer and a distribution client module on the laptop or desktop computer may perform some of the steps in the process  700 . 
       FIG. 7B  is a flow chart that illustrates a process  750  for managing mobile device data that may be performed at a distribution module  490 . As shown, the process  750  begins at block  755  where the distribution module receives mobile data in accordance with applicable information management policies, e.g., in response to a distribution client module  405  or a data management agent  280  sending mobile data at block  720  in process  700 . At block  760 , the distribution module  490  manages the received mobile data in accordance with applicable information management policies, such as the information management policies set at block  715  in process  700 . For example, the distribution module may perform deduplication, content indexing, data classification, or archiving of the mobile data; create additional non-production copies of the mobile data (e.g. backup copies or archive copies); restore the mobile data to a new production location; perform information lifecycle management of the mobile data; or perform other information management operations upon the received mobile data. After block  760 , the process  750  concludes. 
     Distributing User&#39;s Data 
     In addition to collecting and managing a user&#39;s data from hosted services and/or mobile devices, the information management system  150  may also distribute a user&#39;s data and/or indices of a user&#39;s data so that the user can obtain a unified view of all of her data, across different hosted services and different computing devices and access all of this data readily. For example, the information management system may permit a user to view all of her mobile data, hosted data, and other data in a manner similar to that shown in  FIG. 13 , which is discussed in greater detail herein. 
     Before data is distributed, the distribution module  490  may perform various management tasks to facilitate subsequent distribution.  FIG. 8A  is a flow chart that illustrates a process  800  for managing a user&#39;s data that may be performed by a distribution module  490 . The process  800  begins at block  805 , where the distribution module receives information management policies for a user&#39;s data, specifically distribution policies that specify how a user&#39;s data should be distributed to different computing devices and/or portals. 
       FIGS. 9A and 9B  show some examples of graphical user interfaces that may be utilized to receive the distribution policies for a user&#39;s data. As shown in  FIG. 9A , a management interface  900  may reflect numerous user preferences for an information management system (such as backup content and schedules, data restoration options, and alerting options). The management interface  900  includes a subsidiary distribution policies interface  917  that reflects existing distribution policies. The distribution policies interface  917  may show the details of existing distribution policies implemented by the distribution module  490 . For example, the portion of the distribution policies interface  917  shown indicates the details of two existing distribution policies. As shown at  904 - 910 , the user “jane65” has defined a first distribution policy called “impt data sync,” which entails distributing all of the files in a directory defined by a URL, link or path “/this/is/a/path” from Janes Laptop to Janes Tablet in directory defined by another URL, link or path “/another/path.” Second, as shown at  912 - 918 , the user jane65 has also defined a second distribution policy called “Push FB pics,” which entails sending all Facebook pictures from jane65&#39;s hosted account having the alias “Facebook Jane” to all of jane65&#39;s associated devices. As shown, jane65 is also provided with access to these pictures from a web-based portal, as described further herein. Selectable elements  911  and  919  such as hyperlinks or menu options, provide a user with the ability to edit the settings of existing distribution policies. A selectable element  920  such as a hyperlink or menu option provides a user with the ability to add a new distribution policy and adjust its settings. 
       FIG. 9B  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface  930  for defining a distribution policy. The interface  930  may be displayed, for example, in response to a user selecting one of the selectable elements of  FIG. 9A , such as  911 ,  919  or  920  in order to create a new distribution policy or edit an existing distribution policy. As shown, the interface  930  includes a distribution policy name field  932  and description field  934  to permit a user to edit a name and a narrative description for the distribution policy. The interface  930  also includes fields  936 ,  938 ,  940 , other types of menus  942 , dynamic lookup fields, or similar to permit a user to build a set of criteria that define which set of data objects should be distributed under the policy. Although not shown, the interface  930  may include options for creating complex expressions of criteria, including expressions that utilize Boolean operators and set operators. 
     As one example, as shown, the interface  930  may permit a user to specify a source location, a file type, and a modification date in order to define the set of data objects that should be distributed under the policy. A source location may be defined by an alias for a hosted account, an alias or hostname for a computing device (including mobile devices), and/or a directory path within a hosted account or computing device. Of course, other types of criteria may be used to define the set of data objects that should be distributed, including, without limitation file size, access control information, data classification tags, content information (e.g., keywords), and modification or creation dates. 
     The interface  930  also includes input fields  944 ,  946 , and other types of menus  948  that permit a user to select one or more destination locations to where the defined set of data objects should be distributed. The destination locations may include specific computing devices, a class of computing devices (e.g., all computing devices associated with a particular user, all computing devices having certain characteristics such as having more than a threshold capacity of disk space or a particular application installed), and/or a directory within a specific computing device or within a class of computing devices. By permitting a user to define a destination directory, a user can merge data from multiple sources into a specific folder on a destination device. In some examples, a user can omit a source directory path and destination directory path from the criteria, so that all data from a source device (e.g., a smartphone) is synchronized with all of the data at a destination device (e.g., a tablet). 
     Although not shown, a distribution policy may also specify whether a preview version or a copy of a version of an implicated data object should be automatically pushed by the distribution module to the destination location, even if it doesn&#39;t receive an explicit request for it from a destination computing device. The policy may also specify triggers for pushing unsolicited previews or copies. For example, a distribution policy may specify that a preview version or copy of an implicated data object should be pushed immediately when the preview or copy becomes available (or at the first opportunity thereafter) so that the destination device has a cached version available. 
     A synchronization policy field  950  permits a user to select or define whether and how data should be synchronized across the source and destination computing devices and may include pre-defined synchronization policies and/or a menu option to build a custom synchronization policy. One example of a synchronization policy is a one-way synchronization policy (“push only”), where only changes made to a data object at a source location are pushed or propagated to a destination location but changes made at a destination location are not propagated back to the source location. Another example is full two-way synchronization, where all changes made to a data object at any location (any source or destination location) are pushed or propagated to all other locations where a copy of the data object is located. A synchronization policy may further specify how frequently to distribute or receive changes to a data object (or other conditions for distributing or receiving data changes). A synchronization policy may also specify whether to lock access to a data object at locations where it is distributed if a copy of the object is being edited at another location. In this way, a synchronization policy may ensure that only one copy of a data object is unlocked for editing at any given time, so that only one computing device can edit the data object. Alternatively, a synchronization policy may specify methods for resolving concurrent editing of the same data object by more than one computing device. Although not shown, the interface  930  may permit a user to define other characteristics of a distribution policy, such as conditions precedent for collecting changes to a data object, receiving changes to a data object, opening a data object or preview, or editing a data object. Examples of these conditions include the type of network connectivity that can or cannot be used for data collection or distribution (e.g., a WiFi connection or a domestic cellular network), a specific “blacklist” of network access points that cannot be used for data collection or distribution, a specific “whitelist” of network access points that may be used for data collection or distribution, and operating conditions such as battery life that must be satisfied during data collection or distribution. The policy may also specify that certain data objects or preview cannot be opened on a computing device unless the computing device is within a certain IP address range or connected via a specific network. Other polices are of course possible, including combinations of those disclosed herein. 
     It should be noted that the information management system  150  permits a single user to define different distribution policies for their different computing devices, which gives the users more flexibility to customize their experience on each device. As just one example, a user may specify that their photos are synchronized to all their devices but their videos are only synchronized across devices that have sufficient data storage space to accommodate numerous videos. This is in contrast to some conventional techniques for data synchronization, which do not permit different synchronization policies for different devices. 
     Also, although not shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9B , the information management system  150  permits administrators of the information management system  150  to define or modify distribution policies for other users, including policies that prohibit data distribution for certain data objects, to certain users/locations and/or under certain conditions. For example, an IMS administrator may create a system-wide distribution policy that specifies that photos or videos that originate from any employee&#39;s Facebook hosted account cannot be distributed to desktop computers or laptop computers owned by an organization. The IMS may disregard any distribution policies set by an individual user to the extent those individual rules are contrary to an administrator-defined policy. 
     Returning to the discussion of  FIG. 8A , after receiving distribution policies for a user&#39;s data, the distribution module  805  may send these policies to any computing devices implicated by the policy, including computing devices that were identified as a source or destination location. In the example shown in  FIG. 9A , the distribution module  805  may for example send distribution policies to all of jane65&#39;s computing devices, such as Janes Laptop and Janes Tablet. The distribution module may send distribution policies to the distribution client module  405  at the implicated computing devices to ensure the policies are properly implemented. For example, the distribution module may modify an information management policy for a source or destination computing device so that agents on the device continuously or intermittently push any changes to implicated data objects to the distribution module  490  for subsequent synchronization with the other computing devices implicated by the policy. 
     At block  810 , the distribution module  490  receives a user&#39;s data objects and metadata, e.g., by receiving data objects and metadata from computing devices  205  or hosted services  122 . The distribution module may receive entirely new data objects implicated by a distribution policy or new versions of data objects that were already subject to a distribution policy. For example, in accordance with an applicable distribution policy created and implemented at block  805  (or in accordance with other information management policies, such as backup policies), the distribution module may receive data from a user&#39;s computing device  205 . Alternatively, or additionally, the distribution module  490  may receive hosted data that is implicated by a distribution policy by pulling the data from a hosted service in accordance with information management policies, as described previously at block  520 . 
     At block  810 , the distribution module  490  may receive a new version of a data object, e.g., either by receiving a copy of the changed data object itself or by receiving a copy of any blocks that have changed since the last version of the data object was received by the distribution module. Additionally, at block  810 , instead of receiving a copy of a particular data object or a constituent block of a data object, the distribution module may receive a hash or other substantially unique identifier for the data object or a constituent block, if source-side deduplication techniques are implemented, e.g., as described in assignee&#39;s U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/982,087, filed Dec. 30, 2010, entitled Systems and Methods for Retaining and Using Data Block Signatures in Data Protection Operations, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, and commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/751,850, which was introduced and incorporated by reference above. In conjunction with receiving data at block  810 , the distribution module may also receive metadata associated with the data object, such as a file name, file or data object type, source directory, access control information, creation time, file or object size, and modification time. 
     At block  815 , the distribution module  490  analyzes and indexes the data and metadata received at block  810 . For example, for each data object received, the distribution module may perform content indexing and data classification analyses of the data object, as described further in the assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,822,749 and 7,882,077, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The distribution module may store the results of the analyses and other information related to the data object in an object log index  1000 , such as that shown in  FIG. 10 . The object log index may include one row for every version of a data object that is subject to a distribution policy. As shown, the object log index  1000  may include an object ID column  1002 , a version ID column  1004 , a hash column  1006 , a user ID column  1008 , an object lookup column  1010 , a source column  1012 , an object name column  1013 , an analysis data column  1014 , a time stamp column  1016 , and a preview column  1020 . Together, the object ID column, which stores data object identifiers, and the version ID column, which stores version numbers or similar version identifiers, provide a unique key for the table (though other IDs may be used in alternative embodiments). The hash column  1006  includes a hash, checksum, digest or other substantially unique identifier of the content of a data object to aid in deduplication and object identification. The user ID column  1008  identifies a user who is associated with a data distribution policy that implicates the data object. The object lookup column  1010  provides a pointer or other reference to one or more stored copies of the version of the data object such as production or non-production copies of the version of the data object. The source column  1012  indicates where the version of the data object originated from, such as the hostname (or device alias) and directory from which the object originated, or a hosted service alias and hosted directory that produced the data object. The analysis data column  1014  points to or otherwise provides access to metadata, content indexing information, and data classification tags associated with the version of the data object. The timestamp column  1016  indicates when the version of the data object was received by the distribution module (or alternatively, the modification time of the version, as determined from its source). The preview column  1020  includes a pointer or other reference to one or more preview versions of the version of the data object. Each preview version may be a simplified or otherwise optimized version of the data object suitable for the user interface capabilities of a particular computing device or class of computing devices across which the data object is distributed. For example, a preview of a PowerPoint presentation suitable for a mobile device may be a limited functionality HTML or PDF version of the presentation. More discussion of appropriate methods for generating preview versions of data objects may be found in the commonly-assigned U.S. patent application No. 61/618,125 entitled “Smart Archiving and Data Previewing for Mobile Devices,” filed Mar. 30, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     Returning to the process  800  of  FIG. 8A , at block  820 , the distribution module  490  creates additional non-production copies of the received data objects and metadata, for example, in accordance with applicable information management policies. For example, an information management policy may mandate that each received version of a data object should be stored both as a backup copy in disk media and also in an archive format on tape for long-term storage. When creating additional non-production copies of the received data objects and metadata, the distribution module may update the object lookup column  1010  in the object log index  1000  to reflect the storage locations of these additional non-production copies. 
     At block  825 , the distribution module  490  determines where to distribute copies of the received data objects, index information related to the received data objects, and/or preview versions of the received data objects. For example, the distribution module may analyze the distribution policies received at block  805  and any other applicable information management policies to determine that it should distribute a received data object, its related index information, and/or a preview version of the object to a particular destination location, such as a particular destination computing device. In some examples, the distribution module  490  records the result of its determinations in a distribution index  1100 , such as that shown in  FIG. 11 , which includes a single row for each unique combination of a version of a data object and a destination location. As shown, the distribution index  1100  includes a user ID column  1102 , an object ID column  1106 , and a version ID column  1108 , that together identify a row in the object log index  1000 . The distribution index  1100  also includes a destination column  1104 , which indicates a particular destination device (or web portal) that should provide user access to the version of the data object, index information for the object (such as metadata), or a related preview version. The distribution index  1100  also includes a destination directory column  1105  that indicates where in a destination directory tree structure the data object should be placed. For example, rows  1101  and  1103  indicate that Janes Laptop and Janes Tablet should both receive version 1 of the data object identified by object ID  123456  (i.e., the “Image1.jpg” object described by row  1030  in  FIG. 10 ) and the user will be able to find the “Image1.jpg” file in the directory folder “Facebook Jane/pics/European Album.” Row  1105  indicates that jane65 should also be able to access the Image1.jpg from a web-based portal, as described further herein. 
     The distribution index  1100  may also include one or more columns to track whether and when a data object, a related preview, or related index information about a data object has been distributed to a particular destination. For example, an index sent column  1110  indicates when a particular destination device (or portal) receives index information about the version of the data object, as described further herein. As another example, a preview sent timestamp column  1112  indicates when a particular destination device or portal receives a preview version of a data object. As yet another example, a copy sent column  1114  indicates when a particular destination device or portal receives a copy of a particular version of the data object. A copy locked column  1116  indicates whether a particular computing device or portal is actively editing an object and thus, under the applicable synchronization policy, other computing devices or portals should be blocked from simultaneously editing the object. 
     Of course, different types of index data structures could provide similar functionalities to those described in connection with the object log index  1000  and distribution index  1100 . Additionally, in accordance with applicable storage policies, the distribution module may intermittently or on a prescribed schedule prune the indices  1000  and  1100  to remove all references to versions of data objects that meet predefined criteria (e.g., older versions that haven&#39;t been accessed during a prescribed period). Additionally, the distribution module may delete stored non-production copies and/or preview versions of these pruned data objects. 
     Returning to  FIG. 8A , after the distribution module  490  determines where to distribute data objects, index information, and/or preview versions of the received data objects, the process  800  ends. 
     A distribution client module  405  may perform actions that are complementary to the process  800  performed by a distribution module  940 .  FIG. 8B  is a flow chart that illustrates a process  850  for managing a user&#39;s data that may be performed at a computing device, e.g., by a distribution client module  405 . The process  850  begins at block  855 , where the distribution client module  405  receives information management policies for a user&#39;s data, including distribution policies. For example, as described previously at block  805 , the distribution client module  405  may receive user-defined distribution policies from the distribution module  490 . Alternatively, the distribution client module  405  may directly receive distribution policies from a user (for example, if the distribution client module provides interfaces similar to interfaces  900  and  930 ) and may push these received distribution policies to the distribution module  490 . 
     At block  860 , the distribution client module  405  detects changes to a user&#39;s data objects that are implicated by a distribution policy, i.e., objects that match the criteria specified by a distribution policy. As a first example, the distribution module may determine that a user has created a new file implicated by a distribution policy. As a second example, the distribution module may determine that a user has opened and edited a file on a source device, and the file is implicated by a distribution policy that specifies one-way or two-way synchronization across devices. As a third example, the distribution client module may determine that a user has opened and edited a file at a source or destination location, and the file is implicated by a distribution policy that specifies two-way synchronization across devices. 
     At block  865 , the distribution client module  405  sends a copy of the implicated data objects to the distribution module  490  in accordance with the distribution policies (i.e., resulting in block  810  of process  800 ). The timing of block  865  may be mandated by settings of the distribution policy and may be opportunistic (e.g., when a low-cost or high-speed network connection is available to the distribution client module). For example, the distribution policy may specify particular conditions for sending the data objects such as requiring that the device sending the copy is on a corporate network or corporate VPN, has WiFi or another type of network access, has a minimum level of battery power left, etc. After block  865 , the process  800  ends. The data objects may be sent using continuous data replication techniques such those techniques described in assignee&#39;s U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/167,933, entitled “Continuous Data Protection Over Intermittent Connections, Such as Continuous Data Backup For Laptops or Wireless Devices,” filed Jul. 3, 2008, now U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010-0005259 and/or source-side deduplication techniques such those techniques described in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/982,087 (introduced earlier above) and assignee&#39;s U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/751,850 (introduced and incorporated by reference earlier above), all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     Unified Views of a User&#39;s Data 
     As introduced above, the information management system  150  may distribute a user&#39;s data and/or indices of a user&#39;s data so that the user can obtain a unified view of all of her data that has been created and modified across different hosted services and different computing devices. The information management system permits the user to obtain this unified view and access her data on different computing devices or via a web portal. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates one example of a graphical user interface  1300  for providing a user with unified access to their data, including data that has originated from multiple computing devices and/or multiple hosted services. As shown, the interface  1300  may depict a user&#39;s data as a navigable directory or folder tree having different branches and data objects (represented by icons) within those branches. Each main branch in the directory tree may represent a different hosted service or computing device associated with the user via a distribution policy. For example, jane65&#39;s data is represented as a directory tree structure, where her “Flickr JaneDoe” hosted data falls under the main branch represented by the icon  1312 , her “Facebook Jane” hosted data falls under the main branch represented by the icon  1314 , her “Gmail Jane” hosted data falls under the main branch represented by the icon  1316 , the data originating from her laptop with alias “Janes Laptop” falls under the main branch represented by the icon  1318 , and the data originating from her tablet with alias “Janes Tablet” falls under the branch represented by the icon  1320 . Each branch in the tree may have data objects and/or subsidiary folders. The subsidiary folders used to house a particular data object may reflect the directory path of the data object on a source computing device or hosted service that created or modified the data object. For example, as shown, “this/is/a/path” is the directory path on Janes Laptop where the documents Doc1.doc and Doc2.doc originated from. The folder used to house a particular data object may be specified by a distribution policy. For example, a distribution policy that implements two-way synchronization may specify that data objects that originated in a first directory path (e.g., “this/is/a/path”) on a first source computing device should also be presented in a second directory path (e.g., “a/different/location”) of a second destination device. Alternatively, or additionally, the subsidiary folders used to contain a particular data object may reflect metadata or other characteristics of the data object. For example, the two files “Image1.jpg” and “Image2.jpg” are shown under the “Facebook Jane/Pics” branch in accordance with a distribution policy but are also shown under the subsidiary “European Album” folder to indicate the name of a Facebook album from which they originated. 
     The interface  1300  may also provide the user with multiple ways to access their data objects. For example, if a user selects an icon associated with a data object (e.g., icon  1305 ), the user may be presented with a menu  1310  of options, such as the options of
         (1) opening a read-only preview version (e.g., a PDF or HTML version) of the newest version of the data object using a limited-feature viewer application (e.g., a pdf viewer or a browser),   (2) opening a full version (e.g., a .doc version) of the newest version of the data object using a locally-installed, full-featured application associated with the file type of the data object (e.g., Microsoft Word),   (3) opening the data object for viewing or editing by a full-featured application that is being run in a “live browse” mode using the processing capabilities of another, remote computing device (e.g., Janes Laptop), as described further herein,   (4) opening a preview of an older version of the data object using a viewer,   (5) opening a copy of an older version with a locally-installed, full-featured application.       

     Additionally, the menu may include an option to perform a “live browse” of the local files of another computing device (e.g., of the device with alias “Janes Laptop”), as described further herein. For example, if a user doesn&#39;t see a file they wanted under the “Janes Laptop” branch because it wasn&#39;t subject to a distribution policy, they may use the “live browse” option to try and locate it on the other device. Alternatively, or additionally, in some examples when a user double-clicks a particular data object icon  1305  (or otherwise indicates they wish to “open” the data object), the interface may respond by taking one of these actions by default. The default action taken may be dictated by the capabilities of the computing device presenting the interface  1300 , such as its installed applications, processing power, and memory. For example, on a mobile device, the default action may be opening a preview version using a limited-feature viewer application. 
     In addition to providing a navigable directory structure, the interface  1300  may provide search menus or fields  1315  to permit the user to enter search criteria and receive a list of search results (or a filtered directory structure) that includes the data objects that match the criteria. For example, if a user enters criteria into the search field  1315 , the client distribution module may search received content indexing information, data classification tags, and/or metadata to find and present matching data objects. In this way, the user may be able to search across the content, tags, and metadata of data objects that originated from numerous hosted services and/or numerous computing devices. 
     Also, the interface  1300  may provide “drag-and-drop” features. For example, the interface may permit a user to indicate that they want to receive a local copy or preview version of an object, simply by dragging an icon into a local directory folder. As another example, the interface may permit a user to indicate that they want to push a copy or preview version of an object to another computing device (thereby effectively creating a new distribution policy), simply by dragging an icon for a data object into the displayed navigable folder structure. In other words, the user can use the drag-and-drop feature to create a distribution policy to indicate data from one folder or device is to be copied to another location, without having to determine and enter path names or other information. 
     The interface  1300  shown is intended to be illustrative, not exhaustive. The user may obtain a unified view of their data, such as a view of interface  1300 , in numerous ways. As one example, a user may provide the user&#39;s IMS authentication credentials (e.g., IMS username and password or other IMS authentication information) to a dedicated data navigation application, such as a downloaded mobile application that comprises a distribution client module  804 . Or the application may obtain credentials from an operating system or directory or security service, such as an Active Directory service. As another example, a user may provide the user&#39;s IMS authentication credentials (e.g., IMS username and password or other IMS authentication information) to a web portal associated with the IMS in order to view and access her data through a personalized web interface similar to interface  1300 . As another example, a native application installed on a user&#39;s computing device may provide a unified view of the her data. Examples of native applications that may be used include Windows Explorer or similar file system navigators (including NFS/CIFS clients) provided by an operating system and email clients such as Outlook (or IMAP clients). 
     In such examples, a distribution client module  405  may be implemented as a plug-in to the native application so that data objects originating from hosted services or other computing devices are presented to the user within the native application&#39;s interface in a manner similar to other locally-stored files or data objects, such as locally-stored files and locally-stored emails. For example, if a user has created a distribution policy that implements cross-device synchronization, synchronized data objects might simply appear within Windows Explorer or a similar application at a directory location (e.g., /a/different/path) on the destination device specified by the distribution policy. As another example, a user may have a folder on their desktop called “Remote Data,” that provides access to an interface similar to  1300 . As yet another example, Outlook may request and cache indexing information, previews and/or copies of synchronized data so that it can provide an interface such as that shown in  FIG. 13 , even when it does not have network connectivity. 
       FIG. 12  is a flow chart that illustrates a process  1200  for providing an IMS user working at a particular computing device with unified access to all of her hosted data and data from other computing devices, including synchronized data. The process may be performed at the computing device by an installed distribution client module  405 , acting alone, or in concert with another application (e.g. as a plug-in to a native application such as Windows Explorer or Microsoft Outlook). Although the process  1200  is described as being performed to provide an IMS user with unified access to all of the user&#39;s hosted data and data from various computing devices, the process  1200  could also be utilized to permit some IMS users, such as compliance administrators, to obtain a unified view of data that was generated by other IMS users, e.g., in order to respond to discovery requests or for other legal compliance reasons. 
     Prior to the process  1200 , the installed distribution client module may receive or obtain IMS credentials or other information identifying the IMS user or users whose data is to be presented as noted herein. Steps in process  1200  may be performed opportunistically, e.g., when a low-cost or high-speed network connection is available to the distribution client module on the computing device. 
     The process  1200  begins at block  1205 , where the distribution client module  405  requests and receives index information related to the user&#39;s data, such as information from the object log index  1000  and distribution index  1100  that is specific to the user and the device or portal from which the user is accessing the data. Typically the request is made to and fulfilled by the distribution module  490 . To illustrate, the distribution client module may request index information related to data objects that have been slated for distribution to the particular computing device and are associated with the user, e.g., as indicated by the destination column  1104  and the user ID column  1102  of the distribution log  1100 . The distribution client module will typically request and receive sufficient information to permit the distribution client module to display an organized graphical depiction of the user&#39;s data, such as that shown in  FIG. 13 , and to perform searching of data objects&#39; content index information, data classification tags, and metadata. For example, the distribution client module may request, for each new version of a data object, a destination directory (e.g., from  1105 ), an object name ( 1013 ), an object ID ( 1002 ), version ID ( 1004 ), and metadata and analysis data ( 1014 ) such as file type/extension, access control information, and file size. At block  1205 , the distribution client module  405  may request only new index information and combine the new information with locally cached index information. 
     Next, at block  1210 , the distribution client module  405  provides a navigable graphical display of the user&#39;s index information to the user. For example, the distribution client module  405  may interpret the received index information (and/or locally cached index information) in order to produce a graphical representation similar to interface  1300 . Alternatively, the distribution client module  405  may interpret the received index information in order to instruct another application (e.g., Windows Explorer or Outlook) regarding how to provide a similar graphical representation. 
     At block  1215 , the distribution client module  405  receives a request to provide a preview of a selected version of a selected object (e.g., via a menu  1310  or a double-click). In response, at block  1220 , the distribution client module  405  requests a preview version of the selected data object from the distribution module  490  (e.g., by sending an object ID and version ID). When the distribution client module receives the requested preview version, it presents the preview version to the user using a limited-feature viewer application, such as a PDF viewer or web browser. 
     At block  1225 , the distribution client module  405  receives a request for a copy of a selected version of a selected object (e.g., via a menu  1310  or a double-click). In response, at block  1230 , the distribution client module  405  requests a copy of the selected version of the selected data object from the distribution module  490  (e.g., by providing an associated object ID and version ID). Once the copy is received, the distribution client module launches an application capable of opening the data object, typically a full-featured application associated with the file type of the data object. If a user edits a copy of a selected data object, the distribution client module may push a copy of the edited version back to its source computing device (via the distribution module), so that the source computing device has the latest version of the data object. 
     At block  1235 , the distribution client module  405  receives a request for a live browse session. These requests are described in further detail herein with respect to  FIGS. 14 and 15 . The process  1200  then ends. 
     Although process  1200  has been described as being performed at a particular computing device, a similar process  1200  may be performed by a web server associated with the IMS that is configured to provide IMS users with a web portal to access their data. In such examples, the steps that were described above as being performed by a distribution client module may instead be performed by a web server. 
     A distribution module  490  may perform actions that are complementary to the process  1200  performed by a distribution client module  490 .  FIG. 14  is a flow chart that illustrates a complementary process  1400  for providing a user with access to her data that may be performed at a distribution module. The process  1400  begins at block  1405 , where the distribution module  405  provides indexing information related to a particular user and computing device to the distribution client module  490 . To illustrate, the distribution module may provide index information related to data objects that have been slated for distribution to the particular computing device and are associated with the user, e.g., as indicated by the destination column  1104  and the user ID column  1102  of the distribution log  1100 . The distribution module will typically provide sufficient information to permit the distribution client module to display an organized graphical depiction of the user&#39;s data, such as that shown in  FIG. 13 , and to perform searching of data objects&#39; content index information, data classification tags, and metadata. For example, the distribution module may send, for each new version of a data object, a destination directory (e.g., from  1105 ), an object name ( 1013 ), an object ID ( 1002 ), version ID ( 1004 ), and metadata and analysis data ( 1014 ) such as file type/extension, access control information, and file size. At block  1410 , the distribution module may provide only new index information. The distribution module may use information such as that shown in column  1110  to identify only the new versions of objects where the indexing information has not already been sent. 
     At block  1410 , the distribution module  490  receives a request to send a preview version of a data object to a distribution client module  405 . The request may indicate an object identifier and/or version identifier associated with a single desired data object. Alternatively, the request may ask for preview versions of numerous data objects that match a provided set of criteria. For example, the request may ask for any new preview versions generated in the last 30 days, so that those recent previews can be cached by the client distribution module  405 . In response to the received request, at block  1415 , for each indicated version of a data object, the distribution module selects a preview version by using a received data object identifier and version identifier (or the received criteria) to look up an associated preview version from the preview column  1020  of the object log index  1000 . When selecting the preview version, the distribution module may determine the capabilities of the device or portal that will be used to display the preview to the user. The distribution module may then select a preview version based on the determined capabilities. For example, the distribution module may determine the hard disk capacity, memory capacity, video or sound card specifications, network connection type or bandwidth, processing power, and installed applications of the computing device and select a preview version that is best suited to those characteristics. More information about selecting preview versions suitable for a particular computing device can be found in the commonly-assigned U.S. patent application No. 61/618,125 entitled “Smart Archiving and Data Previewing for Mobile Devices,” filed Mar. 30, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. If there is no existing preview version available from the object log index  1000  that is suitable for the capabilities of the computing device, the distribution module may generate a suitable preview version. The distribution module then sends the selected preview version(s) to the distribution client module, which may be performed using source-side deduplication techniques. 
     At block  1420 , the distribution module  490  receives a request to send a copy of a selected version of a selected data object to a distribution client module  405 . The request may indicate a data object identifier and/or version identifier associated with the desired data object (or may specify a set of criteria that identifies one or more versions of one or more data objects). In response to the received request, at block  1425 , the distribution module locates a copy of the requested version of a data object by using a received data object identifier and version identifier (or other criteria) to look up an associated stored copy from the object lookup column  1010  of the object log index  1000 . The distribution module then sends the located copy to the distribution client module, which may be performed using source-side deduplication techniques. When an applicable synchronization policy specifies locking, as described previously, before performing block  1420 , the distribution module may verify that the object has not already been locked and after performing block  1420 , the distribution module may add a “lock” on the data object to prevent other computing devices from simultaneously editing the data object, e.g., by adding a timestamp to column  1116 . 
     At block  1430 , the distribution module  490  receives a request from a requesting distribution client module  405  at a requesting computing device to facilitate a “live browse” session between the requesting distribution client module and a second, target computing device. There are two variants of a live browse session. A first variant of a live browse session presents a user at the requesting computing device with a browseable and searchable view of data objects on the target computing device, even if those data objects have not yet been pushed to the distribution module  490 . In a second variant, the requesting distribution client module requests to open a data object in a “live browse” mode. The second variant permits the requesting distribution client module to utilize computing resources of the target computing device (e.g., processing power, installed applications, memory, hard disk) in order to view or manipulate files and other data objects. 
     At block  1435 , the distribution module  490  responds to the request for a live browse session. When a request for the first variant of live browsing is received (i.e., a request to browse the files of a target computing device), the distribution module may first determine if the target computing device is online, i.e., has network connectivity to the distribution module. If the target computing device is not online, the distribution module may access backup copies of the data from the target computing device and/or indexing information that were created as part of a backup operation in order to create an index similar to that shown in the object log index  1000 , which reflects the data contents and organization of the target computing device. Otherwise, if the target computing device is online, the distribution module may query a distribution client module  405  at the target computing device and ask it to provide an updated index of all of the file folders and data objects on the target computing device (or a subset of its folders and data objects). For example, the distribution module may request indexing information for each data object similar to the indexing information shown in the object log index  1000 . The distribution module then provides the indexing information obtained from either the backup operations or from the target computer itself to the requesting distribution client module. The requesting distribution client module uses the indexing information to produce an interface with a graphical, navigable and searchable file folder structure of the folders and data objects on the target computing device, such as the interface shown in  FIG. 13 . From the interface, a user may select a displayed object and drag it to a local directory (e.g., her desktop) so that a copy is created locally on the requesting computing device. 
     The requests and responses at block  1435  may be iterative, so that the distribution module first obtains and provides only coarse indexing information (e.g., only the data objects and folders that appear in top-level file folders of the target device) and then later obtains and provides additional indexing information, e.g., in response to a user navigating to a specific folder in a displayed navigable file folder structure. For example, the distribution module may, upon such user navigation, obtain and provide more granular indexing information for specific folders on the target computing device. If a user indicates that she wishes to open a preview version or copy of the data object shown in the navigable folder structure (e.g., as described previously with respect to  FIG. 13 ), the distribution module may obtain a preview version or copy from the target computer (and if necessary, generate a suitable preview version) and provide the preview version or copy to the requesting distribution client module. If a user edits a copy of a selected data object on the requesting computing device, the requesting distribution client module may push the edited version back to the target computing device (via the distribution module), so that the target computing device has the latest version of the data object. 
     In addition to providing index information related to the data objects available on a target computing device, the distribution module may also determine and provide information regarding the applications that are installed on the target computing device and are capable of being run in a “live browse” mode. In this way, the user can initiate applications on the target computing device from a requesting device such as a limited-feature mobile device. 
     The previous discussion described the distribution module as playing an intermediary role by collecting and distributing indexing information, preview versions, and copies of data objects. However, in some examples, instead the target distribution client module may communicate directly with the requesting distribution client module to exchange this information directly. Also, the requesting distribution client module may generate preview versions, as needed. 
     When a request for the second variant of live browsing is received, in response, at block  1435 , the distribution module  490  identifies the target computing device and establishes a secure connection between a requesting distribution client module and a target distribution client module at the target computing device. Once the connection is established, the target distribution client module may initiate applications installed at the target computing device and provide an optimized view of the application to the requesting distribution client module. This second feature of a live browse session is described in greater detail herein, e.g., with respect to  FIGS. 15A and 15B . After block  1435 , the process  1400  ends. 
     The distribution module  490  and client distribution module  405  may perform variants of the processes  1400  and  1200  respectively. As one example, instead of providing a preview of a data object only in response to an explicit request for the preview, the distribution module  490  may instead provide a preview of a data object when a new version of the data object is received and indexed, in conjunction with indexing information at block  1405 , and/or upon a prescribed schedule. As another example, instead of providing a copy of a data object in response to an explicit request for the copy, the distribution module may instead provide a copy of the data object when a new version of the data object is received and indexed and/or upon a prescribed schedule. In these variants, the methods may keep data objects that are being edited at different computing devices synchronized across those different computing devices. When all of the synchronized computing devices have network access, cross-device synchronization may occur nearly in real-time. In another variant, instead of providing a preview of a data object or a copy of a data object only in response to an explicit request for a preview or copy, the distribution module may proactively push a subset of the previews and data objects (e.g., in conjunction with indexing information) and the distribution client module may cache these so it can respond to user requests even when it has no network connectivity. For example, the distribution module may proactively push previews or copies of any objects that have been edited in the last 30 days. 
     Live Browsing 
     The second variant of a live browse session permits a user of a mobile device or other limited-feature device to execute full-featured applications installed on a remote computing device (e.g., a desktop or laptop device) and to interact with the full-featured application via the input-output hardware of the limited-feature device. As described above, when a user of a requesting computing device indicates that they want to open a data object in a “live browse” mode, a connection is established between a distribution client module  405  at the requesting computer (the “requesting distribution client module”) and a distribution client module  405  at the target computing device (the “target distribution client module.” The target distribution client module identifies a copy of the data object and if necessary, requests a copy of the data object, e.g., from a distribution module  490 . The target distribution client module launches an instance of a full-featured native application using the processor and memory of the target computing device in order to open the data object in the native application. 
     As shown in  FIG. 15A , when a full-featured native application (e.g., Microsoft Word) is used to edit a file or data object, such as a Word document, the computing device where the native application is installed would normally produce a native graphical interface  1500 . The native interface  1500  includes full-featured menus  1525  that permit the user to initiate numerous and complex menu commands. In contrast, in live browse mode, when a target distribution client module launches a full-featured native application, the target distribution client module interprets the output from the full-featured application in order to produce a simplified graphical interface  1550  for the application, as shown in  FIG. 15B . For example, the target distribution client module may generate an HTML interface that provides only a highly limited set of menu options  1575 . The target distribution client module then sends a representation of the simplified graphical interface  1575  to the requesting distribution client module, which displays the interface to the user at the requesting computing device (e.g., in a browser). These two steps may be repeated as the target distribution client module receives updated output from the full-featured application. In concert with these actions, the target distribution client module may send any user input it receives from the simplified graphical interface  1575  back to the target distribution client module. The target distribution client module interprets or translates any received user input and conveys the input to the native full-featured application. In this way, a user may be able to utilize, in a limited way, full-featured applications that are installed at a remote computing device. 
     Other Features 
     In some examples, the functionality of the information management system may be provided to an organization on a subscription, or software-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service basis. In such examples, the operator of the information management system may charge an organization on a per-user basis and/or on the basis of other metrics of usage. 
     CONCLUSION 
     Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware, hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardware suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modules may reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for the purposes described herein. Modules described herein may be executed by a general-purpose computer, e.g., a server computer, wireless device, or personal computer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that aspects of the invention can be practiced with other communications, data processing, or computer system configurations, including: Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including personal digital assistants (PDAs)), wearable computers, all manner of cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the like. Furthermore, aspects of the invention can be embodied in a special purpose computer or data processor that is specifically programmed, configured, or constructed to perform one or more of the computer-executable instructions explained in detail herein. 
     Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory, a network, a browser, or other application in an ASP context, or via another means suitable for the purposes described herein. Examples of the technology can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks or modules are performed by remote processing devices, which are linked through a communications network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. Data structures described herein may comprise computer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. User interface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphical user interfaces, command line interfaces, and other interfaces suitable for the purposes described herein. 
     Examples of the technology may be stored or distributed on computer-readable media, including magnetically or optically readable computer disks, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips (e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, or other data storage media. Indeed, computer-implemented instructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data under aspects of the invention may be distributed over the Internet or over other networks (including wireless networks), or they may be provided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuit switched, or other scheme). 
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variant thereof, means any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list. 
     The above Detailed Description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific examples for the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while processes or blocks are presented in a given order, alternative implementations may perform routines having steps, or employ systems having blocks, in a different order, and some processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or subcombinations. Each of these processes or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed or implemented in parallel, or may be performed at different times. Further any specific numbers noted herein are only examples: alternative implementations may employ differing values or ranges. 
     The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the systems described herein. The elements and acts of the various examples described above can be combined to provide further implementations of the invention. 
     Any patents and applications and other references noted above, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further implementations of the invention. 
     These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above Detailed Description. While the above description describes certain examples of the invention, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may vary considerably in its specific implementation, while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims. 
     While certain examples are presented below in certain forms, the applicant contemplates the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Accordingly, the applicant reserves the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.