Patent ID: 7424670

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions that when executed cause a computer to: identify a document in a collaborative application; associate at least one data field native to the collaborative application with the document; select an item in a data store associated with an application separate from the collaborative application; associate the selected item with the document; in response to receiving a request for the document in the collaborative application; retrieve data associated with the selected item and data associated with the data field; and displaying the retrieved data on a user interface as an annotation without displaying the contents of the documents; wherein the item comprises a plurality of data fields; wherein the instructions to select an item further comprise instructions to: identify a plurality of fields associated with the selected item; receive a selection of at least one of the plurality of fields; and wherein the instructions to associate the selected item further comprises instructions to: associate the at least one of the plurality of fields with the documents.