A method for providing extension activation, the method comprising: opening a document comprising a plurality of data elements within a software application, wherein the software application is associated with a plurality of extensions operative to provide additional functionality to the software application; creating an inference according to at least one data element associated with the document, wherein the at least one data element comprises at least one of the following: a data element internal to the document and a data element external to the document and wherein the inference comprises at least one of the following: an intent assigned to the document, a heuristically learned association between the at least one data element and a task, a regular expression match on the at least one data element, and a format of the document; determining whether the inference satisfies an activation condition of at least one of the plurality of extensions, wherein determining whether the inference satisfies the activation condition comprises matching a criteria of the at least one extension and satisfying a trigger condition of the at least one extension; and in response to determining that the inference satisfies the activation condition of at least one of the plurality of extensions, activating the at least one extension, wherein activating the at least one extension comprises displaying a user interface element associated with the software application operative to provide at least one new data element, wherein the activation condition comprises a plurality of rules comprising a hierarchy of rules, each of which must be satisfied before the at least one extension is activated. opening a document comprising a plurality of data elements within a software application, wherein the software application is associated with a plurality of extensions operative to provide additional functionality to the software application; creating an inference according to at least one data element associated with the document, wherein the at least one data element comprises at least one of the following: a data element internal to the document and a data element external to the document and wherein the inference comprises at least one of the following: an intent assigned to the document, a heuristically learned association between the at least one data element and a task, a regular expression match on the at least one data element, and a format of the document; determining whether the inference satisfies an activation condition of at least one of the plurality of extensions, wherein determining whether the inference satisfies the activation condition comprises matching a criteria of the at least one extension and satisfying a trigger condition of the at least one extension; and in response to determining that the inference satisfies the activation condition of at least one of the plurality of extensions, activating the at least one extension, wherein activating the at least one extension comprises displaying a user interface element associated with the software application operative to provide at least one new data element, wherein the activation condition comprises a plurality of rules comprising a hierarchy of rules, each of which must be satisfied before the at least one extension is activated.